There's been a lot of talk recently about why schools are failing, why they are closing, and why schools are under attack. I don't have any easy answers, but I know why I am disconnected to the school system and it's the school system's fault.
"The Good Old Days"
My children actually attend the same school that I went to. We live only a few blocks from the home I grew up in and a few blocks from the elementary school. In fact both high schools that my children attend are within walking distance and when I was younger I walked home often from school. The great thing about walking to school is that you meet people. You meet the parents of your child's schoolmates. You see where people live. You become a part of your community. When my oldest kids were at the elementary school, I would walk over to get them and wind up meeting parents who had parked and gotten out of their cars to wander around or grab a teacher to talk to. It was all so casual. The kids were corralled at the Smiley Face and released as parents showed up. Some kids rode bikes and some kids, keys hanging around their necks, walked home. The teachers were out front walking between the kids, looking for parents, and having conversations. We could see the teachers and they could see us.
"Why Don't Parents Care About Education?"
When teachers ask why we parents aren't more involved I get a little offended. The state has encouraged schools to be on lock down the whole day. Trying to get to my child's classroom is not easy. There are numerous locked doors between me and them. The state has also encouraged schools to have background checks on every parent who wants to volunteer. The parent pays for those out of their own pockets. The state has encouraged schools to get parents off the buses. You want to field trip with your child? Okay. Fill out this background check, pay for it, and please drive your own car.
You're going to tell me "It's for the safety of the kids." Really? Because I would feel safer if my kids knew that grown ups weren't threats. The threats I see aren't from local sex offenders but from the teachers that are in the classroom. The state took parents out and replaced them with teachers who now cannot be contacted while they molest our kids or take pictures of our kids, while they yell at our kids and throw things at our kids, and while they pray over our kids (to what G-d I don't know). And while the kids are having sex in the bathroom they don't worry about Lindsey's mom walking in on them. Oh, and those school shooting.....? Were those parent related...? Get real. Kids are okay bringing guns to school because there is no parent wandering the halls who may know your mom or, even better, smack your behind.
Maybe we don't come to bat for the teachers because we cannot find the teachers. We don't volunteer because we are treated like criminals. We don't care how little you get paid because we aren't there to see you tackle Rodney who has scissors at Tracey's throat. WE DON"T SEE YOU. The state has put you in a position where you are literally fighting this battle on your own. Parents have been put in a position where the only contact most of us have with a teacher is through a letter. I want you to tell me to my face that there is a problem with Timmy. I want that communication that only the spoken word can bring. We are told to e-mail. That is how the state wants us to communicate with our teachers. E-mail. How do I know the teacher got my e-mail? I don't.
I have to admit that I have seen teachers bend over backwards to get my child to succeed. I have witnessed them go to bat for my kids. The truth is that it doesn't matter how much I am in love with my school district, the district took me out of it. I did not willingly remove myself from my child's school. The community that we spent years creating is gone. The friends and neighbor attitude is shunned. Schools now want to be invisible and I'm pretty sure if they could have recess behind a jailhouse fence they would. Teaching children that community is dangerous has turned out to be the most dangerous concept of all; and not just for the kids but for the teachers too. We are supposed to hold each other accountable. No one is holding the state accountable for all the rules. No one is holding the state accountable for anything....because they made sure we can't communicate.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
College, Knowledge, and Learning
When you say you are going to college this is what I hear:
I am going to test myself
I am going to test my beliefs.
I am going to test whether I have any beliefs of my own.
I am going to meet people who come from different socio-economic backgrounds than me.
I am going to make friends with people who are of different cultures than me.
I am going to hear stories about people who want something more than I do.
I am going to travel.
I am going to read.
I am going to listen.
When I tell you I want you to go to college I am saying all of the above. I want you to GO to college. Between the years of 18 and 25 if you are sitting on your ass at a computer taking college "classes" you are getting a degree in " I can recite back or look up information". You will not receive a pat on the back from me if you get a certificate through the mail. I will laugh at you, mock you, maybe call you a loser who has no real working knowledge of the world you now claim you are worthy of working in. It's a joke that you are healthy and capable of getting to a school and you choose not to. Oh, and no way am I paying for that on-line tuition. You want a degree from Jamaica? Then get thee on a plane and goest thou there.
