Usually I just jump right into the topic that I am blogging about, but for this blog I wanted to start it off with how I usually come up with ideas for my blogs and how I write them. Most of the blogs I post are based on subjects I have been reading or thinking about over the past week or so. Usually I will write the subject of my blog about a week before I write the content within the blog. This allows me to think more about what I am going to write so that it is structured and not just some rambling words that you are reading. Once a week has passed I begin to write my thoughts and feelings on the subject. Then I let the blog sit for a few days so I can think of anything else I would like to add, subtract, or clean up. In this process I try to clean up grammar mistakes but hey we are all human and I don’t catch all of them.
Although the process is fairly simple, it allows me time to make sure I state my thoughts clearly while ensuring that I don’t miss any key points I wanted to make. This process is something that I learned at a very early age while going to school, and no it wasn’t for writing blogs, it was for writing papers, journals, and other types of academic reports. I will be the first to admit that I hated having to write papers because it usually meant two things: you had to read a book and then you had to hand write or type your thoughts on to a paper. Usually you were given guidelines for the paper as well: it can only be 3 to 5 pages, APA format, no use of the first person narrative, and the font has to be a certain size. In my opinion, this is where the American educational system began to fail their students.
Think about the things you enjoy doing on a daily basis, and I bet one of the reasons you enjoy that activity is because you get to be creative and use your imagination? This is something I think our educational system has taken away from its students, imagination and creativity. Today, students are taught to express their ideas in a certain format and structure, and then the teacher only looks for the outlined criteria to determine the student’s grade. They don’t reward points for thinking outside the box, challenging the norm, or expressing their true thoughts. This has caused the educational system to grade their students on the same criteria, thus assuming we are all the same or should be the same.
Now I do understand that there should be some type of structure so the teachers can grade their students equally, but this only causes teachers to look for those deliverables in the assignment and that’s it. The teacher may notice that the student was thinking outside the box and being creative, but the grade they have to give the student is based upon the required deliverables. I see this being translated into people’s professional careers and it causes people to lose their job and hit the glass ceilings sooner than they should. Their inability to be think outside the box and take projects and run with them with little direction rarely turn out to be successful. Also, limiting a person’s creativity and imagination only creates lack of competition and mindless robots.
The second failure of the American education system is its lack of competition in the classroom. When I was in elementary school, we had progress charts in the classroom that let you and others see how you were performing compared to everyone else. This created a healthy competition because most kids wanted to be number one or near the top. We also would grade papers together and had to call out our grades in front of everyone, so the teacher could record the grade on the assignment or test. This made everyone aware of how you performed, and if you didn’t do well you were embarrassed and didn’t want it to happen again. Now teachers can’t post grades to share with the class, star charts are ancient history, and competition between students has been completely erased.
Now I may step on a lot of teacher’s toes when I say this, but the teacher is at fault for the lack of competition in the classroom. The teaching position has become more of a "job" rather than a resource/mentoring position, and honestly teachers don’t really care how students perform anymore. Yes they could lose their jobs if they have too many students fail, but that may be their only motivation to ensure everyone passes or just gets by in their class. But what if you made the position performances based? What if each year the average grade for the class had to get better each year? If they teach the same subject every year they should get better at teaching it, and learn how to overcome different students teaching styles right? What if teachers had to compete against each other, the lowest performer didn't get a raise or didn't receive certain benefits the following year? If the teacher wants to turn their position into a "job" then they should be evaluated like others in the business world. In most cases the lowest performer is usually terminated.
If situations like I mentioned above were in place, teachers would push their students and accepting the thought that C students are okay would go away. Right now, teachers feel that if the students pass it's because of their teaching skills, if the students fail its because of the student. In my opinion they go hand in hand, you can't take credit for one and not the other. If the student fails that means the teacher failed the student, they didn't push them hard enough to do better. There are a few instances when it is the student, but the title of teacher has taken on a different meaning. It now means preparer, teachers only prepare students to pass state/government tests and nothing else. Many teachers will say that they have to teach to those tests, but what does that have to do with mentoring and going above and beyond? My most memorable teachers were the ones who took the time to ensure I didn’t fall behind and challenged me to do better. Just because I was a C student in math didn’t mean that I had to stay a C student. It was my 2nd grade teacher who took time with a handful of kids during recess to push us to become A and B students in math, and now math is one of my best skill sets.
Today, teachers pass the buck when students don’t perform to their standards. The teachers just assume the student has a learning disability, so they send them to some remedial class thinking this will solve everything because they are too busy to invest more time into their students. You will always have students who try hard, but for those who don't if there is no one there to push them, they will settle for just getting by in school and then later in life. Before the class starts teachers should ask students what they want their grade to be in that class. Then it's the teachers job to make them achieve that grade. If the student set the bar too low, that is when the teacher should raise it for the student.
America has turned itself into a nation that accepts mediocrity and because of this America has been in a free fall ever since. We have fallen from the ranks of having the best and brightest. Most countries have to deal with more poverty, crime, and corruption than we do, and they are surpassing us in standard academics.. There is no reason why this should happen, and in my opinion it all falls on our teachers. Push your students and make them better because those students will one day be taking care of you. Do you want those who are okay with mistakes providing you medication or operating on you? The government says they care but they only dump money into the system, but that is their only involvement in my opinion. And that is one of the biggest problems, no one really cares, including parents.
It is interesting that in other countries children have to fight tooth and nail to get into a classroom, but in America it's the complete opposite. Children would rather drop out of school than attend a public school system and get a decent education for free. But I can see why we have so many dropouts, the people who need to believe in them the most, teachers and their parents, don't believe in them. One of the best things about my parents was that they cared about my education and development. They pushed me to be better at every step of the way while I was in school. I hated school so much I would hide my homework and lie about what was due the following day, but because my parents cared enough to push me and see through the bull crap I got back on track. Along with my teachers pushing me each step of the way, I have graduated high school, graduated college, and have two master's degrees. If I didn't have those people in my life to push me every step of the way I may have never made it to college.
Today, parents don't push their kids like they used to in the past. In the past, parents knew it was education that was going to give their child a better life than they could provide. Now, they need their children to get a job to help pay the bills or they just don't care how their children perform at school. The government has become too lenient on these parents, and there is no support system for our students of today. I always thought it was the law that a child under 18 had to attend school, and if they didn't the parent could get in trouble. From what I have seen, our state services are too busy to take care of these minor problems. But if our tax dollars were put to use, we could start putting the pressure on parents to get their kids to school and do well. I bet if parents were taken to jail for allowing their kids to skip school, things would change. I bet if the parents tax returns or government checks were based on their child's performance in school they would get more involved. Because there is no enforcement, it's just a vicious repeating cycle from parent to child to parent to child.
In closing, if changes are not made soon to our educational system America will soon meet the same fate of other great civilizations and countries of the past. The two things that we need the most are greater involvement from the teachers and parents. If teachers would be teachers and not make it a "job", the students may be more engaged and want to learn. I understand I am not a teacher and in "the know" of what all goes on in the classroom and school, but I have been through the process and observed the very things I am talking about. I can't imagine it's gotten any better, and with teachers getting younger and younger, their thoughts are only on pay and going home after "work". A pastor's job extends beyond preaching from the pulpit, so should the teachers but they are just speaking in the classroom. They need to develop, mentor, and invest more into their students. The parents need to stop being lazy and being worried that they don't known how to help their children with their homework. It's more about the fact that you care will make all the difference to the child. Without support the whole system will crumble, or has it already begun to crumble and we are all watching it on the way down? I pray this isn't the case and I hope that we can turn it all around!
Glory always to the Lord!
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