Posted by Shane Harris on September 05, 2002 at 10:22:22:
This whole "In defense of H.S. teachers" post got me thinking:
Nobody talks about how views and attitudes towards things like education change over time. Students who were "troublesome" used to be removed from the school setting until they could behave appropriately. Now we give them acronyms that attempt to justify the otherwise intolerable behavior. I am willing to wager that at some point the pendulum will reach its' extreme, and will begin coming back the other way. The leaders at that time will realize that we need more structure, higher expecatations of parents AND students, and less emphasis on test scores in order to make our public schools a success.
Each generation learns from how THEY were taught, and when they become the leaders of our schools, they do their best to fix the problems they encountered, albeit creating new problems of their own. Who fixes those problems? Well, that would be the next generation, who learns from how they were taught, and does their best to fix the problems they encountered.
Attitudes towards education will constantly change. As a country we have only been at this public school thing for a couple hundred years. It took us almost that long to realize that women and african-americans were people too (some of us have still not reached that conclusion, and may never). Whose to say how long it will be before we figure out how to properly manage and support our school systems?
I guess I am saying that we should not expect school boards, administrators, parents, and students to change how they look at things immediately. It takes time to do these things. With quality people in charge of music programs, the students will begin to speak not with their mouths, but with their instruments. School boards, administrators, and parents tend to support classes and activities that are successful.
Thank you for your time,
Shane Harris
-First year teacher who expects school boards, administrators, parents, and students to change their views of music immediately.