It would appear that once again education seems to be key issue in a political race. This years contenders are incubate Governor Rick Perry in the right corner vs Bill White in the left. Gov. Perry says during his tenure, Texas education has improved and more kids are taking college entrance exams, well it would seem he is right. Mr. White is claiming the the quality of education is less than stellar and kids are dropping out more than previous years, well it would seem he is correct as well. What does that mean you may ask? It means that politicians always spin what they say and never give direct answers. It means that what ever "hot" issue the political machine wants to make "hot", has 2,3,or 4 right answers, and that once someone is elected they will most likely do absolutely nothing to address it.
I may have sounded bitter and disgruntled at politics and politicians, but I am not. They have a job to do just like everyone else and the bantering and debate just comes with the field. If I am bitter about anything, it is the dim-witted electorate who allow these types of debates to flourish. Education is important, and it seems every year more money is thrown at it, like that will fix the problem. Texas is spending almost 60 BILLION dollars on education, which is the largest expenditure in the budget at over 40%! Maybe one of the problems could be by 2005 over 50% of students are "economically disadvantaged", or that instead of building a $20,000,000 "sports complex" they spend responsibly, or why don't we realize that not every person is going to get or deserves to get a 4.0 grade point average (you don't need a degree to pump gas). The most important of all, why don't we hold irresponsible parents accountable for their offspring's performance in school! Uh oh, did he just say that? Yes, most of the people who's kids do not do well in school just send their kids to school, don't want the school to discipline their little dirt bags, and expect them to pass with flying colors. If schools would start holding parents accountable for their kids actions, maybe we would start having better results, parents may actually start parenting instead of treating the school system as free daycare. Having school administrators that are not worried about getting sued or loosing their jobs wouldn't hurt either, bring back corporal punishment!In closing, I think Texas (government) needs to focus on the real problems afflicting "our education system" instead of bantering about what they are not really going to do after they win an elected office. If we really want improvement, we need to hurt some feelings and step on some toes, and quit wiping parents bottoms and hold people responsible for their actions. Stupid gets what stupid deserves!
Thanks Yall',
Dan-O
Sources:
Dallas News
State Government
State Budget
Fundamentally, education is the most important aspect of social and economic progression in our modern world. It helps create better lives financially, and more informed citizens to tackle impeding problems. Once the “key” to this world is handed over to our generation, we will need to be more educated and conversant than the last generation. Personally, I don’t think my generation is ready to grasp reality and the leadership needed to sustain a better world. My bleak proposition is based on today’s educational system and how students seem to have a more inverted approach to learning.
ReplyDeleteDan, the writer of "Education.....The Governor's responsibility?" in his blog Texas my Texas, makes some good points about the attitude that Texas government has towards education and the condition in which teachers are merely babysitters more than educators. He focuses on the statistics in the first half of this commentary, which shows that 40 percent of the Texas budget is spent on education. This information should be absolutely appalling to the readers that have recently gone through the secondary educational system and have learned nothing significant their 15 or so years consumed by “learning.” It makes me wonder if the education budget is efficiency used and propagated. The budget versus the learning output of students is not the only problem prevalent in educational system; the government can’t always throw money at problems and always expect a positive outcome in the end. Also, Dan makes a good point on how the indifferent attitudes of parents’ towards education often affect the well being of their children. More likely than not, it is the parent’s fault if their children act up in school because they have learned discipline, or the lack of from them. It is utterly irresponsible for parents not teach their child have to behave or act, especially at an institution that is helping them gain a better future.
I am writing a personal commentary on Dan’s Blog five titled, “ Education…The Governor’s Responsibility”. I had not planned on critiquing this particular student’s piece of writing because I did not feel it would be good “sportsmanship” since he critiqued mine. But after reading many of my classmates’ blogs I realized Dan’s blog was the only one that left me even mildly interested. I am quite confused about the point of Dan’s commentary but I think it vaguely resembles some sort of gripe about politics/education. Although I may be unsure about the writer’s point to the whole blog I do respect his straight forward attitude about things.
