Schools aren’t doing the job they once did
Your children are your most valuable possessions, but you don’t really own them. They have been entrusted into your care as a loan from our Creator.
When you accepted the loan, you agreed to the responsibility of helping them to achieve their highest potential, whatever that may be. These children are learning machines right from the day they are born. Your job is to teach them right from wrong and basic civilization preparatory to their formal education.
The Founding Fathers thought that education was a private, local affair. They left out any mention of education in the Constitution. Tax-supported government schools started out well, and teaching became a proud, honorable profession. There was no war on religion in those early days, and there were daily Bible readings. Class size was irrelevant. Forty children to a room was not too many. Standards in education were high.
Then, government began to grow and began to control the content of the education. It did this by giving money to the local school districts. Guidelines came with the dollars, and it seemed that brainwashing was the purpose.
Reading is the foundation of education, and methods were found to debase reading ability. Children who can’t read can’t be educated. Now, too many children are unable to finish high school. Too many college freshmen have to take courses in remedial reading.
Children differ widely in intelligence, aptitudes, energy level, family backgrounds, etc. To put all these different types in one classroom requires the technique of “dumbing down.” Dumbing down helps no one, and makes school a painful bore to the high-IQ students and to the highly motivated ones.
Children who can’t do the work of one grade should not be “socially promoted” into the next grade. There, they would only be a disruption and a hindrance to learning.
Apparently, disruptive behavior is common in the classrooms. Teachers should not be required to be animal trainers or prison guards. Perhaps home schooling would be a solution for intelligent children, or private schools for families who could afford them.
