Education

Let me get up on my soapbox really quick.  All of the major issues that our country faces right now could be solved with more attention given to the youth and their education, or lack thereof.  

Today’s education is constantly lowering the bar so that more kids can sneak over.  And people wonder why we are falling farther behind in education and technical fields.  The answer is: retooling our current education system as a progressive system of education.  

Early in the education process, schools need to be safe, nurturing places that give the student a place of refuge and support.  Class sizes need to be small and each step of the educational process should be based on the child’s readiness.  Once the children get to the middle school level the education program will become more specific to their interest levels.

When I was in Junior High (7th – 9th grade) we were mandated to take each of the “shop classes” for a quarter each.  These technical arts classes included metal work, woodwork, automotive and drafting, and electronics.  For nine weeks you were given a chance to find your niche, or find that this wasn’t your path.  Also, we were required to take four areas of Home Economics.  This was made up of cooking, sewing, child development, and health/hygiene courses.  

When you came out of the 7th grade you now had an idea of what you liked and didn’t like.  These classes were “fun”.  They called for creativity.  Add physical education, choir, and art classes to this list and you now have a well-rounded education.  And this is from a kid who can’t carry a note in a bucket and whose idea of the human form is to draw a stick man.  

Today you get the math, science, social science, and language arts.  And that was it.  My son, who went to elementary school in California, had no organized physical education, no art or music classes.  And you wonder why kids don’t want to go to school.  Those classes were a break from the drudgery of “school”.  I was amazed that one parent complained that they were spending too much time on the Christmas play.  I argued that giving the child the confidence to stand up in front of an audience was a trait that would become more important than thirty more minutes of some class.

The fact is that 75% of the kids in today’s classrooms are not book learners, but because of overcrowding in schools, much is left to the kids to figure out for themselves in the form of homework.  Parents want to blame the teachers but during the pandemic, they got a taste of trying to get their children to pay attention.  When schools were reopened the parents were quick to send them back.  But the education issues were not changed.  The classes were still too large and the ability to excite the child to learn hasn’t been changed.   And more importantly, the educators are being barely paid above poverty levels.  Unfortunately, we are getting what we paid for.  Teachers are doing their best but they have no support or no relief in sight.

When students show an aptitude and a desire to move off the normal education plan, don’t force them to read J.D. Salinger.  Let them read the guide to welding.  Let them work on their culinary skills.  

We put more money into our prison system than we do our education systems.  When we pay teachers more the quality of the pool will improve.  Turn education into a business.  This is the simplest way to balance the equality of this country.  Everyone has the same opportunity.  If you don’t take it.  That’s on you.