Teaching and Education
I have spent the majority of my life in the pursuit of knowledge and sharing that information. I came into the profession of teaching naturally but haphazardly. I started teaching without realizing that it was what I was doing. I was a swim instructor at 15 years old. I loved it, and taught lessons for over 10 years. I was a girl scout and taught lessons at summer camps and later as a leader of a troop. In college I got the opportunity to travel to Ireland with a group of college professors. It was a life changing opportunity that I knew I wanted to pass on as an opportunity for others and began planning and booking (low cost) travel for other students. I became a teacher after a cousin of mine encouraged me to sub (due to a shortage) and while doing so I fell in love with the profession, thus I returned to college to earn a teaching degree and began my life's work.
I am sure you are asking why this topic...well I am going to share some thoughts about the state of the American educational system (from my point of view) over the next few blogs. I would love to have others share their experiences as well as I believe it enriches the conversation and gives a more well rounded viewpoint. I have been working on a book on this very topic for more than a year and am no where close to being finished. So lets get started.
The beginning of the American educational system:
The purpose was to produce educated citizens including reading, writing, basic math skills, and civics. Most kids, if lucky, received an education that would be the equivalent of a 7th grade education and began when they were 6 or 7 years old. Girls tended to go a bit longer than boys (we were still predominately an agricultural society and boys were needed on the farm). There was a strong respect for the teacher and what they brought to the classroom. Most schools were mixed boys and girls and in a one room system. I know this is a simplistic description but it covers it well enough.
Today the public education system starts with early childhood (around age 2/3yrs) through age 25 in some states (most though stop at age 21). The system, which was developed to make good citizens with a basic education are now responsible for the following... (this is not an inclusive list but is an example of what schools do on a daily basis)
General education: Instruction in a variety of subjects, such as history, literature, mathematics, and politics
Civics and government: Instruction in the concepts and principles of democracy
Counseling: Services to help students with social-emotional needs
School health: Services to help students with their health
Social work: Services to help students with their social needs
Speech-language therapy: Services to help students with their communication needs
Specialized academic instruction: Instruction tailored to the needs of students with disabilities
Behavioral support: Services to help students with behavioral needs
Deaf/hard-of-hearing services: Services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing
Assistive technology: Technology to help students with learning and thinking differences, such as text-to-speech software
Adapted materials: Materials to help students with learning and thinking differences, such as audiobooks
Occupational and physical therapy: Services to help students with physical needs
Food Services: Breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend meals.
Transportation: To school, home from school, to events, even when the student no longer lives within the school district.
What was once a simple idea has evolved into something that no one could have expected and that under the current funding cannot be sustained.
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