> In 1960, the main problems were, running in the halls, chewing gum,
> slamming and mistreating locker doors. Move thirty years forward to
> 1990, and the main problems were, teenage pregnancy, drugs & alcohol,
> suicide and violence. Faced with these challenges, it's surprising
> that teachers can teach at all.
As I indicated in other previous postings, and I will retain the personal
perspective here, I have always felt a victim of our schools. When I
reached 7th grade, there began a decline in my grades and I felt
increasingly aloof from academic studies and can think of no individual
teacher that really cared.
Teachers cared more about policing behavior (running in the halls, chewing
gum, slamming and mistreating locker doors) than connecting with and
educating individuals.
And while things are different today (teenage pregnancy, drugs & alcohol,
suicide and violence), I will warrant that my son feels the same
isolation. He has tested out over 140 and has gotten 2 successive F's in
Language Plus, the advanced placement English - project course. It's is
evident that he feels his teacher "hates" him and we get rebuffed in our
approaches to her -- getting the feeling from her that she is "defending
academic integrity" more than trying to reach my son.
Blame the student. Blame the system. But let's not try to make any
fundamental changes in the way we do things.
(My daughter has a language disability and is a wonderful kid with a
retention disorder -- The public school system did a wonderful job of
diagnosing the problem, but absolutely nothing with the solution. The
good note is that she is absolutely blossoming in private school now after
YEARS of (all of our) frustration dealing with The System.
What's a parent to do? And how do we Positively affect and effect The
System so as to generate learning in our children who will be workers in
the learning organizations of tomorrow.
"Insanity is expecting things to change when you continue to do them the
same way."
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've
always gotten."
We cannot maintain the status quo and expect things to improve.
I agree with Gary's last comment:
> It's individuals who'll make the difference in education, not society
or businesses.
But the paranoia in the system rejects most attempts to assist. As I
related before, I tried to help. What I received was a message that
indicated that paranoia and distrust were the norm and that I was at
fault. I put some blame on the unions for maintaining status quo and
received a posting that it is management's fault and that the union is
driving the change.
I get tired of this Blame Frame. "It's the System, Stupid."
--Scott Simmerman "Dr. Scott J. Simmerman" <74170.1061@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>