education

I have yet to watch the documentary Waiting for Superman—and I might not even watch it—but I’m already filled with dread and disappointment about America’s academic standing.  All from the news coverage the movie is getting.  Especially that clip that talks about American kids being the most confident, even while they are in the lower percentiles in math and science.  Yikes.  One thing I haven’t heard from any commentators, however, is any self-reflection.  We are all products of this American educational system, aren’t we?  Shouldn’t we be asking ourselves, am I as unprepared and under-educated as these children are?

I also have to wonder, am I as overly confident as they are?  I’m not sure how to describe the mindset that comes about from years of straight As and academic praise.  Confident doesn’t quite describe me back at the turn of the century.  And it certainly doesn’t describe me now.

Also reflecting on my experiences as a substitute teacher in public schools, and my observation of nieces, I get the sense that too much attention is paid to teachers.  They have to do better.  We have to reward the good ones and get rid of the bad ones.  And so on, and so forth.  Maybe so…but what about the parents?  The American confidence comes not only from schools rewarding mediocrity, but also from parents who believe that their children can do no wrong, and raise their children accordingly.  If anything is wrong, it must be the other kids, or the teacher, or the other parents. 

This all brings up another issue of my irrational fear of teachers, which I should write about later.

I know that Big Bird sang “Everybody makes mistakes,” but he didn’t sing “You’re so good you don’t have to try.”  Too much focus is put on raising future professional athletes and American Idols and beauty queens these days.  Like parenting is this gamble, where the winning hand is some innate talent that will set your child (and you) up for life.  Yes, that’s a generalization, but I’d like to see more fostering of creativity and ingenuity, both things that can help in those fields of math and science that are giving Americans so much trouble. 

Where are the Ms. Shearers of this world who taught me to “roll with the punches”?  I could use her now, because I’ve been punching myself for an entire year without any rolling.  Despite my public schooling, I can do better.  I should do better.