Ain't we Learned nothin?

This morning was nothing special. I woke up unacceptably early, showerd, dressed, and then got in my vehicle and joined my fellow working-class Americans on the daily morning commute to the place where we spend most of our waking hours. While on my drive I was listening to the radio and the hosting personality cited an "alarming" statistic - more Americans think that their education is of more importance than the war currently taking place in Iraq (and the one in Afghanistan that we don't talk about anymore). Woah...wait...our education is more important than a war...no way!

On top of that, our friendly host personality gave us a few more "statistics" - that most people don't think their educations adequately prepare them for life in the "real world." I say "statistics" because I find it amusing when people talk about statistics and numbers and it's fairly obvious that they don't really know what they're talking about. Usually most people simply write statistics off as mere numbers that don't carry much weight - the exact impression I was given this morning.

In any event, if this faceless personality on the radio is correct, Americans value their educations more than war, but still don't think it's getting the job done. Well now there's a shocker...let's see if we can't figure out why. Education has changed over the decades, to the point that it's not really an education so much as a crash course on how to memorize certain facts so that your school can have high scoring test takers which in turn makes them more money...which they then spend to make their students even better memorizing machines. Doesn't sound like much of an education.

Look back to our parents' generation. How many of our parents were forced to take standardized tests? I don't think very many. Instead they were set on actually learning things that matter - math, english, history, science - the things that they took into the working world to make their lives better. Think about it, how uncommon is it to find someone in your parents' generation who didn't go to college? Not very. Look back even further to your parents' parents' generation - how many of them went to college? Not very many. Does this mean that our parents and grandparents are stupid? That they are utterly incapable of discharging the duties of whatever occupation they chose to go into? Not in the least (well, maybe they are, but that's not my business nor my point). What was different? Of course, it was a much less complicated era back then, much less technology to deal with, and by in large, many fewer international issues to concern oneself with. However, what was also different was the education that they received.

On the flip side, look at today. For graduating high school seniors - what's the first question they are asked? "Where are you going to school?" Confused, some say, "I just finished school, what are you talking about?" Though most simply rattle off the list of schools they were accepted to, which gave them the best deal, and which one they ultimatley decided to attend. No longer is it socially acceptable to say, "Well, I think I'm just going to stick it out with my high school diploma and try to find a nice job; more school isn't really something I'm interested in." Of course, some still take such an approach to their lives, but it's far from acceptable in today's society, at least it is in all the places I've lived.

My point? My point is that we shouldn't be overly happy with the education that we receive prior to college. Rules, red tape, fear of litigation, and the countless other things that plague our schools are only partially to blame. However, let's not forget the students themselves. I remember stories my parent's told me about how it wasn't uncommon to be disciplined by their teachers while in school; the stories from my grandparents are worse. But now, if a teach so much as looks at a student the wrong way they risk being sued, losing their teaching license and their job. Do students know this? You bet, and many take full advantage of it.

So what do we have? We have an educational system wherein teachers are unable to teach for a variety of reasons, a population of apathetic, lazy students who take advantage of the system, politicians who continue to make things more difficult, and parents. I have many friends from college who went into teaching; thier number one complain wasn't the school system, politicians, or even their students. No, the most feared thing are the parents - those parents who think their kid deserves more one-on-one time than all the other students, parents who think they can teach better than someone trained to do so, and parents who threaten teachers and school systems alike with lawsuits.

So why then, should anyone be surprised that we no longer think our education that we get prior to college is preparing us for life in the "real world?" We now have an educational system that is no longer designed to prepare us for jobs and the "real world." Instead we have a system that takes classroom and recess time away from kids, forces them to memorize useless facts, score high on standardized tests (both for the schools and college entrance exams), so that only after they become machines can they enter the sacred halls of higher education and finally take a step toward the rest of their lives.