I found this cartoon yesterday on Facebook. Yes, Facebook and let’s not hear anything more about it, please.
It sums up exactly how I feel the fools “up there” in the thrones of power are destroying education in this country. It’s only funny if you think it’s okay that we have a whole generation of kids coming through a system that does not allow them to learn.
They are passing tests. If they learn, it is in spite of the system, not because of it.
WHAT IS YOUR POWER 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
That Einstein quote is on the door to our classroom- we use differentiated learning in our school, it does make a difference.
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I think it is a sad thing that it so aptly sums up the situation in our schools these days. But obviously this is not the first time or we wouldn’t HAVE the quote.
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that is quite true- good point!
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Oh, man! We in the teaching world have been sharing this for YEARS. Along with the one that says, “If I want my pig to gain weight, I feed him more. I don’t just weigh him more often.”
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What’s going on in the school system is so appalling. I’m relieved my granddaughter is graduating next month. It was a close call. I hope the people pushing this anti-education agenda will disappear, retire, vanish. Anything, just get out of the way before the damage is irreparable. They — whoever they are — are doing incalculable harm. But, of course, I’m preaching to the choir.
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Interesting to have a post about a fish since on April 1st the French tradition is to hnag a fish (paper) in the back of someone. The goal being for the recipient is to remain unaware of it. We say Poisson d’Avril and not April’s Fool.
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What a cute idea 🙂 I didn’t know any other country did anything special on April 1st. I’m pleased to learn this. I may try it myself.
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Unfortunately, this is what’s happening.
Leslie
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Yes, it is. Everywhere in this country and it’s an awful thing.
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It is a terrible waste of human potential.
Leslie
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And terrible to make learning such a misery for young people who might otherwise have loved it.
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Oh brilliant! Yep, that’s sums our school system up and make sure no monkey is left behind. I need to print that.
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It seemed very on target to me, too!
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Fools rush in…
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If we don’t stop messing with education, we will be an even worse nation of fools than we already are!
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I grew up in the postwar years, there were 50 of us in the class with one teacher because all the men came home from the war at the same time, including my dad. It was the survival of the … I don’t know what, but many were thrown to the wayside. I take it the monkey won, but they always do I suppose. Of course, it could have been the bird, but he doesn’t climb.
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The system here has gotten so bad that surviving it is a matter of being good at whatever they are testing for. It no long has anything to do with learning. I’m sure, eventually, they will go back to education, or whatever the next trend is. In the meantime, a lot of kids will be lost along the way.
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The saying goes that if you see a turtle sitting atop a fence post you know he had help getting there.
The fish might make it up the tree but not on his own.
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And what is the fish or turtle going to do in the tree? The fish will die without water. The turtle will fall off and go back to his natural habitat. It’s an exercise in futility.
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When I was in school many years ago, we had two sets of exams – the NYS Regents Exams and the regular school exams. Students could choose either, but college-bound students had a better chance of getting into the school of their choice by acing the Regents Exams and getting a Regents degree instead of the regular degree.
Maybe schools today should offer the same option – a choice of exams to be taken.
While I agree that not all students learn at the same rate or level, taking state-level exams never hurt me or my kids, so I have mixed feelings about them.
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That’s the system with which I also grew up. You really needed a Regent’s diploma to get into a 4-year college. But. The Regents exams were (are?) based on stuff you studied in classes. They tested your understanding, your grasp of the subject matter. The classes were NOT designed exclusively to enable you to pass the exams. It’s an enormous difference in the intent of the educational system. In the case of the Regents, The examinations test what you learned in classes. In the other, the entire structure of the classes — of school — is to teach you how to pass the exam.
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And that’s why, except for the comment I already made, I’m pretty much trying to stay away from the whole issue. All I really know at this point is that our local school district is threatening to boycott the state tests, which will mean the state funding will be cut off, which will mean my school tax will go up about $1500 a year, and I really can’t afford that. And I’m not old enough yet to qualify for the senior exemption.
I wouldn’t even mind that so much, except that from what I’ve seen around my neighborhood, the kids don’t even go to school half the time (and these are elementary and middle school kids).
I know that’s a whole different issue than the one currently in play. But maybe if the kids actually showed up in school, the teachers would have a better chance of teaching them properly, whether it be with a view towards passing a test or towards demonstrating acquired knowledge.
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We don’t have a senior exemption around here. We pay just as if we had a passel of kids in school. Given the way teachers are being forced to teach, it’s no wonder the kids don’t want to be there. The more horrible it gets in school, the more kids will do their best to avoid it. If teachers aren’t allowed to teach and students have no chance of learning, the whole system falls to pieces. Which is what it is doing, at great cost to all of us. Our taxes have tripled in the past 5 years.
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It’s a vicious cycle. I’m just glad my kids are all out of school, that there aren’t any grandkids in school, and that none of my kids are teachers.
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My granddaughter graduates this year. Thank god.
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Reblogged this on The C Suite Leadership Mentor.
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