Going Nucking Futz

Has anyone ever said to you after some trying times, when your down and feeling blue to “Turn that frown upside down!” ? You know how you feel when that happens? Someone once said something witty about turning negatives into positives, I think it had something to with lemonade out of cherry pits. And for the most part, I’m pretty good at doing that. But when life keeps knocking ya down, and no one is there to pick you up, you eventually falter. I know I am not suppose to let personal issues interfere with school, but it does. I believe we are not even suppose to blog about it, but I feel a need too. Oh well. And such goes another week of school. School itself was great, and upon that I will draw on some positive experiences and reflections (I think that was pretty bad grammar). First of all I want to talk about some of the great people I have had the pleasure of knowing throughout this course. During my first few years of schooling in the TTTE program I was fortunate enough to become acquainted with some fantastic individuals. We have shared a lot over those years and I am a better person for it no doubt. The trend of meeting terrific people has continued so far this year at UBCO. I enjoy every moment of being in their company. They are insightful, intelligent and most importantly, funny as hell. I am very hopeful for this new crop of teachers and I believe their future students are in for a treat. I felt the urgency to acknowledge that fact simply because I appreciate them, and that with out their company, this year might be way more difficult than it has been so far. And as I shower my peers with accolades, I segway quite forcibly into the matter of this week’s school visit. In stark contrast to our first visit, this one seemed unorganized with little care or concern for us visitors. Our tour guide was a TOC and a faculty member at UBCO. This was great. He was very inspirational and shared stories with us that reaffirmed our desire to teach. One of us mentioned that so far, we have all been bombarded with the doom and gloom of becoming a teacher, the legal responsibilities, the union responsibilities, the problem children who we will undoubtedly encounter. And I would have to agree with his comment. But I will take this one step further and say that we are very fortunate to have such a faculty instructing us. It doesn’t belabor me to realize that our teachers care about us and our success. It’s simply a matter of preparing us for the worse. It is nice and important to be reminded about the good parts of teaching but it must also be recognized that it’s all not peaches and cream either. Our teachers have given us a heads up on what to expect out there. I am further ahead knowing what could go wrong, than what could go right. So anyways, I have a few more points to make. The first being is that my wife says my writing sucks. Secondly, I added some fellow student’s blogs to my page. I hope this is ok. If your blogging and I missed ya, let me know. I want to add everyone I can. Thirdly, the talk about the killer whale is postponed until next week. Seeya !

So in this blog, as promised, won’t be a cynical tirade of despair. I’m not like that usually. As a matter of fact, I hate being like that. But oh well, live and learn. And I mean that too. Life is about learning. Every single experience has a thousand lessons in it if you look close enough. Or should I say, just at the right distance; you know, like one of those magic-eye paintings. Cause in a way, it is a trick to see things that is not obviously present. This is something we as educators have to master when dealing with our students. If we try and get to close, we may not see who they really are, and the dangers of not being close enough I think is obvious. That is my educational thought of the week, if that makes sense at all. And even if it doesn’t.

After doing some reading (for school, why else would I be reading?) I realize that many of these authors seem to missing major points about what they are writing about. OK, now first of all, who am I to criticize published authors with years of education who have done countless hours of research. Well, my name is Tom and look at things my way. I have often thought of life and experience as though I have rolls of cotton over my eyes, like someone coming out of eye surgery. With each passing epiphany or learned experience, it’s like there is one less layer to have to look though. Often, what becomes clearer is not a pleasant sight to behold. One of these epiphanies that happened many years ago, was the realization that doctors were no more than people who knew more about doctor stuff than me. I use to hold them in such high regard, as society tells us too. I still believe that doctors and educators are two of the most noble professions on the planet. But we are all just people. We can be smart sometimes, we can be dumb sometimes – all and any of us. And this should be forgiven of ourselves and of other people. As long as we try to do better . And so this brings me back to my homework, it’s due tomorrow so I better get to it.

(hahaha for leaving you there. Next week, the Killer Whale)

It seems the only time I write nowadays is when I am feeling creative, or when I am angry. I haven’t written anything creative lately and this will be no exception. Some troubling personal news set me off yesterday and now I seem to be looking at things with venomous cruelty. This isn’t who I am, so I refrain from using the words that first popped into my head. I’m not waiting for Friday to write my reflections because I feel pretty strongly right now. So on to the matter at hand… Homeschooling.

