What’s wrong with our schools? I think maybe we’ve tried too hard to "fix" something that wasn’t broken!

Think back with me a while. Sometime after President Eisenhower changed the Pledge of Allegiance. There always seems to be some "guru", usually a doctoral candidate pushing his or her thesis, that has come up with a new and wonderful way to do things. Their "scientific studies" always promise better student learning, and they come with a great sales pitch, often purchased by those in control of schools that are below average. (Remember, statistically, half of all school MUST be below average...) Too often, the administrators that "buy" into these new programs, much like a religious experience, feel that this is now the ONLY way to do things. Remember "windowless" classrooms? Remember "open" classrooms? Remember the "new" math? I can even remember that foniks wrkd 4 me! Remember when "mainstreaming" was made more politically correct by calling it "full-inclusion?" How about "values education?" Who’s values?

The latest incarnation is apparently "brain-based" learning. When will WE learn? I always thought that all learning was "brain-based" anyway. A good teacher has ALWAYS taught to the student’s needs. Many teachers have many ways that they do this successfully. I don’t believe that there is "one" great way, until, and unless, we can wire the brain directly to a computer and download facts and philosophies!

As I look back to my own education, I have to reminisce about the teachers that I remember from so long ago. It might be fun for you to try it too. Which teachers do you remember? Do you really remember the "normal" ones, or like me, do you remember most fondly the ones you either loved or hated? I remember Mr. Combes, the first male teacher I had. In 6th grade we had to outline EVERY paragraph in our geography book! When I broke a finger on my writing hand, he insisted that I continue with the other hand! How awful! But I’ll tell you what, I remember that geography from 1959! Besides, he played softball with us at recess. Miss Clark, my freshman English teacher, how I hated her! She made us copy poetry constantly! I figured it was already written, and I could read it, but why, oh why, spend night after night copying it! Who knows, but to this day I enjoy reading poetry! Mr. Wilson, my first algebra teacher, inspired me with the logic of the equation. Mr. Lawrence, against my will, forced me to learn a few lines from Shakespeare, which I remember to this day. Mrs. Cowan, wonderful, supportive, showed me how far I could go.

Enough! Have you looked back and remembered what, or more properly who, it was that inspired your learning? I hold that it was your teachers and their individual ways, not some new-fangled system.

I’ve got to mention one other thing that has changed education drastically. This is somewhat difficult for me to say since I have two children that have become attorneys, but nevertheless.... We, like most other teachers across the nation, have to go through several day of "pre-planning" before the children start back to school. Increasingly, the emphasis, of necessity, for many meetings, is the threat of litigation, losing our licenses, losing accreditation, etc. All the legal ramifications of everything we do. It’s got to be intimidating to a new teacher! Not only that, but much of the school schedule is mandated, not by academics, but by lunch and bus schedules! I’m glad I’m not an administrator!

On a closing note, I heard this past week, that an elementary teacher from Bartow County, went to work, taught happily all day, and then returned to the parking lot where she found her car still running! Pre-occupation? Stress? Who knows! Always carry your keys in your pocket!