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 My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places: Thanks for stopping by!  |
 Prompt #149: You’re tasked with redesigning the modern school system. What’s the first thing you change? *takes out extra large binder with tabbed dividers, indexed by both topic and anticipated cost* *re-reads prompt and realizes it's only asking for the "first thing" I would do* *blinks, sighs deeply, puts binder away and prepares to write about only ONE THING* In all honesty, this is a really difficult topic because there's so much that we need to do to improve and modernize our school system. There's an old quote attributed to Robert Fulghum which says, "It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and our air force has to have a bake sale to buy a bomber." And it would be easy to wave my hand and say that the first thing I would change about the modern school system is to make sure they have enough resources so that every classroom is modernized, every textbook is up to date, and no teacher or staffer has to spend their own money on their classroom, their arts program, their sports team, etc. But just saying that I'd make sure the school system is properly financed is kind of boring, so let's talk about the first step I'd take after whatever legislative and executive action was needed to open up the coffers and really invest in the educational system. What would I to redesign the school system after it was fully-funded? Up until a couple of years ago, I would have said that I'd eliminate tenure and significantly increase teacher salaries and perqs to make teaching a merit-based position. If you're a great teacher, you deserve to be making a salary that's on par with your average corporate executive, and be eligible for bonuses, incentives, etc. It should be a prestigious and honorable job. But if you're a terrible teacher, there should be a mechanism to incentivize those teachers to find another job. I think education is too important to have it be a "lifer" type of job where once you get into the position, it's very hard to get you out of it, even if the quality of your work drastically degrades. I've changed that opinion in recent years, though, for two reasons. First, it assumes that the biggest problem in education today is "bad teachers," and I simply don't believe that's the case. There are some, sure. But I also think a lot of "bad teachers" are really just burned out teachers, unappreciated teachers, under-resourced teachers, etc. who, once we met the basic threshold of properly funding education, would significantly improve the results they're getting with their students. Second, teachers' jobs have gotten harder in recent years. There are a lot more activist parents than there used to be, the kind who are willing to call the school, or the district, to complain about a particular choice of book being read in the classroom, or a particular teaching method being used. When I was in school, if a teacher called home, my parents would be like, "Sorry, Jeff did what? OMG I am so sorry, I will speak with him." Now? Half the time when a teacher calls home, the parents are like, "Sorry, Jeff did what? OMG he would never do that. I don't believe you. You just don't understand his unique needs. It must have been your fault." Teachers are being blamed for low test scores, behavioral issues, and even character flaws in their students. Teaching, as a profession, is getting less respect and less deference as the years go on. So getting rid of tenure and making it easier to fire teachers is a terrible idea in an environment where teachers are being increasingly scapegoated for any deficiencies a child might exhibit, and where parents are more hostile to educators than ever before. You shouldn't have at-will employment of educators when any parent who doesn't like the fact that your students are reading Toni Morrison can get you fired. So now we come to the new suggestion for the first thing I'd do to redesign the education system... I'd stipulate that any role that has any input into the classroom (be it the school administration, school board, department of education, etc.) has to either have a relevant degree in education, childhood development, or something along those lines... or they have to have a minimum number of years — say, five to ten — working in a relevant area of the field of education in order to be able to influence educational decisions. My wife is an educator. In order to become a teacher, she had to complete a Bachelor's Degree, then study for an additional two years (and pass multiple state exams) to get her teaching credential. On top of that, she has a Master's Degree in curriculum design and individualized instruction. And she's been teaching for over 15 years. And despite all that, she still has parents (many of whom have no college education at all) telling her that she doesn't know what she's talking about, and they know better than her how she should be teaching her class. I think teachers (and their school administrators) should be able to legally say to those kinds of parents, "You're not qualified to make the decision of what's taught in this classroom." It would have to be paired with very robust and clear rules about things like homeschooling and alternative education options because parents should have some choice over whether their kid attends a particular school if they disagree with its educational goals, philosophy, etc., but I think parents have increasingly expected way too much deference and personalized accommodation in recent years, and I would like to see educators more freely able to say, "My college degree and years of professional experience overrule your personal feelings on the matter. And if you'd prefer to educate your child yourself according to your own beliefs, here's all the information you need to make an informed choice about homeschooling or private school options." I know it wouldn't be easy, and there would be a ton of hurdles to have to jump over and complications to work through, but without changing the field of education back to a dynamic where the professional educators receive deference and latitude to do what they need to do, I don't think much else about the system will improve. |
Prompt #169: You’re given a 10-second rewind button. How do you use it? I would use a 10-second rewind button all the time, probably mostly to take back dumb things I say without thinking! Seriously, there are so many times where, the minute I've said something, I think to myself, "Why did I say that? I didn't have to say that," and regret it for several minutes. Mostly, it's in the context of critical or harsh comments that I realize were me overreacting in the moment, but I also can't rule out using this for the purposes of improving my zingers or quips in conversation. "Oh that devastating burn didn't land quite like I wanted it to... do over!"  In all seriousness, though, this would be an amazing ability to have. Not just for use in conversation, but I think about all the time ten seconds would erase a dumb decision. Like when you pull into a parking space and accidentally scrape another car. BOOP! Now you can try that parking attempt again. Or when you're not looking where you're going and step in a deep puddle that soaks your shoe and sock. BOOP! Now you can avoid that mistake. And even when you have moments that you wish you would have caught on camera. BOOP! Now you have ten seconds to get that phone out and snap a pic. Ten seconds isn't a lot of time, so I'm struggling to think about other uses for such a power other than "quick, get a do-over on the last thing that happened!" Now, if I could extend the do-ver button to a minute, or an hour, or a day, then we'd really be talking about options... |
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