School Needs to Learn Something

With all of these “back to school” sales ads it’s obviously that time of the year again. But is school really doing its job? I’ve been in the school system for eleven (going on twelve) years and I don’t see myself advancing to my full potential as a direct result of it. I see a few problems in school that cause that. They are as follows:

• The public school system has a state mandated test students have to take every year, and where I live teachers are forced to base their curriculum around this statewide test. Now, students who don’t perform well under pressure, have ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, or any other learning disabilities perform poorly and their self confidence is shot. In addition to this, the students are forced to give up an elective and take what’s called an “intensive” course in which the students are doing a lot of work in their weakest subject.
• When a student receives a disciplinary referral, the principal who is speaking to him or her won’t look at the cause of the ‘”bad” behavior and will only give whatever punishment the principal feels is best. The principal won’t ask, “Have you feeling overstressed lately?” or “Have you been bullied?” or “How are things at home?” or simply “What caused this behavior?”. The only action that is taken is suspension, detention, or expulsion.

I know these problems might not be urgent compared to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or the economic crisis, but I believe they still need to be addressed.