ReplyDeleteI may not believe in bringing corporal punishment back to the schools in order to teach discipline but I do understand his point. The idea that parents need to quit treating schools like a daycare does not fall on deaf ears either. I appreciate the fact that he has put some thought into the fact that our kids don’t have as much respect as they used to and that parents are not held accountable for their kids education. As a parent I would disagree but he has a valid point.
While I may disagree with Dan’s strategies to fix the problem of education in Texas (including the lack of discipline towards the little dirt bags that need it), I agree with another point he makes. He states, “Politicians always spin what they say and never give direct answers”. This to me is the whole point of this article. We can sit around spinning which way looks right but nothing is going to change because none of it is real. It is all for show. Dan makes the point that Texas spends 40% of its budget on education but the schools still suck! So here we are again. The Right wants to spank the kids and the Left want to provide services to people who may not deserve them. Neither of these approaches comes anywhere near solving the problem of the sub-standard education that our kids in Texas receive.
Until politicians stop trying to feed us full of crap on what is going to solve the “education crisis” nothing will change. I propose that more politicians need to be opinionated such as myself and my classmate Dan. It seems neither of us is afraid to say what is on our mind. Left and Right need to duke it out in a way that makes sense, that leads to something. I have more respect for someone who preaches to bring back the wooden paddle than I do for someone who just tells people what they want to hear. Our politicians need to reignite their passion for issues that need changing instead of worrying about whose butt they are going to kiss today. Thank you for an article that invoked a little bit of feeling in it.
This my response to Dan’s stage 5 blog “Education….The Governor’s Responsibility? I got really excited when I saw the picture of the monkey teaching school because I thought maybe I would have a chance to talk about teaching evolution in school, but that’s alright, I can always get into the subject of public education. If I understood what was being said, the answer to the question in Dan’s title is that parents are ultimately responsible for what goes on in schools. I actually have to agree with his statement to some extent. The expectation that parents have on teachers who have to meet the needs of many different children, when they themselves often can’t even take the time to help their child with homework or stay involved at all with what is going on in their child’s life, is maddening. Of course physical abuse is, in my opinion, a step backward and it can not be a solution to bad parenting, there does seem to be a lot of kids running around that have no respect or manors. Unfortunately, all it takes is one misbehaved child to rob the rest of the class of their education.
ReplyDeletePoliticians “putting a spin on” as it was put, the presentation of data is a whole other topic that we both could probably go on about forever, but analyzing results solely from test data can’t possibly tell the whole story about the conditions that are set up in various neighborhood schools, including parent participation.
Dan also suggests there are more problems with public schools then are even being addressed, although he did not go into any specifics. I also believe no one talks about the many flaws with public education, one of which is that all teaching and curriculum is geared towards generalized standard testing. Perhaps that is why, as stated in the beginning of his blog, there are many interpretations of test scores, and various opinions on how the over-all success of Texas education is going. I got a kick out of the sarcasm in this blog, and I’d like to add one of my own novel ideas, which is, tax breaks for people who decide that they really would not be into the enormous job of parenting, and opt to not have any kids……just kidding.
Thanks,
Amy
In response to "Education...The Governor's Responsibility?" by my fellow classmate Dan-O, I have to agree with his statements. For a minute there I thought I was at work listening to the other teachers complain about the students in their classrooms and how dumb parent A said this or parent B said that.
ReplyDeleteFor years I have been saying that I sometimes feel like an underpaid babysitter watching a classroom full of Dennis the Menaces.
From my understanding the point being made, aside that Texas has spent monies foolishly on unneeded expenditures, is that parents are at more fault than any on why children act and learn the way they do. With this I must agree. I have seen parents that have the up most desire for their child to succeed in life and want them to pass school and go on to be better than the them. I have also seen the parents that don't give a flying flip about what their child is doing. These are the children that are the trouble makers, the ones that bring down the scores for the others. These are the ones that, we the teachers, SADLY just pass so we won't have to have them again the following year. That is where I make my point. Though the responsibility of the parents is 90 percent the last 10 should be on the teachers whom don't take that time to really educate the child. They are in a classroom for just a "job" not a "career." Those teachers are to blame as well, though most responsibility needs to lie on the parents.