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July 20, 2005
More on our Public Schools
Last week, Michelle Malkin linked to the NEA's website. It listed all the different things they discussed and voted on during their annual meeting. I also wrote rather briefly about it here.
I had a couple of commenters who defended the NEA and one in particular stated that he believes that teaching only reading, writing and arithmetic would not prepare today's children for tomorrow's world. One in particular really dislikes the No Child Left Behind act.
Now, I'm not a teacher. I have relatives who have been teachers, and a brother-in-law who is a teacher and friends who are or have been teachers. But, you know, I still have a strong interest in education. Why? Because I am a parent and a citizen. It is in my best interest that all American children learn to read English, write English and understand Math. These kids are our future leaders.
I should probably add that I believe science and history are also very important, but kids cannot understand either until they get the math and the reading down. And we cannot know if they understand it until they get the writing down.
Too many kids have never diagrammed a sentence. Too many children do not know basic grammar rules. Too many kids can't figure out how to divide a pie.
To prepare children for a grown-up life, we should be teaching them these skills first so they can present themselves well to future employers and others.
All American kids need to understand and read and write in English. I am all for teaching foreign languages (not second languages, NEA!) like French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Latin! But again, until a child can understand proper English, it will be very difficult to learn a different tongue.
To encourage children to speak in a language other than English is to limit their future to living and working in a ghetto where only that language is spoken.
As for children with special needs - special needs children need special education if they are unable to learn in a classroom with non-disabled children. I grew up in St. Louis County. The county had a fabulous Special Education District. People from all over the country with disabled children would beg their companies to transfer them to St. Louis so they could get the benefits of the special school district.
Someone, somewhere, decided that only 'mainstreaming' special needs kids must be accomplished in all cases. I truly believe that a special needs kid in a normal classroom is great - for the normal kids - because they learn that children who are disabled are still kids, and great kids.
But, I saw a young boy with Down's Syndrome in my son's 5th grade class disrupt the entire class by screaming and throwing tantrums that would take precious time out of class. Perhaps he would have been better served if he had a lower teacher to student ration - but in a normal classroom, there is no way a teacher can devote all of his or her time to a child who needs constant attention unless he or she completely neglects the education of the other kids.
Another thing - History - back when I was in High School, I had to take American History and study the Constitution and even the Missouri State Constitution before I could graduate - that was a state law back then.
In many public schools, American History these days makes all kinds of value judgements about white Americans. We are all eviiiiilllll. Even those of us whose families did not show up on these shores until 20+ years after the end of the Civil War.
Let's teach complete American History. In fact, let's teach complete World History - but tell the truth, people - don't downplay the role that Western Man has played in science, art, medicine and Democracy.
Well, I need to hit the hay now. I might continue with this tomorrow, or not!!
Posted by Beth at July 20, 2005 12:01 AM
Comments
Beth,
Check the wise Dr. Thomas Sowell at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/archive.shtml and read his dogma vs reality columns. I suspect you will find him relevant and dead on.
Jim C
Posted by: JimC at July 20, 2005 9:45 AM
You will be glad to note that across the pond, our teachers also strive to prepare children for the real world:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4697461.stm
I had to check it wasn't April First after reading it :-0
I've taught. The rigid "inclusion" policy made my working life hell. I would be at the whiteboard watching my class desperately trying to tune out the shrieks of obscenity coming from the kid with Tourettes. I felt so sorry for them all. Every single child in that class was disadvantaged by it.
Posted by: Sally at July 20, 2005 3:22 PM
I have a similar yet divergent take on this subject.
Unlike the ossified brain that I carry, that of a child is more like a thirsty sponge. I DO believe that every child in this country, should be taught in English from the get-go. The overwhelming majority of children can pick-up English from day one without the touchy-feely ESL programs so embraced by many school systems accross the land.
Spanish, is my maternal language. Most of my thinking and dreaming is in Spanish. However, I do math, and curse (e.g. when hammering my finger) strictly in Spanish. For the first five years of my life, I had nothing but Spanish around me. Then came Kindergarden, and English imersion. The teacher started speaking in this foreign tongue, and we as thirsty sponges that we were, just lapped it up without giving it a second thought. Herk, she could have given the class in Mongolian, and I would have comprehended her just as well.
My brother works for The Dept of State, and married a Mexican bride. Spanish is spoken strictly in their household. While they were posted in Croatia a couple of years back, he had to rely on their three-year old son as interpreter for their Croatian Neighbors. They are now posted in Barbados, and my nephew speaks English in a perfect West Indian accent.
Back in the Island, a next dor family was composed of a Polish Father, a Croatian Mother, who emigrated from Argentina in the 1970's. Their three daughters were fully fluent in Spanish, English, Polish and Serbo-Croatian. One of them graduated from West Point in '91. and am sure that was a great asset to our forces in Bosnia. But I digress...
My point is, if we stop cuddling our children with all of our adult misconceptions, our children would do well, and learn English without any problem. We polyglots had no identity crisis in confussing one language from the other.
Posted by: Boquisucio at July 20, 2005 7:06 PM
Beth, I concur on teaching serious, truthful history, warts and all, let it all hang out. I'm kind of a history fanatic, which may have been influenced by the loudspeaker announcing that Jack Kennedy had just been shot while I was in my eighth-grade American History class.
Oh, Boqui, I would *like* to learn some Spanish, but I fear that I have been subliminally and subconsciously antagonized against that by the compulsory Spanish lessons we had over the PA system in elementary school, back in the '50s. If you make me do it, I ain't gonna do it.
Owhell, I can count to 10 in Spanish, say Si and No, and Cerveza, and Agua, and Por Favor, and Gracias...
Posted by: Justthisguy at July 20, 2005 8:34 PM
Heh - you know Cerveza - you know 90% of what needs to be known in my language!
Posted by: Boquisucio at July 20, 2005 8:37 PM
I'm all for learning other languages, but as other languages. I was a German major in colelge and have a master's in German lit, but I still wouldn't want my kids to their learning in a foreign language.
The public school we're zoned for is a Spanish immersion program. That's one of the many reasons we're opting out of public school. Although everyone we know seems totally enthused by the idea, we do not want our kids starting out learning history, science, math and all those things in Spanish.
The school we are sending my son to starts German and Spanish in the first grade as part of their curriculum, and I love the idea of his learning other languages at an early age, but not to the detriment of his command of English in all subjects and aspects of life.
Posted by: Jordana at July 22, 2005 1:25 PM
Just my personal opinion... I wouldn't be worried about confusing your son's English by adding German and Spanish, into his corriculum. If anything, he will gain better understanding and appreciation on the interconnectivity between English, German, and Spanish.
Posted by: Boquisucio at July 22, 2005 5:37 PM
I'm not at all worried about having my children learn foreign languages as part of their coursework. I'm thrilled by the idea. I am opposed to having him learn the rest of his coursework in a foreign language as they do in some immersion programs. I wouldn't want his basic mathematics, science or history vocabularies to be developed in Spanish or German. I wouldn't want to see him struggling for the words in English to discuss addition, earthquakes or the Civil War, for instance. I love the idea of learning about other cultures and civilizations, but not first or at the detriment to mastery over his own language, culture and history.
Posted by: Jordana at July 23, 2005 10:22 AM