wanderinggardener12
Active Member
71 messages
joined Jun 2012
I find myself viewing this through two distinct lenses: that of a parent—with one child aged 4 and another at 20—and that of an educator. When my eldest was navigating the school system, I experienced the trials of being a parent of a student, and now, after twenty years in the classroom, I carry the weight of professional experience as well.
Backpacks
In my school, every student is assigned their own locker, yet they rarely utilize them in any meaningful way; more often than not, those lockers become catch-alls for everything except actual school supplies. Their backpacks are just as burdensome. In the English classes I teach, the students generally know what they need for the upcoming period, though about 80% of them still end up lugging everything to class regardless. For instance, if I tell them they’ll need their notebooks and workbooks for the next session, they’ll show up with the textbook and a reader as well.
On numerous occasions, I have looked into a child's bag only to find books for subjects they aren't even studying that day, alongside a chaotic assortment of other items: notebooks, toys, reading assignments from three months ago, geometry sets they haven't touched in weeks, old food and juice boxes, and crumpled, dirty gym clothes sitting right next to a perfectly clean set waiting to be worn.
Creative Pedagogy and Education
In a classroom of thirty students, it is nearly impossible to fully individualize every activity, yet many educators at my school strive to reach every single student, designing lessons where children actually *do* things rather than just sit there.
However, despite the presence of various NGOs, the national plan and program, and the national curriculum, the syllabus remains incredibly bloated. A teacher is constantly racing against the clock just to cover what is mandated.
The issue isn't necessarily the methods themselves, but the sheer lack of time. In an English curriculum, one should ideally focus on honing language competencies—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—not to mention developing functional literacy. Instead, a fifth grader is expected to master nine different parts of speech within the language block alone!
If a teacher insists on assigning projects, encouraging research, or incorporating game-based learning, there is simply no way they will meet the requirements set by the Department of Education and the school administration. The luxury of breaking the rules can only be afforded by someone eccentric enough to ignore the consequences or financially independent enough to not care about their career. If you don't follow the Department of Education's mandates, you're failing; if you do, you're also failing, because in the rush to finish the material, the children inevitably miss out on much more vital learning.
Political Influence
Neither parents nor teachers possess any real influence over the government, even though both parties care deeply about the outcome.
Education is often treated as the last priority in the budget. It seems this society is only interested in money—and specifically, fast money with minimal investment. Education doesn't offer quick returns; it takes ten or twenty years for a generation to truly mature, so investing in schooling cannot be presented as an immediate profit in today's currency.
Parents
There will be no progress until parents realize that school isn't just a daycare center where they can drop off their kids while they work—hoping to avoid dealing with them both during the workday and at home. There will be no change until they understand that, much like any other business, you have to invest if you want results; for example, supporting smaller class sizes to ensure better outcomes. It won't happen until it becomes clear that $400 the annual cost for textbooks amounts to $33 per month—money some people blow on cigarettes in five days—or until they recognize that teachers who educate and raise their children work eight hours or more, not just the five hours spent inside the classroom.
Furthermore, the relationship between parents and schools won't improve until some realize that the school isn't solely responsible for raising a child. Many parents aren't willing to take accountability for their own upbringing of their children. It is far easier to blame the school for failures in parenting: if the child is aggressive, it’s the school's fault; if they are anti-social, it’s the school; if the child is unhappy, no one thinks to spend a few weeks actually playing with them or ensuring the parents aren't constantly at each other's throats at home. If a child is "lazy," spoiled, or combative, they'll claim it's the school's doing, rather than admitting it's the result of parents who are absent until 7:00 PM every night.
Teachers
They work for a paycheck, and after 20 years on the job—$1933. It’s a mistake to assume they only put in five hours a day. Making an assumption like that would be no different than trying to calculate the hourly rate of a judge or a lawyer by only counting the time they spend sitting in a courtroom.
A proper assessment of a teacher's workload should be conducted by people who actually possess the necessary competence and qualifications to understand what they're looking at. As for standardized testing—well, sure, if they decide to implement rigorous testing for every single public servant, and if I were given the chance to test everyone working in healthcare, law enforcement, administration, or the arts, then perhaps we could have a conversation.
