Maggie's Farm

I teach at a Texas community college, and get the students right out of high school (and sometimes as dual-credit students taking the class for both HS and college credit). Some are ready to do the mental work needed to read a textbook and glean the important info, others aren't. I lecture for pretty much the whole time I have them in class and they almost universally tell me that they have NEVER had to take serious notes in HS or junior high up until they take my class. That never ceases to blow my mind because as recently as the mid 80s when I was in HS, our teachers lectured to us for most of the class period. Some were great and others couldn't teach their way out of a wet paper bag. But we were generally prepared for college.

I say this as a qualified statement, though, because I only get the dual credit students who are deemed most likely to succeed in college classes, the best of the worst if there is no best of the best any more. The stats generally say that the average public school student in the big urban school districts are much less prepared than the overmatched little balls of fluff that I get.

So while I think that teachers have reason to be upset about being judged by how their students do on standardized tests, I think the real blame for the state of American schools goes in equal measures to the failed government policies that got us here and the lack of personal responsibility that is plaguing our country.

What I mean is that our government has subsidized illegimate families for at least three generations now. I have sympathy for anyone trying to raise children as a single parent. But by subsidizing it the goverment encourages men to donate sperm and then abandon the woman and child. When that kid gets to school he is much less likely to respect authority or see the need for education if he has been abandoned. How can you effectively teach a school full of these kids?

My parents held me accountable at home for my actions at school. I knew I had to do my homework and stay in school or they would spank me and/or take away my privileges. Thankfully some parents do enforce this discipline at home, but some of my friends who work in public education tell me that more and more parents don't even try to help their kids or keep them in line. One of my favorite former principles recently retired because he was tired of parents who ALWAYS assumed that their little angels hadn't hit the teacher or beat up a fellow student. So they'd show up at school to tell the principal that he had no right to punish their perfect little darling who was clearly being picked on. I guess this sort of thing occasionally happened in the past. But it seems to be the new normal.

Is there a way to stop this car from plunging off the cliff? I don't see an easy way.