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Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Education Poem Response
If you want to get your point across, a poem is usually the wrong way to do it. That's why I was impressed with Andew Samuel's piece titled "Modern Education."
Usually poets tend to lose the point and wander off into rants or get lost with their cool rhymes, but Samuel keeps his focus by listing three pillars of modern education that he finds most disturbing.
1. Education stifles creativity. As a teacher I have to agree. Poetry, art, and creation is valued less and less by our public schools who seem intent on only teaching the skills that will produce the best test results. My English department no longer even offers creative writing as an elective choice. Writing in our schools today is not about self exploration, it is about test score generation.
2. Schools exist to judge and condemn you. Unfortunately, he is right again. The current grading system seems to do a great job telling people they are less than perfect, less than smart. Even the new standards based grading system that we are developing now still boils down to one letter on your report card that tells the majority of people that someone else is smarter. Why can't your report card judge this year's performance against your performance last year? Why do we insist on creating competition between teenagers for a limited number of stamps of approval?
3. Segregation / Inequality. In Illinois especially, the rich are given extra facilities and services, while the poor do without textbooks, libraries and the like. Much of the entrenched beauracracy exists to preserve the wealth of the rich and give as little to the poor as possible. Need some evidence? Check out the Illinois state school report card: http://schools.chicagotribune.com/district/grant-chsd-124/#operating-expenditures
Clearly there are other problems in schools, but "Modern Education" hits the big three. Andrew Samuel shows us that schools are corporate entitities designed to crank out ACT takers, not develop individuals.
Usually poets tend to lose the point and wander off into rants or get lost with their cool rhymes, but Samuel keeps his focus by listing three pillars of modern education that he finds most disturbing.
1. Education stifles creativity. As a teacher I have to agree. Poetry, art, and creation is valued less and less by our public schools who seem intent on only teaching the skills that will produce the best test results. My English department no longer even offers creative writing as an elective choice. Writing in our schools today is not about self exploration, it is about test score generation.
2. Schools exist to judge and condemn you. Unfortunately, he is right again. The current grading system seems to do a great job telling people they are less than perfect, less than smart. Even the new standards based grading system that we are developing now still boils down to one letter on your report card that tells the majority of people that someone else is smarter. Why can't your report card judge this year's performance against your performance last year? Why do we insist on creating competition between teenagers for a limited number of stamps of approval?
3. Segregation / Inequality. In Illinois especially, the rich are given extra facilities and services, while the poor do without textbooks, libraries and the like. Much of the entrenched beauracracy exists to preserve the wealth of the rich and give as little to the poor as possible. Need some evidence? Check out the Illinois state school report card: http://schools.chicagotribune.com/district/grant-chsd-124/#operating-expenditures
Clearly there are other problems in schools, but "Modern Education" hits the big three. Andrew Samuel shows us that schools are corporate entitities designed to crank out ACT takers, not develop individuals.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Weirdo Theater
When I was young (no doubt you thrill to hear those words), My brother and I used to have an old black and white tv in our bedroom. In those days having an extra tv was quite a luxury, but little danger to your development, as there were so few interesting shows on that we rarely bothered to turn on the darn thing. Most of our time was spent riding our bikes around town, exploring the nearby river, or getting into trouble with our BB guns...but I wax nostalgic, to the point!
Every Saturday night at 10:30 we would climb into bed and prepare to be scared by "Weirdo Theater." "Weirdo Theater" was a show that reran all the old horror movies from the 30's, 40's and 50's. All of them were creepy to a kid, but the films that really grabbed me were the Frankenstein films. I loved the creation scenes in the lab with sparks flying everywhere, tubes of colored liquid bubbling, the hunchbacked Igor on the roof, and the crazed Dr. Frankenstein screaming "It's alive!" For my money it didn't get any better.
As I grew older I moved onto many other films, and in high school I read every Stephen King book I could get my hands on, but I still have a soft spot for the big guy with the flat head and bolts in his neck.
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