I had the title of this post stenciled on the back of a T-shirt a few years ago. Few people caught the error in logic implied by the phrase, but I’m not surprised. I taught college (and a few years of high school) for quite a while, and I think our national collective intelligence is essentially an elevator in freefall. Woe unto us. But I’m not going to blame video games or text messaging. Au contraire. The fault lies within the educational system itself.
Consider this for starters: we’re teaching the same curriculum that was taught over eighty years ago, one based on the philosophical assumption of ancient times that a student could learn all that was knowable. Hence, the basic subjects were put on the menu and have remained there, like mystery meat and chicken strips during lunch period. (Newsdiver, aka Billy—sometimes Eric Clapton—has a Masters in both English and Education, so he knows whereof he speaks.)
Making matters worse, we conduct the daily schedule at most schools with a supermarket mentality. The students go down one aisle for a few minutes and grab some frozen English, then turn and put a little math in their brain-baskets … and so forth throughout the day.
And then there was Sputnik. (“Huh?” you say.) In 1957, America went bozo because the Russkies launched the famous satellite, and our country thought it was woefully behind in technology. (I think we’ve caught up, don’t you? Jeez.) Ever since, we hear candidates expound on the importance of math and science. Wrong! The problem is basic literacy, folks. The average kiddo can’t read or write very well! Hence, he or she can’t think, can’t analyze.
Alas, we’re not likely to see any change in the status quo, for school principals are reluctant to alter the menu of classroom meat and potatoes since parents want an academic babysitter that looks traditional. It gives them comfort. Meanwhile, critical thinking has been added to the curriculum as “enrichment.” Yeah, right. Were we going to war in Iraq A) to fight terrorism, B) WMD, C) to depose Saddham, D) oil, E) because God told George Bush to do so, F) all of the above, G) some of the above, E) none of the above, F) what's Iraq?
No wonder people couldn’t figure out my T-shirt . . . or that we’re now led by sound bytes and fear. Today, the educational system gets the Slick Fish Award.
(Picture: Public Domain)
Consider this for starters: we’re teaching the same curriculum that was taught over eighty years ago, one based on the philosophical assumption of ancient times that a student could learn all that was knowable. Hence, the basic subjects were put on the menu and have remained there, like mystery meat and chicken strips during lunch period. (Newsdiver, aka Billy—sometimes Eric Clapton—has a Masters in both English and Education, so he knows whereof he speaks.)
Making matters worse, we conduct the daily schedule at most schools with a supermarket mentality. The students go down one aisle for a few minutes and grab some frozen English, then turn and put a little math in their brain-baskets … and so forth throughout the day.
And then there was Sputnik. (“Huh?” you say.) In 1957, America went bozo because the Russkies launched the famous satellite, and our country thought it was woefully behind in technology. (I think we’ve caught up, don’t you? Jeez.) Ever since, we hear candidates expound on the importance of math and science. Wrong! The problem is basic literacy, folks. The average kiddo can’t read or write very well! Hence, he or she can’t think, can’t analyze.
Alas, we’re not likely to see any change in the status quo, for school principals are reluctant to alter the menu of classroom meat and potatoes since parents want an academic babysitter that looks traditional. It gives them comfort. Meanwhile, critical thinking has been added to the curriculum as “enrichment.” Yeah, right. Were we going to war in Iraq A) to fight terrorism, B) WMD, C) to depose Saddham, D) oil, E) because God told George Bush to do so, F) all of the above, G) some of the above, E) none of the above, F) what's Iraq?
No wonder people couldn’t figure out my T-shirt . . . or that we’re now led by sound bytes and fear. Today, the educational system gets the Slick Fish Award.
(Picture: Public Domain)
1 comments:
I was just putting some dishes away this morning and this line popped into my head. I thought it was pretty clever. So I decided to plunk it into google to see if I maybe heard it somewhere before. Nope, but others have thought of it.
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