Why Our Children Fail

Other countries have poverty, also.  There will always be the haves and the have-nots.  Life in the big city. Nothing will ever change that.  It's part of the human condition.  To exonerate American decline in the quality of education on the basis of poverty, doesn't wash.

It's about motivation, about the home, about standards.  Tell a person he can't learn because he's poor, and he won't. "Aw, shucks.  Poor me:"  Self-fulfilling prophecy.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, people were very poor.  They came here in cattle boats, starving, with nothing.  No ESL classes, no welfare, no nothing. Make it or break it.

Guess what?  We became the most powerful, smartest, achieving nation in the world.  What changed since then?  Poverty didn't.  Rather, it's the value system that uses poverty and free hand-outs as an excuse, that has come into vogue.  The "poor little helpless things" mentality.  It's sickening to pity one's fellow man like that, rather than to inspire him to achieve and do better for himself. Our value system is upside down.

I'm not impressed with the poverty excuse.  Rather, I go with the reality that teachers need to teach, children need to learn, parents need to parent.  It's not a perfect world. My philosophy is more about "get over it," than "poor baby."  It's not that I'm naive.  I work in the garment district, in the ghettoed portion of town; with minorities as workers, street people, customers, and residents.  I taught in inner city schools.  I get it.

Americans have worked their butts off, in order to have a piece of the American Dream,  for over 200 years, and were magnificent, as a result.
Was every story a success?  No.  As a nation, overall, were we successful? You bet.

Give a person a hand-out (vs. a hand up), and one essentially has said to that person that he is incapable of making it on his own, so others will make it for him.  The fulfilling prophecy of failure and dependency.
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I do not feel that machines can replace a competent, thinking teacher. However, as many of the teachers today are incompetent, it becomes a debate.  Sadly, students and teachers are stumbling over one another, racing for the "Dumbest in the Class" awards:  The tragedy.  I think machines are a magnificent resource. Period.  Unfortunately, our society disagrees, in significant part:  Teachers have cultivated disrespect, society needs a scapegoat for its failing children, and the technology has become the rescuer.  Bingo...

The other day, a dim-wit of a teacher whined that each of her first graders just HAD to have a calculator. Why is that?

Well, they can't learn arithmetic without one!

What if it breaks?? What will the child do then?  Why, go next door and get the calculators from the other teacher, of course!

Augh!

Are Teachers Still Necessary For a Society To Grow

There are problems with this hypothesis. Everyone today is Not taught by a teacher, other than in some sort of metaphorical sense.  Today, many children are home-schooled, taught by parents, and/or computers; they learn on the internet by themselves, either as part of a learning program, or for pleasure; they learn from their peers; they learn just about everywhere; but perhaps less in the classroom.

Our society, and I'm speaking of the United States, does not value the teacher as it used to.  Partly, this is because of the breakdown of the society--today, the children are in charge, and the adults march to their drummers; part of the reason is that many teachers today really don't teach, or know how to teach.

The methodology is trendy rather than proven; the teachers themselves aren't that well educated; the students are there for reasons that are in addition or instead of learning.  The teachers' unions are focused on one thing: Maintaining membership in order to stay in business; this means, giving teachers what they want vs. what education needs.

All one has to do is to look at the scores, both locally, nationally, and internationally, to document how poorly educated our children are today.  We used to be the leaders of the world in virtually everything, particularly education; today, we are 25th, next to last, and scattered here and there across various scales of achievement.  The latest is that the SAT's and ACT's are being abandoned in several colleges and universities, because folks don't feel that tests measure a student's true abilities.  Isn't it interesting: When the United States was at its peak, tests were an instrument of pride and stature, and our students were the best and the brightest.  Mediocrity breeds mediocrity.

There can be only one of two reasons, academically, why our children have not been learning, and are learning less and less: Either the teaching methods & teachers have declined; or the kids are dumber.  Something to ponder...

As to the question, can society grow without a teacher:  Those who are firm believers in technology will say yes, of course!  Put the student in front of the monitor, and away he goes.  Depending on the integrity, the responsibility, the discipline, the curiosity, the maturity, and the intelligence of the student--in addition to the programmed/canned material that is offered-- this may or may not be so.

However, we are human beings. We can do something that machines can't: We can be spontaneous.  The question is, what can other human beings--in this instance, students and teachers--do to both inspire and respond to that spontaneity, that curiosity, that creative question and response?  What can a human being offer in terms of an off-handed observation, or a comment off the cuff?  What kinds of alternate routes can a human being offer that can be supportive as well as knowledgeable, experienced regarding life and application of learning?

Without teachers, how will people know how to create the machines and the programs that allow students to learn by computers as support tools?

Without education, a democracy or democratic republic such as ours used to be, cannot survive.  It is education that grants freedom.  Not anarchy, revolution, war, and rebellion.  Rather, truly educated individuals who are civilized and respect one another as a result of learning.

This is what teachers are for.

Dumb down the teachers, and the society becomes dumbed down, as well.  Without education, provided by genuinely knowledgeable individuals, our country will not survive.

So, are teachers necessary?  For an educated, enlightened society, yes.  Do we have the kind of teachers we need to maintain this kind of society, today?  Fewer and fewer all the time; which is why so many teachers currently can be replaced by machines.