Parents need to set schools straight
There are 5 comments for this page [ View ]Thursday, May 8, 2008
By SIDNEY WATTS
Guest commentary
It should be apparent to the citizens of this state that our education system is broken. It's not bankrupt, it's just not doing its intended job of preparing our children for adulthood. School officials tell us that performance levels of students in basic education continue to drop every year, and that correction can only be made by throwing more money at the problem. Charter schools exist because the regular system isn't working.
Wake up! Things have got to change. More money won't solve the problem, but the right approach will.
Our school system hasn't always been this way. During the 1930s, '40s and '50s, students in Utah were ranked among the top students in our country in achievement, and the average class size was between 30 and 36 pupils. What has pulled students in this downward spiral is not a lack of money, but changes in our approach to education. School administrators don't know what they should be doing; they are poor managers and inept.
Basically what the job requires is for students to learn the three R's: reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. Students used to be good in these, but now they're not. The fundamental subject matter has remained the same. What's made the difference? The difference is in the method or approach used to teach the fundamentals.
The problem occurs because of the child's psyche or what's in the child's attitude that interferes with the learning process. All children have three basic psyche conditions that interfere with the learning process: exuberant energy, a short attention span and boredom.
In the old days, the school system accommodated these conditions; now it doesn't. Schools have actually gone the other way and have exacerbated the problem -- that's why our present school system is failing.
This is the way the old system worked. Kindergarten and first grade were half-day classes. Children concentrated on the alphabet, numbers and learning to read. They also did other things like art and music to relieve boredom and absorb energy.
In first grade, the students became aware that learning was a formal process, not a friendly process. Their desks were in three or four rows, with four to five desks to a row. There were 15 to 17 students in a class. Their attention was always focused on the teacher. They couldn't see the face of the student in front or back of them, and the student to either side was of the opposite sex.
Under this structured atmosphere, the student was more apt to focus his attention on what the teacher said and did than to let his attention wander around the classroom or on his fellow students. There was an aisle between the rows of seats for the teacher to walk up and down to maintain order and discipline. No, it was not the same friendly atmosphere that exists now. And the class had just one teacher.
In primary schools today, the students stay at the same desk all day long, thus exacerbating the problems of exuberant energy, short attention span and boredom (a recipe for disaster).
Will this proposed system work better than the current failing system? Well, it could do no worse, and in past years it worked far better than the current system works.
For grades two through six, the classroom structure is changed in the following manner. There would be seven class periods a day, with 45 minutes per period, two 10-minute recesses and a 30-minute lunch period, with five minutes allowed to transition between classes. There would be three teachers for second grade, and six teachers for grades three through six.
The first period for all grades would be arithmetic. In second grade, the three teachers would each teach two other subjects like art, reading, writing, spelling, music, health and physical education.
The teachers in grades three and four would teach arithmetic first period, and then rotate classes through the other six periods with subjects like geography, history, science, music, art, grammar/writing/spelling and health/physical education. Each teacher would specialize in certain subjects, and thus be more proficient. If a student or teacher was having a bad day with one another, it would only last for one period rather than all day.
Ask students who attend middle school if they like it better than grade school. Most of them will say yes because it's not as boring.
If you want your children to be better-educated, get involved and force school officials to institute the changes herein recommended. If your kids are important to you, you'll do right by them.
Send a copy of this commentary to Gov. John Huntsman and to your state legislators.
Watts worked in civil service at Hill Air Force Base and is a retired military officer. He lives in Kaysville.
Comments
When I was in grade school, the Principal had a paddle in his office. I never went there, but the 'spoiled brats' that did weren't so smug and #*&!y when the came out of his office bawling their little eyes out.
There is no discipline in the schools today. I went to my sons Jr High shop class recently where they were load testing a small bridge that the students were each assigned to build. Only half of the kids actually did the project, others were standing on top of tables, jumping around, foul language, kicking equipment with disregard. I was embarassed to have my son there. what a joke. Where's the paddle. At least put the rejects in their own class to horse around on their own so those that want to learn can.
http://www.standard.net:80/live/opinion/topofutahvoices/132458/
Another reason that scores are dropping is that there are a lot of students that can't speak English very well and they get almost NO parental help with their school work.
My wife is an 3rd grade teacher and she can't make up for the fact that a lot of parents just don't give a damn about the things their kids are doing! When parents take their kids out of school to go to St George or other vacation spots in the middle of the school year, just what message are they sending to the kids? They don't make education a priority and don't even show up to Parent/Teacher conferances... How is that the schools fault??
I just love it when people can’t get out of the past and into the present or reality.
"There were 15 to 17 students in a class."
Well, so glad you went to school in Shangri-La.
“More money won't solve the problem”
Ok Sherlock, without $$ to hire more teachers at a better salary, how are you going to get class sizes down to your level?!?
My children received one very fine education in the Weber School district, as did I. (Were the sixties and seventies so much better than today??)
Changing the structure may be an excellent idea, but without changing the approach to staffing schools, it won’t change.
And lastly, you’re right, parents do need to get involved, with their own kids!! Stop whining about teachers not doing their jobs; they can’t change an undisciplined brat. By the time they enter school, it is too late!
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Classrooms with large numbers of students is a big problem. Students who don't care if they learn anything or not is definitely a problem. The inability of teachers to discipline students is a challenge in any educational setting. But then again, there are so many "rules" that must be abided by, that it has become ridiculous. We all know what the problems are. What are the real solutions?
Classrooms with fewer students would help. Removing behavior problems would definitely give our education system a huge jump, but how do we go about it? Do we use corporal punishment again? Do we remove the students who don't want to work? We need to ask ourselves the question: Should education be a right? Or is it a priviledge?
In my opinion, schools should be run like any other business. The schools are the businesses and the parents are the customers or clients (they are the ones who pay the money). Schools should cater their programs to what the parents want, but they should also have the right to refuse their services to those who are problematic. Parents should be able to pick and choose the educational institutions their children attend, the teachers who teach them, and the subjects their children are taught. Administrators should be free to design a curriculum to fit the needs of their clientel; teachers should be free to use their creativity to bring out the best in their pupils--knowing that the parents have the right to take their child elsewhere if they don't like it.
In my opinion, we can't fix our current educational system by just throwing more money at it. It needs to be changed. Parents who pay for their child's education are mor concerned about their money being spent wisely. Schools who depend on satisfied parents and students create more effective programs.