It's Back-to-School Time!

This month is back-to-school time all across the good ol’ USA.

Teachers across the country are groaning as they prepare to take on an entirely new load of students. 

My mother is a high school English teacher (hmmm… why do I enjoy writing so much?) and this semester she has about 140 new students.  That means she has 140 new names to memorize in the next couple of weeks.  That means that each time she assigns homework she has 140 assignments to correct.  When she assigns essays she has 140 essays to correct.  When she gives tests she has 140 tests to correct.  When she gives essay tests… well, you get my point.

And it’s all done outside of work.  And that’s in addition to any school activities or clubs she helps with.  And in addition to notifying parents when their children are falling behind.  And in addition to assisting students who need extra help with their work.  And in addition to dealing with the interpersonal issues that students are having.  I won’t even get into the effects on the teachers’ emotions as they watch and listen and provide counsel to students as they go through high times and hard times.

Yeah, teachers are soo overpaid.  They are soo lazy.  Let’s cut more funding to education. 

Sorry, that’s my rant, not hers.  My mother is mostly quiet on the subject of teachers being overworked and on government budget cuts.  I got to witness the challenges teachers and school employees face first-hand a couple of years ago when I worked in one of our area high schools as a study-hall monitor for a semester. 

And Dubuque, Iowa has it pretty good as far as education spending goes compared to the rest of the country.  We recently built a new middle school and a couple of new elementary schools.  The district did have some layoffs a couple of years ago but as far as I understand most of those teachers have been rehired in one way or another.

But across the country our nation’s school system is struggling.  Think Madison, Chicago, New York and countless other cities across the country that have made headlines in recent years because of cuts to spending and community support.

Just listen to this episode of This American Life from June 14, 2013.  Start at 38:00 (better yet, listen to the whole thing because it talks about some amazing things - including at  27:30 an eye-opening interview with an old schoolmate of mine who is a reporter for Rolling Stone and was at Guantanamo Bay) where Ira Glass is talking to Jason Pitman, a 38-year old teacher who won an award for teacher of the year in the 2012/2013 school year.  It was also Jason’s last year as a teacher.   Here you have an incredibly dedicated young teacher who’s helping to teach science – a subject which our country is severely falling behind in – and he is quitting because he has to fundraise to keep his program going every year.

The US school system is in desperate need of a makeover. 

I was never a good student. 

A couple of weeks ago my mom asked me to go to their house and look through some old school papers she’d found in a filing cabinet.  Among the many adorable things we found (like a letter telling Patrick Swayze that he’s just the most awesomest actor ever and a tattle-letter I left on the kitchen counter one morning before school to let my mom my brother had been picking on me) was a First Grade report card.  In the category of Completes Work on Time it had a comment “Annie has trouble completing her homework on time and seems more interested in the work that her classmates are doing.” Sigh. 

Even in First Grade I couldn’t sit down and do my homework.  That trend continued into high school and then into college. 

It was never learning that I had a problem with – I love to learn and continue to educate myself in topics that I feel uneducated about.  What I always I had a problem with was doing required readings and being taught subjects that I had no interest in learning.  It was like being force-fed vegetables without being told the health benefits.  I was never told why I needed to learn these things.  I was never told why I needed to be actively focusing in school instead of daydreaming of a story I wanted to write.

I absolutely understand the importance of students learning a wide variety of subjects, and even though I didn't have an interest in learning certain things in school, doesn't mean I don't think it was right to try to teach me those things.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like our school system does little to get students excited about learning. 

And you know what I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older? 

Learning is pretty. damn. exciting.

I’m not blaming the teachers because they are merely the tools that our government uses to convey its highly-standardized curriculum and they have to do what they have to do to keep their jobs and some teachers do an amazing job of getting their students involved even with the limitations the system places on them. 

But this system of standardized testing, and metrics, and basing school funding off of student performance on standardized testing… well, I’m sure that people far more knowledgeable on the subject than I have written copious articles about the problems with this system and ways we can fix the system**. 

But plain and simple – it’s not working. 

We’re leaving behind a large number of our students by failing to take into account that not everyone learns in the same manner.   

I have to adjust to this in my career as a Trainer.  My training program has to encompass a wide variety of learning styles in order for it to work for my staff.  I’m always revising and tailoring it to fit individual trainees. 

It’s sometimes exhausting and the most “students” I’ve ever had at one time is 3.  Imagine doing that with 140 students.

I recently learned about the Swiss education system when my family visited a couple of weeks ago.  I have to say, when I heard about it, claiming dual citizenship with the mother-country sounded like a damn good idea.

I’m interested in what my international friends think of the school system in your countries – do you think it works for your youth?  How does the school system work in your country?  Is university pretty much compulsory in order to get a good job?  Do you do apprenticeships?

Anyone else in the US think that our system is flawed, or did it work for you?

Let’s talk about it!

Much love,

Annie Jay


**To start, here are some awesome TED Talks on education:
Ken Robinson - How to Escape Education's Death Valley
Geoffrey Canada - Our failing schools. Enough is enough!
And for even more - TED Talks About Education

And this interesting interview with Mike Rowe from Real Time with Bill Maher 

Soon We Will Know the Course of the Future

This Saturday I sat in a park that is as familiar to me as my own backyard and where I’ve spent literally millions of minutes from the time I was in high school until the present and had one of the most amazingly surreal experiences of my life.

