Edclicking Keyword Cloud
By Dr. Harry Tennant
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Education Ride 365: What We Get Out Of Young People Depends Upon What We (ALL) Demand Of Young People! The Calvin and Hobbes cartoon below perfectly illustrates a very real conundrum. Adults in America want our schools to be the best in the world, but how many are really willing to make their children work hard enough to accomplish that? How can we have one without the other?  Bill Watterson‘s Calvin and Hobbes While the cartoon pokes fun at Calvin's unwillingness to pay the price for opportunity (excellence), adults I am speaking with while riding throughout the country seem aware that they are part, and perhaps the true source, of the problem.  A couple of days ago, in Edmond Oklahoma, I spoke with the man who is now living in a home my family first owned when it was built around 1982. I was an 8th and 9th grader when we lived there. During our conversation about the overall condition of our country, his son flew out of the house pronouncing he was late for class, but it would be o.k. because "the teacher is cool" about tardies. His father shook his head. As his son drove off, this dad bemoaned the fact that he as a father is part of the problem. He explained that---like so many parents---he has always wanted his son to have a bit better life than he did. He believes that in the process of trying to achieve that goal he has produced a "soft" son who is emblematic of so many young people today. His son is 21, still lives at home, has very little drive, stays up until 5:00am playing video games on a regular basis, and essentially just does the basics to prove that he is generally on-track. He feels that he has taught his son that everything will basically just work out as long as he shows up and plays the game. We as a society are putting tremendous pressure on educators to create a school system that is a world leader. Americans seem to expect to have schools that rate near---if not at---the top in world education rankings. Look at the competition:  Are parents in our country willing to demand that our kids "work harder" so we as a country get the results we expect? Or, are we simply expecting educators to work harder and smarter to somehow make up for the "soft" expectations so many have for their children? Do we as a country really want the top performing academic students in the world?
Really? Posted at 10:47 PM Keywords: Education Ride 365 , EdClick , Cycle Of Education , Parent Involvement , Accountability 3 Comments |
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Harry said... Would it help student performance to educate parents on what they can do to help? Thursday, March 29, 2012 9:20 PM |
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Brian said... I agree with Harry....and this post is the most spot on that you have written (in my opinion). A lot of good old fashioned parenting, discipline and encouragement would change everything. Wake up America (Earl Pitts). Thursday, March 29, 2012 9:52 PM |
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Kathie said... It is an issue on both sides. I work with some fabulous educators that have high standards both for their students and themselves. They are willing to work hard to make the school the best. I also, unfortunately work with some individuals who show up for a paycheck, do the minimum, and don't have any 'drive' or enthusiasm. It hurts us all. We also have parents that complain when we "expect too much", of their children and believe that we should look the other way when there are behavior problems, or tardiness, or lack of effort on the part of the student. We have parent nights to educate them in the things that they can do to help their children be successful. The parents that always show up are the ones that are already doing those things anyway, so I am frustrated watching both sides of the discussion and watching both parents and educators become apathetic. Gee, did I say too much? Friday, March 30, 2012 1:39 PM |