It is a somber moment when ever a child brings a gun into a school, regardless if the gun is discharged or not, We recently have seen a school shooting come to national attention in Ohio. Two victims are dead now, three physically wounded and many more survived by those passed away. We will have a cycle of media talk about gun control, where were the parents and if teachers should have guns. We wont have a cycle of media talk about the art of teaching, where the rights of the parents intersect the art of teaching and the motivations children have in school.
The Department of Education has a new program it is pushing; Raising the Bar. I heard about this push on the Daily Show; Jon Stewart interview Arne Duncan. Teaching to Test and No Child Left Behind came up as relevant subjects. Jon Stewart's observation that teaching is an art, not a science, and current programs seems to treat education as a science with exact cause and effect, universal laws and sameness from area to area struck the nail on its head.
Contemporary art in education doesn't encompass the full range of students a teacher will have in his or her classroom and doesn't prepare anyone for a student who has the psychological make up needed to take a gun into school and pull the trigger. All a teacher can do with the training available right now is deal with the situation when it happens and hope for the best. A teacher is not prepared to negotiate with the parents about what it best for the child and the state is not prepared to face parenting rights in courts.
Thoughts from peoples such as Dan Pink and Philip Zimbardo are not heard of in current education paradigms and I have not heard of any other thoughts or models in American education other than what we have seen since the mid 90's. Teaching is an art that requires creativity and freedom to practice. Where has that freedom to think free and act accordingly gone?
The Department of Education has a new program it is pushing; Raising the Bar. I heard about this push on the Daily Show; Jon Stewart interview Arne Duncan. Teaching to Test and No Child Left Behind came up as relevant subjects. Jon Stewart's observation that teaching is an art, not a science, and current programs seems to treat education as a science with exact cause and effect, universal laws and sameness from area to area struck the nail on its head.
Contemporary art in education doesn't encompass the full range of students a teacher will have in his or her classroom and doesn't prepare anyone for a student who has the psychological make up needed to take a gun into school and pull the trigger. All a teacher can do with the training available right now is deal with the situation when it happens and hope for the best. A teacher is not prepared to negotiate with the parents about what it best for the child and the state is not prepared to face parenting rights in courts.
Thoughts from peoples such as Dan Pink and Philip Zimbardo are not heard of in current education paradigms and I have not heard of any other thoughts or models in American education other than what we have seen since the mid 90's. Teaching is an art that requires creativity and freedom to practice. Where has that freedom to think free and act accordingly gone?
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