More than the struggles of online teaching, I am worried about the psychological impact on our students, particularly elementary and middle-school students. Schools are not only for learning, they also teach social norms...
Many new voices that we hear more and more today in politics, business and art and culture were not heard as recently as fifty years back. Colonialism, slavery and economic repression never let these voices surface and come onto the world stage.
We live in a society that make parents work two to three jobs to put food on the table and roof over the head of their children. After this neglect at home and in the society in general, we expose our youth to the environment where guns are prevalent and where only chance to feel any power is to be in gangs. These vulnerable young men and women whose cognitive faculties are still incapable of comprehending the effects of life s/he has chosen are forced to make tough choices on the streets. Wouldn't our forefathers consider this while ratifying the second amendment if they could foresee the effects of it on our youth 230 years later? Shouldn't we consider it?
What world we are leaving for the next generation? We have often heard this question in connection with the deteriorating environment. My question is: Are we leaving a planet where the next generation can thrive?
Since the dawn of the industrial era and particularly after the Second World War, education became more career oriented. Its value as a job grabber and a mode for competition for industrial and corporate positions has increased tremendously. Gradually the process of providing values and morals, both worldly and religious, moved to the end of the list of objectives of education.
Art Education? Why? This question is an important one for a society in which there is much to be done toward the appreciation and teaching of art. Is it really a waste of time for our students? Is it a subject that just tears them away for forty-five to fifty minutes from their core subjects? Or is it a subject that provides our students with some specific skills?
