Musician, Hiker/Camper, Athletic Coach, and proud Dad. President of Attitude Change Required for Students
The recent article “Shunning Smarts” http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/reality/shunning-smarts/article_49eb9a2f-dae5-566a-a04b-05c939b71659.html written by high school Neshaminy student Juliette Rihl hits the nail right on the head! This is a topic that needs to be discussed further. To summarize the article, in (high) school classrooms, and throughout our culture, kids who are intelligent, or “nerdy” are often viewed by their peers as uncool, and hence are unpopular. This poor learning attitude, which occurs everywhere, including inner city schools, needs to be turned around ASAP. Why should any child who has a genuine interest to learn and progress, and who puts forth effort, succumb to bullying and those with poor attitudes who hold everyone else back? Which leaders have been speaking out about this? All of the talk about why public education doesn’t work (shown by test scores and some appalling high school graduation rates), that more money needs to be pumped into the system (this hasn’t worked), that more teacher training is required (they can only do so much), and that smaller classrooms will solve the problem (remove any disruptions from class) is simply a bunch of rubbish. The public education debacle can only be turned around when parents and students realize that success will arrive, not just for them, but for the entirety of society, when folks can get along with and accept others, develop an interest in learning, and put forth some effort that they can be proud of. The seeds for a proper attitude should be planted at home: working hard vs. hardly working are learned traits. Any education funding should make attitude change its primary goal.
