I was a Teacher. Over four decades I mostly loved and sometimes loathed my plight as an educator. The adults, both parents and admin, made it at best complicated and at worst intolerable. The common denominator of joy was always the kids.
What about today’s kids? Are they smarter? More prepared for the real world? Innovative and creative? Kinder, gentler and loving? Simple answer: not necessarily. In my opinion, American children are suffering under a system designed for failure. Here are some of the reasons:
Common Core: all children must be at the same place at the same time in their academics. There is no room for creativity or detouring from “the plan.”
Race shaming, loss of freedom of speech and gender neutrality: the Golden Rule is a valuable component in all major religions yet it cannot be practiced in the public schools. Treating others as you wish to be treated would certainly contribute to a plethora of accused phobics.
Covid restraints and virtual learning: today’s teachers were never trained to instruct labs, design performances in the performing arts, teach literature or conduct valuable classroom discussions in an atmosphere of the computer screen. Yet if you look at any 2021 fall collegiate curriculum, virtual learning pedagogy is not offered to new teachers. Do we truly believe this is the last pandemic? Do we think virtual learning is a thing of the past?
Lack of due process for teachers: today’s children seem to push the limits of infractions and still receive the I’m OK, You’re OK dispensed consequences. The “unwanted” classroom teacher is no longer fired but instead bullied to resign. Many teachers like me experience it first hand. The shortage of teachers, due to harassment and lack of pay, existed before Covid. The fall of 2021 will see America’s schools in crisis when many teachers do not report back to work in fear of Covid and/or virtual learning.
Ineffective teachers’ colleges: check the resumé's of teacher’s college professors. Many have little to no experience working in today’s public schools. The archaic push for “research” instead of hands-on “how to” has not served our classroom teachers well.
Politically motivated school boards and inept administrators: the most disturbing of all, these people possess the tools to change the dismal landscape of American education. Yet they default to the political whims of the day, unending, pointless meetings and needless professional development proposals.
Did these make you depressed, discouraged and disheartened? Fear not readers. There are solutions. Stay tuned.