Skool Sux

or
Why I'm Disillusioned and Despairing About the State of Education in this Country, Possibly this Continent, and Maybe Even the World.

I'm just so tired of worksheets. And of boring assignments where kids are asked to read and answer questions. Even at the swankiest schools in our country, the kids are still saying, "What page? What do I do? What page?" EVEN WHEN IT'S WRITTEN ON THE BOARD IN FRONT OF THEM.

Our kids have no independent thinking ability.

They need to be spoon fed the answers.

Or just taught to the damn test. (hideousness, don't get me started)

We have trained our students to dislike school.

And boy, have we succeeded.

No matter how progressive the curriculum, it still feels like we have to trick kids into learning, because the idea of learning is boring, and most ways of learning are boring to most kids. In other words, SOME kids like to do hands-on things (a lot, actually) but you don't always have time for hands-on things, they're a lot of work, a lot of prep. Then you can do visual stuff, for the visual learners. But everyone else is bored and/or confused. It just always seems to end up a worksheet or some canned assignment from a textbook designed by academics who've never spent a day of their adult lives in school.

HOW CAN WE MAKE SCHOOLS LESS PRISON-LIKE and MORE UNIVERSITY/LAB-LIKE? (and bite me if you don't like the flow of that sentence; I spent the day corralling wild fifth and sixth graders who were immersed in a travel fair (a good example of INTERESTING curriculum) which also included many fattening, tasty treats, and who were so hopped up on excitement and sugar the room was vibrating.)

Why am I a teacher when I hate (most) schools? Where are the schools where kids actually enjoy themselves? I had sixth grade students today pouring their hearts out to me about how nobody listens to them and how they aren't allowed to have opinions, and how futile the disciplinary system is. I agree that this is a problem. It's also part and parcel of being a teenager. But these kids want to have CONVERSATIONS. They want to engage. They don't want to do worksheets.

And frankly, thanks to recent research (Alfie Kohn in particular), he very concept of punishments have been proven not to work very well. Ditto for rewards.

SO WHY DO WE KEEP USING THEM?

We're not thinking outside the box. We're not even thinking inside the box. We're on lockdown in the box, sucking our thumbs and strumming the hem of our blankies saying "La La La, I'm not listening."

Today I got to the point where even I, ever the idealist, sent two kids to the office.

What happens when they go to the office?

I don't know.

The point is, you can't FORCE a kid to do something (s)he doesn't want to do. And you can very easily suck the joy out of learning.

This depresses me at the moment.

I love working with kids, and when I get the chance to actually teach content of some sort, it's wonderful. But there's so much bullshit in between. Especially for a sub. I had a teacher have me review the kids' math problems for a test today. This has happened to me twice! WHY is the teacher doing this? You don't attempt to reteach, in a subject not your own, freaking word problems to hyper sixth graders on travel fair day! I mean, DUH.

Why can't we make learning interesting and relevant to kids? Why do our schools, both private and public, continue to suck?