So, what has spring brought me so far? Warm weather, plentiful tangerines, which I love. I've also been feeling the urge to go outside more, as is typical of me when the weather is warm. (I have this circulation issue that turns my skin bluish purple if it isn't warm enough to stimulate proper bloodflow... which I find both unsightly and humiliating.) Spring brings me relief.
Most importantly, however, spring has brought me March 4th.
For those of you who didn't know, March 4th was a fabulous day of protest with a magnificent turnout of students, teachers, and other like-minded citizens. It was a fabulous display of our power in numbers. For even if we are powerless teenagers "doomed" to face and accept the education system because it is the law and it is an ancient and respectable establishment, we still hold a huge power in our hands, but only when we unite.
As students, it is an obligation of ours to research the background of society- the past, how it makes the present, and most importantly, where it might take us in the future. The future, yes! The distant future which we humans cast aside with such reckless abandon. The near future which we just barely aim to please. These are opinions, of course, but opinions that strengthen every day I see decisions made for our futures.
I've talked to my dad about my education before. I've been to private school before where I learned little, definitely less than my friends at public school. I left private school in the seventh grade not knowing algebra or basic geological science, subjects commonplace for my school's public counterparts. So I knew that there was no major plus to going to private schools besides it looking good on your record and placing you in upper-class society (which is only a plus by shallow standards if you ask me.) And while obviously, other private establishments might do a better job, it baffles me that a pathetic place like the one I attended got such acclaim by parents and other airheaded people "trusted" enough to make the reputation of the school.
He told me that I only had two more years of high school, and that any place in the world that we could go wouldn't make much of a difference in just my last two years. This infuriated me, because it was a blatant disregard of my time... and a reflection of what I see many parents thinking.
"It's just school, we all had to do it. Just get through your required years trying to get good grades. Nobody likes it."
This is almost the complete opposite of what I'd like to hear coming from parents. To me, parents should encourage their children- their children to whom they have passed the great burden and power of the future- to make the changes they find necessary. To stress the importance of an education. Not school itself, but an educated mind, which is far more important. People who never completed the school system that America calls essential have grown up to be far greater men and women than the people who just did school since they were told they had to because they valued their own education- not this foggy idea of what all people "should" know.
Are you following me here? I'm trying to say that, apart from the education system reform that needs to take place, what should also take place is the birth of interest in our youth. They, rather we, need to see the importance of a literate and educated mind, the relevance of what we are being taught, and the opportunities and discoveries waiting to be made through our actions.
When I saw all the faces of my peers at March 4th's protest, I was filled with excitement, a flickering and bright pooling of hope which still rests at the center of my mind. I am excited to make this country, this world a better place for us, and our children. Our future, which is of the greatest magnitude of all.
End note: While I attended the protest with great vigor, the following morning proved that I had unfortunately become ill... again. I am sick of this. Luckily, no longer sick (a bit weak) but I hate missing school for these unexpected reasons. I did have time to read my reading group book, though, so I'm excited to talk about it.
I'm sorry this is late, and I have no further excuse.
Don't worry about the lateness...when you're sick you're sick.
ReplyDeleteJohn Holt, another education reformer, wrote once about how sometimes people say that kids have to go through school because they had to do the same thing as well. I'd never heard anybody say anything like that...until I read this post.
So...private school, public school, charter school (you went to one of those too, right? or was that the private school you refer to)...My impression is that you take these distinctions to be red herrings. Correct?
Sometimes I feel alienated by my own opinions, but they are bold opinions and I feel I need to state them...
ReplyDeletePublic and private schools- yes. I find that there is little distinction of quality, especially since kids in private schools are more strictly monitored which cramps creativity. Well, it cramped mine. And it was a catholic school so, I felt again alienated that I didn't believe in god, appreciate the hours we spent learning about the religion and in church. We also weren't allowed to wear any jewelry, nailpolish, or foreign items of clothing (stuff that wasn't our uniform). Well, we were allowed to wear religious jewelry. Catholic jewelry. Isn't that prejudice since---- uh, this is a story for another time. Anyway, while I don't doubt that there are smart children in private schools, they are not any smarter than kids in public schools by any stretch of the imagination. They just have money. Which makes them better in the eyes of colleges somehow.
Charter school was great. I learned to use my free time really well and the classes were much smaller- I also had the option of attending college classes via dual enrollment. Which isn't to say that these proposed charter schools will be the same, no, I think that public school is definitely the best option for many students. And, I chose to attend charter school. It was a public charter school that I chose over the public schools. I doubt the kids stripped of their public schools will have that choice, which is sad since this kind of thing probably won't work for everyone.