Tannishblog

Finally! Someone understands how children learn.

Imagine, if you will, a child on the cusp of first grade from a stable and nurturing background who feels OK about himself. This fictitious child will trust his parents as they tell him how much fun he can have in school because he know they are trustworthy and look after him. He will be nervous, but not fearful about his new adventure. He will trust his new surrogate parent that is his teacher, because in his experience grown-ups are nice.

This child will make new friends easily because he likes himself, thereby assimilating into the classroom environment smoothly. He will soon begin to look forward to seeing his new friends – including his new grown-up teacher friend – and will want to go to school. He will learn because his teacher and his parents repeatedly stress the importance of education, and because he wants to get positive feedback from the adults in his life, which further reinforces his wellbeing.

This hypothetical child will excel throughout his educational career because he has the necessary emotional education to achieve. With this sound base and firm understanding of his “OK-ness” he will develop the social network needed to further a social education. So it is that a foundation of emotional stability creates a social cohesion that leads to educational excellence.

No amount of educational programs mandated by governments of any level will be able to compensate for a firm grounding provided by good parenting. It is impossible for any mandatory testing and accountability program to reward a child in a way that is emotionally satisfying; in a way that leads to a level of self-esteem that creates self-motivation. If we want to revamp the education in this country, we need to address the standards of upbringing to which our children are exposed.

That’s why I’ve harbored fantasies about child-rearing classes as part of schools curriculum starting at junior high school. Why not? Our nation demands, in its infinite folly, what used to be called sex education in my day, but what has been pared down to a more politically correct moniker of Teen Health - wherein a detailed study of human reproduction occurs. In Sixth- and again in Eighth-grade our children are taught inadvertently how to become Deadbeat Dads and Unwed Mothers.

Talk about the Law of Unintended Consequences!

It’s only fair to our hapless youth to also teach them the responsibilities of such powerful new reproductive concepts as mandated by the Federal Government; other skills should be taught as well - such as child psychology, household economics, basic first aid, conflict resolution and anger management, to name just a few useful skills not found in education curriculum. With these and other tools at hand, future parents would have a better chance to ground their children in the emotional and social foundations necessary for academic achievement.

Among other benefits, well-centered children will improve the cost-effectiveness of educational budgets by reducing the cost of special education to provide services for behavioral disorders, policing schools, and other modern social problems. Perhaps the surplus could be spent on improving the monetary compensations for teachers as an industry, thereby motivating more of our best and brightest to be teachers.

I know – I’m dreaming again…