Originally Posted by
SoonerDave
Nice sweeping generalization. In the same vein, I'll turn around and blame the lack of general, purposeful education on the left wing's preoccupation with social indoctrination and political correctness.
How about we set aside the political rhetoric and look at part of the problem?
I'd like to invite any of you who believe you have "the" solution to our education problems in this state (or nation) to spend a day in the classroom(s) and neighborhood where my wife teaches. On a good parent-teacher night, perhaps one or two out of ten parents (or guardians) will bother showing up. When she needs to make contact with parents (or guardians) about behavior or performance problems, she generally gets a) indifference, b) anger, or sometimes even c) blame.
Or I'll have you spend some time in the classroom where a co-worker's wife teaches, and when forced to call a parent about their unruly child misbehaving in class, was told "Oh, no, during the day, he's YOUR responsibility. I have nothing to do with him." And that's an absolutely true story.
See, there's this patently ridiculous (or perhaps "naive" is a more apt word) notion in our society that if you stick a kid in a building labeled "SCHOOL" for six hours a day that the teachers who interact with them for, perhaps, five of those hours are going to make them all astrophysicists, nuclear engineers, and brain surgeons, all while overcoming the consequences of their parents'/guardians' manifest indifference toward the educational process. Or, better still, you can come wave the magic wand of educational genius on a neighborhood in Arlington where my daughter just served on a mission trip, to find virtually an entire apartment complex of unattended children. Kids raising kids. No parents in sight. For several days in a row.
And in the midst of all this, we wonder why our educational scores are failing, and blame teachers and school systems. If it weren't so pathetic, it'd be laughable. I can't fathom why any young person would want to be a teacher.
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