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School Dazed
J. D. Pendry
My country,' tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!
–
After the busses dropped us
off, we’d gather in the schoolyard outside the one story, wooden elementary
school. We didn’t go inside early unless
forced in by the weather. When the bell
rang, we gathered in front of the building.
There we recited the Pledge of
Allegiance to the flag and sang the first verse of the hymn America. Once inside our classroom and settled, our
teachers led us in the Lord’s
Prayer. If during the day, we
misbehaved sufficiently to warrant it – which didn’t require much now that I
think back on it – we’d earn a paddling.
If from a lady teacher, it’d be a ping pong sized paddle. If we really messed up, we’d see the
principal and get the benefit of the full board of education. This is not an ACLU or Ted Kennedy
nightmare. This is elementary school
Now, if we ask children to
pledge their allegiance to our flag and country, especially if it is one nation under God, they’ll haul us in
to the Supreme Court to answer for it - the same court that, in 1962, tossed
prayer out of the schoolhouse window.
Corporal punishment in schools is illegal in 26 states and the
I don’t know if those things
made a difference in our conduct later on.
I do know that after elementary school, we didn’t do them anymore and
discipline wasn’t a big issue. Many schools
nowadays have character education programs that deal with behavior and how one
should act. Most approaches to improving
student behavior center on conflict
resolution. Across the country, we
are treating a symptom of a disease and not addressing the causes of it. This is what happens when we place the
responsibility on teachers in schools for teaching our kids how to act – that’s
not their job. I spent one year in
public schools following my time in the Army.
It was a learning
experience. Others who read this
column have much more time in the schools than I do and some of them are still there. What I can tell you from my short experience
is that basic education – math, science, history, government, English - often
comes in second to monitoring and trying to control student behavior.
We send our daughters off to
school dressed like prostitutes. Our
sons look like gang-bangers. Both have
heads filled with MTV, Gangsta
Rap lyrics, violent video games, Internet chat room wisdom and sitcom
solutions to life’s problems. School is
more a social event than a learning one.
Kids show up to school prepared for everything but school. Their first stop is the vending
machines. There they pump up with
noxious levels of caffeine and sugar because at a home they didn’t get enough
sleep or any breakfast. Many parents do
the right things, but many don’t. When
we don’t do the right things at home, we expect teachers to solve problems for
which they’re ill equipped to and shouldn’t have to face. If you want an example of what I’m talking
about and you want to get spit flying hair on fire angry. Read
this.
So, how do we fix it? Do we continue throwing money at failed
public school systems? Do we offer
families who do the right things the opportunity to get their tax dollars back
and spend them on a school system that’s working? We’ve tried the first approach for years and
we’ve argued about the second for years.
I’d say everything is the same since the argument began, but it may
actually be worse.
One thing is for certain, we
don’t pay teachers enough.
According to the American Federation
of Teachers, beginning teachers with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of
$30,719 in the 2001–02 school year. The
estimated average salary of all public elementary and secondary school teachers
in the 2001–02 school year was $44,367.
Private school teachers generally earn less than public school
teachers. (Source)
The minimum salary for an
NBA rookie, who likely didn’t complete college or maybe didn’t even go, is $385,277.00. He, with his tattoos, earrings, bad attitude
and ball cap on backwards, influences your child more so than does his math
teacher.
We complain about liberal
attitudes that pervade the schools, yet those of us with a more conservative –
read disciplined – outlook are too busy chasing high income jobs to focus our
attention on schools and children. We’ll
find the solution to our public schools problem in the mirror – I include
myself in that challenge.
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J.D. Pendry is author of The Three Meter Zone, Random House/Ballantine.
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