Moving on. When you really think about it, you really can't get to interested in anything unless you have a good reason and it is the same with education. Why would a person spend all that time reading books and studying Math if they had no
"Reason". If that is the case then, maybe, we need to make sure the kids have a reason. I know when I was a kid my mother used to say, "if you don't do this, you will be sorry". It might not sound like it, but that was a "Reason". I did not want to be sorry because I had a good idea what I would be sorry about. I think this is one of the biggest reasons why so many of our kids do so poorly in school, they don't have a good reason to do well. With a kid, it is not enough to tell them once why school is good, they need to be reminded every day in some way. Here is my plan.
In my earlier Blogs, I said that the reason for education is to prepare the person so that they can "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend" themselves and their families. The fact that this may be true is not enough. Kids have to understand this and not drift off or be diverted from this basic mission of education. To show how important educatation is, the one thing we could do is to remind them as to how much tax money is spent each year on them in addition to what their parents spend directly. If we were to add in here the time that they spend where they could be out playing or working, it might get their attention. I am not going to develop all the cost here, but it has to be easily over $20,000 per year per kid. All the time that I was in school, I do not ever remember anyone calling my attention to the cost of my education until I went to college. Why not? Seems to me that this is a very important point. There are all kinds of classes where a discussion of the cost of education would appropriate, such as Math or Civics, but it never happened. We had many guest speakers at assemblies, but none ever discussed the real reason that we were in school or how much it cost. What if someone showed you when you were back in school that if the cost of your education were put in the bank at only 5% for the 13 years that you would have $354,260 in the bank when you graduated high school. If this were done, I would have been impressed. How about you?
In English classes they could ask that students write papers explaining why it was important for them to study and get a good education, but they never did. Why not? When I studied the history of the USA and the people who make the country what it is, it is interesting how little attention was directed toward education. I know from simple stories that Abraham Lincolin read books by the light of the fireplace. I also learned that Thomas Jefferson had one of the best personal libraries in the Colonies. When it came to people like Horrace Greely, all I learned about him was that he said, "Go West young man" or something like that. It was not until much later that I found out that he was the father of public education. I never learned in school that emigrants from non English speaking countries tried to learn English as fast as they could and many of their own children were not able to speak the language of where their parents had come from. Why have things changed?
The other thing about our school system is that college is held up as where you are supposed to really learn things and not in High School. High School is just for getting ready for college. If you don't plan on going to college, them what is the reason for High School? I learned a lot in college, but I think that I learned a lot more of the really important things right in High School. How about you? When colleges is held up as the end game, it undermines the real reason why one is in High School. My father used to ask when I came home from school if I had learned anything that day and I oftern said, "No". He always came back with, "then why go back again tomorrow?" I think that we need to keep it simple as to why school and education is important and that is why I am advocating the object is just to prepare you to "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend" yourself and your family.
Do your kids really know the reason why they have to go to school? If they don't, you are not doing your job as a parent nor is the school that you are sending you kids too.
