Common Sense?
April 13th, 2007
We have all heard these words bandied about whether at home, work or just out and about. What I wonder is how often they are applied.
Is it common sense to mock a young cashier because they cannot make correct change at the close of your purchase or is it common sense to place the blame on our educational system?
Is it common sense to look at a child with obviously poor upbringing and blame him or her for their behavior or is it common sense to imagine the parents lack the skills to raise a child properly?
Is it common sense to look at the color of another’s skin and believe we have the right to judge that person’s character or is it common sense to accept a person for who they are based upon their words and actions?
Is it common sense to allow our religious beliefs to close our minds to those who do not believe as we do or is it common sense to believe in the Freedom of Religion?
Is it common sense to allow our political affiliations to destroy family ties and friendships or is it common sense to accept diversity in our society?
Is it common sense to think we are superior to others and therefore have the right to celebrate their demise when they fail or is it common sense to be compassionate and understanding?
Is it common sense to berate those who would harm us, or is it common sense to find mutual ground on which we agree?
Is it common sense for many of our elected officials to concern themselves primarily with their egos and political careers or is it common sense for them to work together to benefit the citizens of this great country?
Finally, is it common sense to use the word “hate†as often as it is heard or implied today or is it common sense to recognize that many of us do not understand what it is we despise?
Every individual undoubtedly has a unique answer to these questions as there are many variables involved. I do not pretend to have the correct answers however, I do believe that unless we apply common sense there can be no common ground.
Written by Sue
Posted in Uncategorized
3 Responses to “Common Sense?”
There is a lot of common sense in this post, Sue!
I quibble a bit about teachers because my daughter is one. She is a reading recovery teacher in a middle school, trying to get sixth, seventh and eighth graders up to grade level in their reading because they were passed up the line by other teachers either because the principals or school districts wanted them to pass them or because the teacher just passed them.
I have tutored third graders and I have seen some of the children are eager to learn to read while others want to lay their heads on the table, refuse to learn the correct pronunciation of words after countless patient efforts by me to teach them the correct pronunciation, and generally just not pay attention.
I’m saying it’s not always bad teachers. Some of the kids just don’t have the desire to learn or are so tired from staying up late they can’t concentrate on learning, but they can tell you all about every episode of South Park, which is beyond their age group.
The first school my daughter taught in was in a predominantly poor neighborhood. Some of the most wonderful children who wanted to learn were her pupils and she sees them now as young men and women and they still hug her.
What took the cake, though, was when the principal told the third grade teaching team (it may have been fourth grade, I don’t recall) they needed to teach the students how to use eating utensils! Is it a teacher’s job to teach a person how to use a knife, fork and spoon or is that the parents’ job?
People think teachers have it easy, but they don’t. Yes, they get summers and holidays off but when they come home to their own families they have to be parents to their own children when they are worn down by the tough students they have faced throughout the day.
They spend much of their own money to provide the learning tools for their students. They don’t start work when school starts, but they have to be there early to make sure someone is there when the busses and other children arrive. They have to be the ones to lay their own lives on the line to protect their students if some nut tries to do harm at their school. We’ve read about teachers who died with students in these situations. This doesn’t account for the time spent in making lesson plans or grading homework, in addition to classes they have to take to keep their certification. They have to pay for these classes out of their own pockets.
And, make no mistake, with her master’s degree she could be earning twice as much money in the private sector but knew when she went to college it would be a low paying job and accepted that because she wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives.
She had a first grade teacher who was also a real estate agent. When we didn’t buy a house from her the teacher started marking her conduct bad for talking. When I asked the teacher who she was talking to, the teacher said she was talking to her! If you have a question, shouldn’t you be able to ask your teacher? This teacher put her into a reading recovery program the next year and my daughter didn’t belong there. The new teacher soon realized that and moved her back to the classroom with her co-students.
Because of one bad teacher my daughter has become an excellent teacher who is in demand from well-to-do parents who want their kids to succeed and have hired her to tutor their children. And those children are doing well on their tests on all subjects, because she is qualified to teach any subject covered from first to eighth grade.
Sorry to ramble, but I have personal knowledge of at least one teacher and have worked with others who are in it for the satisfaction of helping children.
Unfortunately, the bad teachers are the only ones we hear about.
Great post, Sue, but then I knew you had this in you when I asked you to join our little team!
Jeanette:
Great points and thanks for the compliment.
I was going more for the system itself than the actual educator. I believe the system in many cases has failed our children by the additional burden they place on the teachers and administrators. The additional paperwork, documentation and meetings that they must complete take away from time better spent with their students.
As you know I have a real interest in the education of children. I can appreciate the out of pocket expenses involved in day to day teaching, however, in my case what I did was by choice. Again, there are tax dollars which should be provided teachers of 25-30 children for the “extras” necessary to allow for a well rounded education. If the system cannot provide this then what harm is there in asking parents to provide a few dollars for the welfare of their child? We certainly did it when our children were little. So here we are back at parental responsibility..funny how it all comes around in a circle.
I’ve heard some parents complain because they were sent a list of items for the children to take to school the first day. They didn’t want to buy one box of Kleenex because they felt the school or teacher should provide that. Multiply the cost of the Kleenex by the number of students and number of weeks and you can see how expensive this one item can be for a teacher to supply for the entire year, when it seems to be a low cost for a parent.