I wish it was as easy as a cartoon (Feb. post)

Sir Ken Robinson's talk and illustrations were spot on.  I think it is great, there is a link between standardized testing and the ADHA rate.  I wish the states in the East would look at this static and heed it's warning.

Schools are factories, the model he showed was easy to follow and made perfect sense.  It however is not so easy to undo this structure as it is to erase the Expo marker.  Even small changes are hard to push through with all of the political struggles over education.  Most decisions are made by people who have never held a classroom of their own. Teachers are the work horses of this factory, we take the lion share of the blame when our "products" do not turn out satisfactory.  Yet, there are so many factors that go into the education of our children and not all of them are found in the schools.

Some people want to run schools as businesses - yet we can't treat children as we would a bad employee or an undesirable client. I once read an article about a Chinese school that at a very young age, students were put into two groups, academic and non-academic. We still hold the dream of "be all you can be" nobody has the right to determine the life path for another human being at such a young age. However, this would put our test scores higher, if we got to "pick and choose" who actually took them. So, what do we do?  We can see the problem as Sir Ken Robinson as described, but are we willing to go through the "pains" of change to "fix" it.

I personally don't think it will happen. We are no longer a new country trying to figure out some basic structures for the first time.  So it comes down to personal desire, work ethic, determination, and fortitude. Yes, students, you can be whatever we want to be.  You will have to want it, work for it and overcome many hurdles both common and personal, but there will be work horse teachers to support you.  Seek them out and thrive.