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| To solve a child's fear of the dark, the first step is confronting and removing, not ignoring, the monster living under his bed.... |
Two education-related articles recently appeared in the local press.
These two articles got me thinking. One article
laments the lack of diversity among the ranks of teachers locally and points to
this phenomenon as a significant hindrance to educational progress in our
schools; the
other touts a lack of pre-k readiness as one of the biggest issues that affects
educational outcomes and graduation rates in Escambia County.
But are these really the causes of the issues of poor
academic achievement— are these knee-jerk, ready-made, and convenient
explanations really the causes or are they actually red herrings that sound
like they should/could be the problems?
Are they actually the convenient and politically acceptable
explanations?
If I want to solve my child’s fear of the dark, knowing
there is a scary monster living under his bed, I have to confront the monster
under the bed. What good does it do to
my son and his problem if I go into the room and ignore the monster under his
bed while simultaneously proclaiming that by removing the clown dolls,
installing a brighter night-light, and painting the walls a brighter, lighter
color of paint I can solve his fear of the dark?!
"Faux Monster"Kindergarten
Readiness as the Big Reason Graduation Rates are Low…
Kindergarten readiness is a big buzzword these days-but it
wasn’t too long ago that kindergarten didn’t even exist in American public
schools! Preparation for primary
education was the responsibility (and still is) of the family. But kindergarten was designed and implemented
to help students and families be prepared for primary school. At great expense to American taxpayers.
Next came pre-kindergarten, to prepare students for kindergarten. And now comes the huge push for universal
pre-k funded by the government to prepare students for kindergarten.
What comes next, pre-pre- kindergarten, paid for by
taxpayers to help families prepare their students for pre-kindergarten? What follows this-- do we take babies
directly from the maternity wards of America and prepare them for pre,
pre-kindergarten?
When does the lack of parental action to prepare students
properly become cited as the real reason
