If a teacher can't inspire the will to learn in their students..... they
have failed at their profession.
Damn it all... now I'm starting to consider that maybe my grade 9
education isn't sufficient.
Mind you it never seems to bother me when I'm directing an engineer on how
to his job.

CM


"Scout" wrote in message
...
Reading your story only emphasizes how tragic the educational blunders of
G.W.Bush truly are. In America's vocational high schools, students much
like you were, kids who've made a career out of daydreaming instead of
participating in the classroom activities, are given a second chance to
learn in a way that is not at the bottom of Bloom's Taxonomy (rote).
Vocational teachers look beyond the corruption of a public school system
that would use it's technical annex as a dumping ground for the learning
disabled, the trouble makers, and in general, young malcontents.
We take what they consider to be trash, and we re-awaken them, challenge
them, polish them into productive, self-respecting gems. For many of our
students, the vo-tech allows them to get a high school diploma AND real
skills they can use. Our kids show their genius every day.
Consider one welding student I know. For his senior project he re-created
a few blocks of Manhattan around ground-zero. He fabricated all the
buildings using stainless steel, except for the twin towers, which he made
using mild steel. The entire piece sits under a spotlight in the school's
front-yard. As we watch the towers rust and disintegrate, we are reminded
daily of the tragedy of 911. People pull into our parking lot and stare
contemplatively at the project. It makes a person think. This kid took
what he learned about metals and welding techniques, and integrated that
with what he felt in his heart. The result is magnificent and deep. And to
think, this kid wanted to quit school because people like our president
told him he was a failure because he couldn't write a flowery essay to
describe his ideas!
Thanks to the Bush's standardized testing policies, traditional high
schools are sending swarms of kids who perform poorly on these written
tests to the full curriculum vo-techs, so their poor test scores can cause
the vo-techs to get Bush's public spanking instead of the sending school.
These tests don't acknowledge the genius of the kid who is staring out the
window and germinating the seeds of a success that is not based on
pedantic learning.
We have PhDs, engineers, nurses, and professionals from many walks of life
on staff, guiding these students and giving them new motivation to learn
fundamentals (show them why they need to know math and science). When kids
find a reason for abstract thinking, they work harder to learn those
skills as well.
And these are the schools that Bush wants to close. He calls our kids
"shoe makers" I believe. He is a fool! He has no clue what level of
technology our kids are achieving. From bio-technology to CNC programming,
from masonry to hvac to roofing, from engineering to advertising, our kids
are blossoming into productive citizenship! What they're not doing is
repairing shoes, what they are doing is building smart robots, producing
detailed architectural drawings, and programming emission systems to
improve air quality and gas mileage.
Go ahead Bush, close the schools that are helping our challenging but
nonetheless brilliant kids. Send the money to Iraq so they can have the
things you want to deny American kids!
The only thing that scares me more than this jerk-off's ideas about
schools is the fact that he now wants to apply the same "privatization"
mentality to social security. That's really what this is all about isn't
it? Privatize everything so business in America can do what it will with
and to the American people. Nothing personal, it's just business. That's
why it's important that Bush cause the collapse of public schools and then
blame them for it. If it all goes well, each family can find a way to pay
for the education of their kids. If they can't afford it, screw 'em. It's
important that social security be deemed a failure too; find a way to
retire without it all you civil servants!
In the end, the only thing Bush won't privatize will be the IRS.
Scout. Phew!


"jlrogers±³©" wrote
[snip]
First-We must have a dream that motivates us. No one has ever achieved
anything without a dream attached to a burning desire.

Second-We must learn how-to-learn. In school, we learn how to memorize
or
be taught. Learning how to learn frees our dependency on others for
knowledge.

Third-We must learn from failure and learn how to bounce back from
failure. No one ever succeed without failure. In the classroom, failure
is a
no-no.