I agree with you Sozobe, naturally, it does
stand to reason that "some" of these
experimentations would turn out just
wonderful, as in your case. But, not all
students were as fortunate as you. I
remember one middle school my girls
were in that had no walls.
Imagine - no walls !!!
There were little half walls, but essentially
it was one vast open space, separated
by these little half walls for classrooms.
It made for a great deal of confusion,
for when groups of kids were passing
for lunch or changing classes - it was
very distracting to students. That one
didn't last long. I am happy to hear that
in your case - you got a wonderful and
memorable education. I think that is the
way it SHOULD be, but too often isn't.
And I do envy you such a terrific and
valuable experience.
That was my Junior High school. An Open school. It worked OK. The "Open" concept actually had very little to do with where walls were placed (my elementary school was an Open school as well), but that's more literal-mindedness for you.
-sigh-
I don't know what I'm going to end up doing with my simultaneous passion for the possibilities of education and extreme annoyance with the silliness that marks so much of the public school system.
Oh and eoe those were the Canadians and the Russians. Russians won, Canadians were supposed to.
Link to story about awarding second gold medal to Canadians
Soz, are you in education? I was just wondering
since you are so passionate about the subject
that you might be a teacher. Lord knows what we
really do need are people who teach because it
is their "calling" - and I mean that in all sincerity.
I feat that it ends up being a dead end job for many
women who simply never made up their minds in
college about what to major in. Then it is all about
security, unions and on and on and on. I really do
wish that some of the teachers I had in below college
level education were at least HALF as motivated as
my professors were. My experience with teachers
in public school grades 1 thru 12 was primarily that
they were a cranky bunch of old women, or way too
easy young women. Rarely ever a single man. Yet
in college, every one of my professors was a man.
In some of the postgrad work I did in molecular
genetics, prior to deciding I was too old to start over
again / not to mention that it is totally a masculine
realm. There was only one other female in the
same class and she was oriental - double quota
filling at the U of FLA.
Ever compare salaries of professors and schoolteachers? There are all kinds of discrepancies in salary, benefits, prestige, autonomy, etc., etc. That makes it harder to get the great people into elementary education. I think that's a shame.
(Yeah, master's in education.)
Babs, I could not disagree with you more that public schools ARE places where kids can develop self-esteem.
I think teachers and schools can help with this a great deal - though it is a skilled and subtle art.
Where schools and teachers give - and expect - respect and decent treatment - where kids are valued for what they CAN do, and not tormented for what they find hard, where schools develop a culture of non-acceptance of bullying - and are prepared to work with the bullies - where kids are encouraged to push and grow and TRY without fear of failing etc etc - then schools can be places where kids can blossom. Sometimes, even when home sucks.
I have worked with many kids who can still recall the times when teachers praised and encouraged them, and treated them as though they mattered, while maintaining good order and expecting good behaviour - sometimes one teacher seems to be able to make an enormous difference for good, or ill - and a school where a child sinks and is appallingly badly behaved can sometimes be replaced by one where the same child can cope. Or one CLASS and another can have very different effects.
Similarly, a bad teacher sometimes has deep and permanent effects on a child's feelings about themselves, and about education.
The caste system you speak of - is this a student or school-led thing - I do not know quite what you mean?
Dlowan--
Head Start is still very much alive--although in spite of Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program, his tax cuts mean Head Start money has been shockingly reduced.
Head Start deals with both parents and children and the results are still obvious on into the high school years.
Many parents have to be encouraged to talk to their kids! "How was your day? What did you do? What is your favorite tv program? Why?
They were not talked to as children--they didn't realize that talking (and listening) could boost I.Q.--and self esteem. Of course, in this context, self esteem was a byproduct based on the child mastering the names of shapes and colors and all of the other minutia that a middle-class family inculcates without thinking.
Sorry to be late with this response. I keep forgetting that when I add a comment, I must remind the computer that I want to have replies.
Good to know, Noddy - even if it is in truncated form.
We are struggling to get Infant mental health programs of fthe ground here - beginning to make headway.
Well, Dlowan I simply can not answer your speech
about all the glorious possibilities in public schools,
all that I CAN say is that none of these happened
to me. My experiences (and I was the model
student, I never got in trouble, never missed my
homework, never got detention and all that stuff)
But these were simply mean old women, who didn't
POSSESS the ability to motivate, or to help a kid
find self esteem in herself or her work. I dunno
what was wrong, maybe it was that I lived in a very
wealthy neighborhood, yet my mother bought our
clothes from the below the bargain basement at
Gimbels in Pittsburgh, whenever we went to the
city to shop. Maybe it was that my hair was never
brushed, she was drunk and sleeping it off every
morning, so I looked as good as you would expect
a grade school kid to look in the morning on her
own . Add that to the fact that she kept us all awake
half the night long- and I was fatigued every school
day - I don't know. I did my homework, I followed
the rules. The only thing I can even remember doing
wrong is that I chewed gum in class ONCE.
