California, a beautiful state, with tons of promise, tons of people, and no money. What’s wrong with this picture? We personally pay $4,000 a year in property taxes. I have a friend who just bought her home a year or so ago and they pay $12,000 in property taxes. We pay a ton in income tax, and 9.25% in sales tax.
Why am I bringing this up? I’m angry. Really angry. Seething might even be a good word for it.
Last night, our school district made a brilliant (please note my sarcasm) decision to keep team sports and ELIMINATE 80 teachers. HELLO? What is the purpose of high school? It is NOT to raise athletes. It is to prepare our youth for the future. Explain to me how that will happen with larger class sizes, fewer teachers, and keeping team sports. Rah rah. Go sports. Don’t get me wrong, I was a varsity swimmer for 3 years in high school. I know and well understand sports. But, give me a break. Josh is in a summer school class that has FIFTY students. Can you please explain to me how a teacher can *teach* English to 50 students? I didn’t think you could.
I’m so frustrated. We live in a decent area and our high school is decent. Not great, but not bad either. (Supposedly.) Having said that, I recently learned that of 550 seniors, more than 100 did NOT graduate this year. What’s wrong with this picture?
You know what’s wrong with this picture? We’re not teaching the way kids learn. Steven keeps telling me that our educational system is archaic. At first, I just rolled my eyes at him, but now, really opening my eyes and looking at everything, and watching how my own son “lives”, I think Steven is right. When I was in high school, there were lots of electives, lots of options, small classes, and the teachers taught. Not only did they teach, but, if you were like me, and you were completely bored out of your skull, they found ways to engage you and help you grow to your potential. Now, teachers teach to the lowest level of the class. Last year, Josh went to summer school and they discussed verbs. Verbs. That’s ALL they did for THREE weeks. Can you even imagine? I can’t!
Students of today literally have the world at their fingertips. The internet has brought globalization not only to businesses but also to education. Yet it is almost completely untapped. Maybe it’s time to look at how we teach our kids and WHAT we teach them, and explore a whole new world of learning. Maybe it’s time to re-examine the subjects and re-examine the delivery methods. Is it perhaps time to admit that shoving kids into big schools and having them stagnate, sitting in rooms with underpaid, intelligent teachers who are not motivated because they are worried about losing their jobs is not working? In May, there was a special election. The initiatives, which would have cost taxpayers even more, lost. Josh came home from school a couple of days after the election and announced that all they were doing in all of his classes was watching movies. Huh? Wait. You mean, instead of doing school work you are watching movies? “Yes, Mom. The teachers are tired of trying to get everyone to behave and we’re watching movies. I hate school.”
How can you hate school? School is an opportunity to learn all about the world of math, literature, history…. oh wait, when and how will you use this in the rest of your life. Um, yea. Um, let me think. Geometry…. er, I use it when I quilt. But, I don’t actually DO the geometry, that’s why I have a computer. Hmmmm.
The more I think about it, the more I really believe that home schooling and even unschooling are a far more viable alternative for our children than traditional education. The system is broken. It is time to develop a new, brighter, better way to teach our youth. Think about this for a minute. In 40 years, we will be senior citizens (ok, sooner than that, I know, I’m just throwing out a number!). Our kids of today will be in charge of the world. How’s that image working for you? Liking what you see? I don’t know that I so much do!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for education. Everyone has the right and deserves a good education. But, maybe our system needs to be completely trashed and we should start over. California has something called “Virtual Academy”. It looks like a great program. It’s all online, and offers tons of classes. Proponents say that the children learn more and learn better. Opponents say that there is a lack of socialization. Hmmm. Perhaps we need to take off our blinders and involve our kids in other activities that provide socialization. Did you know that you’re sending your child to school for socialization? I always got in trouble for socializing in school! I didn’t know that was the PURPOSE! How come no one ever told me that! I’d have gotten an A in that too!
With all the money we are paying in taxes, one would think we could figure out a way to educate our children. Instead, we’re doing things that, to be honest, don’t matter to me. I want someone to wake up and smell the coffee. Get a grip and help build our future. Stop hiding your head in the sand and saying “oh no, we need to save sports” and instead say “oh no, we need to save OUR FUTURE!” Won’t it be a proud day when the state and country are run by athletes? Hmmmm, unless it is Phil Jackson, no! Oh wait, he’s a coach. Never mind.
Okay, well, I’m sort of done with my tirade, for now, but I haven’t found a solution. We’re looking into a charter high school for this Fall, for Josh, to get him some semblance of a real education and smaller classes, but for now, Virtual Acadeny is not for us. We both work so we aren’t sure how you supervise a kid while you’re working. Hmmm. I don’t know what the answer is, to be honest, but what we’re doing now isn’t working. The kids are failing and falling through the educational cracks. We need to come up with a solution and we need to do it fast. Here in Califorinia at least, our government is NOT working to raise children who will be able to run this state (and our country). We’re raising kids who have street skills, learned in school, and know how to survive. What the heck is that all about?
-Take care and have a great weekend.
Thanks for stopping by, I’ll try to post more. I’m finishing up my first project for Typography class, so maybe more on that soon.
treated me to Italian Gelato, one of my very favorite foods from way back when I went to Italy in 1982. While it wasn’t quite as good at the mall as it was in Venice, it was still yummy! While we ate it, we sat at the food court and people watched. I sat us so we could see a booth where they are selling, no joke, “electronic cigarettes.” The more I watched, the more appalled I was, and Karen too! If you look in the photo, (I’m sorry it isn’t clearer, but I took it with my iphone), you can see that the lady working the register (blonde) has a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. There were NO older people looking these things, only teens and young adults. The screen, which isn’t legible in any of the photos I took, flashes photos of people smoking “everywhere”, like restaurants, etc. This booth touts that it is to help people quit smoking, but the goal of all of the videos was how cool smoking is. How these electronic cigarettes can contain 4 different levels of nicotine, and come in 8 flavors. Come on, these are not about quitting…
