No Child Left Behind

This is a post that has taken a big part of my mind for a very long time, and now finally I get it out of my head and put in print.

It’s about our beloved school.

I know I live in a state, Arkansas, that just ranked #50 in the country and used to live in Louisiana which when I lived there always scored #49 or #50. I realize that I don’t see the full perspective on schools that work and perform better, but this is all I have so I take it or leave it.

I have one child that is a junior in High School and one in 1st grade so I get to see the range.
Both my 7 year old and my 17 year old spend the same time in school every day.
One has the physical capacity to do it the other one doesn’t. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out who’s who, right?

But here’s the twist, the one (17 year old) that can and should be challenged to perform better and use her brain more, has a much lighter burden in school than the 7 year old does.

Let’s compare their schedule.

My 1st grader spend the first 4 hours of school every day, reading and doing reading exercises, and writing, with no breaks in between.

Then he has 1 hour combined of lunch, play time and bathroom break, which if you couldn’t resist jumping around a little bit during the 4 hour of pinned down reading earlier, is taken away from you.

After lunch it’s 1hour 15 minutes of math, followed by 40 minutes of activities (PE, Library, Computer, science and art). We’re on the home stretch now, just 55 minutes of science or social studies and then we’re on our way home!!! My 7 year old is fortunate to have a parent dropping him off and picking him up every day, a lot of kids have to spend at least one more hour on a bus to come home.
7 hours and 15 minutes of school. 20 minutes of recess that can be taken away if you could not sit down or be quiet. If the weather is bad, too cold, too warm, too wet, then you have to sit down and be quiet watching a movie instead of running around for recess.

Who’s in charge of this?
What child development skills do they have?
It’s insane, right?

OK here comes the schedule for my junior.
English, Elective, American History, Math, LUNCH, Elective, Elective, Chemistry.
55 minute of each every day the same. Broken up by occasional pep rallies or what have you.

Since she started Junior High (7th grade) she has had at least two electives per day. They can be a sport, some creative art, a language or what ever you choose. This year she has 3 electives, next year, her final year she has 5 electives. The only thing required is English and math the rest she can pick what ever she wants.

This is the 3rd time she’s had to take American history….
I know, our history is about 250 year long, how much is there to learn? And still most kids don’t have no or very little knowledge about our history…
Science, the students are required to take Biology and pick either Physics or Chemistry????
It’s like saying you have to learn the letter “P” but you can choose to learn the letter “Q” or “R”.

So, Math gets 55 minutes a day, the same as football, if you choose that sport as an elective. English gets 55 minutes a day, the same as Yearbook, if you choose that as one elective.

The difference?

Well, if you play a sport, sing in coir, play an instrument, waive the school flags at sport events, draw pictures or do any elective of that sort you are required to spend some extra time.

Take the band player for example.

Before school starts in the fall, you come in every day for two weeks for practice. Just for a few hours a day, but still. Then when school starts you have after school practice at least once a week plus that you go away for competitions, concerts, and marches on the weekends. That’s all fine and fun.
Imagine now that the same extra work was to be put in to what I thought school was about…. Academics.

The Algebra teacher calls the students in two weeks before school starts with math practice every day, just for a few hours. One day every week the teacher have after school practice and on some weekends the students go to different schools solving math problems. What an outcry that would cause.

I wonder why we put so much strain on the young kids; at an earlier and earlier age… they now want to have a universal pre-K programs. At the age of 4??? What happened to the voluntary Kindergarten?, to naptime?, to half day program?.

Instead of drilling 5-10 year olds with insane schedules, and leaving the teenagers to fart around, doing whatever, let’s switch it around.
Give the last 6 years of school’s schedule to the K-6th graders and the 7th-12th graders the schedule of the young ones. Maybe that would make our academic knowledge rise?

Let’s move our attention to college….
What do they pay attention to there? Football, basketball…. You name it.
I’m telling you, the schools down south here where the academics are not in the county’s top bracket, are still damned good in the college sports… yeah man, that’s our pride and joy!!

But we sure get a lot of medals during the Olympics, don’t we?

I’m not saying we should not do all the other fun things, like sports and clay pottery or what ever we like to do, but don’t do it in school.

No one should go to the post office because they don't just sell stamps but also a really good coffee. The post office is paid for with tax money to deliver letters, packages and goods. The school is paid with tax money to educate….
Or have I missed something?