Selling newspapers in a Jimmy Eat World
I've always enjoyed Dave Barry. His dry, sarcastic, educated humor is funny, to me at least (even when he doesn't explain who Stalin is in his column).
I found this piece entertaining as well as disturbing. Dealing with my sister each day, who happens to be in eleventh grade and not eigth has taught me that even if he is making this stuff up, its not far from the truth. In Massachusetts, students now have to pass a standardized test representing the body of knowledge they should have learned and mastered throughout their education before they are awarded their high school diploma. In my town they celebrate going from 35 percent failure to 33 percent failure. And that's good, compared to the rest of the state.
What can you do? I think the answer lies in technology. Today's kids have brains that operate much differently than their parents' because of MTV, the internet, video games, and the general explosion of technology throughout the world. Education should take advnatage of that, creating multimedia based curricula that allow students to progress at their own pace, to learn about concrete exmples and applications, and to follow educational paths that interest them.
I'm not saying we should do away with the basics such as English, Math, and Reading. I'm saying these should be taught in the framework of an education that is built for each individual student, which is now possible through appropriate use of technology. Teachers then become more like reference librarians, guiding students to information sources that interest them and encouraging them as they pursue their own educational goals. Maybe that would help get their attention, helping them to enthusiastically explore and experience the huge body of human knowledge in new and exciting ways.