SPARE THE ROD

Sowing the seeds of anarchy…

Jaded is what we have become; we are no longer appalled at the nightly news, we have become accustomed to being held hostage in our homes afraid of going even to the store; boarded up and living virtually in lockdown trying to feel safe in our own homes. Our children are no longer safe at school.  Yet the dangers lurking out there are not easily identified.

The government would have you believe that the dangers at school are the teachers spanking the children. The government would have us believe that the dangers are punishment for misdeeds at school. The government would have us turn a blind eye to the drugs being peddled in school. They would have us turn a blind eye to the distressing levels of delinquency rampant among minors.  Let’s mention also the levels of teenage pregnancy, the literacy rate or the disheartening PSE results or even the BJAT scores for that matter.  What is being done about all this?

Well the answer to all this is actually not to retrain teachers, give them a raise to elevate morale or even to ask their opinion since they are at the front line of this war.  Actually the answer according to some is to ignore it and try to garner Uncle Sam’s favour by adopting their harebrained policies that are in line with that country’s blurred vision. By so doing we earn some cash.  Smells like we are being bought, but the price is too high – the price is the youth of our nation.

You see this whole scheme was cooked up so that we could earn an extra buck, no problem, but at what cost?  Can we really gamble our country’s future for some extra cash to follow the example of an educational system that is so clearly dysfunctional?  From where I am standing this model clearly isn’t the one to follow.   Can someone say Columbine? Are those the results we can look forward to?  PISA in 2006 did a poll to rank countries in relation to their educational system. Which one was on top? Well I can tell you it was the Netherlands; I suggest we ask them for some advice on what they are doing right.  Hey even the Koreans who came in a close second. If we need advice on gun control in schools or maybe where we can find some good metal detectors for school well then I suggest the USA.

Leading the way into this whole mess must be a person who was indeed mistreated as a child.  I mean he must come from an overly strict background perhaps with an authoritarian father figure.  Perhaps he had an overly zealous kindergarten teacher and has forever been marked.  As such he may have problems dealing with persons that are authority figures. He may even for a time have pursued the very same profession that had given rise to such phobias…but now on a power trip may be rebelling and punishing those he feels have wronged him so long ago. Anyone remember a certain newscast where someone was running away from Police and had to be carted off feet first to the police station? That wasn’t too long ago.  Is this who is leading this national education reform?   The point is people, while there are some that don’t mind prostituting this country for the almighty gringo dollar and are bent on careening off to imitate a failing system, we could do better all alone.  Test scores can be improved and sure there are other determining factors which affect those scores but I firmly believe we can do better on our own, without advice from outside.  I mean that’s why we have our own government here to do just that or is this just another hint that maybe someone bit off a little more than he could chew?  If you are not up to the job just let us know, we’ll be glad to offer free advice, no strings attached.

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