Opus 2015-375: Smoke, Mirrors and Hammers

Public education is broken.  I didn’t do it.  Really.  It was that way when I got here.

What started as groups of parents trying to pool their resources to help their children get ahead has become a political football to brainwash the masses so they don’t see their liberty being eroded.  We have gone from the one room schoolhouse in Little House on the Prairie to 1984.

Today if you came into my classes and got to know the students, their abilities, their self-control and their goals in life you would see that the classes were put together with the goal of keeping anyone from reaching excellence.  I have classes that are supposed to be honors or gifted.  These terms are school jargon for “impress the parents.”  In every one of these classes I have students who either have no academic skills or who have so little self control that they are nothing but a disruptive influence and keep others from learning.  In my basic classes I have students who would blossom if placed in the “honors” class but they are surrounded by students who think a good day in school is getting kicked out of at least two periods.

I think we need three, dare I say the word, “tracks” in education.  These are based on admitting why the students are here and why the government feels they need to use coercion to get them here.

    Those who want to learn
    Those who are just there for the babysitting
    Those who are disciples of anarchy

While I call these “tracks” they would be more like lanes.  A person would be allowed to switch tracks any time they have a serious desire to change their motivation.  They could, like a speeder on the freeway, be pulled over by the attitude police if they are demonstrating that they don’t really want to be in that lane or if their reckless driving is causing others to have a wreck.

Anyone who wants to learn should be welcomed at school.  That is the reason most people say we have schools.

Many are simply there because that is the place to be.  Maybe they don’t have A/C at home.  Maybe they are bored with Oprah and Jerry.  Maybe they want to be with their friends.  Fine.  They might accidently learn something and we need to be open to that.  As long as they don’t keep others from learning, welcome.

Then we have the hard cases.  They don’t want to be there or, if they do, it is to cause problems.  It is like a criminal wanting to rob a bank in a gun free zone.  It is a lot more fun.  The key is that no matter how much they claim to want an education, behavior says different.  I can talk about improving my golf game all I want but if I won’t take lessons and practice what I am shown, I am just killing grass and using oxygen.  I should be banned from the real thing and limited to miniature golf courses.

No one will listen.  They are into smoke and mirrors when a hammer is needed.  My fear is that public education is so broken that it cannot be repaired.  It needs to be replaced.

I don’t want to be a babysitter.  I don’t want to be a cop.  I want to be a teacher.

homo unius libri