Education Issue

Wow, well EMHO asked me to read an article about education and what I thought. Getting on a soapblog to rant about education? Don't have to ask me that twice. My audience is usually my lump, my lovely lady hump, but my espousals usually only succeed in helping her get to sleep.

So the article in question says that instead of blaming teachers, pedagogy, or funding for our education ills, perhaps we should look at the students. The author, a teacher, has observed that immigrant students work extremely hard while his upper-middle class students expect to be given A's or B's. I certainly don't agree with the general gist of the article. There are multiple quotes longing for the good old days when parents held their children accountable. Not that I haven't had a parent at my school bitch at me for their kid's failings, but the great majority respect the job we do and blame their kids for not doing their part. There is also the unsaid assumption throughout the article that school are continuously getting worse. Although politicians and media push this view, I have read nothing to support that schools have gotten worse over the last 25 years (and the othe constant concerns- crime, drug use, and divorce- are actually lower).

But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a point. Our scores might not be dropping, but we certainly do not do well when compared internationally. And, I do feel like I spend much of energy as an 8th grade teacher just trying to get students to hand stuff in. So what is it? I read recently that Japan was fretting over their student's skills decreasing (although I'm sure they're still kick our asses). Is their just a general malaise that just kicks in from being on top? Do middle-class children instinctually know that things will probably work out just fine? Whereas immigrant children are pushed to excel partly by their parents' worries over their collective futures, could many American children maybe sense that we've continued to dominate the world's economy while ranking 26h out of 27 countries in math skills (made-up stat)?

I've heard that grades have actually very little correlation to future success. And judging from 4 of my friends who landed in the 600's out of 670 in our high school class and our doing well, this has been true in my experience. Maybe presently how you do in school doesn't have much to do with your future. Perhaps it isn't funding, teachers, pedagogy, or the students. We just need our empire to come crashing down to size. And then everyone will be a bit more motivated...