good schools and the Joy of Fun
Mar. 11th, 2005 07:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonThis whole rant comes out of the simple fact that it is "Silly Hat Day" for my son at school today. More on that later.
I'm a believer in the theory of public education -- that there should be a "free," easily accessible way for every kid in this country (ideally, in the world) to get a good basic education. A well-educated populace being necessary for a free society, and all that. The reality at this point, however, is that often U.S. public schools are terrible places for kids to learn, for a large number of reasons, most, but not all, related to funding -- crowding, crumbling facilities, low pay for teachers, and so on.
Almost anything which is made into an "industry," following the dehumanizing industrial-age model and mentality, turns out terribly. Farming turns into the agricultural industry, and you get animals force-fed hormones and antibiotics, cruel and horrible treatment and killing, (aka "processing") of animals, a relentless push for bioengineered products, overuse of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals, factory farms, seed companies suing farmers for using "their" genetically engineered and patented seeds, and so on. Similarly, entertainment becomes the entertainment industry, and you get American Gladiators, endess mind-numbing reality shows and similar least-common-denominator crap. And education becomes the educational industry, leading to a similar least-common-denominator mass-produced dumbed-down, dehumanizing experience for kids still stuck in a 200-year-old industrial model. Incidentally, I highly, highly recommend this book: In Praise of Slowness. The industrial model, which includes total buy-in to the Cult of Speed, is directly opposed to much of the essence of living a meaningful human life. And our industrial-model educational systems show this. We're not machines, and life isn't about maximizing efficiency. So many important things about being human -- good food, good sex, good art, good *living*, take *time*, take an investment in wanting to do it right, doing it well, not just as quickly and cheaply as possible.
For a couple of years I was involved with helping to run one of the largest, best-funded public school systems in the country ($1.6 Billion/year budget, 180,000 kids), and what I saw from the inside convinced me that even in the supposedly best systems, what I would consider a "good" education is the exception, not the norm. I knew good teachers, who were innovative, creative, motivated, and who really did well for each of their kids...but even in one of the "best" school systems in the country, they were constantly fighting against "the system" to do their jobs well, and not sink into apathy and just shuffling way too many kids through the overcrowded, boring, cookie-cutter industrial mazes that have been created for them. A lot of it is funding -- if as a country we funded education with even 2% of the funding that goes to the military, we could almost instantly solve every single one of the issues of poor facilities, low teacher pay, large class size, and so on.
One of the interesting things about New Hampshire is that almost all of the school budget comes from local property taxes, not county or state taxes (because the tax base is local, there are almost no state taxes -- no state income tax, no state sales tax, "Live Free or Die," eh? ). So each town can basically vote to decide whether they want a well-funded or a poorly-funded school system, and consequently, how much they want to pay in taxes...in other words, how important education is to them as a community. That kind of direct local democracy appeals to me, though it does leave some sticky issues. For instance, since the State constitution guarantees a certain mininum level of educational opportunity for each child, and since it's in the best interest of the state, and the larger community, to have a well-educated populace, what about towns that just chronically underfund their schools?
In any case, over the last couple of years, I've been surprised and impressed by the quality of our local village school. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good, especially compared to what I've seen in some of the "best" school systems in the country, which are all still organized along the industrial model. Part of why the local school is good is that the local community funds it well -- we've decided as a community that the education of our kids is a priority for us, and we're willing to pay for it. But the other reason the school experience is good here has more to do with attitude. Maybe in part because the community tangibly supports the school, the people involved with running the school feel valued, and the school is better able to attract and keep good, dedicated, creative, motivated teachers and administrators.
One simple example. Today at my son's school, it is "silly hat day." For the whole school. All of the kids in the entire school come to school wearing a silly hat. My son picked his big pointy wizard's hat (that's my boy...) Next Friday is "weird/mismatched clothes day." And the Friday after that is "bad hair day." We're planning to send our boy to school with a bright green spiked mohawk. I'm debating whether to suggest to him that sometime during the day he jump up on his desk and shout "Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy!" ;> Probably not. We're surely already going to have enough cases over the coming years of having to go in and explain things to his teachers...
So anyway, it's not all about money -- a little levity, a little creativity, a little mischievous fun goes a long way to escaping the stultifying, brain-deadening trap of the industrial model. If I get dissatisfied with the school here, I can either get more involved with the school board (which I may do anyway, I've already been sniffed out for a planning committee, ugh ;>), or, I can always home school, something which does tempt me. And we do home school, in that all of our son's home hours are part of his learning, of course. But all things considered, unless the local school system is just simply bad, I think it's probably a greater good to help create a good school which teaches all of the kids in the village good things, rather than drop out of it.
I've become a real believer in the power of community, when that community is of a *certain size*. Too big, and it's almost impossible to avoid the industrial model. Humans were made to live in clans, tribes, bands and villages. Yes, we can and do live in cities and mega-suburbs, but to do that, some of the trade-offs are pretty horrendous. Is there a third way? I hope so.
In the meantime, I know at least part of the answer -- it's simply, and with intention, refusing to succumb to dehumanizing, cookie-cutter, industrial-age models. That *is* subversive, and it is essential. And a big part of manifesting that wickedly subversive intent is having fun. Fun is our birthright. May we all be blessed with Silly Hat Days.