Wherever those teachers were showering kids with
positive messages, building their self esteem - it was
not there for me. In fact, I very distinctly seem to
remember that they always paid WAY more attention
to the boys in the class & even if a girl had her hand
up to answer a question, she would always pick on
a boy.
I can even begin to start to think of how much i hated school...
Hating the environment i was in,,,made me hate the work and concentration and grades suffered. I did not follow the pack, I thought for myself. and i paid the price regualrly.
Getting teased, pushed around etc. from like 5th grade till i graduated.
Changing schools didn't make a difference, changing towns made it worse as i was more blue collar middle class, versus all the rich kids that i now went to school with.
Being taller than most of them also seemed to make me a target, they wanted to see me fight them back and "prove" myself which i never did.
Only once i slammed a kid through his desk because he just pushed that button one too many times,,,I scopped him up high over my shoulders and bounced him off his desk.
The only things that made school half way interesting were the teachers, particularly History, Science, and Math.
ENGLISH sucks...im sorry, I can write just fine thank you.
But i showed my cooking skills in Home Ec, and how visually awful i was at Art. I showed how good of a horn player i was by being 1st or 2nd chair in Band for many years, then going to play just about every horn created and making them sound pretty good.
I showed how much i knew about our country's history and world history that i got nominated for Advanced Placement US History...I knew the material well,,,but since i didn't do AP english my writing suffered.
But the whole self esteem thing...I didn't have any and none of that character building crap made much sense to me anyways, I had real things to deal with at home that i now know that much stronger character builders.
Finally i think about midway through my Sophmore year of high school i just gave up,,,of trying to fit in, and do what everyone else did. I sat with a friend of mine on a friday night and talked for about three hours about the whole problem, thankfully he knew what i was dealing with and said that a lot people didn't like what i had to say or how i said it becuase i kept telling cold hard truths that no one wanted to believe, and they just weren't equipped to handle that. I then decided the hell with everyone else im starting to live and do what i want my way. It made for an interesting rest of high school.
I became somewhat angrier with a lot of people to the point of nearly wanting to fight back because of the years of being picked on. well one morning someone yet again started and i just got up and told them how i felt.
I got some cock of poo story about how im wasting myself becuase i was smarter than the rest of them and that they were jealous of me.
But i did make new friends...friends with influence and muscle who liked what they saw in me because i stood for what i thought, and didn't matter how much people picked on me i didn't back down.
I told someone to be quiet so the rest of us could learn in english class one morning...the kid threatened to beat me up. Told him to bring it on if i gotta get my ass kicked for speaking out so be it...but then this big kid stood up told the bully to come pick on him instead. I didn't know what to say, he said i had a valid point and others spoke up about the endless harassment i seemed to draw because i was "different".
Self esteem just didn't exist for a long time for me...i hardly have much now. I just find it easier to plow on through life and find the best things out of the crappiest situations and laugh,,,and laugh alot about them.
The teachers liked me,,,the just didn't some of the work that i poured out. They never knew about all the things that i dealt with since my stepmom had such a good relationship with the school system.
i remeber having an outburst one morning as the picking started again...thinking about all the crap that i had dealt with up to that point and i just blurted out that i should be left alone...and these idiots asked why...and i told them maybe if you actually knew what i went through my head and what i came from you'd be a bit different towards me and realize im the idiot that i am for a reason.
Thanks to my LACK of self esteem, girlfriends rarely came to my house, or met my parents, I rarely brought my friends over as well...
You what's really f-ed up...my own stepmother told me i'd never get a real job when i left the military because i didn't complete college. She said i'd never make more than $10 an hour.
I came home from California and got a job making nearly double that...I thrust my contract in her face and told her that's what i think your college education theory.
I can say as an adult i have little patience for stinging words like that.
I hope that i can give good positive self esteem to each of my three kids so they dont have to deal with the same things that i dealt with.
I would bet your biography felt good after you finished it. I don't believe I ever heard the term "self-esteem" in school or at home. Education bureaucrats like to pump up their self-worth in the wallet with feel-good designer-word fixated hub-bub.
Ian: Where to start? Here ! Now. Most all of your "story" deals with typical troubles growing up. Most are behind you. Leave them there. The lack of support you describe is quite common. You must look to your own power for courage and determination to forge ahead to a happy, fulfilled life.
If you care to, talking over your goals and challenges with a caring priest,rabbi, counselor or trusted adult friend could help you focus on your future and your ambitions. This may sound too simple, at first. It works...if you work it.
Let today be the first day of the rest of your life.
Touch in from time to time. We all want to hear of your progress.
