My Opinion?
Well... before starting to express my opinion about education, I want to thank Dee for the pictures. Love them!!!
As to children and teacher's fault, I really think we shouldn't blame neither teachers nor children for this mess that education has become, but society itself. Not because we undervalue children, but because we undervalue our capacity to deal with progress. Let's face it: we are not ready to educate neither our children nor ourselves to succeed in the jungle this world has turned in. Globalization is here and I don't see our society on that train. We still the same selfish, "let's wait until the others to do it" society. That way we can't be blamed for ANYTHING!
Think about this: If we aren't able to learn how to deal with a new multicultural and technological world, how will we be able to pass that knowledge to our children? If we are not able to impose rules to ourselves how are we expecting children to have them? If we, in our egocentric world don't respect the others, how do we expect our children to do it? A practical example: who is teaching who about reciclyng? Watch the add on TV and I think you'll get to the same conclusion I did.
Moreover, it's not a child's fault if he/she wasn't taught to repect teachers (like Terry's parents were). But it's not the parents' fault if the company they work to don't have kindergardens integrated, nor schools nearby which would allow them to spend more time with the kids and teach them how to behave at school or help them with homework. I take 1H00 to 1H30 to get home from work. I have to take 3 buses. Iamgine that I had a child? I'm sure he/she would suffer.
And teachers? Are they the ones to blame for all the constant changes in the educational system? I don't think so.
To conclude: Instead of blaming whoever, why don't we start thinkink about what each one of us can actually do to change things. "one small step for man...."
3 comments:
Hi M, I'm not saying that I disagree with you. You make some very valid and interesting points. However, the question is, "Are TEACHERS undervalued?" and I think you've gone onto a more general topic. In my entry I wasn't blaming children. Kids are what they are. I just said I think the IDEAL of the child is OVERvalued while the REALITY is UNDERvalued (sometimes I'd say ignored entirely). How many times have you heard someone say, "I LOVE kids, but that niece/nephew/neighbour/etc. of mine just won't sit still. S/he touches everything....yada, yada, yada..." That's just the way kids are. We have to accept them and gently instruct/guide them towards acceptable behaviour.
I TOTALLY agree with you on the point you made that we should ALL respect one another thereby teaching children to respect others as well. Why should teachers/doctors/lawyers/etc. get "special" respect? If we respect everyone, then those people will get respect by default.
Thank you for your interesting views.
Hey Magu, I understand and agree with your point of view. But for me I think it's the lack of respect period. As a single mom, I have my work cut out for me, but I try to do my best just like any other parent. So, I start with myself. Like any other animal, offsprings learn through observering and we as human beings aren't any different. Therefore, if I tell my daughter don't lie, sware or bite your nails, for instance, I need to set the example. This occurred to me when Kat was about one just about the time she began talking. When I get upset, I had the habit of saying 'shit'. I really never thought much about it until I heard Kat saying it. At that time, I thought I need to stop saying this for her to realise it's not right. So, far it's worked for me.
My point is we need to somehow educate parents. But how? And who will educate parents? Yes, we live in a complicated world, but it is one that we helped to create. How can we undo what we have done? I hope that my influence on Kat and my students as a human being is a positive one.
I totally agree with Terry with save one thing: Parents aren't the only influence on children. Yes, I think that they're usually the MAIN influence AND that they learn MAINLY by example and NOT recommendation, as it were, they are also influenced by their classmates, who in turn are influenced by THEIR parents. AND, let us not forget the baggage that they bring with them when they enter this world (genetic, etc.).
On that, however, I think if parents like the tortoise keep plodding along, the kids come back to the fold later in life. IMHO
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