This is my opinion...

This is my opinion
This is my opinionAbout today’s educational system

After observing the way my children are been educated at school …many questions popped in my head. I ask my self... If there is a law called no child left behind act, why my children are? I meditated for many days and concluded that it is not a problem of the schools and/or teachers and it is not even the parents and/or the students fault…when you conclude reading this essay, you may agree with me and understand the situation better.In my opinion, the educational system is conducting a program that does not fit the reality of the needs for the people involve in this school community (school staff, students’ family and students themselves). Let me explain myself better. Many students are not progressing in their academic standards (according to the new school standards). The parents blame the teachers and the teachers blame the parents; to me it is not either ones fault. I blame the system because the way is treating the school as a lab. Trying to correct or improve the academic standards of the students they are using the try an error method and so far I thing that they are focusing in the wrong reason to base their program of study for school. Here is what came to my mind to express my point of view…and excuse me if you do not like the animals I use to represent the people involve in the children’s education. Remember this is my personal opinion and it is ok if you disagree with it.Imagine that the school districts are cages and their staffs are scientist (that does not mean that they are genius). They decided that the teachers will be the guinea pigs and the students will be young mice. The scientists are conducting an experiment to make the young mice behavior less destructive. Therefore, they are going to use the guinea pigs to teach manners to the young mice. They picked adults guinea pigs with different colors, furs and sizes. They also picked a variety of young mice with different color and different furs (but all of them were young). Those scientists are controlling every action (even the sounds) the guinea pigs do to teach the young mice. At the same time they are observing and supervising how mice react to the guinea pigs teaching. According to the scientists, they have all the resources to accomplish their goal. In addition, they are basing their experiment in some studies in which some mice where raise by guinea pigs and the mice acted just like guinea pigs. The scientist thought that they had absolute control of the situation; because when they left the lab they will separate the guinea pigs from the young mice, (they will put the young mice with adult mice during the night).Well so far you might think that the scientists will have their results and the mice will learn some manners from the guinea pigs. It is not so simple …Those scientists did not made take on consideration the natural difference between guinea pigs and mice. For example, mice are more active during the night and guinea pigs during the day. In addition, the mice colony is different than guinea pigs. Well there are many differences between guinea pigs and mice, but the scientist thought that if it had work before in a smaller scale it would work in a bigger scale too.Years went by and the scientist did not have the results they wanted…why?Well let me tell you what had happened behind the scene. When the scientists pick the variety of guinea pigs they just went by the looks…but did not notice that there were some hamsters among those guinea pigs…but wait that is not all …they also overlook that most of the mice are different among themselves too. They might look alike but some of them are baby rats, others are gerbils. That is not all, when the young mice were separated from the guinea pigs, the adults mice will teach the young mice how to act like mice.Those scientists thought they had complete control of the experiment and they had the proof that it is possible…so what went wrong? This is what I think went wrong…First of all the difference between guinea pigs are more than the looks. They have a different way of living and their nature is stronger than the teaching of the guinea pigs. Hamsters do not like to be treated as guinea pigs, so those hamsters among the guinea pigs were not comfortable teaching guinea pigs manners. Those young gerbils and young rats develop different from young mice, so they were uncomfortable to be treated, as young mice; and above all the young one were uncomfortable to be learning guinea pigs manners. In other words I think that none of the participants, in the experiment, like to be in such controlled environment that didn’t let them grow as an individual species.Let me make something clear teachers and students are people, not animals. People are different from each other too, they have different social and cultural values and their family values vary from one home to another. Just like the subjects in the experiment, teachers and student are been treated of no consideration of their individualism. There are many facts that were unseen. I will expose some of those facts that I have notice beside their social-cultural differences that have to be taking in consideration to make a academic plan for the children:*The economic situation of teachers and students’ family has an influence in the children education. If there is a poor economic in the home it will show in school.*The time that teachers, students and parents need to grow as a family is not there. Teachers, students and parents are not functioning as a whole. Many people think that only parents and teachers are the team responsible for the children education, leaving the children out of the team.*The academic skill parents have to contribute in their children education. Academic skills vary from culture to culture…for other things beside books and technology substitutes some culture academic skills. *The way children learn is no universal. I mean that every child is different from another. You cannot use the same method to teach every child.*The interest parents show in their children education. Some parent value more the moral values than an academic education and vice versa.*Well, there many more facts that do not come to my mind I am sure…If you look closely, life is a competition of surviving. Adults work (most of them live from check to check), after a journey of work they go back home, do their house shores go to sleep and the next day…wake up early (some more early than others) go to work and…the same routine. Children (school age children) in the other hand, go to school (were they do not have any time for themselves because even during lunch hour they are monitor), after that they go home or a baby sitter or an after school program, do their homework and have a few hour to play, watch TV. The next day wake up early (some more early than others) and go to school against their will (lets face it children do like school and if it was up to them they will not go).Nowadays, most of the families do not sit together to eat at the table. Most families do not have the time or the money to go out on weekends (or to take a family vacation).In other words, most families are in the situation in which they are just making a living and in order to have a decent live they cannot afford to enjoy life fully. Many people have told me that the way we live is the way life is, but not to me. I feel that most people are missing to enjoy their present life because they are too busy looking for a better future (which might never come). Children are missing been children because adults want them to be better adults. I think that the adults should focus in be better adults and in the process they will have better children. If we let the children be children they will learn to value more their adult life when their time comes. Maybe I am wrong in the eyes of society, but I do not care because my children are been raise good. I teach him how to confront the problems of life as they come alone, not before they come…that way they will enjoy every moment of their life. I feel that if you live a good present time, you will get a better future and if you do not get it, you will know how to face and will have the abilities to confront it because it will be your present time.In conclusion, it is true that education is important and it is necessary to get a good job, but there is more in life than that, we have to learn to enjoy and accept everything that life brings. The way that our children are been educated in school (and sometime at home) is not functioning not because we (the adults involved) are not doing our part as teachers and/or parents, but because we are looking at the problems from a wrong point of view. I think that to improve our children education is not just to teach them knowledge that is more secular. We have to teach them spiritual values, which enforce the unity of the family and the community, too. We need to teach and practice more tolerance and acceptance of ourselves and toward others.You might disagree with me and it is acceptable because we are different and that is what makes us special.

By: Carlos Liranzo

P.D. please fell free to send feedback to cliranzo@gmail.com or at carlosliranzo@gmail.com