I'm a believer in the theory of public education -- that there should be a "free," easily accessible way for every kid in this country (ideally, in the world) to get a good basic education. A well-educated populace being necessary for a free society, and all that. The reality at this point, however, is that often U.S. public schools are terrible places for kids to learn, for a large number of reasons, most, but not all, related to funding -- crowding, crumbling facilities, low pay for teachers, and so on.
Almost anything which is made into an "industry," following the dehumanizing industrial-age model and mentality, turns out terribly. Farming turns into the agricultural industry, and you get animals force-fed hormones and antibiotics, cruel and horrible treatment and killing, (aka "processing") of animals, a relentless push for bioengineered products, overuse of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals, factory farms, seed companies suing farmers for using "their" genetically engineered and patented seeds, and so on. Similarly, entertainment becomes the entertainment industry, and you get American Gladiators, endess mind-numbing reality shows and similar least-common-denominator crap. And education becomes the educational industry, leading to a similar least-common-denominator mass-produced dumbed-down, dehumanizing experience for kids still stuck in a 200-year-old industrial model. Incidentally, I highly, highly recommend this book: In Praise of Slowness. The industrial model, which includes total buy-in to the Cult of Speed, is directly opposed to much of the essence of living a meaningful human life. And our industrial-model educational systems show this. We're not machines, and life isn't about maximizing efficiency. So many important things about being human -- good food, good sex, good art, good *living*, take *time*, take an investment in wanting to do it right, doing it well, not just as quickly and cheaply as possible.
For a couple of years I was involved with helping to run one of the largest, best-funded public school systems in the country ($1.6 Billion/year budget, 180,000 kids), and what I saw from the inside convinced me that even in the supposedly best systems, what I would consider a "good" education is the exception, not the norm. I knew good teachers, who were innovative, creative, motivated, and who really did well for each of their kids...but even in one of the "best" school systems in the country, they were constantly fighting against "the system" to do their jobs well, and not sink into apathy and just shuffling way too many kids through the overcrowded, boring, cookie-cutter industrial mazes that have been created for them. A lot of it is funding -- if as a country we funded education with even 2% of the funding that goes to the military, we could almost instantly solve every single one of the issues of poor facilities, low teacher pay, large class size, and so on.
One of the interesting things about New Hampshire is that almost all of the school budget comes from local property taxes, not county or state taxes (because the tax base is local, there are almost no state taxes -- no state income tax, no state sales tax, "Live Free or Die," eh? ). So each town can basically vote to decide whether they want a well-funded or a poorly-funded school system, and consequently, how much they want to pay in taxes...in other words, how important education is to them as a community. That kind of direct local democracy appeals to me, though it does leave some sticky issues. For instance, since the State constitution guarantees a certain mininum level of educational opportunity for each child, and since it's in the best interest of the state, and the larger community, to have a well-educated populace, what about towns that just chronically underfund their schools?
In any case, over the last couple of years, I've been surprised and impressed by the quality of our local village school. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good, especially compared to what I've seen in some of the "best" school systems in the country, which are all still organized along the industrial model. Part of why the local school is good is that the local community funds it well -- we've decided as a community that the education of our kids is a priority for us, and we're willing to pay for it. But the other reason the school experience is good here has more to do with attitude. Maybe in part because the community tangibly supports the school, the people involved with running the school feel valued, and the school is better able to attract and keep good, dedicated, creative, motivated teachers and administrators.
One simple example. Today at my son's school, it is "silly hat day." For the whole school. All of the kids in the entire school come to school wearing a silly hat. My son picked his big pointy wizard's hat (that's my boy...) Next Friday is "weird/mismatched clothes day." And the Friday after that is "bad hair day." We're planning to send our boy to school with a bright green spiked mohawk. I'm debating whether to suggest to him that sometime during the day he jump up on his desk and shout "Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy!" ;> Probably not. We're surely already going to have enough cases over the coming years of having to go in and explain things to his teachers...
So anyway, it's not all about money -- a little levity, a little creativity, a little mischievous fun goes a long way to escaping the stultifying, brain-deadening trap of the industrial model. If I get dissatisfied with the school here, I can either get more involved with the school board (which I may do anyway, I've already been sniffed out for a planning committee, ugh ;>), or, I can always home school, something which does tempt me. And we do home school, in that all of our son's home hours are part of his learning, of course. But all things considered, unless the local school system is just simply bad, I think it's probably a greater good to help create a good school which teaches all of the kids in the village good things, rather than drop out of it.
I've become a real believer in the power of community, when that community is of a *certain size*. Too big, and it's almost impossible to avoid the industrial model. Humans were made to live in clans, tribes, bands and villages. Yes, we can and do live in cities and mega-suburbs, but to do that, some of the trade-offs are pretty horrendous. Is there a third way? I hope so.
In the meantime, I know at least part of the answer -- it's simply, and with intention, refusing to succumb to dehumanizing, cookie-cutter, industrial-age models. That *is* subversive, and it is essential. And a big part of manifesting that wickedly subversive intent is having fun. Fun is our birthright. May we all be blessed with Silly Hat Days.
