Our Broken Schools

The public school system is broken and unlike what some would like you to believe, it is not the fault of teacher unions. Like most anything else run by our government, our public school systems has grown far beyond its original purpose.
When Thomas Jefferson pushed the idea of a public school system, he wanted the youth of America to have the same opportunities that were only made available to the elite. A strong education system was vital so all Americans could better their lives and the nation as a whole.
I do not believe Jefferson would approve of what has become of the public school system today. I do not believe he intended for a system that included early childhood day care while relieving the responsibility of raising children from the parent and placing it on our teachers.
Ah, but many of our educational and political leaders today will remind us that many of these kids have parents far too young or fit to raise their children so lets get them into the public school system early and do the job for them. To that, I believe our founding fathers, in their no nonsense manner, would say, "Then they have no business being parents."
We have made it too easy to become a parent while removing the responsibility of parenting and have placed that duty on our nation's teachers. As a teacher, I deeply resent this. I did not go into teaching to feed, clothe, or raise other people's children because they lacked the time or skill set to do it themselves. I went into teaching to open up the minds of our youth while reinforcing society's values. Instead, I am now part of the village left to raise the children of far too many village idiots.
It is not the function or responsibility of our public schools to provide free breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks to children whose parents are too busy with their careers to provide the basics for their kids. Is it just me or does it infuriate you to see students in line for a free lunch texting or listening to music on cell phones their parents purchased?
Do you enjoy seeing our educational leaders cut back on teaching staffs while increasing class sizes and then telling teachers, "I didn't suspend Johnny for _____________________ because there is no one at home to supervise him during the day?" So rather than inconveniencing parents for their dysfunctional children, we allow the kid to destroy the learning of others and then blame the teachers for declining test scores.
Our public school system is broken because we insist on placing academic expectations on our youth that were never placed on our decision makers. What would you rather have, a first grader who masters being polite, kind, and patient or one who can write an entire paragraph that makes sense? Our leaders prefer the writer because you can measure writing on a standardized test.
How many adults are asked to take a standardized test? How many can not hold down a job because they lack manners, patience, and kindness? Employers can train well mannered adults to do most of the jobs that are needed out there but have no desire to hire an intelligent jerk. Our schools need to return to a more practical form of education while we still have a society worth educating.
Finally, what good is a public education if we no longer make college available to our high school graduates? I find it strange we are providing more programs for illegal residents to attend our colleges while legal ones find it increasingly difficult. We force our youth to attend local community colleges that in turn make enrollment deals with local state colleges for their students. Sounds great but this puts the clamps on the young man or woman who desires to venture further off from home.
Tuition increases at three to four times the rate of inflation while universities continue to cut back on their faculty. The end result is we pay more to receive less when we go to college. This is not what Jefferson intended.
A well educated society is vital for our nation's future. However, we need to pause and rethink what kind of a society we want at a time when our public schools are reinforcing too many behaviors that end up destroying the education, and all too often the childhoods, of too many children. We need to reconsider what skills we really want an 18 year old to possess before setting them off into the real world.