Let the Teachers Teach

I just got off the phone with my mom. We discussed the state of affairs in the education world. I've found myself more and more interested in our education system considering my mom is a teacher and I am currently (and will be for several more years) a student at a university. To get to the point, the terrible nature of our education system blows me away; I have so many issues with how it is run from kindergarten to the collegiate level I have a hard time beginning. Here, now, I'd like to focus on our teachers our great nation has the privilege of housing.

Maybe I'm a sucker for the moment and environment, but it is becoming more and more apparent to me that our education system is using technology in the class room. Honestly, I misspoke - I should say that our education system has let itself become dominated by technology. I, of course, have zero qualms with technology in its own right, because its value can not be stated enough (although, trust me, the schools around here seem hell bent on running that statement into the ground).

Technology has almost definitively become less of a tool and more so a crutch (Skynet, is that you?) for the educational system. While I understand tech helps spread information, saves on paper, among other things, it does seem that teachers spend more time with their head buried in some gadget trying to communicate via apps to a class room equally enthralled in similar gadgetry when not a decade ago we focused more on what was directly in front of us rather than trying to conform our educational practices to the mighty dragon technology.

That is one of the major issues with the education system. It seems that we somehow went from a state of "this computer can help display your teaching material in an more efficient way" to "using this app you can communicate to the 6th graders sitting in front of you". Scarily, the joke that our generations are finding themselves so glued to their gadgetry that they may strain their necks from looking down is not only becoming a reality, but it seems our education system is feeding that mentality under the pretense that this habit is healthy - this is an almost comedic notion if it weren't so damn stupid.

Our educational administrators are taking charge of education by forcing this new, hyper tech model of education down the throats of their educational professionals. While some embrace the change, and in certain respects rightly so, others are finding transition difficult, if not repulsive. We know the benefits of technology (hell, printing double sided impressed me when I first saw it), but the repulsion doesn't get enough publicity although it exists for equally valid reasons.

Beyond the frightening reality that students are now equipped with their own personal tablets fitted with a series of supposedly helpful apps, I think idealism has completely brain washed the administration of many schools.

Let me spell this out: the administration is now teaching our kids, not our teachers.

The idea of tech is a cool one and again, it helps, but that's the extent of it. Aside from the added distraction, it seems that school administrators are more concerned with making their school seem "cutting edge", "ahead of the game", but the down sides are simply not discussed enough. Between "technology can help" to "only use technology" is a huge gap that we seem to be jumping over far too lightly.

While learning a few new tricks, a few new conveniences through computers is more than welcome, we need to re-acknowledge what the school system is and what it is not. Administration has turned schooling more into a business by which the imposition of idealist ideas is thrown at the educators themselves, even if those educators have a track record of excellence. Our greed for better is starting to walk the fine line with obsession to be the best system and less about the best school. 

My biggest concern is the uniformity of it all. While uniformity can certainly have benefits, the uniformity brought through gadgetry comes off as sleek and intelligent, but as educators find themselves cut at the head trying to use this uniform system they worry more about how they can implement this new system (by pressure from the administration) rather than focusing on teaching.

Let me make one more thing clear: teachers are the professionals, they are the ones trained and passionate about their subject to a point that they can excite up and coming curiosities in their field of interest. In a sense, an educator is merely an audition by which to convince young minds that their subject is the best among all. This audition is absolutely stifled if the teacher is constantly trying to incorporate a seemingly sleek system (uniform tech) into a method of teaching that may be just the opposite of uniform.

The beauty of humanity is the uniqueness between us, especially apparent in our minds - the proof of which is found in our pursuit of passions, our curiosities. The mark of a good teacher is to be able to inspire students en mass, but also to strike the chords of inspiration in those seemingly immune from the general lesson planning. Our uniqueness as teachers, as well as students, is what allows for unrestricted creativity in the class room.

Technology is so set, so direct it fails to appreciate the magnificence of creative outlets. Besides our increasing focus on science, math, and less on foreign languages, creativity, literature, history, technology simply does more harm than good (distractions, more of our heads down instead of forward and up) in the hands of young students still trying to find themselves as rising men and women of our future society.

The free-er the system, the more ability the teachers have to grow in their instruction ability, the more variability kids have to express themselves, the better the system can be. Technology, aside from its obvious positives, is a dream of the administration that looks good on paper, but in the long run, it may just be the worst thing to ever be introduced to our education system.

We need entropy. Let the teachers teach again - do away with individual tablets, bring back some of the old methodologies, engage students with the eyes, inter personal communication (another facet that technology absolutely crushes), exploration of expression variability. We need help growing as humans, not more devices that rob us of appreciable elements of humanity.

I have so much more to write on the subject, but those are some initial thoughts. I really have a ridiculous amount more to speak on, but I have vented enough for now. Again, do away with the tablet communication and usher back in the eye contact, creativity, and fantastical education we used to have.


Listening to: Asking Alexandria, "Not the American Average".