Tomorrow begins the first day of year three for Smallsteps and it will start at a new school, that has a little more focus on music, and from who we have met so far, the kids themselves seem a little more focused. Quieter, more thoughtful - the kind of kids that measure twice and cut once. I am hoping that Smallsteps gets more space to breathe in this environment, where her voice isn't being drowned by the loudest voice.
Ask and you shall receive.
No.
Because the only currency in the classrooms of today to get support from the teachers is to scream, shout and throw tantrums, and stones through windows. It is the worst students that get the lion's share of support, which makes sense, because raising the average is easiest done by helping the below average improve - even if they will never raise high enough to make much of a positive impact in the world.
Help the needy.
It seems like such a good thing to do, right? Help those who can't help themselves. Yet increasingly, it is helping those who won't help themselves. No matter what support they get, they will forever be in need. Forever reliant on the support. Remove it, and they collapse under their own weight, rather than forge their own path. But it seems so cruel to not help the needy, those without. But, what most people don't consider that for a person to reach their potential, they might have other needs. A smart child is left to their own devices, as the ones with problems get the support. But a smart child still has needs, don't they? But they are expected to fend for themselves in today's system, because the resources just aren't there to help them.
The irony is, that perhaps after a period of assisting the best to be their best, those same children will grow into the adults that are able to better use the resources available, and create solutions to problems that help the needy. But when the brightest aren't supported to be their best, they end up too close to the average, better than others, but still not good enough to solve the problems ahead of them.
Maybe that is why for the first time in history, our health is degrading.
But if we look at the entire global population, it is likely improving, isn't it? Because with so many poor, malnourished people who are getting access to better food, education and healthcare, the average at the bottom is increasing. This is not to say that they shouldn't be helped, but to highlight how it is easy to skew the numbers with averages.
But if we were to help the needy first, who makes it into the NBA? The coaches should spend all of their time with the worst players to bring up the average basketball skill, right? Anyone who wants to be on the team should be included. Any driver who wants to drive Formula 1 should be allowed in the cockpit. Anyone who wants to be a doctor should be allowed into medical school. And if they struggle with the math or physics, they should be given as many tutors and as much support as they can get to try and get them up to a passing grade, even if it takes resources away from the overachievers, because they will pass anyway. We don't need great healthcare professionals. Passing grades is as high as we want.
Helping the needy falls down, doesn't it?
What qualifies need?
Who defines the metrics that decide which resources go where and why they should be spent there, instead of somewhere else? Who decides who is in need, and why that need is more important to satisfy over other needs?
Perhaps we should take a step back and think about what humanity is looking to accomplish as a species, consider what is needed to get there, and then support movements in that direction. In the US they talked about "no child left behind", but how has that worked out.
The US literacy rate for adults is approximately 79%, meaning about 21% of adults in the US are considered functionally illiterate. This equates to roughly 43 million adults who struggle with basic reading tasks. Furthermore, a significant portion of the adult population, around 54%, reads below a sixth-grade level.
Luckily, with all the streaming content being forced down throats, people don't need to read anymore. They don't need to verify, validate or even think for themselves - someone else has already packaged up all they need to know in a convenient video clip that just happens to feed their pre-existing beliefs.
No one need change their mind.
Because the business model is designed to shape minds into whatever generates the most profit for the corporations, and provides the most control for those who have and desire more of it. It is an attention loop that feeds more of what we want, while providing less of what we need to take responsibility for our lives, and build something great together. It is about the loudest voices that can produce the most outrage, rather than the quiet voices who have solutions to the problems we face.
It makes me want to scream.
But no one is listening.
Taraz
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This is such a sore subject for me! First of all education systems in USSR have been mediocre, yes they raised the average to a decent level but didn't really produce the stars like they do in USA. So I am the product of that USSR system, perhaps if the system was better I could have been better as you have said, I definitely had the potential as I scored in top 100 in the whole former USSR to make it into USA on a full ride scholarship in 1993. Despite that and despite representing my school in Ukraine in all Math, Programming and English Olympiads for years when I came to USA and took Calculus Honors in high school I felt behind like I never did in my life before...
That is because the school I happened to attend had a completely different system. There were classes to pass people, classes for people to go to college and classes for people who are truly gifted. That was in California, when I took English 12 I was shocked - that was the class to pass people. Imagine this, I am sitting in the back of the room and the teacher takes out a large picture book and points to a picture of a watermelon and the class full of grown men and women at around 18 years old some of these guys were close to 7 foot and 400 lbs. is excitedly screaming "Watermelon!"
So that same day I went to my advisor and asked her to explain to me what is going on, she did: she said English 12 (12th grade) is to pass people if you want to improve your English as a foreign exchange student you should take English 12 AP or English 12 Honors. I changed all my classes to AP and Honors and I was barely passing including Math which I thought I was great at...
Here in Washington State we had a bad experience with public schools for our daughter, the well rated school was totally failing in educating her to read, this school also had problems with bullying and other stuff that was terrible, they also catered to the loudest kids. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" so to speak...
After fighting for years with all of these problems with no results we opted out to pay for the private school and we are more than happy with education there... So it is good that you are moving your daughter to a better school. Schools and teachers matter...
This made me cackle with laughter a little bit :D
There are differences in the schools here, but not as much as there is in the US. I think that is one of the problems, everyone is mixed in together. There is supposedly a new law coming where one class can't have more than five students that need personal support. Five! What the fuck is it now? In an hour class, how much time do the other 20-25 kids get?
