"I'm not slow. I just savor every stitch"

Schooling vs. Education
February 19, 2006

First, a few quotes and my thoughts:

I hope my kids fall in the 'good soul' category.


Because you said "good soul", I'm willing to bet your kids do fall into that category. If all a parent cares about is grades and numbers, then they've completely lost the point of being a parent...

Anyhow, she has more gripes about the admin. and the educational system and how the kids are being "taught".


I am very blessed to have an administration that has faith in its teachers. I will address the educational juggernaut system in the U.S. momentarily.

I was too busy wondering how I'd get high at lunch or who'd buy us beer that weekend... Looking back now, I can see how some of my best teachers were fed up with my behavior.


I see plenty of students who do stupid crap. Sometimes their grades suffer, sometimes they don't. The frustration I feel is when a student says to me "how did I get a 'D'?" They honestly do not see the connection between their lack of effort and the low grade. They honestly believe that I "gave" them the grade (I always imagine myself in Johnny Carson's Great Karnak hat holding a paper to my forehead and saying "I give this paper an F".) It never occurs to some students that while they are talking, or singing, or otherwise cutting up that I am teaching. When they see a grade on the paper, it never crosses their minds that a grade is merely a percentage. That percentage shows how many of the answers they wrote were correct.

Now, for my rant on the "educational" system in the U.S. with many thanks to John Taylor Gatto (I have a huge intellectual crush on this man)

First it is a misnomer to say "educational." Our children are "schooled." I read recently that college graduates are unable to comparison shop. They are unable to balance a checkbook or understand interest rates on credit cards. Seems to me that is exactly what a capitalist nations wants of its young people...to be ignorant consumers. Doesn't this mean that the system is actually WORKING? (an aside: I am not communist, I am very glad I live in a capitalist nation where I have all the food and toilet paper I want...just don't feed me this horse shit about how important it is for our citizenry to be "educated" when you don't really mean that)

Complusory schooling is a cancer. Force anyone to do anything and they will resent it. Convince someone that it is a "good thing" (ie: parents) and they give up their say in the matter and trust someone else's judgement over their own. Parents and students become obssessed with numbers, grades, performance assessments and other contrived ways of measuring a person. Yup, even us teachers fall into the trap (see my paragraph above about grades.) We stop concerning ourselves with human emotions and endeavors...like intergenerational talks, self-sufficiency and pride in a hard day's work. We keep students locked up in a system that in no way reflects reality and then say idiotic things like "wait until you get into the real world." Why can't we let them into the "real" world now? Why do we keep them in school for at least 16 years?

Here's what JTG says:
Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important: how to live and how to die.


I will contrast my upbringing with my husband's (and I do not mean to suggest one is better than the other, just pointing out different approaches)

My father is the child of an immigrant farmer father and an Alabama raised farmer mother. My mother's father was a newspaper man. Her mother a homemaker until she was widowed, at which time she became a buyer at a local department store.

Both my parents went to college. Our house was covered in books...walls and walls of books. My father taught at FSU, served as department chair twice, retired after 30 years and currently works in the US parks and recreation dept. He will retire from them within the year and plans to write a book (but he's been planning this since I was 6....so I'm not holding my breath.) My mother has worked as an English teacher, medical transcriptionist and Medical Records director. They both have trouble with alcohol. Their marriage was terribly troubled and my brother and sister were witnesses to terrible fights. When I came along, they were pretty much numbed by drink, apathetic to each other and trying to put on a good public face.

Neither of my parents EVER encouraged us in school. Bad grades, good grades: whatever...just don't fail out. We were never told about going to college. ACT, SAT...what the hell? We had no clue. But I spent many hours listening to grown ups debating politics, artifical intelligence, computers vs. typwriters...you name it. I remember sing alongs at a friend's piano (usually American standards and musical scores.) I remember dancing to Greek music. I remember listening to adults making up nonsense words and puns and the groans that go with them (sometimes I even attempted my own...though not as successfully as the grown ups.) I remember going to church (I wasn't raised Jewish). I remember that my parents were friends with Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Atheists. I remember news stories: Ted Bundy, Bobby Sands, Beirut, Russians in Afghanistan, Yassar Arafat....

My brother screwed up his life with drugs and alcohol and has, at times, lived out of his car. The last time I saw him, he was staying with my sister. On his book shelf was a Spanish/English dictionary and a biography of some baseball player. He's a drunk and a bum (it's true), but he still has a need to know things. My sister always reminded me of Marcia Brady. Little Miss High School. Plenty of boyfriends and always starring in the school play. She was a teacher, but her health now prevents her from working full time. She works as a substitute teacher and is a private tutor who uses rather radical methods to help students. I did miserably in high school. I didn't drink (too much) or do drugs, thanks to learning from my brother. My grades sucked. Mainly 'cause I was too busy reading or crocheting. I managed to get into a college and promptly got pregnant. Marriage, divorce, finally a college degree and here I am. Learning every day, sucking up knowledge like a sponge. Reading, knitting, teaching myself anything that strikes my fancy. Curious beyond belief. I pray often and feel very close to God.

My husband's mother is the daughter of Hungarian immigrants who settled in New Jersey. After high school she was sent to the finest secretarial school they could find (remember, this is the early 60's). His father was a pig farmer in North Carolina. He ran away from home, lied about his age and joined the Coast Guard. The two met while he was stationed in the Northeast. They were determined to give their two children (my hub and sister-in-law) the best.

My husband did not grow up in a house full of books (don't read a lot into this, folks, I'm just contrasting). His mother said to me once that Dr. Suess "sucked" (sacrilege!)His mother reads. His father reads the paper. He doesn't remember being read to that much. Hubby does read for pleasure, as does his sister. But I've seen him read only one non-fiction book. He has negative memories of church and religion. His parents were very involved in their children's "education." They made sure they had good grades. When the sister had diffictulties reading, she was signed up for summer tutoring and reading workshops. My husband worked hard to get good grades. His mother wanted him to be a doctor and he wasn't going to let her down. To them "money=success." They are "numbers" kind of people.

Please understand that I love my in-laws. They are good, hard working people who raised a great man. I am merely trying to show a difference in attitude

My husband says he still has nightmares about failing tests. He rarely shows extreme curiosity in anything. Sure he's curious, but never enough to find out more...usually he asks me to look it up (ha ha). He does his job. He's not crazy about it, but it pays the bills and makes it possible to buy things he wants and to support a family. He doesn't buy into "human fulfillment." He's just not one to ponder "purpose." He's probably the lucky one. But I do see his mom searching for it. She is still very wrapped up in numbers: the number of dollars in sales she had in a year (she's a real estate agent), how much my husband's salary is (or anyone's for that matter), how much things are worth. But she seems far from fulfilled. She is earnestly seeking fulfillment. She says she just wants her kids to be happy. She talks a lot about the "important" things like family and God and "making memories."

She often sighs "I'll win the lottery and buy everyone what they want."

In my mind, she is an example of what happens when you put a lot of value on what our country calls "education." And it makes me very sad.




Posted by Sara at 8:14 PM

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