Ok Gallagher! We get it! You don't like the education programs and curricula of today's America. That's fine. Frankly, I agree with you! There need to be major changes in our educational system. We, as teachers, owe it to our students to provide an education that focuses on the quality of teaching instead of this test-based system where the only thing that matters is how well students perform on assessments. However, students need more than reading time. Students in my classes will glue themselves to Thierry cellphones the moment they feel the teacher isn't paying attention. More and more of my students are dealing with issues like when will I get to eat again? Will I be in charge of my baby brothers and sisters tonight? I wonder how much longer we go before we realize that students are becoming increasingly jaded to school, not because of a lack of reading (I do believe that this is a major problem, however) but because survival is their greatest worry right now. Why is it that we, as teachers take a "it's not my problem" approach to the students outside of the classroom. This kills me. We have set procedures for when the problem is absolutely critical, but aside from the extreme cases, students get swept under the rug. We need to realize that our students understand the value of their time and they are going to tune out anything that doesn't get them closer to their goals. We need to return to a system in which subject exploration is the heart of the learning. People have passions. People have dreams. We need to capitalize on this and focus on curriculum which gives them a chance to explore their respective interests. Students are clamoring for knowledge on how to pay bills, how to change a tire, how to develop a piece of pottery, I could go on. But the point is, by forcing these secondary students into classes where they learn the basics of everything. Instead, I offer this solution. We need teachers who specialize in individual fields at an advanced level and have these students follow their passions and their mentors who teach, in a specific way, all subjects within the realm of their interests. Basics in all subjects should be finished by the time students reach high school and high school should be a time for students to discover their passions and study them until they are experts. This is what I want.
