I've been a bad blogger and I didn't think that I had anything to blog about until I went to the school parent's association meeting this week. I know schools are strapped for cash and for whatever reason people (ok, educators really, which probably explains why this is an issue) are all up in arms about the educational system in the US, but the way that educators are trying to change things is just wrong. It is obvious that these so called educators are really just PhD's with an inflated sense of themselves (and I can say this because I have a PhD myself) and who have no real world experience with either teaching or with kids. Most of these people are either so old that they are out of touch with what children are like, or they are just out of school with no world experience and no kids of their own. Both of these scenarios are just disasters waiting to happen.
So, what has gotten me thinking about all this. Well, the attempted cancellation of the Halloween parade at my son's school. The teachers and staff apparently talked among themselves and voted to cancel the annual parade on the grounds that most kids don't care about it anyway (this coming mostly from 4th and 5th grade teachers). Then, the younger grade teachers voiced their opinion and they rescheduled it for after school. Now we hear that they are revisiting that and that a couple of parents object to Halloween so they are considering canceling the parade again. Well, let me tell you, the parents association today let the principal and teachers rep know that this was not an option, that we want the parade, that we were mad that this all went down behind our backs, and I think they got the picture that this type of thing better not happen again. Case closed!
Next issue, the belief that educators have that being in school sitting at a desk is the be all and end all of education. The principal went so far as to say send your sick kid to school because we need the money we get for them being in school (and getting all the other kids sick). Not only that, she was upset that parents (gasp!) take their kids out of school (and jump through the stupid hoops to set up an independent study so the school can still get its money) to take family vacations. She even said that it was more educational and important to be sitting in school than to be out seeing how our country works (taking a trip to Washington D.C. and seeing Congress in action, visiting historic battle sites in Virginia, etc) or seeing how other cultures and countries differ from our own (yeah, it's much better to learn about this from a book and a teacher who has probably never been to India or France or Germany). I think all the parents in the meeting were dumbfounded. We didn't know what to say.
These are just a few examples of how our educational system is deteriorating. Since when did we as a people give over the rearing of our kids to educators. Let me tell you, I never did and I never will. I know that I am much more equipped to teach my children everything they need to know academically than any teacher they will have in their pre-collegiate years. What I can't give them at home is the social aspect of being in school and that is why I send them to school. I also don't believe that our educational system is lagging behind that in other countries. I believe that we give every child a chance at an education and that our "test" scores represent that ideal. Many of the countries that we are being compared with only educate their brightest. Kids are separated at a young age into the educational track, the sports track, the vocational track, etc. So we are only seeing the test results of their top performers since they are the only ones being given that education. If you compared our top 10 or 20 percent to their results I bet you we would fare just fine.
In addition, what is really the goal of education? In my opinion it is to produce people who will excel in the workforce. We need to foster creativity and critical thinking and thinking outside the box so we end up with a workforce that is competent and inventive and groundbreaking. We need to produce young adults who can think for themselves and sove the problems that society and businesses face.
What is the goal of educators? To have a job and as such they create problems where there aren't any so that they have something to fix. New math? Give me a break. Math is math. There is one right answer and there are often many ways to solve any given problem. So why do educators keep changing the way that teachers are supposed to teach math, and why, if a child solves a problem correctly but using a different method are they counted wrong? Is a successful workforce made up of robots who all do the same thing? NO, NO, NO. A successful workforce is made up of creative thinkers who find a better way to solve a problem.
I have so much to say on this topic that I will definitely be revisiting it from time to time. For today, I have to get back to making sure I equip my children with the critical thinking skills and the tools they will need to really be successful in life. Not the cookie cutter, standardized testing education they currently get in school.
