SCHOOL
Before I proceed with this article, I would like to disclose that I love school because I love learning. I have approximately 22 years of formal education. But, I am pained to say that schools today or the institution of learning is no longer effective. What led me to this unfortunate conclusion are too many reasons to discuss in one article but I will focus on a few to make my point. The world today is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. An industry that has been seriously impacted is schools. Schools have been closed and it seems to me that children have been left out of the equation. The reason as I see it is because teachers have a strong union that in essence, is running our learning institutions. What I have learned because of this pandemic is that teachers don't really want to teach. I was ignorantly under the impression that teachers should be viewed as special in our society because they are making a difference by educating our children and disseminating the truth. But, unfortunately, my innocence has been destroyed. If you really think about it, this was in front of our eyes for a long time but we as a society have ignored it. For awhile now, the reason why a person wanted to teach was the outstanding hours, vacations, holidays, summers off, great medical insurance, great wages etc... I don't remember any mention about educating young minds as a reason. Do you?
My daughters attend a public school district in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Before I continue, I will not mention the school district by name because, unlike what is going on in our society today with cancel culture, my intention is not to embarrass or cancel anyone. Just like I will not mention individuals by name in any of my articles. Now, the school district that my daughters attend is supposed to be one of the best in the entire state. We pay substantial property taxes to validate this point. Still, what Covid-19 has taught me is that they don't want to teach. I'm sure, there are some exceptions but, I have not found one. At least not yet. I come to this conclusion because even after all the teachers were vaccinated from this horrible virus, they wanted 3 days off after vaccination before they went back to the classroom in case they were to get sick from the vaccination. I know it sounds ridiculous but, you can form your own conclusions. What was very troubling to me was that during this 3 day, "in case they get sick," time off, I was out at a local restaurant with my wife and daughters and two of their teachers were sitting at the bar enjoying a bottle of red wine - on our tax dollars. Did I mention they were paid completely during the shut down? You can't make this up. You might say yes but they can't teach if the unions are dictating when the schools will open. True but, what ever happened to taking charge of your profession and strength in numbers? I will bet you that if the teachers would have said they were going back to work regardless of what the unions are saying, they would have been back to work. Did I mention that Catholic and private schools have been open from the beginning with no Covid-19 related outbreaks.
The old arguments that you need to do well in school to get into college and you need to have a college degree to get a good job is no longer effective in my opinion. These arguments go out the window because of the aforementioned about teachers but also because unless you need a license as in the practice of law or medicine etc..., all you need is communication skills. In addition, you will not be in student loan debt for 20-30 years. Most jobs today offer training. If you have communication skills, you should not have any problems. Here is just one example. My daughter needed braces and we sent her to a orthodontist. The orthodontist, from the very beginning, has done minimal work. His employees or assistants, are the ones who installed the braces and who do all the adjustments. The orthodontist just inspects their work and spends approximately 5 minutes with my daughter in conversation during her visit. So it begs the following questions; 1- would you rather be in school to be an orthodontist for many years and in debt for countless more years? or, 2- would you rather not be in debt and maybe have a training course where you can do what an orthodontist should be doing?
In todays world where technology is prevalent in any occupation, schools are, I believe failing because they are not adjusting to the changes. If you think about it, schools today are not any different then the schools your parents or grandparents attended. They have similar desks, outdated books in their libraries and similar teaching techniques. The one exception can be that they finally gave up on the traditional black board for a smart board. But, other than that not much has changed. Wait!! I stand to be corrected. Teachers wages have increased considerably. To me, it's a concerning and dire state of our education system. However, I really believe that every individual has it in them to succeed. We are all programed to succeed by our creator. When I refer to creator I am not insinuating religion. In fact, I am not a religious person. I am a spiritual person who believes in the universal power that each and everyone of us has embedded in our souls. The problem is that not only are schools failing the most impressionable in our society but, they are teaching them, when they pretend to teach, negative and corrosive ideas. We should be teaching our children the power that they possess to do whatever it is they want to do in life. With the premise being that they should discover their purpose through the lens of leaving the world a better place than when they arrived. That should be the focus but it's not. Life will teach us more than a school will ever teach. I understand that we live in a society of norms and rules where children must attend school but, I envision a better system where parents teach their children and use schools as a secondary source of education. The way I see it, the system wants to make the parents believe they are powerless because that will enhance their control. Moreover, I believe, schools have failed because they don't advance the knowledge that success is internal and not dependent on schools. I leave you with a quote by John F. Kennedy. "The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of the truth."
