Parent Education, Multicultural awareness & no test teaching
I fell in love with teaching at the age of 16 when I became a PT pre-school teacher of three year olds in my country of Puerto Rico. After graduating as a Pre-K to 6grd. teacher I came to the US and once more fell in love with teaching when I was asked if I could teach ESL to Vietnamese and Combodian students.
After 41 years in education I can look back and see that the reason I fell in love with education was because these children also loved education. They loved to come to school to learn! Their eyes shined with hunger for knowledge, something that is missing in the eyes of many of our American children and has been missing with the “No child left behind”.
I would love to see a balance of parent eduction and childrens education. What I mean by this is that the new generation is growing up without parenting skills (so they need to be educated in being better parents.) Better parents make better aliances of eduction with teachers! Parents also need to have the time to spend with there children. People have to work two jobs to make ends meet and it takes time away from their families.
In schools children need to learn to love education again. Pre-schools and elementary schools need to do away with grading. Just grade if the student has dominated the work or if he is still in the process of doing so (NO Letter grades)! These are the ages to build selfesteem, high achivment, and the love for education.
Last I would love to see a new program added to the educational system. It’s always been my dream to lead this program. A multi-Cultural awareness class. In this class every school (pre-K to High school) would be set up the same and have the same guidelines to follow. The classes would teach different Cultures, How these people, play, eat, dress, the music and arts, how they educate their children … I believe that knowing others will help break the chains of prejudice! Less fights in High schools, less name calling in Middle school and less bad looks in Elementary. Also knowing how other children are educated would bring an edge of competition to American children and they would do better in school. The Americans thrive on competition, so lets use it to cater pulse education into the next century!
My last and most important point is that it is time to stop teaching for the test! We are making puppets out of our children, they are not learning how to figure things out on their own. They are only learning how to memorize lessons and the bottom line is that teachers will not be standing next to each adult student as he or she tries to make decisions in the real world. Can you just picture a high school graduate in and the job interviewer thinking “I did not memorize that in school, so I can not give an answer”! Lets get back to hands on teaching at all levels Elementary, up to College. We need to let our students think for themselves and what a great feeling when you do know the answer to something you yourself have figured out, what a sense of pride, and how eager you are to continue to do more and learn more! Students also need to be recognize for their achievements as well as their teachers that are working hard to guide students in achieving their maximum potential. Recognition in their schools, in their local communities and at a National level is imperative! Recognition and awards boost encouragement to continue high achievement and motivates those that have not reached that level of accomplishment yet!
We all want educational reform, but it is time not just to want it but to make it happen! It’s time to say we are not going to let another generation go down hill! I am still a teacher, teaching ELL students and will continue to do so for another 15 years. I hope I can spend my last 15 years in education, making a diffrence in the development of a new generation of thinkers! I have the hope that the next president will find real people to advice him in the reform of education. I not only have the hope but I believe that he will see the urgancy to this matter!
This post was submitted by Carmen Potts.
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