Posted 7:51 AM by Bonnie

Are we all equal? The "new" school system is set up for failure in spite of the fact it was set up so no one failed. And that in itself is the reason it has failed. Let's face it. In spite of people wanting to live in a fantasy world where we are all equally brilliant and equally able to learn exactly the same subject matter at exactly the same rate, it just isn't real! When I was in school we didn't put the ones (like me) who learned at a slower rate into classes with those who could learn at an excellerated rate (my sister, Victoria). This was done for two reasons. One, I didn't have to feel really really stupid because I couldn't catch on as quickly and two, the subject matter wasn't dumbed down, for lack of a better term, so students who learned faster weren't held back in the process. Each class learned at it's own speed and the thing is we did learn! I came out of highschool with a knowledge of basic math - I can actually make change without the need of a cash register calculator doing it for me! My grasp of the english language is so that I have actually had a book of poetry published and am host of an open mic poetry night here in, Sumter, SC. When I did enter the workforce, as rating clerk in insurance, I continued to take classes and move myself up until I was in an underwriting assistanct position. My last job with insurance was secretary to a VP. I had learned to study and learned that if I kept learning new things I could better my position in life.

My point is we all have talents, we all have areas where we excel, but they are not all the SAME! We are different!

To say we are all equal mentally is to say we are all equal physically. The physical differences are easy to see, so we accept them. To say everyone can be a great mathematician, or scientist, or chess player, etc, is to say everyone could be a great football player and that every football player should also be a great ballerina and that every ballerina should also be a great racer. Is this getting clearer? We are not all equal mentally and to keep "dumbing down" the American education system so those of us who are slower learners are made to feel we can compete mentally with the brighter and faster students is doing no one any justice. We have college students who don't know basic math because they were given a passing grade so their self esteem wasn't hurt and they could feel good about themselves. How good are they going to feel about themselves in the "real" world when they lose job after job because they can't learn basic skills.

We need the labor force to keep America running and I think we do more to harm self-esteem by making people feel these jobs are for the "dummies" and therefor not acceptable even though they are earning an honest living and contributing to society. Instead we push them through school and they come out knowing nothing, end up on welfare because they haven't been trained for any type of work, but doggone it their self-esteem is intact. Yeah, right.

So, what ZephyrBird thinks is we need to get back to basics. We need to get the educational system back to where students learned at their own rate, where students respected their teachers or at least treated them with respect, and where students were there to learn not to harass and cause trouble. And learn we did! When we graduated highschool we knew the meaning of the word responsibility. We knew when we took a job, regardless of whether it was engineering or garbage collecting, we had an obligation to our employer to show up on time, do the best we could, and always give 100% while on the job. We did not expect them to make compensation for us because we were too tired from partying all night to come in to work, or to do our job once there. Unfortunately, from what I hear from employers around here and other areas, that is exactly what the younger workforce today expects. They have become so used to being catered to, in the school system, they never learned even the basics about how to act in the work force.

It's a sorry state we have gotten ourselves into and I wonder if we can reverse it and dig ourselves out. Perhaps with the next generation of students we can go back, progress isn't always a good thing, maybe we can learn from this mistake that there is more to worry about than hurting a students feelings by giving the failing grade they earned. Maybe if they start getting what they actually earned they might start working harder, as we did, to improve that grade instead of breezing through and not caring because they know the teacher can't fail them no matter what they do.

Just my ever so humble opinion.