I guess everyone knows I’m a news hound. I find today’s
news “clips” just so hard to grasp sometimes though
as I watch them daily.
Recently, there was one about a school district in our country
that was planning on issuing tickets to its students. The tickets
would be for failing a class, tardiness, running in the halls,
etc. This clip caused me to recall my school days.
When
I was in school, all it took was a letter requesting a parent
call the school, or worse yet, come to school to
discuss
a problem regarding my behavior. The end result could involve
a belt and the seat of my pants. If the infraction was
not too bad, the result might have been grounding for a specific
amount of time, a week or two. If that didn’t correct
the problem the grounding could be for a longer time; life
was mentioned as I recall. Other punishments doled out were
denying the use of the telephone or taking away my bike. Losing
the use of the telephone never bothered me because there was
only one in the house for our family of six, and with three
sisters I seldom got to use it anyway. Losing my bike was really
tough because I had paper routes. Yes, I said routes because
it took more than one to provide enough spending money for
me to buy the “special” clothing items I had
to have.
One
thing stands out in my memory of school days; the teachers
were never wrong! The other absolute was after a parent
visit to the school, the parent was always right and
there was
no discussion or chance for a plea bargain – a
decision was FINAL.
As
time moved along, the next generation of school kids were
my own, and in just a short time major changes had
taken
place. Notes were no longer sent home, requests to
discuss a student
were made by phone, this way the note could not get
lost. A big change was teachers had become more physical.
I
do remember
when I was in school if I told my parents a teacher
had hit me with a ruler or over the head with a book, their
response
was, “Did that teach you anything?”
However,
when I learned my kids (four girls) were physically punished,
(one of the events involved a male teacher
pulling my daughter’s hair), I needed no invitation
to visit the school. I was there in less time than
it took to make
a call.
I
pulled the bully out of his room by his hair and by the time
I left the school after talking to his
superiors,
it was certain
he would not pull a student’s hair again.
These were the days when a spanking was still not
out of
line but
not by a teacher.
The
next generation of teachers and students changed even greater.
Teachers no longer sent notes home
concerned there
would be
problems because teachers were often found to
be at fault for a student’s misbehavior. Somehow, teachers had lost the
respect once demanded by their profession. I’m
not implying teachers are always right but I
do not believe they should
always be found at fault.
Currently teachers dare not touch a student or deliver any
kind of punishment, yet parents expect them to be responsible
for the behavior of those students who receive no guidance
at home. Why are teachers always judged to be wrong? Is it
any wonder with that line of thought and shrinking paychecks,
there is no longer a line of graduates applying for jobs as
educators.
Excerpt
from the White House press office, released May 3, 2011 (www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education): “Teachers
are the single most important resource to a child’s
learning. President Obama will ensure they are supported
as professionals
in the classroom, while also holding them
accountable. He will invest in innovative strategies to help
teachers improve student
outcomes, and use rewards and incentives
to keep talented teachers in schools that need them the most.
The President’s
plan will invest in a national effort to
prepare and reward outstanding
teachers, while recruiting the best and brightest
to the field of teaching. President Obama
will challenge state
and school
districts to remove ineffective teachers
from the classroom.
The President wants to have the highest proportion
of students graduating from college in the
world by 2020.”
The
President’s plan seemed like a
good idea to me. Then I spoke to a few
teachers who interpreted
aspects
of it differently.
One said that if a merit system is adopted
which student, if you were a teacher with
the
plan
in place, would
you prefer having in your class.
No. 1: One who runs the street all night, has no parental guidance,
perhaps carries a weapon to school, is frequently in trouble
with local law enforcement and is often absent...
Or
No. 2: One whose parents guide them, provide a caring home
and find a tutor if they have difficulty with a class, a student
who actually knows what manners and consideration of others
are...
She asked if the instructor of both kinds of students should
be judged and paid based on the same system. I think not, I
responded.
As I see it, sending a student home with a ticket that will
likely go unpaid will not improve our education system and
it surely will not boost school budgets measurably. The most
beneficial idea I have heard is to judge instructors on their
presentations to the students and not expect them to fill the
role as parents, no matter what they are paid.