The Observation Deck

So last night, just as I was pulling into a Columbus hotel parking lot with my 16-year-old for a weekend soccer tournament, I got the call that the Saturday games (today’s games) were cancelled. Swell. Turned right around and came back to Lakewood. Nearly five hours of driving and ended up where I started. Went right to bed, and now I’m up.

And I’m starting a new thread because I have a lot on my mind, in fact I think I’m about to really go off. But I really don’t want to interfere with folks discussion of full-day kindergarten. I really don’t have a stake in that and should not have posted in that other thread.

As for my comments on the other thread regarding reading, Justine is right, I am splitting hairs. My bad. But that was not really my beef. My beef was with the notion that children have to be reading at such an early age. And while Justine says she doesn’t know of a single parent who pressures kindergarten teachers to push reading, my wife teaches kindergarten (and younger) children and trust me there are far too many of such parents out there.

I guess there are two factors to education. One, teach things that children need to know. And two, teach the children those things at times when they are most receptive to learning them. I’m no Montessori expert but I do know some things, and I know that Montessori philosophy pays a lot of attention to factor two, which why there is such an emphasis on social, moral and “practicalâ€

Good Morning Tim,

When I read well-thought-out postings like yours, I am reminded of the intense frustration about educational issues and problems, that those of us who have worked within the educational system, have felt for years.

These are not new dilemmas though. The question of what should be taught in our schools, has been around since public schools first came along.

Some have felt that their particular religious, or moral code, should be inculcated in the public school day. Some have felt that certain subject matter should be emphasized, while others felt that other subject matter should be excluded. Some feel that more vocational choices need to be introduced earlier, while others have argued for a greater push for higher-level academics.

Of course, politics also enters into the equation, with liberal/conservative philosophical tilts also coming into play. Years ago, as well, the urban/agrarian philosophies locked horns, which seems to be why children were allowed the summer vacations so that they could help out, down on the farm.

Evolution and Creation went into battle with the Scopes trial, and this discussion still rocks the world of education.

Yes, teachers did work long hours for low pay, until they won the right to the collective bargaining process, and were able to establish better working conditions for themselves, and in my opinion, for their students in the process.

And by the way, I don't think that the "5.5 hour" teaching time that you are referring to, takes into account the myrad of activities that teachers need to do in a school day. If, for example, you have 5 classes of 30 students each- in a single day, you may well have 150 assignments daily to grade, umpteen calls to make, several conferences to participate in, lessons plans to complete, and course preparation to achieve. Additionally, there is, and there must ALWAYS be, time available to help individual students in the process of the school day.

I'm with you on the testing issue. Testing, in my opinion, needs to be diagnostic/prescriptive, and never punitive, or one-size-fits-all. That testing situation needs to change. We are placing altogether too much testing emphasis and pressure on children, in my opinion.

The increasing disconnect from local control troubles me, as well. It's one thing to ask for standards, and quite another to take more and more school decisions away from the local communities.

All of this is, simply put together, the dynamics of the American free educational system. A system that, with all its warts, has (perhaps at times, surprisingly) placed us in a historic role in world leadership.

Could American education be improved? Probably, but remember, that very much depends on what people mean by "improvement" I suppose, and that's the tough and never-ending question.

I guess nobody will ever get everything they want out of organized education.

Victor Wooten recently gave an interview with Freetimes: http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/48/victor-wooten. His wife stays at home and teaches the kids and manages the finances. we have to assume she is reasonably capable of that. most parents wouldn't be. and most musicians never turn pro.

If the purpose of an education system is to meet the needs of its society there are adjustments that have to be made. the needs of the society have to be adjusted. and then the output of the education system need to be adjusted.

We probably need more factory workers, mechanics, machinists, mill workers, railway workers, and farm laborers. we probably have more lawyers, bureaucrats, economists, and social workers than we need. we may even have more doctors than we can both need and afford, on the whole.

critical thinking is also a commodity in short supply. we end up with conservatives wanting to invade iraq and liberals not believing we should have all the big housing and suburbs we want.

It would be great if everyone were intellectually curious about machinery, carpentry, literature, horticulture, music, or some craft. but that would cut into the time we have for watching television, where we are trained to buy a lot of stuff that can apparently only be afforded to be made by third world laborers.