Right on, Bill!
You are right on many of the things you have mentioned! The sad truth is that getting a good education is no longer considered
de rigeur. Times have changed and the adoption of new fangled notions of education have been responsible for the many ills in our education system. One of these new fangled notions is the importance of doing everything possible to maintain the self-esteem of the student. These days we have guidance counsellors (who cost a lot of money) whose role is supposedly to advise and guide students and massage their egos to maintain their self-esteem. If a student should complain about having difficulties at home, the guidance counsellor would quite readily seek aid from Social Services to find alternative accommodation for that student at taxpayers' expense. And very often, the complaint could be as trivial as the student being at odds with his/her parents' insistence on strict observance of house rules (i.e., discipline) and studying and doing assignments regularly. Both the Guidance Department and Social Services are only too eager to "help" because that would justify their jobs and being considered nice people.
The self-esteem of the student is of such paramount importance these days it is imperative for a teacher not to antagonize students and parents (and believe it or not, the principal and the school board) by
being a considered a "hard" teacher who regularly sets high standards.
A serious teacher or a "hard" teacher is often bad-mouthed in the Guidance Counsellor's office and is often blamed for all the ills and "aberrational" behaviour of some students. So, it is not surprising that these days a "hard" teacher is considered an ogre, a kind of criminal guilty of destroying the self-esteem of students. And given the superabundance of teachers in the market, a school board will not hesitate to can a "hard" teacher "for cause". Therefore, many savvy teachers routinely expect the barest (even less) minimum from their students and in so doing, they become highly-esteemed and very popular. They justify their rationale to their peers by saying, "After all, how many students really want to go on to the Varsity? Life is too short. Why make life too hard for myself and the kids? I know they won't blame me if they don't do well at the Varsity. Many of them will just say that Varsity isn't their cup of tea! and that they just don't need all that stress. You know what I mean. The guidance folks have taught them to avoid anything stressful. Ha! Ha!"
You mentioned that more money should be spent on modern equipment in schools and that the money spent on teachers' salaries be reduced. Availability of equipment is not the answer to the problem. The sad truth is that the majority of students are really not interested in acquiring a good education. Nowadays, many students tend to be pre-occupied with their jobs after school hours so that they can afford to support a car and indulge in the three b's (i.e., booze, broads and the bright lights and other stuff rather than learn their three R's. And, mind you, holding a job after school hours very often has the approval of the school board: it is considered a part of modern education in the 90's! Personally, I have nothing against a student holding a job after school hours except that many students really could ill-afford spending time on a job. But peer pressure and "getting along with the Joneses" are such that almost every student has an after-school-hours job or other. So how can you expect students to do well when they have so many competing interests and their teenage stresses and strains!
Students today are so accustomed to getting away with so many things that they make little or no effort to perform their tasks rigorously. Of course changes can be made in the system. But I don't foresee any changes in the offing because the baby-boomers are much too preoccupied with making money for their retirement. They were the people who helped put the Young Offenders Act into existence and they are going to be the ones who perhaps will help to dismantle it after they begin to become regular victims of the young offenders in, say, about 7 to 8 years from now.
Richnorth
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