Rant on Public Education

The creation of my editorials has always been depending on emotion, and life has been good these past few weeks. Continuing my final year of secondary education (high school, for you morons out there) has gone well, despite the influence of SATs and essays. I'll get to complaining about these soon enough, in future articles. Today's editorial concerns the degredation of public education. Yes, for all we might complain about our past experiences in schools, teachers, and what not, education is a must. Education allows you to live to successful life. It helps to seperate you, the intelligent worthwhile person from the trailer trash that populates the school I'm about to speak of. Location and name's will go unmentioned, for the fun that will result when people from that VERY SCHOOL, with a dawning realization, figure out that I'm talking about them. Let us begin with the concept of "honors" and regular courses. "Honors" are the sort of courses people who want to do something with their lives take. Regular courses belong to either a)those who COULD do honors, but are just lazy (i.e. transmetal, kain, et al.) b) people who have neither the patience nor ability to do something with their lives. A generalization? Yes, but I'm pissed right now.

Our school has taken it upon itself, to COMBINE the two. Yes, to combine those who will actually work, and those who will do nothing but distract and take away from the value of education that others just might receive. "It's a revolutionary way of teaching" they say. They call it "differentiated instruction". I say you're a bunch of fucking morons. Of course it makes sense to combine the two! The teachers no longer have to spend time teaching more challenging material to those who might succeed in life, because it takes away from their time with the I'm-to-cool-for-school-'cause-I-have-a-job-at-McDonalds kids. They call it "differentiated instruction". I call it "lets give everybody the same mind numbing busy working, and ruin any sort of potential that might result from this dammed mess of a school system.". Education isn't important, it's pleasing the $200,000 a year income families who don't want to pay more on their bigger-than-average house property. Heck, they need that money to pay for their ferrari! Education for future voters, workers, senators be damned!

I've always found it funny how the arts are treated in school. Lemme see... how many studies have I seen relating to how those in the arts (band, theatre, whatever else) succeed in school? Oh, and what about the studies that say that arts have a negative impact? Oh hey, funny thing is I've only seen the former, and never the latter. Why is it that the vast majority of the seniors in the band class are taking and doing well in AP / advanced classes? It must be just a coincidence. Due to this, the arts get the ax. When faced with budget problems, don't look to physical education class or sports to get cut. Look to music. Our school in particular has had an interesting time... Quickly going over the facts... It looks like they... why yes... fired a band & chours teacher who had been teaching there... how long? Longer than you've been alive, to be sure. To save on budget $$, they hire a single teacher to take up both positions. Not only that, they watch him like a hawk. They don't care about music, the only reason they got another teacher was because of all the parents and students who spent many precious hours working diligently to keep our music program intact. Parents = VOTERS. Do you really think that the board members are willing to displease the voters? No, so what they do is wait. They wait for the perfect chance to strike, to eliminate the music program in one fell swoop. And wouldn't ya know, some student comes along complaining... probably about having to do work? Bite and reel. 5 days away from their first concert, a chance to prove to the district that they are good enough to continue to be supported, and the rug is pulled right from their feet. Coincidence? I think not. More money to basketballs, yea!

This little rant is neither an end nor a solution. It's merely the first step, you can't solve a problem without identifying it first. I leave it to you, the reader, to come to your own conclusions. I leave it to you.