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Dec 8, 2003 What Happened to School? When I went to school it was an interesting time. Police were never present, teachers were interested in education, and schools were a safe haven. Schools produced and introduced us to a vast difference of things and ideas. I guess wonders never cease because school has changed. Now as a student teacher I see things are so wrong. Schools now ¡§ employ ¡¨ children to shill for money. To have kids hawking candy bars for the schools to raise money is absolute wrong. Where do the schools see it as a plus to send them into the public to ¡§ beg¡¨ for money? Sure we had bake sales and raffles and fundraisers, but that was for extras that the kids and the teachers decided on together. Like plants for a gardening club at the school, or new chessboards for the chess clubs, or yarn for pep squad. We never had to go out and get money for football or science labs, or even a globe for the library. That was part and parcel of our school. According to the Bureau for Child Labor ƒx, anyone who is under the age of 18, and is selling any goods or employed by anyone for the benefit of that person is to be compensated and provide working papers. So does the school pay all these kids to shill, hawk and sell candy, or other items and in some instances nothing at all? Pointe blank, the answer is NO. So are the schools in essence breaking the FLSA/Child Labor Laws ? Possibly, Only a Supreme Court ruling will define that. But common sense if that still exists says, yes. Since when does school become a place of punishment and fines? Many schools have now begun to ¡§ fine¡¨ parents for children not being in school. And that is for any reason. If a child misses three or more days even due to illness, or family emergency, parents can be fined upwards of 45 dollars a child per day! Insurance obligations for students to take classes seem a bit ridiculous. If you wanted to say, build a large four stage Saturn rocket in the high school science lab and send it up, then I can see parents having to hold liability insurance. I mean it may just go off course. But to take algebra, geometry, geography or even English lit? Isn't that a bit crazy? Screening for weapons. Now I am one to know about abuse in school. I got beat up and teased. However for school to be under rule of the police is a bit distracting. There was one incidence where the police (sheriff) came to our school because a kid brought a rifle in to work in metal and wood shop! Now did he shoot anyone? No! He made mockups for the drill corps! But today he would have been detained and finger printed and who knows what else. To go to a federal building and be put through the ringer is understandable, to got to school and be placed behind concertina wire, razor and barbed wire with locked gates is going a bit too far. Now I remember when we were bad we had a few creative souls. So much so that a few students sold the school, arranged for a tour and had papers drawn up. And a few football players carried in a VW Bug to drive up and down the hallways, charging 50 cents to be taken to class, and yes we had the ever-popular forgery hall pass crew. But the administration didn¡¦t see that as bad. We didn¡¦t hurt anyone. They dealt with those issues in an adult manner. The deposit had to be given back, the VW cash was given to the janitor for removing skid marks, and those who gained money from the forgery were asked to buy breakfast for the teachers whose name were signed. Were we bad? No we were creative. They have changed that. Those who did these things became evil. Today, as I have learned students in some schools start out with points. If they forget their backpacks (Oh please how many of those rule makers forgot their own books!) they get points off and have to sit detention or otherwise incur a problem. What if they forget their homework (yes you remember not doing it and lying about that also) they get points off. The more infractions the more points off the more of a detention or even expulsion they would face. And what about talking back. That was enough to aggravate any teacher, but the methods that were used to discourage it were creative, to say the least. Where do these people get off making rules when they themselves have as children and as parents broke every single one when they were in school? Maybe its memory lapse or they think they are better than they were. A mirror could change many a view. Parents seem to be banal and see the things that the schools do to our children as OK, because the kids are at least in school. But the truth is many parents and administrators simply fail to see that what they are doing is more harm that good, and they are in effect instilling a ¡§ criminal¡¨ attitude on the students even if they are not a student looking for trouble. If one were to look at their local schools and see what the kids are learning, they would be appalled. Let alone disappointed that their school taxes and other taxes that are supposed to go to the schools are not providing what they were meant to. Many schools are understaffed and under supplied. How many schools in rural areas are closed and the money for them funneled into the larger school areas? Too many are the answer and many Magnet schools gain funding in this manner. Many school system have simply chosen to ¡§ sell off¡¨ schools. That is privatizing the schools. Corporations get tax breaks, and they funnel monies in and gain federal funding to compensate. The other end is that they can choose how to run the schools. Examples of these can be to make requirements for insurance from parents before kids begin school, and decide how many teachers will be used etc. This way the tax money that was supposed to go to the schools, are now used for something else. Often only percentage is given to the schools. And we also get to school buses. In many areas the schools do not own school buses. They are owned by companies and leased to the schools. Who then in turn leases them out to the bus drivers. The bus drivers are then responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of their vehicles. The schools simply allow the auto shop to work on them for the experience if the school ahs one. But most of the repair and care is on the bus drivers themselves. Schoolbooks just don¡¦t seem to be as accurate as they once were. My daughter is attending high school and her books have different information, not to mention they are PC (politically correct) so as not to offend anyone. When did GW become half African American (a term that didn't exist at the time he was around)? Why is Nixon¡¦s withdrawal from Vietnam not mentioned? How about President Carter? He barely gets a mention when he got Begin and Sadat together? FDR now has different presidential term and Biology is no longer biology. Did you know you only get energy from Proteins and not carbohydrates? The Apollo missions are not even a footnote, and forget about geography. Many students don¡¦t even know how to read a masthead on a map, let alone what a real masthead is. The Greeks had a saying that Education is wasted on the youth. And that mandatory education should begin at 14, when they are old enough to be apprentice. In today¡¦s day and age with schools being nothing more that day care centers, and holding pens, it is no wonder that the youth of today is failing miserably and that the No child left behind law came into effect. For what good it does, in my opinion, it does no good. Schools still fail the criteria system miserably, and teachers though needing to pass exams to teach, hardly know a thing. How can you look up to a teacher who doesn't even know what the chemical NA means? Or who can't describe Zimbabwe South Africa, or even what latitude and longitude is or how much a meter is in inches? How can a teacher of chemistry not know what a precipitate is? Or even that common household items are in fact chemicals. How can you as a parent understand the new math, when the teacher can't understand the new math? And there is no new math! How is it possible that teachers themselves are undereducated when they have to go through so much to be a teacher! A conundrum at the very least. So one day if your child comes in, distracted and depressed over school, and seems to be having trouble, look not to the child himself, and do not harp, nag or harangue. But to the environment to which he is subject on an everyday basis! Indeed times the are a changin! ------------ Email Julia Sherman Talley: jimmysdevoted2@bellsouth.net Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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