I had a dream. Not one of those helpful, peaceful dreams like Martin Luther King, Jr. At first, I was convinced that I was watching Pirates of Penzance (and really, for as confusing as the plot is for that, it might have been). A teacher is taken aboard a pirate ship where the pirates have hoards of not treasure, but books. They then sang a fantastic song called "Why Read?" (which I truly wish I could remember) where they pretty much say that there are millions of books in the world that you can never and will never read and the hazy retention of information ("What happened in chapter four of The Grapes of Wrath? What does it matter!") with a cameo appearance by Lewis Black as a prisoner of the pirates and a victim of their reverse indoctrination whose line is an epic "Look at the crap my people came up with!" as he holds up the Bible.
(hilarity ensues)
When I woke up, it occurred to me that my dream (vaguely) reflected my own brief experience as an English major. I've always enjoyed English class. And not just because my teacher my junior year was easily distracted by baseball and rocks (although Mr. Larson was one of my favorite teachers). I enjoy writing. I (mostly) enjoy reading. I actually enjoyed vocabulary tests and essays. But our education system is tragically failing. Kids want to grow up to be firefighters or ballerinas. No kid wants to be a scientist or an English teacher. And it's not surprising. Scientists don't have a lot of sex appeal. But if everybody got what they wanted, we'd have more firefighters and ballerinas, and less McDonald's employees and Sandwich Artists.
(this is what a degree in Art therapy will get you)
Politicians focus a lot of time and energy into promoting themselves as pro-kid and pro-education (with the exception of Scott Walker), but focus very little effort into actually improving education. As such, it can a be disheartening going into a career in education as thousands of teachers are currently losing their jobs.
You know what? This would be an entertaining musical/social satire, written from the perspective of a new student teacher. Of course, I wouldn't focus all my attention on English when there are so many other subjects. And nothing's sacred. That goes for your stupid kids. But it's not an attack on them so much as it is you. After all, they're simply the fruit of your stupid loins.
(pictured; stupid loins)
No comments:
Post a Comment