Wednesday, March 23, 2011

An Outcry for Better Education

I don't usually get on my blog to write about politics or my views on many things other then my family life. (My other blog is another story all together) But, I have been increasingly concerned about the direction our country is turning in the ways of educating our children. I went to public school all of my life, and never thought how poorly educated I was or that I was lacking in anything. Now as a parent I can am worried that my children will have those feelings when they enter the current public school system. I want to share with you my story of education, and hope that you will share yours too on your blog. I will be linking this story to my friend's blog and hope you will do the same.

I struggled a lot in school, never on the honor role, but never failing. I was an average student, and didn't always see the necessity of striving for more. But, there's a few teachers in my education that I can recall really pushed me to learn in their class and as a result I find joy in learning. In 4th grade I had Mr.s Roure (sp?) who worked with me effortlessly to correct my spelling problems, though I can say today I still have a hard time with spelling correctly I will always remember her care and great ability in teaching me. In Middle school I was a total outcast, going through the most awkward time in my life, and I was struggling the most in learning because of it. But, my Language Arts/Social Studies teacher, Ms. Kottcamp, in 8th grade must have known how hard the time in my life was and continually inspired me to work harder. It is because of her that I love learning about History (especially WWII) and would write a book report on every book I read if I had time.

In high school I had two very different teachers that I respected and would today say influenced me the most in my adult life. I joined Journalism my freshman year and continued it through my Senior year. I was on the school newspaper and loved every minute of it. But again I struggled with learning the techniques and sometimes did not put a lot of effort into it. But, Mr. Rivas (also my Sr. English teacher) never gave up on me. He was always a hard worker, always correcting me, but his passion for teaching always poured out of him. He always inspired me to want to write the next best thing. Though I did not go into Journalism for college, I sure wanted too because he sparked such a passion for it in me.

Lastly, during high school I took Psychology my Jr Year and again my SR year. Ms. Ramsey was the teacher for this class and was such a strong and opinionated women. She knew that everyone of us students had a different learning style and always worked to help us learn in our own styles. I fell in love with subject of Pyschology, and went into the study in college, receiving my bachelor's degree of Psychology. She was so creative in her ability to teach to us - drawing a brain diagram and teaching us to draw it ourselves to learn each section; giving us pointers on social skills for prom; and never giving up on teaching us something controversial.

In many states across the country Educational cuts are being made when the public school system is already in danger of under educating our children as it is. I hope by reading my story you will find a way to help your local schools become more about teaching, less about the state testing and money, and make it child focused!

If you would like to post your story with the rest of ours, please go to this link at Megan Dub-Yuh blog

2 comments:

Unknown said...

YEA! Thanks!

I don't think you need to worry about the quality of education Julia receive because despite everything there are still teachers like the ones you have out there. It is unfortunate that we keep getting the short end of the stick but teachers, if nothing else, are FIGHTERS. Money for Education should NEVER be a question.

Rebekah said...

Well, I've met a majority of the teachers in the district we live in right now and I am not impressed. They are unpaid yes, but sadly they are under motivated too. I think it falls to the administration to motivate and keep the teachers working hard despite the budget cuts. These people were once teachers and are now just seeming to take the easy way out by allowing budget cuts to happen and not fight back.