As an elementary parochial school student from 1964 through 1972 I was expected to participate in class, read the material, do the homework and pass the test. If your child needed the services of a special education teacher your child went to public school. Because I attended parochial school my experiences are probably different then those of my age who went to public school. I went kindergarten through 8th grade with the same 25 children. We had only one classroom for each grade level. Therefore, we had only one teacher in each grade who taught us not only the basics but also art, music and physical education. My experience with diversity was extremely limited to say the least. The closest I came to someone who was different than me were two kids in my class who I, in my child's mind, thought usually dressed themselves in the morning as opposed to their mother laying out their clothes. Their clothes never seemed to match. As I grew older it became more apparent that their families were probably struggling financially. That is where, as a child, my experience with diversity ends.
Today's students start out differently from the first day of school. Yes, even those in my old elementary school. The faces in the classroom are varying shades of tan and the names on the roster are sometimes difficult to pronounce. Students do not learn to accept people as we did, they naturally accept because they are given the opportunity at an early age to meet people from every walk of life in their classrooms. Students also have a different teacher for art, music, physical education and computers.
Students are given opportunity after opportunity to learn the material before they are pushed on to the next chapter. Outcome based is now the mantra of teachers, keep doing it until you get it right.
Schools attempt to incorporate life skills such as ethics, leadership and social responsibility into the curriculum. The closest we came to leadership skills when I attended grade school was the fact that I was always first in line because my last name started with 'A'. As the first in line, I subsequently had to hold the door for everyone else. If that's not leadership I don't know what is!
In high school I learned how to type on a manual typewriter. I was not introduced to a computer until 1982 as an employee, the thing covered my desk. Preschool students in today's classroom have access to computers and are comfortable with the operation of a mouse.
As stated in a YouTube video, "We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don't yet exist...in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet." As the world changes so must we change.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I remember when bussing students in larger school districts was very controversial. It was an attempt to diversify schools, and many parents were outraged: they didn't want their children associating with "others" whoever "they" were. Children are naturally accepting, and tolerant of each other. It's unfortunate that adults get in their way.
I really like Web 2.0 because we can all "meet", work with and learn from others around the world. It's diversity to the nth degree!
Here, here. Now if we can just push our powers that be to become a bit more inventive.
The Michigan Merit Curriculum is not the be all and end all of education. In many ways, I am teaching the same things in relatively the same was as I was taught in high school in the mid 1970's. The integration of this new technology into my classes is the biggest change I've made in years. Perhaps it will be the most lasting.
I only wish that kids still learned to type on a manual typewriter. That machine forced your muscles to learn the correct keystrokes.
Post a Comment