Our Schools and Our Kids


I can tell you in a heartbeat what is wrong with our schools. I became acutely aware of it while attending my daughter’s open house. Posted on the wall of the classroom were some homework assignments. They were poorly written, bad handwriting and full of mistakes. When I asked the teacher if this was an example of their “before” work, she replied that no, this was simply an example of their work.

When I asked if the students were asked to redo their work until it was neatly and properly written with no mistakes, the teacher laughed. She said they simply do not have time to have students redo their work. They are required to get through a certain amount of chapters in their books whether the students grasp it or not.

I put this question to many different teachers since then and they all responded the same way. They are required to teach a certain amount of coursework by the end of the year. If students don’t grasp it, there is no time to go back.

Does this sound alarm bells in your head as it does mine?

Could the problem with our schools be that we’re trying to teach our kids too much? And not give them a foundation in anything, least of all excellence?

The teachers I talked to all expressed dismay at the thought of making kids do their work over. Their overall comment is there was not enough time to grade the work now, let alone have to grade and re-grade the same work over and over again. But there is an easy answer for that. If there is one thing I know about kids, it’s that they are inherently lazy. Start the school year with kids having to redo work they just did, and I would place good money on it that by the second month of school, most students will be doing their work neatly and correctly the first time. Teachers would find they have more time since they wouldn’t have to be bogged down wading through page after page of inferior, messy work.

But most important, our kids would come out the winners. They would have a stronger foundation on every subject as well as a honed instinct to do their best right from the start. When I think of the generations of doctors, lawyers and business people rising through our education system, I can only worry. Do I want a doctor who’s attitude (taught in school) is just do the work any old way; don’t worry about whether it is done well or done right?

If you are reading this and have anything to do with our education system; teacher, principal, school board member, etc., please pay attention and take this seriously.