Klarinet Archive - Posting 000248.txt from 2001/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] chaos being sold for freedom...
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 06:40:52 -0500

At 01:19 AM 2/8/2001 -0500, Jay Webler wrote:
>The parents can exercise authority all they want, but if it is not backed
>up in the school you are spitting in the wind, and vice versa.

My wife is an elementary teacher. All too often she sees exactly the
OPPOSITE situation. The teacher attempts to exercise authority, but is not
backed up by the PARENTS, and the administration then caves to the
parents. I remember what it was like when *I* was a kid. If we got in
trouble in school, that was only the tip of the iceberg. When we got home
we would REALLY get it!

The feel-good system described by the poster who started this thread is
ludicrous on its face. It is unfortunate that she (I think?) had to suffer
its consequences, but praiseworthy that she was able to overcome its
effects. Self-respect can only be earned through acheivement.

My big problem with the educational system is that they continue to ignore
their most obvious mandate in the early grades: teach the children to
READ! Once they can read, you literally cannot STOP them from learning
anything they want to. If they cannot read, they are dependent upon the
spoken word of their teachers (both in the classroom and less desirable
ones OUTSIDE the classroom) for everything they know. It is OBSCENE to
handicap class after class of students by failing to teach them the one
thing they need MOST. I read recently that in 1960, the average 13
year-old had a vocabulary of 25,000 words. Today it is only 10,000! Lack
of reading, and thus exposure to these words, must be a major
reason. Since we THINK in words, not in abstractions, imagine how limited
the thought process must be in these youngsters. Shades of Orwell's "1984!"

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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