A college class consists of a wide variety of people exchanging knowledge and ideas. Online classes allow you to stay in your bubble while holding onto your own beliefs and cultural value system. You are not challenged. You will not be prepared for working out there in the daylight with people whose world view is bigger, broader, and more advanced than yours. You will stay angry and confused most of your day because you have never met people outside your bubble. You will cling violently to the idea that you are "right" in your thinking and that other people are judgmental of you and you may even come to believe that people are bullying you. What people are trying to do is HOLD A CONVERSATION with you. No one is oppressing you because of your beliefs, what they are doing however, is asking you what, when, why, where....and you don't have an answer. College is the place you go to learn how not to argue with people or hate people or be a raging homophobic bigot. College allows people to ask you questions and hold you accountable for your ideologies. It introduces you to movies, music, politics, and ancient beliefs. It is where all the secrets are kept.
College teaches you how to talk to people. It introduces you to culture, religion, and independent thought. It teaches you how not to take yourself so seriously and then allows you in your golden years the chance to hold your head up and tell people, "No, sir, I do DESERVE whatever I get in life because I spent years learning about myself and the world. You sir, can sit down." College is good.
If you come to me between the ages of 18 to 25 holding an online degree I am going to tell you to mow the lawn. That is what your degree is worth to me. What you were taught I learned on YouTube from various professors and I learned it for free. Community college is a wonderful thing. And you'll probably pay less. You cannot live on campus, so be sure to get a job (and an apartment. Dear G-d get an apartment).
As you know I have been in and out of college for years. I really long to be in the classroom. The ideas and information inside a college classroom are addicting. It is a liberating experience to know that there are answers to every question that you have. I sincerely hope you take advantage of college, and if now is not the right time; I hope that you give yourself that time later on in life. It was so very worth it for me. College helps, and it's not at all about getting the right job or a great job...it's about you. YOUR life, YOUR journey. Don't let someone else fill you up with ideas that could make you old and mean and nasty and judgmental at 18. You have so many years to work on being the perfect angry old codger. Take this time to open your mind.
.
I am going to test myself
I am going to test my beliefs.
I am going to test whether I have any beliefs of my own.
I am going to meet people who come from different socio-economic backgrounds than me.
I am going to make friends with people who are of different cultures than me.
I am going to hear stories about people who want something more than I do.
I am going to travel.
I am going to read.
I am going to listen.
When I tell you I want you to go to college I am saying all of the above. I want you to GO to college. Between the years of 18 and 25 if you are sitting on your ass at a computer taking college "classes" you are getting a degree in " I can recite back or look up information". You will not receive a pat on the back from me if you get a certificate through the mail. I will laugh at you, mock you, maybe call you a loser who has no real working knowledge of the world you now claim you are worthy of working in. It's a joke that you are healthy and capable of getting to a school and you choose not to. Oh, and no way am I paying for that on-line tuition. You want a degree from Jamaica? Then get thee on a plane and goest thou there.
A college class consists of a wide variety of people exchanging knowledge and ideas. Online classes allow you to stay in your bubble while holding onto your own beliefs and cultural value system. You are not challenged. You will not be prepared for working out there in the daylight with people whose world view is bigger, broader, and more advanced than yours. You will stay angry and confused most of your day because you have never met people outside your bubble. You will cling violently to the idea that you are "right" in your thinking and that other people are judgmental of you and you may even come to believe that people are bullying you. What people are trying to do is HOLD A CONVERSATION with you. No one is oppressing you because of your beliefs, what they are doing however, is asking you what, when, why, where....and you don't have an answer. College is the place you go to learn how not to argue with people or hate people or be a raging homophobic bigot. College allows people to ask you questions and hold you accountable for your ideologies. It introduces you to movies, music, politics, and ancient beliefs. It is where all the secrets are kept.
College teaches you how to talk to people. It introduces you to culture, religion, and independent thought. It teaches you how not to take yourself so seriously and then allows you in your golden years the chance to hold your head up and tell people, "No, sir, I do DESERVE whatever I get in life because I spent years learning about myself and the world. You sir, can sit down." College is good.
If you come to me between the ages of 18 to 25 holding an online degree I am going to tell you to mow the lawn. That is what your degree is worth to me. What you were taught I learned on YouTube from various professors and I learned it for free. Community college is a wonderful thing. And you'll probably pay less. You cannot live on campus, so be sure to get a job (and an apartment. Dear G-d get an apartment).
As you know I have been in and out of college for years. I really long to be in the classroom. The ideas and information inside a college classroom are addicting. It is a liberating experience to know that there are answers to every question that you have. I sincerely hope you take advantage of college, and if now is not the right time; I hope that you give yourself that time later on in life. It was so very worth it for me. College helps, and it's not at all about getting the right job or a great job...it's about you. YOUR life, YOUR journey. Don't let someone else fill you up with ideas that could make you old and mean and nasty and judgmental at 18. You have so many years to work on being the perfect angry old codger. Take this time to open your mind.
.
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