What is the purpose of primary education?
So, this is an interesting question that was asked of school board candidates by the local paper.
"Should the board incorporate career and technical education courses into the state’s graduation requirements?"
One candidate said that they should be an option, and the other candidate said something that calls into question my assumptions of what primary education is about:
Kansas schools must teach employable skills to each K-12 student. After graduation, each student should be prepared to earn a living wage with skills which employers need.
Should it? I've always viewed primary education as providing fundamental skills required for life... reading, writing, math, a reasonable understanding of our geography, history and government, and exposure to the arts. Students may acquire experience with shop, home ec, foreign language, business writing, and so on, but I've always considered these to be introductory experiences, not real vocational training. If a graduate doesn't go on to formal secondary education, I expect that they're going to learn on-the-job.
I think it comes down to this for me: If a high school graduate declines to seek formal secondary training, whether it be college, technical school or an apprentice program, that graduate is 18 years old and responsible for themselves. Just because 75% of students fail to seek secondary education (is it really that high?) doesn't mean the primary education system is failing them and needs to prepare them to live with their decision. If they are satisfied with a high school education, why should we make an effort to give them more?
And I think that's the big thing for me... it's not the government's job to legislate away bad decision making. People are always going to make bad life decisions, and we can't stop them from doing so. If somehow 18 years old has become "too young to know better," whose fault is that? That's the parents' responsibility, not the school system's. And then, there are things that you just have to learn by experience... I didn't go to college right away and regretted it, later entering college in my early twenties. (And in my thirties, earning to degrees to make up for lost time. :)
Here's the thing. We will always need garbage haulers, fast food clerks and big-box store stockers. If that is all a high school graduate wants to aspire to, that's not the school's fault. It's sad that they don't aspire to more, yes, but ultimately the state is not responsible for aspirations.
Here's another thing. By the time a student graduates from high school, they ought to already have some job experience. In grade school, I sold greeting cards door to door. In middle school, I delivered newspapers. In high school, I worked at a fast food restaurant. Every one of those was a valuable experience. As sucky as working fast food was, I learned a lot about customer service, teamwork, and simply working under management.
If I were looking to hire someone and had the resume of a recent high school graduate in my hands, I wouldn't be asking what he learned in school, I'd be looking at what job experience he has. Heck, when I was part of an interview team that interviewed a lot of college graduates for a programming position, we didn't look at their school work, we looked at their job experience... the candidates who worked pizza delivery or waiting tables while in college didn't impress us nearly as much as those who worked in computer tech support or other jobs related to their intended careers.
Nothing prepares a person for working a job like actual job experience. You start at the bottom and work your way into better positions and jobs as you gain experience. Changing primary education can't fix that. It's already providing the skills necessary to work minimum-wage jobs, and I think that's all it should be responsible for. If a graduate wants better than minimum wage and doesn't want secondary education, then that graduate should expect to start at the bottom and work their way into a better job.
Primary education needs to concentrate on primary education, not job training.
Gimme, gimme, gimme!
I have the questionable habit of reading Craigslist postings in several categories. One of these categories is "Items Wanted". And while Craigslist is great at pointing out the stupidity of some people, Items Wanted is a special class all its own. (All examples are paraphrased from mashed-up listings, but are a good example of what gets posted.)
"Daughter was robbed, we need living essentials donated, like a TV, stereo, and DVD player."
Because how can you enjoy having shelter, food and clothing unless you have entertaining electronics?
"Scholarships needed. I'm a college student with great grades, and I'm working a job, but I just can't afford to pay for college. Please send me money."
They're called "student loans," girl. We all got them, you can get one too. Why would I "invest" my money in someone who is too lazy to pay their own way through college?
"I need a car. If you happen to have a car laying around that you don't want, I will come haul it off for you at no charge. Must have clear title, must run, must not need extensive work."
Come on... a salvage yard will give me at least fifty bucks for any car that can roll into the yard under its own power.
"I need a couch. Must be free or extremely cheap. Must also be in great condition, not need any repairs, and come from a smoke and pet-free home."
Because in today's economy, apparently beggars can be choosers.
Now, I suppose you never know until you ask. But I think people ought to have some sense of propriety and know how and what they can ask for. Lost everything in a fire, need food, shelter, clothing... real essentials for living? By all means, have grandma post to Craigslist for you... people will be glad to give real essentials, because we recognize people in true need.
But it's this sense of entitlement that drives me up a wall. People expect to be given something of real value just because they had the audacity to ask for it. To ask for something "for free, or real cheap" and put forth requirements that it be something worth paying good money for is just rude. I'm all for people being generous. But to solicit generosity on your own behalf is uncouth.
You need a free couch? Go ahead, ask for one... but don't ask for a free couch on the condition that it be worth $200.
The writing workshop
Has it really been a month since I posted here?
Anyway, the writing workshop is driving me crazy. The interaction between students is virtually nil, and I blame most of that on the screwy interface... too many places to talk, no easy way to know when there's a new comment in half of them (and no automatic email notification of any kind). And there's no instructor-led critique... just the instructor writes a critique, each student is invited to write a critique, and nobody actually discusses the work.
Now, our instructor commented that this is the quietest class she's ever had, so maybe other classes are different. But I feel absolutely no energy going on here. I was more excited about the class before it started than after getting back my first critique.
Critiquing other students work is tedious and difficult... some of them are better than others. Peer feedback is... mediocre. The instructor critique is decent, but it's the highlight of the party and not the payoff I was expecting.
Basically, I feel I'm reading a book and six essays, writing some out-of-context exercise that I'd never write in the process of trying to write a real story, and then getting a little not-terribly-useful feedback. I'm not getting any discussion of the work, which is something I expect from a workshop.
I think a lot of my dissatisfaction could be solved with better assignments. They're too vague and open-ended. "Write a scene in which setting is important." I struggled for over a week just to come up with the context for the scene... writing it was easy once I had that. I would much rather have assignments like what the author of the book we're using writes (as opposed to the author of the course, who writes the assignments)... "Mark has been hired to burn down buildings. After burning down the fifth building, he's caught. Now give us his story. For the first page, start with the POV of the arsonists ex-roommate, Erik, in the first-person, giving Mark's character portrait." And it goes on much longer, telling you exactly what to write... your job is to figure out how to write it. And that's what we're supposed to be learning... the "how," and I'm spending all my energy in the "what." And I think it would make for better student discussion, because we'd all be going in the same direction and could compare and contrast our work. (If we actually, you know, discussed the stuff.)
The other part of what's bugging me about it is that I'm writing stuff because I have to, and I'm not necessarily writing what I want to write. The workshop was supposed to motivate me to write, and all it's doing is frustrating me and more or less getting in the way of my writing.
I think what I'm really looking for is a writing circle, not an online workshop.