Back in May, I wrote (and didn't post) a blog about how anxious I was to get out of high school and the terrible public school system. California is one of the worst states, as far as public education goes, in a country of failing public education systems. And, of course, my hometown is home to one of the worst in the state. In other words, the high school I went to was pretty horrible.
It all goes back to the civil rights movement, actually. The east side of my town was the richer, white side, and the west side was the poorer, coloured side. Because of how the school zoning works, everyone went to the school closest to them. In other words, the rich, white kids went to the school with rich, white kids, and the poor, coloured kids went to the schools with poor, coloured kids. Then someone had this brilliant idea: let's force the kids from the east to go to school with those from the west and vice versa!
It was the worst decision in my town's history; it destroyed the public education system. Parents freaked, private schools popped up, and anyone who had any interest in their child's education found a way to get them into a private school. So the public schools were left with parents who didn't care or couldn't afford to do anything about their child's education. There are 59 million different private schools around here. Everyone goes to private school. Even I went to private school up until I started high school.
I came to the conclusion, back in May, that, though I sought safety from the crumbling public school system in graduating and beginning college, I would not escape it. I was so desperate to get away, to run from the problem, but I knew it couldn't happen. I knew escape was not plausible, that its effects on me were inevitable.
Our education system effects every single one of us. The private school kids and public school kids alike. Parents, teachers, and dentists alike. Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders. If only some of them are educated properly, if only those whose parents had the money to pay for a private school education learn what's necessary to compete in and contribute to our society, what good is everyone else? We all know murder is wrong, but by not educating today's youth, we are taking away the future they deserve and making survival that much harder. Starving your child will get the Child Protective Services after you, so why aren't we sending the CPS after our education systems?
But it's more than that selflessness bull. I want everyone's ideas. I want an advanced society. I want someone else to invent the things I need to do the things I want to do. I need educated peers, educated elders, and educated youth. I need to live in an educated world so that I can learn and strive for even better. You cannot soar like an eagle when you're hanging out with turkeys. I want some more eagles in this world.
So try as I might to run from the atrocious education system, I can't escape the starved turkeys. I'm surrounded by starved turkeys. And that is why I work at such a terrible high school. I pity the poor turkeys, and I want to help them, but I also need them. It's a win-win situation, no matter how frustrating dealing with bureaucracy is or how hard it hope can become when I see all the problems with our education system. I love my job not because it's easy or pays well or particularly fun, but because I believe in it. I believe in what I'm doing. Even when it gets hard and frustrating and tedious and miserable, I still love it because I know that I'm teaching starved turkeys how to soar like eagles and sing like songbirds and eat like high school pigs.
(Yes, I know it's Friday. Figure out the lesson yourself.)
No comments:
Post a Comment