Lets begin with America's rankings in Education vs the rest of the world: 17th. We are not the greatest in this category. Rather South Korea and Finland rank as the top two. There are several arguments that can be made for this one, America by far is the largest developed country in the world. It's hard to education 350+ million people and several other points I don't really find of value (poverty, cultural, live chances, media, etc) as everything has a counter point. This however is not what I believe to be the greatest problem toward education, we as Americans' face. The issue is the ideology toward education. When parents tell their kids it's okay for them not to learn and achieve we pass on a problem so large it will completely over whelm and undermine our countries ability to compete in the coming future widening the gap between the rich and poor. If you are one of those who don't believe in social welfare, what are you doing to change our current negative ideology toward education?
I understand from my own childhood the complete hate of having to go to school to learn and socialize. This by far while growing up is still one of my most painful memories. The difference is that despite my complete lack of desire to actually achieve I had parents who would physically toss me out of my bed to get me up. This is a little extreme as they expected me to get an education but didn't give me the tools to do so. Despite this the understanding 'I will have an education regardless if I wanted one' will happen despite the Temper Tantrums and self-sabotaging attempts by me and my friends to do so.
Now despite almost every effort I put into avoiding my education I some how have several majors and several degrees to my name as it finally clicked I had two options. Work for minimum wage or join the military to get shot if I did not make drastic changes to my life, like get an education.
At this point I had burnt enough bridges this was no easy task. Because I spent so many years fucking around I had to basically relearn the basics to just get into a decent college. But the pay off is more than I could hope for. I'm not making millions, shit the only reason I'm even middle class is because I married a woman far smarter and more accomplished than myself. But I make enough to support a modest life. Now some of that choice is because of children and daycare. But without my education I wouldn't have any of this and more than likely be on the 100th job at this point in my life.
Due to my "Dumbass Days" as I like to refer to them has taught me the value of education and the tools to pass on to my children. But when my kid comes home and tells me "so-and-so said they don't need school and it's not important" (paraphrasing here) I go almost bonkers with contempt for these kids as more than ever kids need an education. It's not the days my parents or I grew up where you could get a job at 10 learning a trade, rather you need a freaking high school degree to work at McDonald's in a few years, if they don't replace their work force with robots first. Long gone are the days of the factory worker and no high school education. Shit by the time my kids finish school and I'm ready to retire you'll need an advance college degree in robotic engineering to work in fast food.
Education currently is free for everyone, despite education is not a given right by the constitution, rather it can be revoked by your county or state at any time. The problem is people don't realize what a gift this is as many countries make you pay for an education and the other half don't even have schools. To some kids this sounds great, schools out for ever. That's the mentality many parents teach their kids: "School is a waste of time." This ideology, this complete belief by a parent that their kid is better off without knowing how to communicate and have skills to support themselves is the reason why programs like "No Child Left Behind" are rammed down our throats. Until we as American's start making more positive decisions we will get more government involvement. Until the parents who have the greatest impact on their children's life change this "school sucks" mentality the education system is going to continue to lose the ability to teach.
When a parent sends their kid to school with reinforced notions of only having to go because the state is making them, that child has nothing to do other than fuck up the education of the other kids around them. Why do they care, they don't need to be there, and we all know that disciplining a child is wrong because it might damage their precious psyche, places educators at a disadvantage. Not only do they have to put up with the kids behaviors in school, they have to put up with the parents reinforcement of this behavior.
I'm a firm believer in corporal punishment. Before you flip out and go all liberal, let me explain. One of the best evolutionary traits that we have are pain receptors throughout our bodies. They tell us "that hurts" there for, it's a bad idea. Example: A kid messes with the stove and only after he/she gets burned do they stop messing with the stove. No kid I've ever met had a healthy respect for fire until they got burned pretty good. When I grew up and I got in trouble I got it at school than came home and got it again. I learned to not do that again because walking without pain is a pleasurable experience. This pain burns literal neural pathways in the brain connecting "whatever they did" to pain. I have a fear of heights because I fell out of a tree and hurt myself pretty good. Doesn't mean I allow this from stopping me from jumping 60 foot rocks to the water below. I have a healthy respect of falling.
My second argument for corporal punishment is that by nature we are evolutionary designed to be the biggest, toughest and smartest. No dumb, weak hunter-gather survived long. This however is not the case these days. We aspire to reward the stupid, ignorant and weak. The whole American Economic System is based on taking and screwing over everyone else that's not you. By giving the last place team trophies for participation we are doing a disservice to our children. "What about their 'feelings?" My answer is feelings are something you have, what you do matters. What we don't teach our kids when our feelings are hurt is analyzing why they are hurt in the first place and finding a solution to not get them hurt again, rather this mentality of 'it's okay to lose' fosters a quiting mentality because it's "to hard", "not fair", lets blame others for my failures rather than accept responsibility for my choices and actions or how do I get better so this doesn't happen again. We continually are giving our kids mixed signals that gives them a false perception of the world by not teaching them the world is a hard cruel world that will chew you up and spit you out if you aren't constantly moving forward. The world is unfair and those who are at the top have to do less because they have more. This is the nature of the world.
We as people like to think that we aren't animals, that are basic primal behaviors are not in play in our lives. But this is not the case. Our basic, primal behaviors are the driving force in everything we do. By only accepting this, acknowledging them do we gain the power to over come them. So when people talk about feelings, I groan because your feelings are your basic primal behaviors trying to get out. My dog listens to it's feelings more than I do. If your every action and choice is dictated by your "feelings" does that make you more animal or human?
So when I believe in corporal punishment I understand the ramifications of when and when not to spank my kids. There is a line between beating and disciplining a child and sometimes when our feelings get in the way that line gets blurred. Corporal punishment is a very good way to instill fear in the right things. Throwing things at a teacher, getting in a fight, bullying others, and the whole list goes on and on. But it keeps the "kids who don't care" in line so the rest of them can get on with the learning process. The problem is because of the liberal stand point on this and fear of kids and their parents, teachers are tasked with worrying about and managing kids feelings rather than teaching them the basics of reading, writing, math and science.
When parents don't push their kids to achieve specifically in education we are promoting a losing mentality which will foster hardship for their future. This is not to say that a traditional education is the right route for your kid. Personally I wish I took the blue collar route as I could be running my own company right now as a master electrician, plumber, HVAC or something else in which requires as much education as college, plus work experience. I don't know about you, but knowing how to fix my air conditioner when it breaks sounds pretty good to me. Education regardless of the career path needs to be fostered and pushed for, for without it our kids futures are not going to be that bright. I personally don't plan on having my kids living in my basement or having to struggle the way I did because of my 'Dumb Ass Days'. This however is one person whose ideology is based on a must have education ideology where so many other people believe or foster the notion education as worthless. Until people literally shun their neighbors for having "education is worthless" ideology the system and our country will never be able to reach it's potential.
No comments:
Post a Comment