Submitted by Bill Page (not verified) on December 2, 2007 - 22:14.
WE GET WHAT WE GET
By Bill Page, Author of At-Risk Students
Each and every child attending our schools is living the only life s/he has -- the only life s/he has ever had and will ever have. Since schools mandate student attendance, choose their teachers, predetermine their curriculum, and totally regulate every minute of their school lives, the least they can do is accept them unconditionally, and teach them whatever they lack or whatever the school requires. Perhaps that is the problem; schools are incapable of teaching children what is required or needed. Or, perhaps schools just don’t believe in the efficacy of their own teaching-learning procedures. In any case, schools obviously operate on the basis of demanding that students conform to the school’s fixed expectations in spite of acknowledging their great diversity.
Unless schools, teachers, administrators, educators, and boards want to be responsible or involved in pre-school child-development, parenting, child-rearing and living conditions, they must accept and accommodate the children, who meet the mandatory entrance requirements. Such requirements generally include that students reach a certain chronological age, reside in the school district, have their inoculations, and be in the normal range of ability, intelligence, and social functioning. While the normal range is incredibly wide and diverse, the law further requires that schools accept kids far outside of the normal range but generally categorize them as “special” and provide commensurate education and "special teachers".
Everyone involved in a child’s life works within the parameters of the laws, rules, bureaucracies, and even within what happens outside of those parameters. Parents get the kids they get; kids get the parents they get. Schools get the families they get; teachers get the kids they get; and, kids get the teachers they get. Indeed, everyone gets what he or she gets—there is no viable alternative.
Thus:
We, as professional educators, accept all kids.
We accept full responsibility for their education.
We take them as we find them and develop their potential,
We teach them the skills they need.
We teach them the knowledge we want them to have and to know.
We teach each and every child—the whole child.
No excuses, no exceptions, no rationalizations!
I welcome any comments, questions, challenges, and arguments (as well as excuses, exceptions, and rationalizations).
I will be delighted to respond and to send further explanation and information.
We Get What We Get
Submitted by Bill Page (not verified) on December 2, 2007 - 22:14.
WE GET WHAT WE GET
By Bill Page, Author of At-Risk Students
Each and every child attending our schools is living the only life s/he has -- the only life s/he has ever had and will ever have. Since schools mandate student attendance, choose their teachers, predetermine their curriculum, and totally regulate every minute of their school lives, the least they can do is accept them unconditionally, and teach them whatever they lack or whatever the school requires. Perhaps that is the problem; schools are incapable of teaching children what is required or needed. Or, perhaps schools just don’t believe in the efficacy of their own teaching-learning procedures. In any case, schools obviously operate on the basis of demanding that students conform to the school’s fixed expectations in spite of acknowledging their great diversity.
Unless schools, teachers, administrators, educators, and boards want to be responsible or involved in pre-school child-development, parenting, child-rearing and living conditions, they must accept and accommodate the children, who meet the mandatory entrance requirements. Such requirements generally include that students reach a certain chronological age, reside in the school district, have their inoculations, and be in the normal range of ability, intelligence, and social functioning. While the normal range is incredibly wide and diverse, the law further requires that schools accept kids far outside of the normal range but generally categorize them as “special” and provide commensurate education and "special teachers".
Everyone involved in a child’s life works within the parameters of the laws, rules, bureaucracies, and even within what happens outside of those parameters. Parents get the kids they get; kids get the parents they get. Schools get the families they get; teachers get the kids they get; and, kids get the teachers they get. Indeed, everyone gets what he or she gets—there is no viable alternative.
Thus:
We, as professional educators, accept all kids.
We accept full responsibility for their education.
We take them as we find them and develop their potential,
We teach them the skills they need.
We teach them the knowledge we want them to have and to know.
We teach each and every child—the whole child.
No excuses, no exceptions, no rationalizations!
I welcome any comments, questions, challenges, and arguments (as well as excuses, exceptions, and rationalizations).
I will be delighted to respond and to send further explanation and information.
billpage@bellsouth.net www.teacherteacher.com