Just an thought.
My daughters attend a public school district in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Before I continue, I will not mention the school district by name because, unlike what is going on in our society today with cancel culture, my intention is not to embarrass or cancel anyone. Just like I will not mention individuals by name in any of my articles. Now, the school district that my daughters attend is supposed to be one of the best in the entire state. We pay substantial property taxes to validate this point. Still, what Covid-19 has taught me is that they don't want to teach. I'm sure, there are some exceptions but, I have not found one. At least not yet. I come to this conclusion because even after all the teachers were vaccinated from this horrible virus, they wanted 3 days off after vaccination before they went back to the classroom in case they were to get sick from the vaccination. I know it sounds ridiculous but, you can form your own conclusions. What was very troubling to me was that during this 3 day, "in case they get sick," time off, I was out at a local restaurant with my wife and daughters and two of their teachers were sitting at the bar enjoying a bottle of red wine - on our tax dollars. Did I mention they were paid completely during the shut down? You can't make this up. You might say yes but they can't teach if the unions are dictating when the schools will open. True but, what ever happened to taking charge of your profession and strength in numbers? I will bet you that if the teachers would have said they were going back to work regardless of what the unions are saying, they would have been back to work. Did I mention that Catholic and private schools have been open from the beginning with no Covid-19 related outbreaks.
The old arguments that you need to do well in school to get into college and you need to have a college degree to get a good job is no longer effective in my opinion. These arguments go out the window because of the aforementioned about teachers but also because unless you need a license as in the practice of law or medicine etc..., all you need is communication skills. In addition, you will not be in student loan debt for 20-30 years. Most jobs today offer training. If you have communication skills, you should not have any problems. Here is just one example. My daughter needed braces and we sent her to a orthodontist. The orthodontist, from the very beginning, has done minimal work. His employees or assistants, are the ones who installed the braces and who do all the adjustments. The orthodontist just inspects their work and spends approximately 5 minutes with my daughter in conversation during her visit. So it begs the following questions; 1- would you rather be in school to be an orthodontist for many years and in debt for countless more years? or, 2- would you rather not be in debt and maybe have a training course where you can do what an orthodontist should be doing?
In todays world where technology is prevalent in any occupation, schools are, I believe failing because they are not adjusting to the changes. If you think about it, schools today are not any different then the schools your parents or grandparents attended. They have similar desks, outdated books in their libraries and similar teaching techniques. The one exception can be that they finally gave up on the traditional black board for a smart board. But, other than that not much has changed. Wait!! I stand to be corrected. Teachers wages have increased considerably. To me, it's a concerning and dire state of our education system. However, I really believe that every individual has it in them to succeed. We are all programed to succeed by our creator. When I refer to creator I am not insinuating religion. In fact, I am not a religious person. I am a spiritual person who believes in the universal power that each and everyone of us has embedded in our souls. The problem is that not only are schools failing the most impressionable in our society but, they are teaching them, when they pretend to teach, negative and corrosive ideas. We should be teaching our children the power that they possess to do whatever it is they want to do in life. With the premise being that they should discover their purpose through the lens of leaving the world a better place than when they arrived. That should be the focus but it's not. Life will teach us more than a school will ever teach. I understand that we live in a society of norms and rules where children must attend school but, I envision a better system where parents teach their children and use schools as a secondary source of education. The way I see it, the system wants to make the parents believe they are powerless because that will enhance their control. Moreover, I believe, schools have failed because they don't advance the knowledge that success is internal and not dependent on schools. I leave you with a quote by John F. Kennedy. "The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of the truth."
Just an thought.