I do. From every angle. As an intelligent young mind waiting to be fed the knowledge I so desperately wanted as a student. As an eager, prepared and inspired new teacher beat down by the bureaucracy of the broken public education system. And especially as the mother of an extremely intelligent, atypical, anxious and sensitive child. I take umbrage at the public education system from every aspect, every stage of my life. You are failing.
The system is ran by business-minded, bottom dollar thinking bureaucrats. The individual is a number on a grid, a dollar in the district’s pocket, a test score that will hopefully up the desirability of the school district. I’ve seen it in the two short years my oldest has been in school, I’ve heard it in meetings when I was a teacher, and I felt it as a self-motivated docent. It’s wrong. It’s completely asinine that a system that should be built around nurturing and enlightening the next generation is actually contributing to their collective boredom and distaste for the so-called learning process. Where did the empathy go in education? Where did all the professionals who want to make a difference run off to? I’m assuming if a child is only seen as a small part of a whole and not an individual with unique needs than it’s easy to lose one’s humanity. All the budget changes in education seem to distract the tenured teachers from the real reason one gets into a low-paying, extremely rewarding, high-stakes career.
In reviewing Famous’ first grade school year I realized the teachers directly involved with his instruction knew very little about him. His report card was littered with labels the teachers had learned over the past twenty something years of being in the classroom and firmly attached them to my son. Defiant, distracted, reluctant, disrespectful… but yet, totally competent in academics. Hmmmm, strange. So my son questions the relevance of the curriculum, is confused as to why he must complete assignments that resemble one another time and time again, refuses to fit in the box these robotic evaluators have created and yet deemed gifted, highly intelligent. Does this not offend you as it does me? Are you not aggrieved at this broken system and the amateur administration that runs it? My child will likely continue to receive mediocre grades because of his reluctance to conform and he’ll continue to fight me every morning about going to school-the place he hates the most, and I’ll continue to fight for his right to live outside of the box and be a special (and marginalized) little boy.
I am as confident in my ability as a mother, as I was as a student and a teacher so my children will have an advocate, a champion, to fight in their honor through their educational journeys. If I need to combine all three hats (mom, student, teacher) I will happily oblige if it means preserving my children’s love of the learning process. This umbrage I take is fierce and forthcoming. I am a soldier, ready to go to war for my children and the preservation of their young minds and hearts. With a new school year looming, and a second child entering the public system the stakes have never been higher for my family. I challenge parents to question the educational system, stand up for your children’s innate love for learning, be indignant because this system doesn’t work, has never worked, and will never work. So, I take umbrage at education.
famousslimandmighty 