ShareThisDEAR DR. FOURNIER: Our three children are in a school known as one of the best in the community because of its excellent credentials. When did "best" become math equations in second grade; concepts of force, motion, lever, pulleys and leverage in third grade; and the Krebs cycle in fourth grade?
Teachers are teaching more of what our children can't comprehend at their ages and less of what they should be teaching -- grade-appropriate content and a love for learning. Instead, we have a second-grader that the teacher feels should be tested for ADHD, even though he has all A's (he fidgets), a third-grader who gets in the car crying each morning, saying, "I hate school," and a fourth-grader who gets mad at me or her father when we try to help her with homework ("The teacher said that's cheating"). What recourse besides home-schooling do we have?
ASSESSMENT: In 1957, the United States went through the shock of a lifetime. The Soviet Union sent Sputnik 1 into orbit, the first artificial satellite in history -- and the space race (also called the arms race by some) was ignited. The United States had to regain its crown of glory, power and military supremacy. Not only was culture, technology, political ideology and military supremacy at stake, the finger of the Cold War was pointed at U.S. education as the axis of evil for such a disgrace. All of a sudden, teachers were given the ultimatum that math and science had to be taught and learned beyond the expectations of any other country, thus the "push-down" syndrome of math and science at an earlier age was born.
With the "push-down" syndrome came standardized testing. To this day, our education leaders are still desperately clinging to the outdated idea that teaching to the test will work. Strange that the more microscopic the scrutiny has become, less is achieved, more students are rejecting education and diplomas are handed out to socially promoted illiterates, all while the world's momentum to super-achieve academically increases every day.
The morale of the story is that when you have a problem and you choose the wrong solution, the problem gets worse. There is a right solution, but the problem is just like the one on Wall Street and in Detroit. You still have the same kind of people who ran the business or institution into the ground as the people you are still relying on to right the ship.
WHAT TO DO: As long as you are a parent of a dependent child, you are in charge of your child's education. Teachers are transitory people who instruct a portion of the big picture. Get over your fear of the person you hired to teach your child and assert your authority. Make regular appointments and talk with your children's teachers, not just when parent-teacher conference time comes around. Don't be afraid to ask teachers to help you solve the problems you have at home with your children that have been created because of school.
Write down what you want to discuss with the teachers, but make sure you talk to them in a civil and diplomatic way. If you do not get satisfaction and solutions, go up the chain of command just like you would do at your job if you had a problem.
If this is a public school, write your legislators and set up face-to-face meetings with them, if possible, to ask for help in changing the system. If this is a private school, and you do not get satisfactory responses from the teachers, the headmaster or governing board, then look for another school you can work with. Your children's education and mental health are too important not to take immediate action.
(Write Dr. Yvonne Fournier, Fournier Learning Strategies Inc., 5900 Poplar, Memphis, Tenn. 38119. E-mail her at drfournier(at)hfhw.net.)
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