Monday, April 28, 2014

Reasoning behind my deep-seeded hatred of the education system

First, I'll assume that everyone reading this is already well aware of the fact that I'm not necessarily a massive fan of the American public education system. It's flawed beyond comprehension, and the reason that most people even within the system itself fail to understand those flaws is simple: the system is working.
To truly understand my perspective on public education, I'll take you all on a little journey back to my days as a bright-eyed and eager kindergartener. "Eager" for knowledge being the understatement of the century. I was, and still am, a sponge. I soaked up everything I heard. My parents would read to me every night, and it was always a one-way interaction. They would read to me, and I would watch and listen. It would not be until some time into my kindergarten year that they would understand the impact of this nightly routine. Little did they know, I had been reading quite well inside my own head for some time, thanks to the easygoing atmosphere while reading at home.
However, things in my kindergarten class were not as joyful and easygoing. My teacher was convinced that I was a terrible student, always causing a racket or being a "distraction." I was fidgety, constantly tapping my pencil, doodling, not paying any attention, and, as far as she was concerned, not learning anything. It was as consistent a routine as my nightly reading sessions that my teacher would walk me to my car after school and tell my mother in extensive detail my shortcomings and atrocious behavior throughout the school day. This led to many scoldings for me, and much confusion for my parents. Their bright and eager boy was a nuisance and a hellion in the school atmosphere. It was suggested that I should be tested for ADHD, ADD, autism, etc. What my teacher failed to realize was that I was none of these things: I was simply bored.
I took a reading test given to every kindergarten student in Ohio to decide where I would be placed for "reading group" or whatever. The state minimum requirement at the end of our kindergarten year was that every student would need a "level 3" reading proficiency. When I took my test near the beginning of that year, I scored a "level 44+." My teacher told my mother that she had simply run out of time to give me any more of the test, and that she was sure I could have continued. I was being taken much more seriously by my teacher, my tapping had ceased after the purchase of a drum set at home, and my creative energy was being more adequately focused.
Still, with her son as a senior in high school, my mom is at my old elementary school often and is constantly stopped by my kindergarten teacher. My former teacher apologizes every chance she gets, because she simply didn't understand what my "problem" was.
My story isn't uncommon. Every day, some teacher somewhere misunderstands their student, alerts parents of their child's misbehavior, and more than likely suggests some form of "treatment."
What many parents fail to realize is that the diagnosis for "syndromes" that their children "suffer" from are all based on a school setting. The Center for Disease Control diagnoses ADHD with the following symptoms:
" - Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, at work, or with other activities.
  - Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (e.g., loses focus, side-tracked).
 -  Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to do tasks that require mental effort over a long period of time (such as schoolwork or homework).
 -  Often leaves seat in situations when remaining seated is expected.
 -  Often blurts out an answer before a question has been completed."
Essentially, any child who is not easily controlled or able to be forced into completing tasks that are typically mundane and monotonous is an easy diagnosis for ADD or ADHD. The public education system is using dangerous drugs to establish control over children, like myself, who are too bright and investigative to be tied down with simple and repetitive busywork. Creativity, artistic expression, and true critical thought is tarnished by the oppressive mentality of the education system and I was very nearly a product of that system. If not for the questions asked by my parents and the disbelief in what they were being told, I would not be writing this blog right now.

Another problem I have with this system is standardized testing. The end all, be all of any high school students career is the SAT or ACT test. Whether you realize it or not, you are being taught to do nothing more than succeed on a big final test where you will regurgitate irrelevant information to be reviewed by a queue of computers and scored based on your capability of regurgitation.
As an English fan, I'll just focus on the English perspective of these tests and the classes that prepare you for them. The SAT writing portion is an essay that is typically given under a time constraint of 30 minutes, but is to be graded in less than three. Graders of the SAT writing portion are actually given bonuses if they are able to grade an essay in less than two minutes. They are told to look for "big words" and structure more than fact based argument. Because they don't have time to fact-check an essay, the writer can literally make up anything he or she wants as long as it is written to the rubric. In fact, this "structure" that is so terribly important to success on the SAT is the typical five paragraph essay taught by all high school teachers in the United States. Although, why is it being taught if in the first year of college most of any English professor's time will be spent undoing the damage that is the five paragraph essay? The answer is simple: the system is working. Most of what you do in public high school is nothing more than test prep.
I could go on for hours about the egregious travesty of learning that is the American public education system, but I have to wake up bright and early to start it all again. Thanks for reading.