The literacy rate in Finland is close enough to 100, but the skill levels are dropping, but they keep moving support away from education. I guess all children are expected to become OnlyFans content creators.
The AI will do all the work anyway, why waste time on education. Idiocracy is coming on the accelerated schedule :)
What is the step below idiot? I think that is where we are reaching now.
The issue on how to spend scarce resources is incredibly difficult to solve. Except for one - make the scarcity go away. I never understood why countries don't put most of their money in education. That will eventually lead to all other necessities going down. Every time I listen a to study that relates education to anything, the ones who are better educated make the better life and positive impact. Productivity, health, creativity - only in moral they might fail. Values are not a thing taught by the educational system, but at home. But besides that, education beats it all.
But the government prefers to spend on everything else. And here we are, discussing the symptoms, not the illness.
Yes. As long as it is the right kind of education. If they put it all in with the goal to raise the average, they end up lifting from the bottom, because that moves the metric fastest. But - still average.
As I have said - if we moved all the funds (and brain power) away from military, we could do a massive amount better.
I guess it's the expectation of smarter people being able to got it done on their own, finding their own way, the American Dream and such.
Especially the background is important, just listened to a podcast about two people that made their way up somehow, from worker class families. It cost them dearly, not only effort as they had little support (one unwilling family, the other not being capable of helping), and they didn't have access to services that accompany education. There are many smart people that never get the support they should, and barely exploit their potential.
Anyway, I got inspired by your post and wrote one on a detail in yours, it'll pop up in your notifications soon as I tagged you :-)
And that they will "do okay" by themselves. They end up missing a lot of skills that not only help them grow, but supercharge their impact.
I am running to bed now as I have an early morning. Drop a link here too please, just in case I miss the notification.
Yeah, just read that Smallsteps is back in school. I'm trying to get back into school rhythm, though I still have a month. I was very quick to fall back into my "old" routines, and it is hard to get back into my new routines again, so I have to practice.
I agree on the "missing out". So much potential wasted... Since I'm already in the topic, I started writing a second article, too. Education is very present in my life, both mine and Lily's, so it's a trigger for me :-D
Rest well!
I have a pretty unique view given I am in the system and I feel a lot of the things people complain about would be non issues if they really took the time to understand. They just like to complain though, it makes them feel useful. It always bugs me when I go to write a grant and they specify that priority will be given to inner city districts. We are a small farm town, it's not like we are rolling in dough either....
They don't take the time, and they don't think long-term. They are career climbers.
Mix a bit of water with the flour... ;D
Trust me, I have tried every angle I can think of to get the funding we need. It's maddening!
There are two schools near me. And everyone knows which is the best and which is the worst. And it is true, the best school has a 97% acceptance rate to universities.
When I entered university, out of 30 people in my class (the town is small), only 6 entered the university.
The school Smallsteps was at, I found out recently only 50% go on to finish year 11 and 12....
Few days ago i am discussing the same topic at home. Here big institutes always looks out for thr brightest student in the crowd. They select them, polish them and then present them to world as their property. Rather than giving time and efdort to make an average student or below average student. An academic institute used to be the place which transforms a person. But if they just polishing them they i dont think they are contributing to the eceonomy. The matter would be great if they pick some average student, work on them and make them to be on the elite list.
Anyhow I consider the education system is more of a money making business model than making human being.
And the best way to make money, is to mass produce and sell to all.
They dont produce, they just polish the topper leaving behind the Moderate and below average student to challenge themselves in the competitive environment....
The system is designed to maximize profits, and investments are channeled there. If efforts had been made to achieve the best, the world would have been blessed with great geniuses and scientists. Most people don't care. They're more concerned with maximizing their selfishness and resources.
Yes. The school system is there to feed the corporations. And now, the corporations are finding innovative ways not to need them.
And that's when we ask ourselves, are you going up or are you going down more? I am one of the people who thinks that what I said today should be breathed into my way of living tomorrow. Talking without doing is like decorating the air.
Successes for your little girl in this new school year. She is being educated for life
And life looks like it is going to be hard.
It is getting very difficult, and that is the real task, to recognize that there are many more of us than what we are learning. She will experience life as it is, for her.
Your little daughter is lucky. Dad and Mom will always be her beacon of light, even in the most difficult moments.
I think it is a fact that as we try to help those who are struggling, we might unintentionally overlook the needs of talented students who also need assistance to achieve their maximum potential.
Unless you are visibly broken, no one is going to help.
It feels like the system rewards noise over effort, leaving those who quietly excel to fend for themselves. We need a better balance that supports everyone’s potential, not just those who shout the loudest but that may have to start with those who have the most influence over the system to make these kinds of changes I think
This is the saddest part of being a teacher. The best students can basically teach themselves anyway and I'm working hard enough just to keep them challenged while also providing support for these students who will not do anything on their own.
USA resources are being misallocated in such a heartbreaking way these days by the current admin. Thank goodness I'm still living in a state that prioritizes education and helping the less fortunate and more at-risk population. But no more Natl Institute of Health. No more Dept of Education. Get me out of here! My will to fight has fled.
Dear @tarazkp !
Do you think Smallsteps students have good grades and academic achievement in school?
Depends on the student. Academic achievement doesn't necessarily bring about a good life. S.K has the highest academic achievement in the world right? Yet, you are scared to speak in case your government is listening.
I agree with you!
At S.K., students' social status is determined by their academic performance. Consequently, S.K. students face a very difficult school life.
Thank you