We are once again in an election cycle where politicians will begin to champion their causes. A favorite is “education”. It sounds as if they really care about our children. What they care about is getting elected and they use our concern for our children to bait us into voting for them. Before I go any further, I have tremendous respect for good teachers. A good teacher deserves recognition in the form of higher compensation and acknowledgement of their teaching abilities. Unfortunately, since teachers were allowed to unionize, test scores have fallen and much of our younger generation are not learning.
Education is defined as: the process of giving systematic instruction. When I went to school, we learned reading, spelling, mathematics, later came grammar, history, and geography. Because I went to a parochial school, the day started with a prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Our classroom was not chaotic and our teachers were dedicated. I do not need ‘spell check’ to compose a letter. I do not need a calculator to compute a 20% tip. No one tells me what to believe because I learned how to think and how to reason as a result of those dedicated teachers.
Learning is: the acquisition of knowledge or skills. In my humble opinion, learning is a lifelong process. The misconception today is that, if you attend school from your earliest days through college graduation, you will have become learned. That is blatantly false. A college education will add some letters after your name, it does not mean that you have automatically been imbued with common sense. Education in America has been dumbed down. Our children are not being taught the rich history of America, proper grammar, long division and fractions; instead they are allowed to bring calculators into the classroom for math and what student doesn’t have a cell phone capable of spell checking or sharing answers with a friend. Students no longer read the classics, their curriculum encourages them to read books about sex and rape. Their so-called education teaches them about abortion and their rights as a citizen, never mind the fact that they are minors, oh, and forget about your parents’ rights. Then the teachers wonder why the students are out of control. Well, DUH, you taught them that they have rights and do not have to listen to authority.
There is a segment of the student population who strive to understand everything. They may or may not have a college degree but they never stop learning. Kudos to them. They are the Einsteins of tomorrow. That curiosity to learn cannot be bought; and all of the money in the world cannot educate those who refuse to learn. A good teacher can and should be an inspiration; generally you will find them in schools which are not unionized.
When a politician speaks about education, he means that he wants the backing of the teachers’ union and will favor them when he is elected. That money does not mean better teachers, it means greedier teachers who will go on strike if their demands are not met. They will bring children out of the classroom to propagandize on their behalf. Does that sound like dedication to you? To me it sounds more like extortion.