Ideas about Education

Upside-Down Ideas About Education
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sherman_Minter] Sherman Minter

So—your kids are off to school again. A new school year has begun. Your kids are so happy to be going back. They love their teachers. They love school. They love doing homework. They have great friends at school. Every day is a new and exciting learning adventure. You love the time away from your kids and are comforted by the knowledge that they are safe in school and that they are growing as people each and every day in school. You are blessed! You truly are. You may also be all alone in your bliss.


Unfortunately for most parents and their children conditions associated with school are not nearly so rosy. For many, school is associated with tremendous anxiety caused by social interactions and academic performance concerns. Most survive it, some thrive on it, but for far too many, school becomes a crushing weight from which their self-concept never recovers. This is the reason so many parents are reluctant to have much to do with the school; they don’t have fond memories of it. However, regardless of whether you and your children love school or hate it, you accept it for what it is with little thought that it could be different.


You have accepted the almost universal idea of what schooling is and without thinking, have agreed to submit your children to that idea. After all—that’s what everybody does—right? You have accepted the idea that your children should start in kindergarten and go to school for thirteen years of their lives. Almost everyone does! You have accepted the idea that schools should be large. They almost all are. You have accepted the idea that most learning happens at school. You have accepted the idea that teachers are the most important people in your children’s educational lives. You have accepted the idea that class sizes of twenty five or more is okay. You have accepted the idea that your children must submit to testing to prove their learning. You may have even accepted the idea that test scores tell you whether your children are in a good school or a poor school.

You have accepted the idea that schools don’t need to provide for experience—children can learn from bookwork alone. You have accepted the idea that only the teacher knows good work when she sees it and that it is her job to evaluate work and assign grades. You have accepted the idea that only the teacher is qualified to teach your children. You have accepted the idea that teachers are always loving and accepting of children and that even if they are not, children are never harmed by the educational process. You have accepted the idea that your child needs school in order to learn social skills. And perhaps most significantly, you may have accepted the idea that education is the school’s responsibility. Unfortunately, you may have accepted a lot of ideas that are entirely upside-down.


While many schools are doing a decent job of schooling children and many children are quite happy in those schools, parents must be attentive to the needs of their specific child. When parents accept the ideas listed above and many more, they agree implicitly that their child must fit into these expectations. After all—that’s they way school is done—right? (No—not necessarily—there are other ways to school!) Who is your child to be different? (He just is!) What gives you or your child the right to say, “This doesn’t work for me”? (Because it doesn’t.)


If you, or your child, are not as fortunate as the ideals described in the first paragraph of this article—and most aren’t—then maybe you should begin to question your acceptance of certain long held beliefs concerning education. The well being of your child is at stake—and you are in control.

If you would like to know more visit the website listed below for other articles and suggested reading.

Sherman Minter

The Principals Office

shermanminter@principalsoffice.com

www.principalsoffice.com

Sherman Minter is an educator and a parent. He has seen first hand what "education" can do to a child who does not fit in. It took years of parenting and educational experience for him to recognize how dramatically children are affected by the words and actions of teachers and parents and by children's own successes or failures. He writes today primarily in an attempt to inject some common sense into parenting and schooling. He advocates for drastic education reform to a system which provides for all children rather than just the linguistic and mathematic achievers. He also advocates for the supreme importance of parent involvement in children's lives and education. He believes that school improvement is impossible without genuine parent involvement.
He is the author of a book entitled, The Schooling Game--A Parents Survival Guide to Public Schools, which is unpublished at this time.
He is president of The Principal's Office, LLC, a company founded to provide information and service to parents and children. His website is [http://www.principalsoffice.com] http://www.principalsoffice.com

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