A couple of things were mentioned in the State of the Union were actually new and fresh ideas that will never happen. One is the call to give good teachers bonuses and to get rid of ineffective teachers, and the other to streamline the "college experience".
Back when in the '60's, "Teachers Colleges" were places to go to get a degree because it was the easiest curriculum and you'd be pretty much guaranteed a job when you graduated. Teachers were poorly paid by today's standards but you did have lots of free time and most female teachers I knew had been doing it for years and for female teachers, which were most of the faculty, it was a second job. Their husbands were the breadwinner. I remember my music teacher who was the best teacher I had. He cared about his students and we cared about him. It was a bond that made all of us in the band want to be the absolute best we could be, based on our abilities. He started with a bunch of kids who didn't know a saxophone from a cow, although both made the same sound. In two years he had us winning high school "Battles of the Band" and playing some really complex music, including semi-classical (which we hated). At the end of my sophomore year, Mr. Proctor told us he was leaving to head the music department at Temple University. The issue was money. We found out later that he was making $4,000 a year and only wanted a $500 dollar raise to stay because he loved the area and the kids. We were actually going to go on strike but our principal talked us out of it because it would reflect badly on the school and our teacher. So we said our sad goodbyes. We always went to the music room during study hall and he actually helped me learn how to write my own music. I was good with lyrics but not so much with the music. When we went to concerts, those of us who were smokers rode with him instead of on the bus because he was a smoker too. That would get us in real hot water today, but in those days, nothing bonded men together more than good discussion and a good smoke.
His replacement got flack from us the moment he stepped through the door. We rebelled and everything Mr. Proctor instilled in us went out the door. We sounded different. Our heart wasn't in it. And it took a year for him to gain our trust and dedication. In my senior year, we put the pieces back together and started to respect Mr. Mertz. Maybe it had something to do with his fire engine red 67 Buick Wildcat Convertible with white interior. But he too was a good teacher, and once we got to know each other, we found mutual respect, almost as much as we had with Mr. Proctor...Almost.
That's what makes a great teacher. Not making a kid learn, but making a kid WANT to learn. I remember my History classes. My History teacher was a fanatic on dates, and I didn't care about dates..I wanted to learn everything there was to know about what happened at the Battle of Hastings..Or the real story about the Declaration of Independence (a fascinating story in that our dates and even who wrote it are wrong. Too much info to go into here.) That's why the internet is such a amazing tool to learning. One thread leads to another and yet another. If a teacher wants to open a child's mind, just give them a topic and turn them loose. Then write a paper on what they had learned. They will be challenged, they'll find the search as much fun as playing Warcraft, and the knowledge will be retained. The same holds true for any subject, be it Math, Geography, Physics. Great teachers are the ones who challenge their students to be great, and the bad ones should be unceremoniously shown the door.
College isn't a right. There will always be a need for trade schools and apprenticeships. I had a guy in to replace my hot water heater who was a plumber in great demand. And he never went to college. He got his initial knowledge from trade school and decided to learn more on his own. He joked that he worked hard but he lived in a subdivision next to a doctor and made more money than him. It wasn't a boast, just a statement of fact. Plus, he wasn't tens of thousands of dollars in debt for student loans.
College is getting harder and harder to afford for middle income families. Few get a full ride with a scholarship, most wind up saddled with huge debt in student loans. Much of that is taken up by what we lovingly call "crap" courses. My personal favorite is Psychology. And it's usually the professors of those crap courses who think their course is the most important. If requirements for graduation eliminated those courses that have nothing to do with career choice, college could be cut by at least a year, saving parents or the government thousands.
Parents are at fault as well. Kids want to go to a cool (expensive) university far from home to study..Social Work, Anthropology, Political Science..and wonder why they can't get a job. Social workers wind up underpaid at day cares, or the welfare office..or Children and Youth Services..Maybe even the checkout at Walmart. I don't know where Anthropologists find jobs..Or Political Science majors. I personally think the government has a role in higher education. I firmly believe that if students pull the grades (at least a high B)then they should get a full ride in Math, Science, and Engineering at the university of their choice.
Guidance counselors should get more involved. In my senior year I had my obligatory meeting with mine and the conversation went like this.."What do you want to do when you graduate?".."I want to be in radio.".."That's nice..Next!"..Not to say he would have changed my mind, but maybe exploring other possibilities would have been nice.
In short, education is our most valuable asset and 18 year old kids have more on their minds than learning. And when they graduate, many think they know everything, but the learning is just beginning. Theory and reality are two very different things. Colleges and trade schools like to inflate potential earnings. Most lawyers don't start out as partners in a law firm (unless daddy owns the firm.). Accountants don't become head accountants at Bank of America..Social Workers don't save the world. It's up to parents who foot the bill and guidance counselors to research and give the facts about the requirements, true cost, true potential earnings, and if the student has the aptitude for what they think they want to be.
Of course, if they did that, Walmart would lose a large part of it's potential employee pool.
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