What's Wrong With Education?

Ever since I can remember as a teacher, there has been so much criticism of our public schools. As an experienced teacher, I view some of the criticism as being valid. However, much criticism is simply an extension of hate speak.

I was monitoring a discussion on a message board concerning the faults of our educational system and the people arguing were making the whole discussion much too simplistic: One group argued that poor schools greatest need is an infusion of money. While the counter point was that teachers are horrible and students don't want to work hard enough.

After watching the argument go back and forth, I began compiling a free-flowing list of things that can be wrong with schools, parents, teachers, and kids. What follows is my stream of conscious thoughts, not particularly polished, edited, or organized.

• Kids don't give a flip.
• Children are learning more than ever, but it doesn't seem to be enough to satisfy people.
• Teachers are over-taxed and stressed out.
• Expectations on teachers and children are unrealistic.
  
• Parents and administrators wield accountability over teachers like a dagger.
• Parents bad-mouth teachers in front of their kids.
• Teachers bad-mouth parents in front of their classes.
• Administrators bad-mouth teachers and parents in front of each other.
• States are not funding schools at levels mandated by law.
• Federal government butts in with regulation mandates yet doesn't fund resources needed to attain proficient levels.
• Significant numbers of kids come from broken homes.
• Kids are awash in a warped social culture that values immoral behavior.
• Some children may get left behind. Not all children can learn. 100% is an unattainable goal.
  
• Religion is banned from schools.
• Religion is over-bearing in schools.
• Violence is a real threat or at least a real fear.
• Teachers aren't trained enough to know their craft.
• Education is not a family priority.
• Sports are more important to the community than education.
• Kids aren't in school long enough over the course of the year.
• Kids aren't in school enough during the day.
• Localities are more concerned with cutting taxes than providing all of the resources that schools need.
• School physical plants are aging rapidly and are not being replaced or modified fast enough
• Inner city schools are pits.
• Generations of kids are missing a generation in the home. These kids are being raised by their parent's parents.
• Men have abandoned families.
• Teachers assign too much homework that serves no educational purpose.
• Children are not taught to think, analyze, or evaluate. Instead they are taught to pass tests.
• The Secretary of Education labeled members of the NEA as terrorists.
• Many kids do not have school supplies.
• Many schools do not have paper clips (I personally bought my school paper clips a few years ago).
• Schools are beginning to get technology upgrades, but they receive little professional training.
• Teachers aren't financially encouraged to continue their education.
• Elementary teachers have little to no planning time with their colleagues.
• Ridiculous lawsuits against innocent teachers abound.
• Special education (Federal program) is out of control.
• Kids can buy snacks and sodas at lunch.
• Gangs. Rap Culture. Hate speak.
• Teachers can't effectively discipline kids without parents becoming enraged.
• ESL (English as a Second Language-old terminology) kids are flooding our schools.
• Trained EEL(English Language Learners-new terminology) teachers are hard to find.
• Too often secondary teachers are pulled from the business world without adequate teacher preparation.
• Kids are carted everywhere after school: to dance, to piano, to football, to Karate, to swimming, to soccer, to basketball, to church.
• Families do not sit down to meals together anymore.
• Families do not go to church.
• Video games suck kids and their parents into altered states.
• Kids don't have reasonable family chores.
• Many children come to school hungry and live in poverty at home.
• Prejudice abounds.
• In many states(including VA) there is a huge funding disparity between school divisions.
• Teachers are not paid a wage commensurate with their education.
  
• The public does not value education.
• Criticism of education is nothing more than hate spiked lip service, instead of being truly constructive.
• Our government seems more inclined to spend billions every month on destructive missions than helping build our future at home.
• Television overcomes family.
• Children are assaulted with media streams: cell phones, TV, i-Pods, DVD's, My Space, IM, Internet, etc.
• We live in an instant world that expects instant results instantly.
• The average teacher quits after five years in favor of a better paying and less stressful job.
• There is a silent epidemic of kids with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), Asthma, and Autism.
  
• Children do not know how to grip their pencils properly or write legibly.
• Recess is too safe.
• Children and parents are too afraid of the world.
  

Not all of these are wrong every time, but some of these are wrong some of the time. Until our country gets its collective head screwed back on straight, our public education system will continue under extreme stress....

Then again maybe nothing is really wrong with our educational system. Perhaps people just like to grumble a bit.