Is this the Message We Want our School Reps to Share?
Last week this disturbing photo popped up on my FB feed. My first thought was to read it again. Then my second thought was,
Really?? The school principal is giving all kids a pass on doing well in class?
I was under the impression that our taxes pay teachers to encourage, motivate, and push our kids to learn as much as possible in the time they're together.
Not to say, "if he or she doesn't...it's ok."
"The artist who doesn't need to understand math."
Really??
Many artists are drawing and painting buildings, landscapes, people, or animals. Even when they do more untraditional works of art or sculpture, everything is usually balanced. As someone who comes from a long line of artists, I know that most artists need to understand some basic math in order to get dimensions or proportions correct.
Not only that, most artists still have to pay bills and deal with a household budget and some of them might even need to know how to cook which means dealing with measurements for ingredients, most of which involve working with fractions.
"An entrepreneur who doesn’t care about History or English literature."
Wouldn't you agree that most entrepreneurs would have an interest in those who came before them when it comes to starting a business?
I would think they'd need to have a good understanding of how world events, past and present, would affect the US economy which is made up of businesses. This is the only way to know and understand which mistakes someone else already made and how to avoid the same mistakes…or even avoid failure.
"A musician whose Chemistry marks won’t matter."
Chemistry might not be "sexy" but it sure is good to know what makes up air and water and how important that is to all living creatures including musicians. Think Erin Brockovich: She may not have been considered the brightest bulb in the box, but she knew enough to know something wasn't right and started asking questions.
"The athlete whose physical fitness is more important than Physics."
Wouldn't you agree that most entrepreneurs would have an interest in those who came before them when it comes to starting a business?
I would think they'd need to have a good understanding of how world events, past and present, would affect the US economy which is made up of businesses. This is the only way to know and understand which mistakes someone else already made and how to avoid the same mistakes…or even avoid failure. ( Click here for source.)
I can't be the only one who thinks a "plan b" is a good idea.
It wasn't very long ago most people believed that girls and farm kids didn't need much "schooling."
Up through the 1950's girls were told they shouldn’t worry about going to school because they’d never use it. After all, they’ll just be getting married and staying home to make babies and clean house. Farm and ranch kids were also told that they didn’t need a lot of education because they'd just be plowing fields or tending cattle for the rest of their lives.
Yeah, that worked out really well when husbands died in the coal mine or the ranch kids' dads got hurt - or worse - when working with the animals or machinery.
Hopefully, someone in the family knew how to read and do some basic math so the whole family didn't get screwed when it came to making house payments, buying groceries, or negotiating the sales prices of their crops.
Fact: It's much easier to manipulate and control uneducated (aka, ignorant) people.
I'm referring to anyone in a position of power - relatives, teachers, supervisors, managers, company owners, politicians, doctors, etc. - who are in charge of leading or taking care of people. Sound familiar? Or scary?
So anyone who doesn't jump on any opportunity to get a broad base of knowledge whenever they can (especially when it's free) has a big old target on their forehead and their bank accounts. These people are the ones who are more likely to be lied to and get ripped off and not realize it until it's too late.
I’ve also noticed that when someone doesn’t know or understand something, they're usually too embarrassed to raise their hands and ask questions. That's because they think they're stupid and/or they don’t want to appear to be “stupid” in front of other people. Here's a tip about that one: there's no rule against asking questions.
Either way, in my experience, the more you know about a variety of things, the more likely you are to have the confidence to question things that don't seem quite right. The less one knows, the less confident they are, and the more likely they are to make bad decisions based on some BS someone told them.
Everyone should have a good back-up plan!
Generally speaking, there are no guarantees that anyone will use every bit of their entire education in their lifetime, but there is no guarantee that they won’t need to draw on it at one time or another for various reasons. I can't tell you how many people I worked with in my 40 years who had college educations they never used in a professional capacity. But not one of them regretted getting it.
No one says you need to be an expert in everything, or even like it or care about it. The goal should be to have a basic understanding of as much as possible because you never know how things will change in your world and you’ll need to draw on that knowledge.
There’s no such thing as knowing or understanding too much.
Bottom line, school employees shouldn't give our kids a pass on doing well.
No; you nor your kids need to be an expert in everything or even like it or care about it.
The idea is to have a basic understanding of as much as you possibly can because you never know how things will change in your world and you’ll need to be able to adapt at the drop of a hat.
What do you think?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you think:
- Did I misunderstand the FB post?
- Am I way off base?
- Or am I onto something?
- How do you feel about the state of our public school system?