What's Going On??????

One of the reads I came accross recentely is this disturbing saga of American education.

One Teacher's Cry

I have some idea and sympathy for what she is saying and our national education policy is certainly a formula for disaster. I know a little about this because a long, long time ago........

I spent some time studying to be a teacher. I had tutored and trained people at various stages of my life experience and I thought....."Hey, I'm good at this, I should do this for a living" Besides, I felt (and still do) that my area of expertise is of extraordinary value in addressing the problems of our society. Don't we all!

So after being layed off, I figure, be a teacher. I apply and am accepted at a local institution of higher education and start by taking my general teaching courses. Nothing earth shattering. I them progress to taking some area specific teaching courses (Dr. Wielder, your course on Reading in Secondary Education is one of the 3 best courses I've ever taken, kudos!) and a few puzzles begin to surface. In many classes there is a theme running through all of this that says......"Make it fun! Keep them amuzed!" as if the students (were talking secondary students now, Jr. and Sr. High) shouldn't be asked to actually work for their progress. The notion that progress might actually be hard and difficult and something other than entertainment was completely swept away and ignored.

OK, well, I figure once I get into methods, I'll really see how to teach. Wow, suprise.....it got worse. The methods program was run by an elementary education specialist and boom! Work, who needs that! The kids must be entertained, we're all performers. So being totally disillusioned here I think to myself, I don't know about this any more. But I've got three semesters invested and all I have left is student teaching, and if I don't it's a waste money and time. So off to student teaching I go.

Yep, you guessed it, final blow. Let's be serious now America. You want to know why education isn't working, it's because we don't expect our kids to work for their education. They don't value an education because they see it as some sort of magic, and if they don't understand, oh well, they just weren't one of the lucky ones.

Here's the real problem with education. Teachers are simply baby sitters, and if someone actually learns while in class......wonderful, but the primary goal is to keep everyone quiet and orderly and pacified and moving through the system with a minimum of headaches and knowledge.

Valuing education can be blamed on society, or the media or teen culture. Look deeper though and you'll see the real culprits are parents. Some parents took the time to instill values in their children, some entertained them. If a child values education, they want education. I a child see's it as useless, well good luck.