On my mind, Sept. 29, 2010

2010-10-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

It’s no surprise that our public schools have fallen behind in academics. We have spent far too much time and effort on appearances and far too little on substance in the last sixty years. We wanted to give the national impression of being first in all things, and impressions can only go so far. Emphasis was placed on staying busy, doing a tremendous amount of work without taking the time to actually absorb it, and without taking the additional step of learning how to apply what is learned to everyday life.

I am convinced that is why the the banks and stock market and car companies and real estate firms ended up in a tangled mess that nearly tripped up the whole world in the process: No one really learned the basics of their trades and how to apply them.

Perhaps instilling the idea of requiring an apprenticeship of perhaps a year or two prior to graduation would give students the time they need to absorb fully what they learned in the classroom, and allow a little supervised practice before taking on a position in their field.

I am sure they all had Ethics 101 sometime in their college careers, but most must have simply studied for the test and quickly forgotten the content of the class. Following orders in order to make the bosses a huge amount money is the stuff of dimwits, not of college graduates, trained in solid business practices. Assumably, with their level of expertise, had their bosses been nefarious, they could have dumped them, built their own businesses, and competed the evildoers right out of their cushy nests.

Grade schools, middle schools, high schools, all have received the reputation of baby-sitting services over the past few years, deserved or not. When nearly half of students don’t actually complete the required 12 years for a diploma, we might think the barb is well-deserved.

I know this is not entirely the case. Teachers in America have been over burdened and under appreciated for decades. In order to achieve academic excellence, teachers must be backed up with as much community support and student respect and attention as the football team.
It is not possible to teach in an environment in which the bottom line is more important to everyone than access to good communal education. A nation that doesn’t respect learning and fails to instill a deep gratitude in having the freedom to access it, soon slips out of first to 25th.

Think about it.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

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On my mind, Sept. 29, 2010