Why?  Because I was here:

Seriously awesome.

That’s President Obama campaigning in Washington Park. 

Now, if you’re a Dubuquer you know all about the madness that flooded our town this Saturday with campaign visits by both Mittens and OB – for the second (third? fifth?) time this campaign.  Because all of those other visits happened during the work day, this was the first visit I was able to attend – and it was… awesome.

I’m voting for Obama. 

If you’re following me on Twitter or Facebook you already know this.

If you know me, you know I’m very politically opinionated and that I’m about as socially liberal as it comes.  Fiscally, I’m a little more moderate.  A lot of people disagree with a lot of things I believe.

That’s ok.  But I don’t understand a lot of them.

There are three big things that I just can’t get over when it comes to the Uber-Conservatives.

1:  Gay Marriage.  Seriously guys, if you don’t want to be in a same-sex marriage, don’t marry someone of the same sex.  I don’t care what your holy book says, my “I’m a caring and intelligent person” book tells me that love is to be celebrated no matter who’s involved in it.  Gay Marriage isn’t ruining the sanctity of marriage.  The hundreds of thousands of people getting divorced every year are ruining the sanctity of marriage.  The hundreds of thousands of people getting married for the wrong reason every year are ruining the sanctity of marriage.  Gay Marriage didn’t cause the hurricane – climate change did that.  Which brings me to…

2:  Climate Change.  Quit fucking drilling.  Instead of getting on board with the goddamn Keystone Pipeline (which Mitt Romney says he’ll expand on Day 1 – just like the 50-bajillion other things he’s going to do on Day 1 – because he’s a combo of Iron Man/Flash Gordon/Superman) devote time and money to expanding alternate, reusable sources of power.  Plain and simple there are only so many fossil fuels available and one day we will run out.  I don’t care if it’s not for 50 generations.  Why do we have to run out in order for us to consider alternate energy sources??  Yes, I know the Christians believe that we are God’s chosen creations and we can use up this planet however we damned well please because we’re all just gonna party with Jesus in heaven and stare down at this smouldering planet anyway, but hey, PARTY – WITH JESUS.  That dude can turn water into wine, why should we waste all of the water turning it into energy?  We owe it to our future generations to take the best care of this planet we can.  PLUS – if everyone wants to fix our economy why not consider the great things that can happen if we devote our energy to the science of earth-friendly materials and energy sources more than any other country?  I think it would be a good moneymaker if we really invested in it.  (I say this with full confidence because I am an economic genius.)

3:  Women’s Health.  On this one, I actually have a story that I think really explains why a bunch of old men think they can control what happens to our vaginas:

A few months ago I had the pleasure of obligatorily attending a wedding of a family member that I didn’t want to go to because a.) it was going to be a dry wedding – who does that? and b.) I vehemently disagreed with the religion and I knew what I was getting myself into – my family did not.

During the wedding service, after taking a dig at the heathens who think same-sex marriage isn’t going to send them to a fiery hell, the preacher went on a 15-minute tirade directed at the bride-to-be about the woman’s role in marriage.  I live-tweeted the speech (because it was the only way I could keep myself from lashing out or just simply walking out) if you’re interested in reading it.

(Side-note: Don’t get me wrong, no matter how much I disagree with a religion, I believe whole-heartedly that people have the right to choose to believe in whatever religion they want – that’s the beauty of this country – as long as they don’t try to make me live my life according to their religion’s laws.  I’m bringing this up because, like I said above, I think it explains why these men want to control everything that happens between my legs.)

He explained over and over again how the woman should always follow her husband’s orders.  He explained how the role of the woman in the marriage was to make her concerns known to her husband (because, little lady, your cooking tastes better when you think your opinions matter) but even if he didn’t listen to her she still needed to go along with whatever he decided upon.  Now, when you’re talking about what to eat for dinner, maybe this isn’t a big deal.  But when you’re talking about whether or not to have sex for the night or buy a new house or move your mistress into the bedroom next door – the idea of the subservient wife becomes a little scarier. 

I couldn’t say “I told you so” loud enough to wipe the disgusted looks off the faces of my mother, my aunts, my father, my brother or my cousins as we sat in that church and listened to this lecture. 

This belief that the woman’s voice is not as powerful as the voice of her husband is exactly the reason that I started doubting Christianity when I was 18. 

And this, to me, explains why these uber-conservatives think they can tell me what I can and cannot do with my vagina.  Back the fuck off.  This is my body.  Women are just as capable and intelligent as men and can make the decisions that are best for them.  Yes, birth control should be covered by my insurance just as fucking Viagra is covered by a lot of insurance providers.

Finally – perhaps most importantly – making abortion illegal will never make abortion go away, it will only make abortion more dangerous for the pregnant woman.  You protect life when it is in the womb, but as soon as it’s out in the real world you say FUCK IT! I’m pretty sure Jesus would have a problem with that too.

He wants YOU!

So, those are my BIG things.  Of course there are five billion other things I want to see – like Citizens United being overturned, healthcare getting straightened the fuck out, creation of more jobs, college costs decreasing and the gap between the middle class and the wealthy shrinking, but these are just my Big-3 and I think Barack Obama is much more likely to address my cares that Mitt Romney ever will.

But most importantly – go vote today, if for no other reason than to pick out your local representatives!

Fingers crossed,

Annie Jay