Education
Perspectives on Parenting©
by Nancy Lambert Davenport
Nancy Davenport's Column:
For Richardson News 01-09-00
Copyright Nancy Lambert Davenport 2000
"Love of learning falling by the wayside"
It wasn't THAT many years ago that I had the pleasure of conjugating Latin
verbs just for the fun of it. I was a senior at Alamo Heights High School in
San Antonio and had an extra hour to fill each day in my schedule. I had
already taken a few years of Spanish and loved the Spanish Club, but the Latin
Club always had more fun, so as a senior I signed up for First Year Latin. That
year gave me insight into the English language that I have carried with me to
this day. I seldom look at an unfamiliar word without first considering its
possible Latin derivative. It's like figuring out a puzzle or looking for a
clue in a riddle.
By the same token, my high school counselor explained to me that I needed to
take a fourth year of math, "to be well-rounded," she said. I
dutifully signed up. I learned later, my new teacher was one of those who gave
up a lucrative career in Engineering because he wanted to teach. It worked out
well for him. He managed to invent something amazing in his free summers. The
patent allowed him to continue teaching yet live a lifestyle of better than an
engineer's salary. This gifted teacher made math so exciting to me that as a
Freshman in college I declared that I was a math major. One year of Calculus
brought me to my senses.
I don't think my educational experiences are unusual. Because of that I grieve
a bit for this generation being educated today and those who are trying to
teach them. The current goals of education are so different. Of primary
importance, it seems, is the numbers on the standardized test. Second to that
is readying our students for the workforce. Nowhere in those goals do we hear
about learning to love to learn.
Where does this come from? I think it is the politicians and corporations who
support them who are tainting the mix. Recently Henry Cuellar, a respected
state representative from Laredo said, "Without an educated workforce,
business and industry will go elsewhere. Companies will offer few jobs here,
and our best and brightest young people will leave Texas for brighter horizons
in other places. That isn't an acceptable future for any proud Texan. Our state
has a long tradition of success and achievement. We want to make sure that this
legacy lives on into the 21st century and beyond."
Granted it is good to be able to have skills to support oneself and possibly a
family, but apparently that has become the end, rather than the means unto the
end. Will those who come through our educational system also be able to
appreciate a classic when they sit down to read? Will they be able to be in awe
of a poem expressing complicated ideas with brevity? Will they ever understand
and recognize when and why history repeats itself? Will they value time spent
with family and time spent raising children who can pray and understand to whom
they pray?
It concerns me that the answer may be "no" if those in charge of our
education do not rethink their long-term goals. If we are not careful,
financial success and achievement will be all there is inside boring, lifeless
people. I don't think it's too late to reverse the trend. After all we still
teach Fifth Year Latin - to a few.
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