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    Re: A Link to My Thoughts on School Reform Archived Message

    Posted by H_Rorie on January 27, 2011, 8:41 am, in reply to "A Link to My Thoughts on School Reform"


    (From the note)
    some of our future generations do not even know the meaning of self conviction, or even how to empathize with what it means to feel human.

    Can you clarify what you mean by those 2 terms?

    We all make mistakes. It’s a human characteristic.


    (Again from the note)
    Some children grow all through school never really learning how to positively socialize with their peers. Parents alone may not know how to set examples for their children, but if taught in school then no child will be left behind

    I'm always leery of government trying to act as a 2nd set of parents, I would much rather there be more responsible parents who are active in their children's lives than to have a school district trying to create a social experiment.

    It’s not the government acting as a second set of parents (in my eyes.) It is humanity being concerned for the safety, wellbeing, and future of mankind. I was not taught the necessary social skills to handle social interaction. I had a very hard time learning to socialize with my peers. Most teachers taught me what they were paid to teach me, but none of them taught me any social skills. I didn’t actually learn productive social skills (such as how to have a decent conversation without insulting someone) until college and even now I am still socially shy, but I try to think I get better with time.




    (From the note)
    Punishment for improper behavior at school is taught, but proper behavior is not always learned and so some children are punished over and over again for the same mistakes and unable to learn on their own how to handle a situation humanely

    Interesting idea, but who determines what is "proper behavior"? Who sets the guidelines in this hypothetical idea?

    We do. Humanity becomes what humans make of it. I was suspended every time I defended myself in a fight in school, but I was not taught a better way to defend myself and I was punished every time I defended myself in the same manner. I look back and ask myself often, how could I have better defended myself so that I wasn’t constantly punished for doing so.




    It's alright, No offence taken. I’m only sharing thoughts and my opinions are not always easily understood by others, nor are all of my ideas organized because I reflect on memories and experiences during my writings, especially when it comes to helping, teaching, and caring about people. It’s not accurate to blame parents and peers alone. Teachers at an educational facility may only teach there, but they are an active influence in a person’s life while they are teaching that person, even if only for a short time (though the influence could last a lifetime) and also, adults are an active influence when they take the authoritative role over any adolescent or child. As a student I looked at my teacher’s as leaders, because the teacher leads the student in lesson, so where does that leave me if the teacher abandons me before I even have the chance to understand the lesson? I ask myself often, how did I get left behind? Did I do it to myself?
    Yes, I’ve a lot to learn, but I’ve learned a lot from all the people around me, such as family, peers, teachers, preachers, and any other human I have or come in contact with. Whether it’s a lesson of character, my own mistake, behaviors and or lack of communication skills, or whatever I interpret and come to understand about human behaviors towards other humans, I learn something. We’ve been so focused on teaching kids how to have a financial future with reading, writing and math, (which is great and needed) but we don’t teach people to care about other people, we teach independence or how to care only for ourselves, thus even the United States has become divided.
    For instance, temptation (to consider doing something wrong, that we know or feel or sense isn’t right,) is a negative side to us that we have to cope with as humans, and self control is the key to overcoming it. Yes, some people learn it in church, or mosque or any other place that “religion” is involved, but not everyone understands that it is also a trait of humanity and because there are those who don’t believe in a higher power over humanity and have no spiritual fellowship, they do not learn what temptation is or how to overcome it because it is not taught in school and maybe even the parents were not taught themselves how to set the example. It doesn’t matter if a human believes in God or not when it comes to understanding that being human is complex.
    These days, some people think that crying is a sign of weakness when reality is, it’s a sign of developing self control and a healthy and humane way to grieve, whether out of anger or loss, but instead of understanding why the tears are flowing from another human being, I’ve even witnessed this done to children, in which they’ve been criticized for their tears without the adult understanding the thoughts or emotions that brought the child to tears. It’s not wrong to be sad, it’s a part of being human, so why make someone feel worse for being sad when what they really need as a human being, is empathy, understanding, compassion, or care. When I first reached out for help I heard “nobody” cares so much from other people, that I didn’t mind being called a nobody because to me, at least it meant I cared.

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