First of all I want to make it very clear to anyone who might by Chance happen upon this blog that I think homeschooling is a great option for kids to have. We came very close to homeschooling our son and we still might. What I have a problem with, is how the homeschool option was presented to us. “research says …” Now this is a good example of why we should not trust the “research”. The public school system doesn’t deal exclusively with the perfect little angels as most homeschools do. The public school system deals with kids from poor socio-economic backgrounds, children with exceptionalities (remind me to blog on this term later) and children from single parent families. This coupled with government testing will obviously skew the results. Having someone up there smuggly making claims that homeschool children are better than public schooled children (I know she did not use those exact words, but t certainly came across that way and I am certain she thinks it) very much irritated me. Yes, I was in a mood anyway, but there I was anyway, sitting there, arms crossed listening intently for the next lump of propaganda. Let’s face it, the reason that homeschooling is successful it because of circumstance. The children born into a family that has the financial means and opportunity, the parental keenerage (that’s a word) whereby the child gets an education that is simply not possible for the public school system to give. I’m not criticizing the parents for doing this, it’s just that, you know deep down these are the same parents who read their children shakespeare while still in the womb. We must realize that these children are more the exception than the norm.

As for the social aspect. “Research shows …” OK, lets face it, research shows what every you want it to show. But anyways, the socialization of the homeschoolers is not the same as the socialization in school. You won’t find “Billy (the snake) Johnsen” in violin lessons. You won’t see any kid pushing extacy in the homeschool reading club. Yeah, arn’t dem home sckoolers missin out? Of course it’s good they are not exposed to that and it’s a shame that public school kids are. But the socialization (how we cope in a social environment) is not the same. They are, no doubt, sheltered children in many respects.

Now to more personal matters. I am so totally afraid that homeschooling is going to over take traditional schools and that we will all be out of a job… NOT!!! I don’t think any of us are afraid of that happening and I think it was humorous she brought it up. Thanks for making me smile. It did however reinforce my thought that many homeshool parents are kinda out of touch. Damn I am so mean tonight. I can’t help but think of what Amanda said about blogging. If people read this, whoa, I’m in trouble. Thank god I’m so boring people will have stopped reading this after the first few sentences. Umm, so where was I?Anyways, it was interesting to hear that there were other opportunities for teachers other than the traditional schools.

I think I have ranted enough. But in closing, I just want to reiterate that I agree and support our homeschooling programs. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood to hear about today.

OK, so this is how it’s going to be eh? I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning so this won’t sound like the usual me. I have begun to think about our education system more and more recently, and believe me I have given it enough though already. However this time my train of thought not only got derailed, but went over the cliff in a ball of flames. here goes. The number one problem with education is that it’s run by people not some divine benevolent being or some super computer or even aliens from another planet. Though the latter might be more plausible. Us humans are prone to be guided by selfishness, not selflessness. We are submissive to our pride and arrogance and as a consequence, we become bigoted and discriminatory. And that’s why we have inane comments coming from “mentors” like the ones some of us have experienced. Now this won’t go away, ever, because were human beings.

It’s funny that we acknowledge that different people learn a different way, and that we are all equal, yet we are so quick to judge others. But we are all to blame. Often trade people view people with degrees in the Arts as totally usless and impractical, while people in the Arts call trade people uneducated and stupid. Of course I am paraphrasing here, but the meaning, no matter how much sugar you put on, is the same. Now, ok, let’s allow ourselves to vent a bit and give the English professor a chance to say things like, “What kind of world we live in where most of our children haven’t even heard of Oscar Wilde.” And let the tradesman scoff at our education system for not giving the children the basic knowledge to change a spark plug. But us as educators should not allow these biases come into play. If there is anything we must instill in our children today it’s respect and understanding. Now if the ones who educator the educators don’t understand this concept, how can we expect our children too. Let’s get rid of these biases, I know we want too. I have talked to many fellow students who I believe, feel the same way. Some disagree as well. But how are we to change when those teaching us continue to have biases. Well, it’s back to that issue of pride again. Personally, I have to accept the fact that metal working is only for some small part of the population and really is not necessary in school. It’s just not that important for every child to know it. Perhaps that could be said too for some children not knowing that the capitol of Outer Mongolia is Ulan Bator. When you think of it, there is a lot of things we teach our kids today that won’t help them in the future. Anyways, I have to stop writing, I’m becoming bored with myself.