They are your children. You gave birth to and nurtured them in their helpless infancy. You protected them until the day they reached school age and ventured out of your protective environment for the very first time. Of course you continue to watch over them. You talk and you share, but do you really know what fills their day in the public school classroom? Do you know what they are being taught and how they are graded? The truth may be an eye opener. As the students enter the school grounds there is, of course, the security check. Usually a uniformed guard is present, sometimes a metal detector is used to search for weapons. In some schools specially trained drug-sniffing dogs patrol the halls. Locker inspections are common as the search for drugs and weapons continues. There is, of course, no morning prayer or moment of devotion. Some schools still allow students to pledge allegiance to the flag, although controversy has begun over a proposal to replace it with a pledge of allegiance to the United Nations. Classrooms are often noisy with students talking among themselves as the teacher tries to be heard. Others openly sleep with heads down on the desk. Discipline is out of the question for fear of lawsuits. Teachers are not permitted to touch students in any way. In fact, teachers are no longer allowed to even suggest that a student may need glasses or a hearing aid for fear the teacher and the school will be held responsible and made to pay for the medical treatment. The teacher asks for homework assignments. Few have completed it, fewer still have even brought their textbooks to class. Just as class is about to get under way, a young girl bursts through the door and announces to the teacher that she simply can't stay in the class because she's "having a really bad day." She requests and is granted permission to pay a visit to the staff psychologist. Such a request is an increasingly common occurrence and an excellent way to skip class. First order of business is for the class to break into focus groups. Focus for this mornings' discussion is on family problems. Role-playing is a big part of the focus group. Today's subject: "my parents are getting a divorce." The group will choose one student who is suffering such a situation. The other students will ask questions about her parents' impending divorce, including how she is coping; does she feel any blame for it; did her parents have an active sex life and so forth. If the child thinks such questions are private and not a matter for a public classroom, then she may fail to achieve an outcome goal for the class concerning her ability to relate to others. Such a failing affects not only her evaluation structure, but that of the whole class. Obviously, this failure to share her inner feelings and need to privacy will show that she is suffering from low self-esteem and will require the student to take extended sessions with her guidance counselor. Subject of tomorrow's focus groups will center on which contraceptive students should choose when having sex with their boyfriend or girlfriend. The classroom is full of modern computer equipment and calculators. No need to teach multiplication tables, the calculators will solve those problems. The class uses the "inventive spelling" method, which means children are never corrected for misspelling words. There is a fear that the correction of such mistakes will be seen by the students as criticism and therefor diminish the student's self-esteem, thus impeding his creative writing ability. Besides, that's why the computers have spell check. American history is the next subject. There's no framed copy of the Gettysburg Address or the Declaration of Independence hanging on the classroom wall. However, the subject for today is the American Revolution. There is no discussion of the brave stand by the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord nor the brutal winter endured by Washington's ragged band of freedom fighters at Valley Forge. Today's discussion on the American Revolution is focusing instead on the war as seen through the eyes of the slaves. Washington and Jefferson are prominently mentioned in the discussion as slave owners and oppressors. Tomorrow's discussion will focus on the establishment of America as a new nation as it journeys down the road to the oppression of African Americans, Native Americans and women and their continuing struggle for freedom. After lunch a special guest is welcomed to class. He's a representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who explains to the class that his group is opposed to the use of animals for any human purposes. He tells one girl that her beloved pet cat, Fluffy, is really her slave who longs to be free. "Set her free," PETA Man admonishes. Another student informs PETA Man that his father is a hunter and helps to keep wild animal stocks healthy by reducing overabundance in the herds. "Your father is a murderer," PETA Man tells him. "Animals are our friends and we don't eat our friends." "All of you should stop wearing wool because shearing sheep is theft. Get rid of those sild blouses because silk worms feel pain. Never go to the circus or the zoo because those animals are political prisoners. Don't drink milk, don't eat eggs and of course, never eat meat." Finally PETA Man ends his uplifting presentation by letting all the students know he will personally help in the burial of their mothers' fur coats if they choose to bring in these remains of previously tortured animals. The last class of the day is Earth Science. The issue is protection of the forest from "excessive logging." Logging companies are, of course, evil businesses who seek to clear-cut forests and leave them barren of any foliage. The text books say so. The discussion centers on recommended ways of "practicing civil disobedience . . ." with the goal of battling "excessive greed and evil without becoming evil." Tactics discussed include driving spikes into trees to keep loggers from cutting them down, pulling up survey stakes, felling high voltage tower, sabotaging bulldozers, road graders, power shovels and backhoes. After this invigorating discussion on saving the environment, the school day comes to an end. "Oh, before you go," the teacher announces, "here are your condoms that have been provided by the local family planning center. Be sure to use them wisely." But, as the students leave school, it's not the end of their day. Most students must now head for their "mandatory volunteer" community service job. It's mandatory because approved community service work is required in order to graduate. Students may choose to work in homeless shelters or drug rehabilitation centers. Most, however, choose to work on environmental projects as an extension of their intensive environmental classroom indoctrination. On these projects students work side by side with environmental activists from groups like Green peace and the Wilderness Society. Such activity sends the students well on their way to becoming environmental activists too. On the project, students learn to lobby local and state governments to stop development projects, housing projects and to promote the taking of private property that can be used to create another bike trail or wetland for the good of the whole community. If the students are fortunate enough to live close to the logging industry, perhaps they can put their class work to good use by helping to spike some trees or pour sugar into the gas tank of a bulldozer. Finally, the students return home to find their unenlightened parents serving red meat for dinner. After being thoroughly and properly admonished, one mother informs her student that her report card just arrived in the mail. Of course, it contains no As, Bs, Cs, Ds, or Fs. Instead, there is an "M" if the student managed to achieve "most" of the outcomes in the proper manner with the correct attitudes. If not, she may have received an "NY" for "not yet" if she still hasn't quite met the outcome goals of the class. "Oh, by the way," the mother says, "there was a letter with your report card announcing that you made the honor roll. Aren't you proud?" "No," says the student, "everybody made the honor role." To have done otherwise would have damaged someone's self esteem.  The way back home. |