Blaming Teachers: Education's Wrong Focus

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Before I begin I want to point out that I believe that probably 90% of the teachers out there are really good people (who have my deepest sympathy)... individuals that go into the profession with the best of intentions because they genuinely care about kids. The university I attended began as a teachers college and their Education Dept is still the largest in the university. My views come from interacting with other students... all of whom had the highest of aspirations. Having said that, I can honestly say that teachers are NOT what's wrong with education... if they chose the curriculum it may be- but they do not.

Over the last several decades the overall focus of education has changed drastically, and for many reasons. Among them is that many parents, for one reason or another, have abdicated much of their responsibility placing it squarely on the shoulders of teachers. On the other side of the equation is the school administration who has shifted the focus away from education in favor of socializing children... in other words imposing a worldview that many parents (and teachers) find to be inimical to their own. Lamentably, teachers, no matter what their own values, are caught in the middle, between parents who have abdicated responsibility and an administration whose only goal is to socialize.

Many young teachers (if not most) come out of college laden with debt- what can they do? Their options are severely limited- toe the line, or work at Walmart. The failure of America's educational system isn't the fault of teachers, or an inability to teach, but for the most part, responsibility lies with the administration. Clearly some of the blame lies with the parents- it is the responsibility of the parent to prepare their child for school. Moreover, it is not the responsibility of the school to teach children about sex... which brings us to the other group of parents- those who stay involved.

This second group of parents are becoming increasingly frustrated by the sex oriented curriculum and angry at those teaching it... their anger, however, is misdirected. Teachers have little or no say about what they teach- or how they teach it, for that matter. Nor are they in any way responsible for what material is in school libraries. Recently, in New Jersey a group of parents has banded together to have a sexually explicit magazine banned from a Middle School. (see link)

How things have changed. After my wife and I split up my kids returned to public school (much to my chagrin). My youngest complained that she couldn't find a copy of Catcher in the Rye... or that she found it and they wouldn't let her check it out- or read it there. But sexually explicit material encouraging any form of sexuality is fine and readily available. I reiterate... the purpose of education is to educate- to provide children with marketable skills. As T.H. White wrote in The Once and Future King... "The purpose of education is knowledge- the purpose of knowledge is application." How can teachers teach, if they are told what to teach and how to teach it? Or perhaps a better question is, how can teachers teach children to think if they are not allowed to do so themselves? No wonder many of the more responsible parents are opting to homeschool leaving teachers to behave as glorified babysitters for the more lackluster students... Teachers of the world, you have my deepest respect and sympathy! (see link for homeschooling)

https://pjmedia.com/parenting/parents-upset-explicit-sex-ed-magazine-middle-school-library/
http://dailysignal.com/2017/11/09/why-i-homeschool-my-kids/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningBell%22&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1RJMFpqWXlOMlZoTnpFNSIsInQiOiIxS3d1b3dSQ3ZPV2E4eWQwRXBINWZNNUhVSzFKemtOakVaVGRyb200REEwdHk4ZmN5bEhBSURzRHhMUndDZGVGZUdVcWRkUk1MU0pxd1YyXC9SbE1Lb2tTVGlrTmFnQ05BbHYzWnIxYXFzUHVESU5JVzcrR01xTkp0cXg1YmEwUzkifQ%3D%3D

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