Hey, I'm still here and have more comments about our public educational system. This first comment is a little off my subject, but I found it interesting. I just watched an add on TV for a home computerized tutoring system to help your kids do better in school. The interesting part was that the young boy who was using the system said that the system was so good and efficient that he had extra time left over to practice his "Dodge Ball" game. Based on this comment, you could assume the system is for real education and not a bunch of "Fuzz Feel Good" stuf like our public schools. Part of this might be a repeat, but I feel it is worth it.
Try this simple test on any school aged kid and see what you find. Ask them, "Why they are going to school?" You will get a million different answers and none of them are right. As I have said before in my Blogs, if you don't know what you are working for, it is hard to be very motivated. Ask them, "Why do you go to football practice?" and you will get a very different set of answers. Kids know why they are going to football practice, but not public school. They go to football practice so that they can beat the other team. They know that if they do not practice, they won't win. The purpose is clear. So, why is it not clear for our public schools? That is the question and I think I may have, at least, part of the answer.
The reason for going to school can not be some absract reason. It has to be direct and very direct like for football. The kids need a reason not only for going to school, but for doing well, very well in school. Now are you starting to get the idea? Any good definition has to take into account "both" the positive and negative aspects of why our kids are going to school and doing well. First, kids need to be reminded to look around at the commuity and imagine themselves at age 35 or 40. The reason that they need to do this is to start to understand "why" they are going to school. They need to be shown that the quality of life that individual enjoy at ages 35 or 40 are the direct result of how well they did in public school back when they were the ages of these kids. It sounds complicated, but this is the start of understanding why you go to public school. Once they start to make the connection the reason can be further defined.
Back in the 40's and 50's when I went to public school, it was clear for everyone to see that people who did not finish or do well in school were not enjoying a very high quality of life. We could all make the connection back then. What has happened in the past 60 years is that more and more of those who were doing well were called on by government thru the rule of law to share the value of their labor and dicipline with those who did not take advantage of the schooling they were offered for free. Today, it is less clear that doing well in school is the reason for doing well in life. I believe in both positive and negative incentives and thus feel that less should be done for those who have by their own will and action placed themselves in the hole that they find themselves in. We need the examples of their plight to show other that responsible hard work and doing well in school provide the ladder out of their povety hole. It seems the rest of the world gets this message, why not the USA? Why are we dead last in education when we spend the most on education?
I believe in "tough love" too. We would do more for the 40% of our kids who do not graduate from high school by allowing them to sink deeper into their self created poverty rather than giving them a free welfair ride. They do not deserve a very high quality of life at the expense of those who did the right thing. Indirectly, all of these liberal wellfare programs are causing the quality of education in the USA to go down. Think about it and I feel you will agree.
If you agree with me, sit down with your kids or your grand kids and see if you can show them the connection between doing well in school and the quality of their lives in the future. If you can, you will have done more for their education than any increase in school teacher pay or smaller class sizes.
