When I say 'our kids' I mean kids in the local vicinity in general. Kids in our community at large are who I am referring to. So, who is teaching them anyway? Who do you think? You might possibly be more wrong then you think you are. I am fairly certain the vast majority would answer that question with, "Well, the school is of course!" Meaning the teachers in our local public schools. But are they? There are a few of you who will answer, "They learn the three R's at school and the rest is or should be taught at home!" But is it? It's quite possible that I will receive some if not a lot of flack for this article and I am okay with that.
There was a time when you could rest assured that the local school was in fact teaching your child not only the three R's (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic) but also manners, respect and responsibility among other valuable life lessons. Those were the good old days and if you haven't notice they are basically gone. I am not putting down or tearing apart the public school system. Quite the contrary actually. Due to the fact that many parents are no longer (or at minimum fewer and further between) fulfilling their duty of teaching their own children to respect and submit to authority (those who have rule over them whether it be a school teacher, a Sunday school teacher, an officer, or whatever adult is 'in charge' at the moment) our public school teachers no longer have time to work with our students on much more than the basics of their curriculum if even that! Instead teachers spend a majority of their time policing students and their cell phones, ipods and other electronics in addition to dealing with their incessant need to be disrespectful in class. While more and more students are barely squeaking by to graduation (or not) many teachers are becoming exhausted and in some cases losing the love for teaching they once had.
On one hand I feel that more parents need to pick up the reins of teaching their own children morals, values, respect for others and authority in addition to a little bit of common sense basics such as planning ahead, making a schedule, a good solid work ethic, etc. On the other hand I find myself thinking that the average adult lacks many of those basics themselves and the likelihood of this happening is little or far and few between and then I find myself wishing our school system could add some requirements for graduation. I believe all graduates should know the basics of how to set up a household budget, how to set up their utility accounts, how to apply for a job and successfully navigate a job interview, how to open, balance and maintain a checking account, etc. While much of this should be taught at home, it isn't. And that is why I wish they were part of the requirements for graduation.
Young adults lacking these basic skills are unleashed on society upon graduation. These same adults then go and apply for car loans, rental apartments or homes and credit cards without the basic skills of how to budget and a plan to pay for their new found obligations or entitlements as many of them see them. It is often these same adults that we see or hear complaining about how it is impossible to pay the outrageous fees they are charged when they subsequently bounce a check, overdraft their account and are late on their rent payment. I can't help but ask, who's responsibility was it to teach them the basic skills they needed to survive in the real world anyway?
Is it the parents'? Is it the school's? If it's the parents, how can anyone 'make' them fulfill their parental responsibilities? If it's the schools, then at minimum the parents need to teach their kids to pay attention in class and respect the one's in authority so that the teachers have time to truly teach during class time. If even respect for those in authority was taught at home I believe we would be better off than we are right now. Teachers would find they have more time to teach. And students would in fact learn more as they would actually be listening to the teachers. Imagine that!
0 comments:
Post a Comment