There have been some great responses and a collection of private emails sent to me regarding my recent post, both here on this website and on my Facebook wall. (See Question: Why Impose an Educational System, That Has Limits On Its Ability to 'Educate'?)
Below is my response and further argument.
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It is imperative [that] people--our society--is forded the opportunity to hear perspectives from each of the three (the three essential pillars for appropriate societal education of our children)...the school system (representatives), the educators themselves and the parents. If a consensus could be reached between the three, we would have, I believe, created the ideal and most appropriately functional basis for an appropriate educational 'system.' Now, how we go about that is the general issue I believe. If we are to properly educate our children, it will take efforts on all sides to cooperate together. Now, its no easy task, that we know. But I think, and I am fond of teaching, self-awareness is the key to growth. We as a society must first realize, our system of education IS broken. Then, relieving special interest and primarily, money, we need to embark on a journey to discover a better means of offering an education to our children. Someone must take the reigns and someone must lead, and that leader must follow the council and direction, requests and passions of the people he/she leads. Apathy I believe will be the very cause of the decline of such an ambitious endeavor.
I think, historically, we are doing the right thing by first discussing it. There are people who care, but don't know where to begin. There are people who wish to care, but aren't sure of the 'facts (which are and should be contested). There are also people who could care less and see the system as a functional tool for processing drones, as you say, in efforts to keep cash-flow running smoothly. I see as a vision a new system, born by a combination of what has worked in the past, and what can be applied for the future, mixed with traditional and nontraditional methods. Who shall lead the charge is open to public determination. Whether or not that leader can bind Apathy, well, that is another fight altogether.
~Bobby Ozuna
Below is my response and further argument.
***************************
It is imperative [that] people--our society--is forded the opportunity to hear perspectives from each of the three (the three essential pillars for appropriate societal education of our children)...the school system (representatives), the educators themselves and the parents. If a consensus could be reached between the three, we would have, I believe, created the ideal and most appropriately functional basis for an appropriate educational 'system.' Now, how we go about that is the general issue I believe. If we are to properly educate our children, it will take efforts on all sides to cooperate together. Now, its no easy task, that we know. But I think, and I am fond of teaching, self-awareness is the key to growth. We as a society must first realize, our system of education IS broken. Then, relieving special interest and primarily, money, we need to embark on a journey to discover a better means of offering an education to our children. Someone must take the reigns and someone must lead, and that leader must follow the council and direction, requests and passions of the people he/she leads. Apathy I believe will be the very cause of the decline of such an ambitious endeavor.
I think, historically, we are doing the right thing by first discussing it. There are people who care, but don't know where to begin. There are people who wish to care, but aren't sure of the 'facts (which are and should be contested). There are also people who could care less and see the system as a functional tool for processing drones, as you say, in efforts to keep cash-flow running smoothly. I see as a vision a new system, born by a combination of what has worked in the past, and what can be applied for the future, mixed with traditional and nontraditional methods. Who shall lead the charge is open to public determination. Whether or not that leader can bind Apathy, well, that is another fight altogether.
~Bobby Ozuna
3 comments:
The biggest problem is to convince society there is another way, a better way to educate our children. It also would include giving them examples of how easily a new traditional/nontraditional system could be put into place. Sadly, in today's world it's all about the money. How much would it cost to implement such a system.
Another sad statistic is the number of schools who teach to a state testing system. They don't actually teach anything other than what will be covered on that test because the test results decide funding. We have to as a society, convince our lawmakers, educators and society we need to go back to the basics. High tech though our world is, if the foundation isn't there, the rest is built on sinking sand.
Educators say," the school year is too short," " we don't have the materials available," and so on. These are excuses. The internet is filled with vast amounts of resources mostly free to educators. Using some of these tools, we could incorporate old and new ways of doing things.
Everyone says think outside the box, but when it comes time to do so, they are lost. As a parent of three I welcome any and all ways to reach and teach my children more than what the schools do. As a parental movement using our PTA's and other organizations, we can affect change within our schools if we really want to. Each year they set a goal, why can't that goal be to find nontraditional methods to use in the classroom and at home?
Very enlightening!
You have a fabulous blog! I want to award you the Brilliant Writer Blog Award for all the hard work you do!
Go to http://astorybookworld.blogspot.com/p/awards.html and pick up your award.
~Deirdra
Kissablesweet1:
I appreciate you taking the time to respond and you are correct on many aspects. I am going to begin touching some of the points you shared on your comment, over the next few weeks in my upcoming blog posts. Today, I should have a blog posted that addresses, to some extent, the argument [that] resources are limited. There is so much more I could say--and I will if you know me--but I will do so, as I said, over the next few weeks.
Thanks again!
Bobby
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