Posted by
Tway Master on Thursday, July 05, 2007 2:33:35 PM
"Competition is best left on the sports field", this couldn't be more false. The statement itself disproves the argument that it's making. It implies that competition is a positive for sports and helps people perform better. Competition drives American innovation. If competition is such a fundamental principle of American life, then why isn't it being promoted in education instead of progressive cooperation?
Let me tell you about my experience with "cooperation" as a public school student.
All the students form a circle with their chairs to discuss a topic. The teacher tells us she "can't ask questions or direct the discussion", and “that’s our job”. We all stare at each other and nothing happens. People form their own side bar conversations and everyone gets off topic. Nothing gets done.
There is no discipline in the classroom. The standards get lower and lower, because instead of challenging students, teachers like to pass as many as they can. Kids get away with whatever they want because the teachers have no presence. They have no control over the classroom, and when the failing kids complain about their grade, the teacher gives them a pass.
Public school is a joke. The opportunities are there for the student who wants to go and get them, but students are not encouraged to go after them. Instead, they take the easy way out. Students are told its ok to take track 3 classes. Track three? Make these kids work hard and get smarter! I had trouble keeping my head from exploding every day from the circus that is public school
The problem with education gets worse. The longer the public school system has with students the worse they score on international tests. In 4th grade American students score in the top percentiles in all subjects, but by 12th grade they are in the bottom half percentile.
Of course whenever you talk education with a lib they talk about how under appreciated and under paid teachers are. Bull. Teachers are one of the highest paid professions in the country and the President gives out a National Teacher of the Year Award. Can you think of any other profession that receives a presidential award every year? However, there is something that teachers are lacking in: control. Teachers need to dispose of this student centered, progressive approach to education. It promotes a dysfunctional, chaotic classroom where the importance of learning is lost on most students. My solution: out with Rousseau, and in with Aristotle.
Rousseau has had a profound impact on the modern educational establishment. He advanced the idea that society corrupts children and that children are the "ideal" until they are molded by the culture. The problem with this is that it ignores that the fact that children are not perfect human beings with self control. They need to be disciplined. When you let the kids run the classroom it ends up like the way I described it: chaotic. Aristotle's view was that students need heavy discipline and guidance. Hey, it worked for hundreds of years, why not now?
Competition is not best left on the sports field. Competition got me through the circus that is public school. I saw every other student as a competitor. No teacher told me to see the world that way. I decided that for my self, and it worked. Teachers should facilitate competition between students. It is no coincidence that American students scoring worse on international tests parallels the implementation of progressive cooperation in education. If we don't act to educate our children better they will start to claim all sorts of constitutional rights that don't exist because they've never had a civics lesson. Oh wait, too late.