My Father was one of those "rare birds." He was an extremely popular history teacher. First faculty member inducted into my alma mater's Hall of Fame. He chaired the social studies department of the very large high school I attended. He retired "early" after almost 40 years of teaching because he was increasingly disenchanted with the quality of students passing through his classroom. He attributed it to "school no longer being considered the child's job." (Their first priority)
Too many kids, he explained, were working late at the mall on weekdays (usually to pay for their car), no longer having dinner with the family around the kitchen table most nights, overburdened with extracurricular activities, and not demonstrating the curiosity so essential to exploring learning (possibly due to too little sleep). He believed that kids, and families, should consider school as a child's full-time responsibility, their job, and act accordingly. The family had to value education or the kid was doomed to mediocrity.
There are so many more distractions today than when my Dad retired it'd make his head swim. All the things he thought distracted from concentrating on education have become more numerous and pervasive.
We strive to ensure our son considers school his number one job - he's entering his sophomore year of high school next week. He does work but only on Saturday nights at a local bar & grill as a short-order cook and food prep. He loves his job and takes it seriously. And he makes it to Sunday School and Church the next morning.
For the last month he also leaves the house at 6:30AM for cross-country practice, comes home for a shower and a quick bite, and gets to marching band rehearsal by 9:00 where he stays until after 4:00PM. Busy kid; and school doesn't start until next Wednesday.
I occasionally lament about how my "idyllic" childhood is simply not available for my son. Then the reality sets in that virtually nothing about my "perfect" childhood would, or could, prepare my son for his own future. He's working on a cursive signature because he has to endorse his paychecks - my wife and I used to use cursive as code when we didn't want him to read something. Still works but we don't hold many secrets anymore - and he types faster than me and I'm pretty good.
Bottom line is we've been fortunate to raise an outstanding young man because we've ordered things so he knows his biggest, and virtually only, responsibility is his education. Once he's completed all necessary steps to doing more than required for making grades, and actually learning something, he gets to go on to something else (like confounded video gaming). He's not as curious about as many things as I'd ideally like but compared to his classmates he's an explorer.
Education, it seems to me, is a bit like medical care. If you don't manage it, and allow someone else to, you get what you get. If you gain a little understanding, take charge guiding and managing the process, the results are sure to be more satisfactory.
Bryan
