Summer is almost over, not the actual
equinox version of summer but the mental version that we carry around from our
childhood days. The kids are back in school in most places. In more northern
areas school won’t start until after Labor Day. That’s the way it was when I
was grinding through grades K through 12. Teachers, administrators and other
academic types are back at their jobs full time. School buses are rolling,
morning and evening. Before you know it it’ll be time for Thanksgiving break.
It’s always interesting to me how every
new school year is so, well, new. You
would think that a school year was never started in the past. From top
administrators down to the dear lunch room staff there is a completely addled
attitude. Bus routes need to be re-learned. Schedules and room assignments are
jumbled and kids are standing around bewildered. Of course the students seem no
more bewildered than the principals and teachers who run helter-skelter trying
to fix computer foul-ups and other conflicts. With all the pre-school-year
orientations and in-service workshops don’t you think there could have been a
little more attention given to basic things? But no, those sessions are spent
talking about the psychology of success, or inspiring students and peers, or
eliminating bullying, or the proper method of completing federally mandated
paperwork. A simple run through of bus routes and daily schedules might
alleviate most of the opening day problems.
We throw a ton of money at our schools.
We want them to be the best. We want our children to get a good start in life
and we want them to learn enough to move on to higher education or to a decent
job in the work force. There are thousands of good, dedicated teachers who are
committed to the task of passing knowledge on to the little empty-heads sitting
in the classrooms. There are layers upon layers of administrators above those beleaguered
teachers, equally committed to making the task of teaching a bureaucratic
nightmare. And of course above those administrators are the members of school
boards, various departments of state governments, and the far reaching arms of
the federal educational bureaucracy, not to mention well-meaning but
foolish politicians. It’s not hard to figure out that a very big piece of the
taxpayers’ contribution to the system goes to maintaining the system, and a
relatively small piece gets doled out at the proper end of the chain of
command.
So the money for the kids and teachers
is hijacked. Then the states and “feds” pile bureaucratic baloney on to the
teachers, local school officials, school nurses, and even the lunch room
staff. All kinds of “mandates” must be
met if some federal or state funding is to reach the individual schools. And
then there are the requirements for the “Common Core” initiative which is an
unholy alliance between the federal educational bureaucracy and certain
corporate entities. In the end we’re lucky if a kid can read, write and do
simple math after thirteen years in the system. Actually many of them can’t. So
off they go to a two year college to take remedial reading, writing and
arithmetic so that they can then take some dumbed down college courses. What a
cycle of delusion and despair.
Of course there are some children who
will learn stuff in spite of the system.
Lots of kids are curious and if given a little direction and a little
more attention they’ll find a way to suck up some education. But many
youngsters, after running up against the limitations brought about by the
stifling system, give up. They coast along, getting bumped up year after year,
and eventually graduate totally unprepared for work or life outside their
childhood homes.
What a pessimist I am. I started out thinking about the pleasures of
a new school year and I ended up depressing myself by thinking about the
thousands and thousands of kids who won’t have the chance to truly succeed in
our current educational system. If you've read all this way you may be
depressed as well. So maybe I can come up with a little encouragement. Okay. If
you’re a parent pay attention to your kids’ schools, be a watchdog, make sure
your kid gets some teachers who still have the heart for teaching, and be an
advocate for less bureaucracy and more real education. If you don’t have kids in school don’t ignore
the problems that I've mentioned. You are probably a taxpayer so it’s your
money that is feeding the system. Pay attention. Don’t put dummies on the
school boards. Don’t expect money to solve all of the problems. Resist elected
officials and bureaucrats who encourage wasteful spending. Remember that a new
school building does not guarantee any improvement in education. I’d rather see
some way of raising the compensation of good teachers than building a new
monument to some overpaid superintendent of schools.
Okay. I’m done now. Think about this
stuff. It’s important. Now have a fine day.
