Monday, July 31

End of July

When I was growing up (before high school), we had 3 months of summer as school ended in May and began in September after Labor Day.  When July 4th came, summer was about half over and at the end of July, summer had one month left.  But over a span of 30-50 years, the educational calendar has changed, and students are out in June and back in August.  I am sure that the change was not meant to benefit the students but so that they could pay teachers more.


With that in mind, our educational leaders are more concerned with their salaries than they are with educating our students.  Perhaps this is why American education has fallen from FIRST PLACE to FIFTEENTH PLACE among all major countries in the world.


While I no longer believe that one should have a college education in order to enjoy a quality life, I do think some kind of training is absolutely necessary in order to have a quality life.


That education could be in the trades (plumber, electrician, carpenter, masonry, builder) or it could be in the military or in could be in hospitality which would include hotels, motels, and restaurants.


In 1995, I met the owner of PERKINS Restaurant who told me he started out bussing tables then worked his way up to a cook, waiter, assistant manager, manager, and finally owner/manager.  Twenty years later, his salary was commensurate with a person who had a master's degree.   Perkins had trained him in several different areas, so he was very much aware that some sort of training was necessary.


Our education system has failed students in both those areas:  academics and the trades.  Although, some schools offer auto mechanics classes; still, that falls short of actually teaching the trades.


It is very difficult to lure teachers into high school because teachers can make so much more money in the private sector.  However, that leaves us with the bottom of the barrel applicants to teach our children.


I am reminded of the following:

THOSE THAT CAN...  DO

THOSE THAT CANNOT DO...  TEACH

THOSE THAT CANNOT TEACH...  CONSULT

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