Education Needs a True Revision

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Abstract

politics and our government may (I want to believe) at its core, have the right intentions, but non-educators and wealthy philanthropists with agendas have always been heard over the parents, teachers, students, and education professionals.</p><p id="aa7c">Schools seem to be the historic scapegoat. Teachers have always been expected to fix society, to develop a competitive nation without having the support and respect they need and deserve to educate our children.</p><p id="1907">Too many kids in America do not have their basic needs met. There is no way someone could be expected to perform on a test if they were hungry, scared, unclean, sick, or homeless.</p><p id="37b3" type="7">This is not the work of educators. This is our country’s responsibility.</p><p id="ccca">There is not an easy solution, but a start would be to elect officials whose main agenda is taking care of our citizens. When people are more secure in their basic needs, educators can do their jobs.</p><p id="c13e">As a parent and a teacher, my hope is that other parents will be aware of the pressures being put on our children. I hope that parents will value a child’s creativity, social-emotional well-being, and curiosity about the world and that they will stop looking at a grade or test score as the only indicator o

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f what is happening in the classroom.</p><p id="3da5">© <a href="https://medium.com/@LazarSamantha">Samantha Lazar</a> 2019</p><p id="b4d9">Thank you for reading. You may also be interested in:</p><div id="258a" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-inspired-classroom-792f9f9b6ae9"> <div> <div> <h2>The Inspired Classroom</h2> <div><h3>A Reintroduction</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*wYQNyeKwobRPPBAO)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="5498" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/born-in-the-wrong-era-834877cee0c0"> <div> <div> <h2>Born in the Wrong Era</h2> <div><h3>This Gen X Baby Hustles Like a Millennial</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*8FmsjjlpCn2Hzc_B)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

If I had three minutes in an elevator with you and you actually asked me what I thought about school reform:

The beginning of my teaching career coincided with the No Child Left Behind reform. After three years, I quickly learned that test scores undermined creativity- my own and especially my students.

I was teaching 15-year-old seventh graders who were itching to drop out. I had an eighth grader in my class whose parents blamed me for their son writing a bomb threat. One of my students ran away from home and I did not see her for a month. This was awful, but it meant that I would have enough desks for my Language Arts class.

Every federal administration has tried to “fix” the school system in America, but it seems like a new reform is just the same money making scheme painted over with a new banner.

American politics and our government may (I want to believe) at its core, have the right intentions, but non-educators and wealthy philanthropists with agendas have always been heard over the parents, teachers, students, and education professionals.

Schools seem to be the historic scapegoat. Teachers have always been expected to fix society, to develop a competitive nation without having the support and respect they need and deserve to educate our children.

Too many kids in America do not have their basic needs met. There is no way someone could be expected to perform on a test if they were hungry, scared, unclean, sick, or homeless.

This is not the work of educators. This is our country’s responsibility.

There is not an easy solution, but a start would be to elect officials whose main agenda is taking care of our citizens. When people are more secure in their basic needs, educators can do their jobs.

As a parent and a teacher, my hope is that other parents will be aware of the pressures being put on our children. I hope that parents will value a child’s creativity, social-emotional well-being, and curiosity about the world and that they will stop looking at a grade or test score as the only indicator of what is happening in the classroom.

Thank you for reading. You may also be interested in: