Comments on: What is happening to our country? http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2005/02/18/what-is-happening-to-our-country/ A librarian, writer and educator reflecting on the profession and the tools we use to serve our patrons Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:11:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 By: Meredith http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2005/02/18/what-is-happening-to-our-country/comment-page-1/#comment-1069 Meredith Sat, 19 Feb 2005 15:23:30 +0000 /?p=163#comment-1069 Wow, Brian! You really do need your own blog! I totally agree with you about the changes in our schools. Schools are so locked down now -- there is no way I (and my friends) could have done half of what we did in high school today. Most of the schools I worked in when I was a therapist required uniforms or had extremely strict dress codes. You couldn't bring Advil to school without being suspended. I understand having a "zero tolerance" policy for weapons or violence, but there is also a zero tolerance policy for individuality and expression. I just think that's ridiculous! You're also right that schools teach kids to memorize things, not to question things, because questioning authority is not a convenient quality for the teachers to deal with. Much easier to teach kids to blithly accept everything they're taught. Not every school is run this way, but the schools I encountered in Florida just seemed to be going through the motions in terms of education. It's depressing to see. So when are you getting your own blog??? :) Wow, Brian! You really do need your own blog! I totally agree with you about the changes in our schools. Schools are so locked down now — there is no way I (and my friends) could have done half of what we did in high school today. Most of the schools I worked in when I was a therapist required uniforms or had extremely strict dress codes. You couldn’t bring Advil to school without being suspended. I understand having a “zero tolerance” policy for weapons or violence, but there is also a zero tolerance policy for individuality and expression. I just think that’s ridiculous! You’re also right that schools teach kids to memorize things, not to question things, because questioning authority is not a convenient quality for the teachers to deal with. Much easier to teach kids to blithly accept everything they’re taught. Not every school is run this way, but the schools I encountered in Florida just seemed to be going through the motions in terms of education. It’s depressing to see.

So when are you getting your own blog??? :)

