Going Public /
Fighting from the Inside Out

There is much for you to consider when regarding public education, whether it’s philosophizing over the future of society or anticipating the well being of your own precious children.

Humanity is the fundamental resource for the creation of a healthy, self-sustaining, peaceful planet. Therefore it is vital to produce an empathetic and efficacious population in order to promote qualities of mutual respect between all living beings.

Unfortunately, unless you are a professional educator or have a school age child, you probably haven’t thought much about public school since your own escape. Now it’s your generational offspring that has to face the ugly manifestations of theoretical disagreements and dichotomies that precariously govern present day education. The standardization of people is an impossible undertaking. Still the schools keep on trying.

There are multiple layers of endless issues in those thirteen eternal years between the ages of five and eighteen in which “America the Beautiful” has declared it will teach the youth all it needs to know. Unfortunately the grown-up population isn’t even close to achieving what it expects from the youth. Not only aren’t most adults the shining example they want youth to emulate, they are nervously uncertain of what exactly that should look like. We are a society of older age turning to the youth to save us from our dumb, neglectful, often poorly planned creations. Our parents’ parents did it and now they are in the throes of repeating history once again.

One major predicament facing public or private school education is the steadfast, dyed in wool expectations. Whether rich, poor, hungry, fed, English speaking or not, in spite of emotional, behavioral, and / or learning impairments, children have to hit the same standard. It’s rather like lining up a group of thirty year olds and expecting them all to make the same amount of money, live in similar homes, have the same vehicle, number of children and all like the same music. These thirty year olds would share the same taste in hobbies, have the same talents, and want to spend their free time in precisely the same manner. That is how insane it is to expect the exact same standards in all school age kids.

Presently there is a tremendous academic skill based “push down syndrome” in which social / emotional curricula are no longer a priority. At the onset of my career in the mid 80’s, kindergarten was a half-day program primarily centering on providing opportunities for five year olds to learn how to manage their behavior in a group setting. These young students were encouraged to explore their environment in a risk free setting, formulate opinions, and practice appropriate interpersonal relations. The classrooms had centers with dress up clothes in a housekeeping corner, water tables designed for kids to experiment with liquid measurement conservation, painting stations to promote expression, block building construction zones as well as tactile sand or play dough areas for hands-on, child centered developmentally appropriate activities.

I can promise you that artistic expressions, play dough and personal relations are currently the very last thing on the list in this country’s kindergarten classrooms. Kindergarten is now full day, no more silly house keeping areas adorn classrooms and there is no time for block building. Kindergarten children might paint once a month, if they are lucky. Parents are being called in for meetings with specialists and threats of retention if their children are not writing and reading a certain number of words by midyear kindergarten.

In twenty years the clock has sped up. There is an incessant, urgent need to shove skills down the throats of our very young children. In competing with Germany and Japan and other closed societies who only allow certain children into the ranks of liberal arts education, the powerful US of A is having one big panic attack temper tantrum because other countries look smarter on paper. One of America’s biggest victims is the littlest student of all. Their older counterparts aren’t making the grade according to government standards, so the youngest among them are taking the brunt.

Teachers are doing what administration tells them to do which is usually teach faster, not necessarily better. Admin answers to the state and of course state to federal mandates. Myopic martini drinking madmen who are angry because their country isn’t winning at everything and who have no clue about delaying gratification for the good of the long-term, more holistic outcome are at the helm of education. They are lurking over the kindergarten children, seeing them as “numbers”, statistics used to prove every penny of their capitalistic heartfelt dreams.

At every developmental milestone there exists injustices. Parents hold the power to step up and demand the government not to standardize and factorize the children. Talk about it; tell your children’s teachers what you’re thinking. Explain loudly how important it is for children to have understanding of self and others, to feel confident, and to simply like and enjoy themselves. Write letters to superintendents and congress people about your desire that your child is happy, healthy, and well adjusted, not stressed out, competitive, and self loathing. Keep the “whole child”(not performance objectives, statistics and standards) the priority.

By: Gretta Clue

Masters in Education

Public school teacher 17 years

Awarded