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3/6/2009
Inspire kids to stand up to their parents
Students are not computers, and teachers are not programmers. And that’s why teachers and schools will never solve the education problems hindering our economy. Yet with Democrats in charge, we will hear ceaseless pleas for greater "investment" (read: tax funding) in education.
I suppose teachers might be as unmotivated as the average American worker under today's capitalism -- the worst form of economy, except for all the others.
They are teachers. They see that the teaching gets done. Schools are just where they do their work.
It has forever been so. Yet we oldsters survived, thrived and learned, in spite of it.
Think of any teacher you ever had: If that teacher had been paid another $10,000 a year, would you be any smarter? No. And it would be unprofessional if they had withheld their best teaching simply because they weren't paid enough.
The problems of education today are at home. Careless parenting, poor nutrition, ritual disrespect. Kids are at school little more than a third of the day for half the year. And teachers do not, cannot and should not have the power and influence of parents, siblings and peers.
Like sports coaches, teachers and schools are easy scapegoats because you can design and administer ways to hold them accountable, such as No Child Left Behind.
But how do you hold parents accountable?
Schools and teachers will never make a dent in today's education woes -- unless they can somehow inspire kids to stand up to their parents and say:
- Please speak kindly to each other, to my siblings, and to me.
- Please act like you're glad to see me.
- Please help me seek independence. It hurts. It isn't easy. You'll remember, if you try.
- Please treat me with respect. Understand that I may not always seem respectful -- partly because I have learned to fear you, and partly because my brain is young and learning and hard-wired for rebellion.
- Please feed me some whole grains and vegetables.
- Please turn off that noisy TV show.
- Please play with me. At least watch my shows with me.
- Please ask me who my friends are. Tell me who your friends are and why.
- Please read something sweet, inspiring or funny to me before bed.
- Please help me with my homework. At least ask to see my homework.
- Please make it clear to me that if my life goes bad, your life goes bad, too.
- Please be my parent.
Can teachers and schools inspire better parenting? And what would this do for the kids whose parents are at work all day and night, who cannot afford to stay home with their kids or afford reliable child care, who because of discrimination cannot access safer or more affordable housing or social services.
How will teachers and schools solve any of these woes? How will increased funding for public education help fundamental barriers to learning at home?
The investment in education must be made in time and effort by parents and children, not by taxpayers.
As Chance the Gardener says in the 1979 film "Being There": "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden."
Tim Haering, of Concord, Calif., was a policy adviser to Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson. As shared by author; originally featured in the Wisconsin State Journal.
COMMENTS
And there a LOT of problems with the schools, too! My husband is the only one who can adequately teach his subject--because he was educated in Britain, where they still taught SUBJECTS, not students (to parody the pop phrase "we're teaching kids not subjects").
He just came home last Thurs. from a mandatory training session, where they served catered lunch, saying, "I guess they never heard of cuttinng their budget". An inservice like this means the district is paying for TWO teachers (one being the sub who has to cover the classes) plus the speaker and the lunch!
At one time, his district was paying for TWO superintendents! He recently was complaining to me about a principal who retired, is drawing full pension, and now works as a recreation coordinator, drawing half a principal's pay for doing nothing! (The person delegates all his job responsibilities to others who do the real sceduling). So taxpayers are paying over $100,000/year for this individual. (In case y'all don't know, principals and WEAC employees get huge salaries compared to mere teachers.)SO MUCH FOR RESPONSIBILITY
emily matthews (Sat Mar 07 10:59:59 2009)
Consider these words considering education:
"Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the
collective society which is coming where everyone is interdependent."
-- John Dewey
The above is recognized as father of modern education.
"Teachers are directed to instruct their pupils... and to awaken in them
a sense of their responsibility toward the community of the nation."
-- Bernhard Rust
(1883-1945) Minister of Science, Education and National Culture (Reichserziehungsminister) in Nazi Germany
Source: from "Racial Instruction and the National Community," 1935
Sound familiar? Kinda like what our new leader is saying?
"Schools will become clinics whose purpose is to provide individualized, psycho-social treatment for the student, and teachers must become psycho-social therapists. This will include biochemical and psychological mediation of learning, as drugs are introduced experimentally to improve in the learner such qualities as personality, concentration, and memory."
--National Education Association report entitled "Education for the '70's." (1979)
Could this philosophy help explain the failure of our government indoctrination systems to produce young men and women who are intenllectually proficient and who can think for themselves?
Ken Van Doren (Sat Mar 07 15:32:22 2009)
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