Last night I had a dream, no, a nightmare. I just got a job at a school district that had merged sports and the arts to save money. When I arrived they were playing a "music basketball" game. The teams had to score baskets, and each basket would give them a letter of a music term. The first team to get all the letters of the word would win that round. They played five rounds, using five different music terms like "note," "drum," and "beat." They never defined the words or talked about them. As a matter of fact their basketball skills were crap too. They weren't dribbling and there was no out of bounds. It was the worst of both worlds. This "lesson" was created by one of the parents at the school to save money for the school district. Apparently my unconscious is worried about all the changes that are happening to public schools these days.
Even though my own children won't be going to public school, there are many children that do not have the choice my family has. The majority of children will be going to public school and, although this dream may be an over-dramatization, they will be dealing with poor lesson planning for the good of the dollar. We should be investing in education because that is where our future lives. One day these children will be adults, making big decisions. We owe it to them (and to ourselves) to help them reach their fullest potential and make a positive impact on this world.
Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource - the minds of our children. ~Walt Disney
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