]]> By: Brian http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2005/02/18/what-is-happening-to-our-country/comment-page-1/#comment-1068 Brian Sat, 19 Feb 2005 10:49:44 +0000 /?p=163#comment-1068 Well, I'll give my two cents. Regarding the anemic support given to the First Amendment by high schoolers, that doesn't shock me at all. Over the last decade or so, as schools have had to deal with rising student populations and decreasing budgets, they have become far more authoritarian in their outlook. I have two younger siblings still in public school, and their descriptions of school life make it sound like a prison. Obviously they exaggerate, but it does seem like schools treat their students as second-class citizens. They are not given the right to privacy, or free speech, or any other constitutional rights. They are not allowed to freely express themselves, either verbally or through their appearances. This is done in the name of security, of course, but such treatment does not lead to adults who know how to function in a democratic society. What's more, due to so much political pressure from groups on both the left and the right, schools have sought to avoid any material that could possibly be considered as controversial, to the point where schools no longer encourage imagination or creative thinking. Instead, with the prevalence of standardized curriculums, schools encourage their students to simply follow directions and regurgitate material for tests. Such a mindset does not lead students to become actively engaged citizens. If we demand that our children suppress their individuality and original thinking, we can hardly be surprised when they become apathetic about democracy in adulthood. It doesn't help that the larger society does nothing to encourage anyone to become involved in the political process. The airwaves are dominated by commercial messages that seek to turn us all into passive consumers of products, ignoring our democratic responsibilities. So now we have a society where the vast majority people know little or nothing about politics, and care less. In this environment, it is no wonder that we have become so polarized in our views, as there are not enough moderate, open-minded people left in the debate. Only committed people on the extremes are left, and the worldviews have become so different that it is becoming impossible to have a reasonable debate on any given issue. How can you debate a particular issue when the two sides have fundamental disagreements over the role of government, or the role of religion? And like I said above, I think our education system plays into this. Too many of us are not trained to consider multiple sides of an issue, to weigh the logic of a given issue before reaching a decision. Instead, those of us in politics simply accept one side or the other, and reject anything that conflicts with our philosophy. There are no easy answers to this problem, though I'm sure some politician would think otherwise. My own opinion is that we must first reform our education system, to encourage our children to think on their own, and to be open-minded, and not afraid of their own imagination and ideas. It is, of course, much easier to simply rely on a standardized test to measure students. Much easier than recognizing that intelligence, like personality, is highly individualistic, with no two people thinking in exactly the same manner. But if someone is raised to follow instructions, and to never offer an original thought or idea, I think it is impossible to break that mindset once that person reaches adulthood. We also need to re-introduce the idea of citizenship. Too many people feel detached from our political system, whether through powerlessness or apathy. It doesn't help when the President tells us al that the best thing we can do in the wake of a tragedy like 9/11 is to shop. But frankly, I'm tired of being told that I am only a consumer, and hence my only power is to refrain from buying a company's product. I think we can all do more than that. But I've ranted long enough. Sorry about that. :) Well, I’ll give my two cents. Regarding the anemic support given to the First Amendment by high schoolers, that doesn’t shock me at all. Over the last decade or so, as schools have had to deal with rising student populations and decreasing budgets, they have become far more authoritarian in their outlook. I have two younger siblings still in public school, and their descriptions of school life make it sound like a prison. Obviously they exaggerate, but it does seem like schools treat their students as second-class citizens. They are not given the right to privacy, or free speech, or any other constitutional rights. They are not allowed to freely express themselves, either verbally or through their appearances. This is done in the name of security, of course, but such treatment does not lead to adults who know how to function in a democratic society. What’s more, due to so much political pressure from groups on both the left and the right, schools have sought to avoid any material that could possibly be considered as controversial, to the point where schools no longer encourage imagination or creative thinking. Instead, with the prevalence of standardized curriculums, schools encourage their students to simply follow directions and regurgitate material for tests. Such a mindset does not lead students to become actively engaged citizens. If we demand that our children suppress their individuality and original thinking, we can hardly be surprised when they become apathetic about democracy in adulthood.

It doesn’t help that the larger society does nothing to encourage anyone to become involved in the political process. The airwaves are dominated by commercial messages that seek to turn us all into passive consumers of products, ignoring our democratic responsibilities. So now we have a society where the vast majority people know little or nothing about politics, and care less. In this environment, it is no wonder that we have become so polarized in our views, as there are not enough moderate, open-minded people left in the debate. Only committed people on the extremes are left, and the worldviews have become so different that it is becoming impossible to have a reasonable debate on any given issue. How can you debate a particular issue when the two sides have fundamental disagreements over the role of government, or the role of religion? And like I said above, I think our education system plays into this. Too many of us are not trained to consider multiple sides of an issue, to weigh the logic of a given issue before reaching a decision. Instead, those of us in politics simply accept one side or the other, and reject anything that conflicts with our philosophy.

There are no easy answers to this problem, though I’m sure some politician would think otherwise. My own opinion is that we must first reform our education system, to encourage our children to think on their own, and to be open-minded, and not afraid of their own imagination and ideas. It is, of course, much easier to simply rely on a standardized test to measure students. Much easier than recognizing that intelligence, like personality, is highly individualistic, with no two people thinking in exactly the same manner. But if someone is raised to follow instructions, and to never offer an original thought or idea, I think it is impossible to break that mindset once that person reaches adulthood.

We also need to re-introduce the idea of citizenship. Too many people feel detached from our political system, whether through powerlessness or apathy. It doesn’t help when the President tells us al that the best thing we can do in the wake of a tragedy like 9/11 is to shop. But frankly, I’m tired of being told that I am only a consumer, and hence my only power is to refrain from buying a company’s product. I think we can all do more than that. But I’ve ranted long enough. Sorry about that. :)

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