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We’re Making Our Kids Miserable in School
By allowing the pursuit of money to guide our educational practices, we have miseducated everyone.
By Susan Engel
This is an excerpt from The End of the Rainbow: How Educating for Happiness (Not Money) Would Transform Our Schools, published by The New Press.
Years ago, I was in a coffee shop and overheard the following conversation between two fathers sitting at the table next to me. As I listened, it became clear they both had children in the sixth grade. One of the men said, with a downcast expression on his face, “Dan hates school. He drags his feet onto the bus every single day. He hates math. He says there’s no point to it. He thinks English is boring. There isn’t one part of the day he looks forward to.”
The other guy scrunched up his face skeptically. “What’s that got to do with anything? He doesn’t need to like it. He just needs to do it. I mean, jeez, it’s not a birthday party. They’re going because they gotta be ready.”
His friend tilted his head a little. “Ready? Ready for what? ” “Ready to make something of themselves. It’s a snake pit out there. I don’t know about you, but I want Rudy to have a leg up. And if he thinks I’m gonna pay for some fruity-tooty college, he’s got another think coming. There’s a reason for all this schooling. It’s not just so he can feel good.”
Nor is it just parents who think that education is first and foremost a path to a job. Many of our nation’s most ardent advocates for education have made their case by showing that schooling pays off, both for individuals and for society.
When Bill de Blasio became mayor of New York City in January 2014, he quickly proposed making early childhood programs available to all children in the city. His concern reflected his progressive values and an understanding (long overdue on the part of politicians) that a good social and intellectual environment in early childhood is key to healthy development. As soon as de Blasio put forth his plan, he ran up against intense opposition. But what really stood out in the first days of this political conflict was how the newspapers covered the issue. The first articles describing de Blasio’s proposal and the opposition to it said virtually nothing about actual children—what their daily lives were like with and without good care. Instead, the articles discussed the economic and political ramifications of the proposal—what might be gained in the long run if the city provided day care to its youngest inhabitants. Reading those accounts, you would never know anything about the real little boys and girls who were or were not eating, napping, being read to, playing freely in safe and pleasant places, getting their needs met by kind adults, and enjoying their days. Our somewhat single-minded focus on education as a means to a financial end, rather than on children themselves, evokes a much earlier time when children were viewed primarily in terms of their financial utility.
Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat
http://philosophers-stone.co.uk
Source: http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2015/03/were-making-our-kids-miserable-in-school/
