It's the end of August...
For most students, that means the start of another school year.
The classroom is open. So let's begin with a history lesson and some music and irony. A protest song from
1979 against the rigid education system:
Actually, Another Brick in the Wall.
(It fits the theme of the old brick schoolhouse, above, doesn't it?)
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher leave those kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
...
Another Brick in the Wall was Pink Floyd's only number-one single. So this one must have really hit a chord with the people and resonated.
Lots of talk. Much has been discussed about public education. What's being taught. Who dictates the curriculum. Why little Johnny and Susie can't read. And why kids are exposed to mature and sensitive topics beyond their tender years.
Reforms? In 1979, President Jimmy Carter had signed a law to create a
Department of Education. Just what we needed. Another layer of bureaucracy between the government and the people. More money thrown at the problem.
Since then? Common Core. Some charter schools. Homeschooling. Private schools for those who can afford them. Or are lucky enough to get scholarships. But most of the America's children are educated in public schools.
We don't need no thought control...Teacher leave those kids alone...
Conformity. It still seems to be the norm. Though the norms have shifted--some say a radical shift to the Left--since 1979. Creativity still stifled. Beat out of kids in grade school. Dissent not tolerated in the name of tolerance.
Diversity. It's championed big time. But only certain kinds. Like physical attributes of perceived oppressed victim groups. But diversity of thought punished and censored. Only sanctioned group think seems to be rewarded.
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
Other experiences? Here's what another musical artist said about education when he was a child,
“When I was 5 years old,
my mother always told me
that happiness was the key to life.
When I went to school,
they asked me what I wanted to be
when I grew up.
I wrote down ‘happy’.
They told me I didn’t understand the assignment,
and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
Amen.
Sadly,
John Lennon was murdered in 1980, a year after the release of
Another Brick in the Wall.
Instead of Another Brick in the Wall,
may there be Doors!
(The Doors is another iconic band of the times. It's a joke.)
So begins another rip roaring thread --
Education or ED
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Similar posts in the series:
LOL (part 3) - Year in the Life of a Teacher (2017)
PC Watch (part 2) - The South Park Offense (2013)
ZAMM (part 3) - Chautauqua, then and now (2011)
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photo:
Bennet School 1912/everystockphoto.com
