Monday, July 31, 2006
From the Unblogged Files of the Invisible Ben: Day #1 (An August Event)
Look at that calendar, kids! It's the last day of July. Summer school ended last Friday so all of those students who bombed my physical science class have earned that elusive course credit. Five weeks seems like a short time to make up a full year's worth of curriculum material, but obviously the point of the exercise is not to inculcate any semblance of new knowledge. The educational system just keeps on chugging along, shoving kids through no matter how little they know.
Of course there will be a few students who actually do gain something from the experience, but after an additional month of summer school, their minds will be wiped clean. I suppose that was the logic behind this Georgia decision to start school at the beginning of August. Personally, I'm torn on the matter. Part of me says that shorter breaks could indeed facilitate greater knowledge, but another part thinks that people deserve to have a summer, and I'm not just talking about the kids. Vacations are equally necessary for the teachers and administrators who run our schools. They provide them with time to reflect on the previous year and prepare for the next, not to mention some valuable moments to rest and organize themselves.
Which is part of what I've been meaning to do all summer, since I will be moving to a new locale in connection with my new graduate program. At the end of the school year, I put together a small folder of documents and material that I had been meaning to blog about during the past few months but had never had time to post. This week, I intend to post them all.
To begin with, I thought I would post the following note that one of my colleagues in the math department wrote for us after being picked on one too many times by the more clueless and nitpicky of our two vice-principals, the one who asked the math teachers why students were not being productive following the conclusion of their final exams. (Her solution? Have them make their own board games!)
The note is by no means original. In fact my grandfather quoted part of it to me during a wedding reception last weekend. That does not diminish from its applicability to nearly any situation involving bureaucracies and hierarchies, be they political, social, or educational.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise...seek him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is simple...tell him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is willing...teach him.
But he who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool...shun him.
I leave it to my readers to guess which of the four cases above represents your typical high school administrator.
Look at that calendar, kids! It's the last day of July. Summer school ended last Friday so all of those students who bombed my physical science class have earned that elusive course credit. Five weeks seems like a short time to make up a full year's worth of curriculum material, but obviously the point of the exercise is not to inculcate any semblance of new knowledge. The educational system just keeps on chugging along, shoving kids through no matter how little they know.
Of course there will be a few students who actually do gain something from the experience, but after an additional month of summer school, their minds will be wiped clean. I suppose that was the logic behind this Georgia decision to start school at the beginning of August. Personally, I'm torn on the matter. Part of me says that shorter breaks could indeed facilitate greater knowledge, but another part thinks that people deserve to have a summer, and I'm not just talking about the kids. Vacations are equally necessary for the teachers and administrators who run our schools. They provide them with time to reflect on the previous year and prepare for the next, not to mention some valuable moments to rest and organize themselves.
Which is part of what I've been meaning to do all summer, since I will be moving to a new locale in connection with my new graduate program. At the end of the school year, I put together a small folder of documents and material that I had been meaning to blog about during the past few months but had never had time to post. This week, I intend to post them all.
To begin with, I thought I would post the following note that one of my colleagues in the math department wrote for us after being picked on one too many times by the more clueless and nitpicky of our two vice-principals, the one who asked the math teachers why students were not being productive following the conclusion of their final exams. (Her solution? Have them make their own board games!)
The note is by no means original. In fact my grandfather quoted part of it to me during a wedding reception last weekend. That does not diminish from its applicability to nearly any situation involving bureaucracies and hierarchies, be they political, social, or educational.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise...seek him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is simple...tell him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is willing...teach him.
But he who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool...shun him.
I leave it to my readers to guess which of the four cases above represents your typical high school administrator.
