Today has been full of a few revelations, some new, some revised. They are as follows:
1. Apparently, our school is in the 5th yr. of some 4yr. improvement plan for FCAT scores and whatnot. If things do not improve as of the end of this school year, the school will be re-vamped. In other words, every teacher will have to re-apply for his/her job. So I hear.
2. You can pump as much money as possible into a school, but if that family unit is not intact, supporting and reinforcing the child's study habits, it is not going to make one bit of difference for the students' academic performance. Ah yes, the decline of the family: probably one of the most awful atrocities of our society. The government surely can't hold families accountable for part of their children's education, so the responsibility is transferred to the public school system (and other organizations too). Programs upon programs, acronyms upon acronyms, standards upon standards are implemented to measure what they know, or measure what they don't know, or point fingers in circles. In some cases, teachers are let go if their class performs poorly on the FCAT. For this is accountability, dammit! They must not have been teaching at all!!
When you blow past all the tests and data and fancy-pants organizations, it leads back to the sad truth that what is lacking is parent responsibility. Parent responsibility is lacking for a number of reasons, such as education, their own upbringing, poverty, immaturity, etc. Their children are exposed to the same thing, and so on and so forth. Where is the bar set?
3. In relation to no. 2, our school only has 6 parents who are considered "active" in the school. "Active" means they consistently attend school functions and parent meetings. Please note, we have 500+ students at our elementary school.
4. I feel better when I exercise. I sleep better too.
5. My roommate adopted a cat a couple months ago which has confirmed my notion that I don't really like them. As my cousin said, "When cats look at you, you never know if they are going to cuddle with you or claw your eyes out". Very true.
6. I love living on the Westside. There are ancient oak trees, old Florida neighborhoods, people who greet you, and it's right near the river.
7. I get paid tomorrow :)
8. I am proud of my sister for taking a risk with leaving her job. Right now, everything is a big question mark, and I admire that she put her personal happiness as her no. 1 priority.
That's all for tonight. C'mon, fRiDaY!
2 comments:
Right on the money with Parental Responsibility. Everyone thinks that because they survived their childhood, that somehow validates that it works. That mentality would never work anywhere else.
But, the real issue is the lowering of expectations by our society and the growing mentality that someone will compensate for whatever I don't have the talent, time or will to fix in my life.
We've become a nation of lazy pansies.
I agree regarding the responsibilities of a parent and the impact they have on their children. I am not sure how many parents realize that being a role model to their children is imperative. Especially because, as kids, we absorb everything but don't constantly say to our parents "You really had a huge impact on me today...again. I will most likely mimmick you when I am an adult later in life."
Also - thanks for the encouragement. As you know, you are a big part of the reason that I have the courage to do things like leave my job and move on with life.
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