Can you name the top 3 priorities our schools have in this country? A better question is, “Is one of them ‘educate’”? Washington’s big hearted, ivy- league educated, braintrust has decided that the objective of schooling is to feed, psycho-analyze, babysit and politically indoctrinate the youth of America. There are programs for what nutrition requirements, regardless of parental involvement; afterschool daycare, psychological counseling etc, in lieu of educating…but why? Is it because our public school teachers are so very adept at all these endeavors? Almost 50% of teachers quit within 5 years, so perhaps they aren’t. What about the argument that the kids “need” this to be the very best they can be in society? The numbers don’t add up…as most of the public school students on all these programs don’t end up running Apple or Morgan Stanley. Could it be that parents don’t feel a need to rear their progeny because the government has said they know what’s best? The same people in Washington know what’s best for inner city NY or California kids, as well as farm raised North Dakota kids. Wow. I think Napoleon would call that “hubris”.
We have a problem. Clearly. What do we do? Keep going along the failed approach, or reach back to the old methods that worked for my generation, but more importantly, the generations before us. Can it really be that simple?
1) Schools teach. Math, not fairness or global warming. English, not how America hates immigrants. Starting to see my point?
2) Teachers teach. This is not a movie, teachers are not warriors to step in the middle of fights, or reach the inner child who never got to express their rage over not enough breast feeding. They are the givers of knowledge and the good ones teach critical thinking.
3) Students learn. They get taught, they take tests, they get graded on their ability to cognitively progress. If one student is retarded, then they should be pulled out of the class instead of slowing down the whole class. This goes for disruptive students too. ADD is not an excuse to be an asshole.
4) Dean/Principle can discipline. Everything from expulsion to lecturing…but the kid must know that doing wrong, has consequences. This stuff is so radical isn’t it?
5) Follow through with punishments. Why do we think that all kids are good, or even salvageable? Some kids are just assholes. It probably means their parents were assholes, but not always. Kick them out, introduce them to remedial schools, taught by prison guards. It’s a good way to get them prepared for prison. One bad child shouldn’t be able to sabotage the rest of the class. If a lawyer or douchebag with a PHD wants to disagree, that’s fine…they can be the first to teach a class of 35 asshole kids. Hell, we can even arm the kids…to let the lawyer and PHD blowhard get a REALISTIC look at what these kids are capable of.
6) Most important of all. Stop underestimating these kids. They are fooling us. They can organize flash mobs, they can work the system to get what they want. They fool their parents, and some adults that it is a chemical imbalance. Kids are not stupid, even the ones that can’t spell. They know how to manipulate, they know how many grams in an ounce, they know how to beat the rules. We treat them like lambs that are misguided. I am pretty sure that a good swat on the butt will get many of these undisciplined kids to get back in line.
The main issue is the federal government’s inability to focus on the individual student, so they blanket the whole system with idiotic remedies that don’t work, but make them feel good about trying. Shut down the department of Education. Close it. Sell its assets. Fire it’s administrators who are overpaid anyways. Give the states the power to rein in the chaos. Some states will succeed, and some will let it go as is…but at least we will know which methods work, and which don’t…because right now, none of the methods from Washington are working.
Rev.
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