John Post on sun 1 nov 09
I was having a conversation with a third grade student in my art class
who was complaining about how he only gets to go to the classes he
likes once a week, but the classes he doesn't like, he has to go to
everyday.
I told him that elementary school is like going through the lunch
line. The lunch lady gives you all the stuff you have to eat... math,
science, social studies, English, spelling. Many times the lunch
ladies will say "Just shut up and eat it."
The desserts are the classes you like such as gym, art, and music, but
you only get a little bit of each one. (Of course the kids always
call the day of the week by what their special class is that day "it's
art day!, it's gym day!, etc.")
The schedule of the school day would not be the same, if we let the
kids choose how much time they spent on each subject.
When you get to junior high, you still have to go through the whole
lunch line, the lunch lady piles on all the academics, but you get to
choose your dessert.
In high school you once again go through the line, get all the
academics piled on, but if you are lucky, you can choose one dessert,
and maybe one other side dish in 12th grade if you have already eaten
all of your academics. In my district, the administration pushes kids
to take as many AP classes as possible, leaving the little room on
their plate for anything they might be interested in learning about.
The big change comes when you go to college. You get to choose the
restaurant. But once again you have to go through the lunch line and
eat all of the requirements to get your degree. You get to choose
sometimes up to 1/4 or 1/2 of what you would like to eat, but you are
still eating a lot of other stuff because someone, somewhere thinks
it's good for you.
At no point in your educational experience do you get to go to the
restaurant of your choice and order exactly what you want.
I've eaten algebra several times because different places thought I
needed it. I once had a college in the 80's tell me I needed to eat
chemistry in order to take a computer class... Yeah right, that made a
lot of sense. I wanted to learn how to write code, not design the
microchips.
Michigan has no money left for education because our short-sighted
state legislators tied school funding to the state sales tax. Since
our economy has tanked and we'll be in a recession for a lot longer
than the rest of the nation our schools are going to get hit pretty
hard. The district that I teach in has lost 40 million in funding
over the last 5-7 years. Now the state is planning on cutting another
20 million this year. There is nothing left to cut except teachers.
We are the second largest district in the state with over 29,000 kids
and we will be closing several schools this year.
So some of the teachers who teach art, music or gym are worried that
they might have to go teach in the classroom. I have a classroom
teaching certification along with my K-12 art certification. I find
it a mildly amusing that teachers who have several degrees think they
couldn't go into an elementary age classroom and teach the kids.
But that's where the education system is nowadays. Everyone is so
worried about testing, covering the curriculum and the all important
test scores that they forget that we grown-up big people are supposed
to be teaching the kids what they need to know to make it in life.
Instead, schools spend much of their time telling kids, "Just shut up
and eat it."
John Post
Sterling Heights, Michigan
:: cone 6 glaze website :: http://www.johnpost.us
:: elementary art website :: http://www.wemakeart.org
joyce on tue 3 nov 09
Phenomenal post, John..... Post. I agree totally and definitely wish
I'd said it myself. I'll be
passing this one to several teachers, administrators, Board members,
state Board members,
with full credit to you IF you okay it. Thanks for taking the time
to write such a clever and
truthful message.
Joyce
In the Mojave Desert of California
At 07:59 PM 11/1/2009, you wrote:
>I was having a conversation with a third grade student in my art class
>who was complaining about how he only gets to go to the classes he
>likes once a week, but the classes he doesn't like, he has to go to
>everyday.
>
>I told him that elementary school is like going through the lunch
>line. The lunch lady gives you all the stuff you have to eat... math,
>science, social studies, English, spelling. Many times the lunch
>ladies will say "Just shut up and eat it."
>
>The desserts are the classes you like such as gym, art, and music, but
>you only get a little bit of each one. (Of course the kids always
>call the day of the week by what their special class is that day "it's
>art day!, it's gym day!, etc.")
>
>The schedule of the school day would not be the same, if we let the
>kids choose how much time they spent on each subject.
>
>When you get to junior high, you still have to go through the whole
>lunch line, the lunch lady piles on all the academics, but you get to
>choose your dessert.
>
>In high school you once again go through the line, get all the
>academics piled on, but if you are lucky, you can choose one dessert,
>and maybe one other side dish in 12th grade if you have already eaten
>all of your academics. In my district, the administration pushes kids
>to take as many AP classes as possible, leaving the little room on
>their plate for anything they might be interested in learning about.
>
>The big change comes when you go to college. You get to choose the
>restaurant. But once again you have to go through the lunch line and
>eat all of the requirements to get your degree. You get to choose
>sometimes up to 1/4 or 1/2 of what you would like to eat, but you are
>still eating a lot of other stuff because someone, somewhere thinks
>it's good for you.
>
>At no point in your educational experience do you get to go to the
>restaurant of your choice and order exactly what you want.
>
>I've eaten algebra several times because different places thought I
>needed it. I once had a college in the 80's tell me I needed to eat
>chemistry in order to take a computer class... Yeah right, that made a
>lot of sense. I wanted to learn how to write code, not design the
>microchips.
>
>Michigan has no money left for education because our short-sighted
>state legislators tied school funding to the state sales tax. Since
>our economy has tanked and we'll be in a recession for a lot longer
>than the rest of the nation our schools are going to get hit pretty
>hard. The district that I teach in has lost 40 million in funding
>over the last 5-7 years. Now the state is planning on cutting another
>20 million this year. There is nothing left to cut except teachers.
>We are the second largest district in the state with over 29,000 kids
>and we will be closing several schools this year.
>
>So some of the teachers who teach art, music or gym are worried that
>they might have to go teach in the classroom. I have a classroom
>teaching certification along with my K-12 art certification. I find
>it a mildly amusing that teachers who have several degrees think they
>couldn't go into an elementary age classroom and teach the kids.
>
>But that's where the education system is nowadays. Everyone is so
>worried about testing, covering the curriculum and the all important
>test scores that they forget that we grown-up big people are supposed
>to be teaching the kids what they need to know to make it in life.
>Instead, schools spend much of their time telling kids, "Just shut up
>and eat it."
>
>John Post
>Sterling Heights, Michigan
>
>:: cone 6 glaze website :: http://www.johnpost.us
>:: elementary art website :: http://www.wemakeart.org
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