I just finished reading Frank McCourt's Teacher Man which I definitely recommend for any teacher or future teacher to read. He has some great insights into teaching English at the high school level. He has some pretty funny stories to tell, too! In his last chapter, he states this about parents: "All they care about is success and money, money, money. They have expectations for their kids, high hopes, and we're like workers on an assembly line sticking a little part in here, another little part in there till the finished product comes out at the end all ready to perform for parent and corporation." (235)
This goes right along with our discussion last week with Shade. Are we producing students who will survive in this flat world? If we don't know all the new technology, how can we hope to produce individuals who will survive in this ever-changing world?
I think that it is important to teach students things that they will take with them into their futures, but I really believe that we need to teach them in the present. If we are always preparing them for the next year, when are they being themselves at the moment? Kids need to be kids, and I feel that by constantly thinking of only their futures, we may miss a crucial time in their lives to reach them--RIGHT NOW IN THE PRESENT!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree that parents are so concerned with their children's futures, yet I see myself doing the same thing with my own daughter at times. She is only three and I have her involved in many, many, many activities that are designed to improve her future. I think that it not realistic to not dream, worry, and plan for the future. How would we get anything accomplished if we didn't? that being said, it is also important to teach our students and children that we need to learn from history and become better people in the present. The only way to reach our students is to merge all three in order to create a wholistic picture of what they need, why they need it, and who they want to become.
I loved this memoir...I could go on about it ad nauseum. I listened to McCourt read it which also added immeasurably to the experience.
I think it's a book worth 10 methods classes and I wish we were talking about it in 506. Of course, it's not about the 3.0 world...but I found it moving and so instructive.
Post a Comment