Old hat.

Before I start... Gina: I met a lady from one of the schools in our district the other day, and whilst discussing the television program "Dirty Jobs" she said, "What a fine program that is." I immediately thought of you and almost hugged her with a jubilant "Rubies and Pearls!"

So, there's this guy named Ken Robinson. Sir Ken Robinson to be exact. And I've found a few things of his and generally think he's the bees knees. I've posted this before, but his TED talk can be found here.

If you are involved in education in any way, as a teacher, student, parent, or overall fan... take a minute and watch it. I revisit it frequently and, to regress slightly, love the shit out of it.

Anyway... on with it. At the beginning of the speech, he says that when you talk to someone at a party and tell them that you are in education, their first thought is 'Why me?'

I use that as a preface - for here, dear friends, comes another EduBlog. *GROANS*

I am flummoxed. I am distraught. I am at my wit's end. I am some big word from a Bad Religion song.

We are at this crossroads, I think, of humanity. We have massive quantities knowledge at our fingertips (quite literally), and we are not teaching our kids how to access it. Our fragile, ill-equipped bodies have evolved for a million years (as a general ballpark) to be super high-performance thinking machines... and the best we seem to muster are slight moments of passion from an otherwise bland malaise. G.D. Betsy Bingo does that make me mad!

I don't know the answers anymore. I thought I did once, but that was arrogant and ignorant. I had to lock the boys' bathroom today because their was gang graffiti in there. I know who did it, too. Almost all the teachers do. But there response was anger. They wanted him strung up as an example. "These kids need to know that damaging the property of others will not be tolerated." I felt like all the air had left the room when I said, "They need to know that a gang kills possibilities and steals dreams." They looked at me like I had pooped out a goat that subsequently ate all of their shoes.

I just think there is a huge difference between discipline and punishment... but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one. Being punitive is about ego... discipline is teaching.

All I'm saying is that these kids know being in trouble like the backs of their hands. Punish them, and the moment is lost in a fog of suspensions and letters home and detention centers. Teach them, and who knows what could happen?

Ah, well... Maybe I should become a barber.

Wishing you could smell my stinky, medicinal eardrops,
Jed