The art of creativity is often lost in education these days.
So many teachers are forced to base their curriculum on testing scores to prove
they are teaching up to par. Gone is the freedom to bring their own creativity
to the lesson plans and expand on their own strengths into the classroom, their
own individuality.
The one that suffers the most by this push by government is
the children. Too often in working
families due to tough economic times, parents have scarce time to spend with
their children. Therefore, much of the modeling and education of life’s lessons
is falling on our educations, our underpaid overworked teachers who have to dip
their own wallet to fund projects. And many times, there is no time for extra
projects within a given school day because the demand to hit exceptional scores
on standardized tests is ridiculously high.
The result of this and lack of funding and stringent
guidelines is causing premature retirement and teachers leaving the field. Even
with heavy recruitment of teachers in many states, it is becoming a larger
problem each year. With the demand unfulfilled, the credentials of qualified
teachers in the classroom can and will go down unless this is changed. The Washington
Post reported in 2015 that newer statistics are showing that 17% of teachers
are leaving after only four years in the public system. The number has now risen.
I was a substitute teacher for one quarter of college. I
learned why, behind parenting it is considered, by many to be one of the most
difficult jobs there is. To name a few
drawbacks: Low pay, long hours, unpaid hours, requires a second job in summer
month, low pay increases, little respect, no real support, dealing with
difficult children and difficult parents unwilling to provide assistance with
their children, etc…
Frequently administrative boards only want to address the issues
that put them in a favorable light with the community and those they answer to
above. The nitty gritty of teachers roles
in the classrooms are ignored more often than not. They get attention when
there is a problem not when things go well. They are seldom given solutions and
have to be resourceful with very little assistance, particularly in schools
that need the most help. This is unacceptable and is causing the American
school system to lag greatly behind other countries. Our democracy grants a
free education but what benefit is this if the education is sub-par? Again, this is not due to poor teachers.
The emphasis, in the past, was on learning basics of
education and expanding on that criteria. It was on creating exciting
innovative opportunities for applications of learned material or alternative
ways of learning topics. Subjects of
particular interest to various students in a given classroom could be explored,
for e.g. a child with a European background might lend itself to more time
spent on an area in where they grew up.
Those days are pretty much gone. The same criteria are used universally at
every school, every year. As a retired teacher told me recently, “I couldn’t
wait to get out. Gone was the fun. In its place was me boring children with
lesson after lesson of material to help them pass a test. I wondered how well
they would actually be equipped to deal with the real world just because they
performed well on a standardized test.”
This week, Teacher Appreciation Week, I urge everyone to
take the time to do
