Saturday, April 10, 2010

kids, what the heck is wrong with the kids today?

Thank you very much "Bye Bye Birdie."

So, in attempt to reinvent my life (yes, again) I've enrolled in a Humanities course at my local community college.  I haven't been in school since finishing up my masters in Special Ed program in 200....4, I think?  Well it was the early oughts anyway. 

I remember my first CC experience.  I started at Chaffey College back in 1992, while I was still a senior in high school.  I had to get special permission to go to class at night. 

Maybe it was just because I was such an honors nerd, but I felt pretty prepared to head off to an institution of (slightly) higher education.  The classes were a step above my regular high school classes, but not at all intimidating or overly arduous.

Fast forward 17 (yikes!) years, and it's an enitrely different story.  I was psyched about the curriculum, combining literature, art, architecture, history, philosophy, it was just up my alley.  For my classmates, not so much.

These kids are in no way prepared for community college, much less an actual university.  They whine about reading 30 pages in a week, can't put together a decent sentence or paragraph, and were truly shocked that we had homework over spring break.  I never ceased to be amazed at the truly deplorable condition of our public education system.  The few who do seem to be on top of it were honor's kids at the newest high school here in beautiful down town MoVal. 

One young man, who is seriously trying to better himself has discussed with me how poorly his high school classes were run.  He grew up on the, shall we say, older side of town.  He wants to get out of MoVal, but was so confused he thought he had to pay out of area tuition to go to a trade school in LA.  Seriously, what are the doing in these high schools.  This guy can't capitalize, and has never heard of a comma. 

Now, I realize that the district here is one of the lowest rated in California, but I don't believe the story would be that much differently in another area.  My professor has seen the quality of work decline rapidly over the past 10 years. 

My poor mom has to listen to my rambling every day when I come home from school.  She asked what I think needed to be done to fix things.  The saddest part of all of this is that I don't know.  Go back to the way things were when I was in school?  The world was a very different place then.  I can't see elementary principals being allowed to hang "paddles" in their offices now.  A kid threatened to kill one of my old collegues, and the child wasn't even removed from his class. 

I know that not being part of the solution is akin to being part of the problem, but I'm stymied.  Anybody out there have any revolutionary ideas?

Friday, April 2, 2010

what do you want to be when you grow up?

After a year plus of mulling it over, imagining myself doing a wide variety of things, from museum curation to teaching at community college, I think I've finally decided what to be when I grow up.  I'm going to get my master's and MFT (marital and family therapy for those who don't know) with a specialty of art therapy.  I will be able to help people, kids, and those in the the Special Ed world using both counseling and art.

I'm very happy with this decision.  It feels right.  Back in high school and at Ye Olde Chaffey College I took a ton of phych classes, and loved them all.  I'm just facinated with the human brain and how it works.  Since I'm unlikely to retread my first career choice of neurosurgery at this late date (having just turned *gasp* 35!), dealing in therapy will allow me to still investigate the twilight zone of the human psyche.  Thanks to the wondertwins of G and L, I've immersed myself in my own art projects, and have found it very theraputic. So, I'm checking out grad schools, trying to find the best program at the cheapest possible price.  Higher education certainly is pricey.

I decided a while ago that I could never go back into public education.  Well, maybe not never, but certainly not until there are some serious changes made in the whole system.  (any questions about this?  just ask and I'll fill you in)  Bully to all of those who still fight the good fight every day, but my heart just isn't in it anymore.  I thought about teaching community college, but after reviewing the writing of some of my classmates (I'm taking a humanities class at my local cc, just for kicks) I found it to be at the same leval as, or even lower than some of my old middleschoolers.  I would end up failing everyone who couldn't put together a decent 5 page paper, and that just wouldn't be fun.  I don't have it in me to teach grammer and punctuation to a bunch of under 25's. 

It's been quite a while since I blogged, and I've missed it.  They won't all be about me, so don't worry.  I'm remembering my old blog about the kinds of oatmeal, and the story of Scientology.  So, I hope you enjoy.