April 20th, 2012 → 7:58 am @ Lea // No Comments

“I am no breeching scholar in the schools;
I’ll not be tied to hours nor ‘pointed themes,
But learn my lessons as I please myself.”  – The Taming of the Shrew

We’ve been hearing for a long time about problems in the K-12 school system in the U.S.  Increasingly, we’re hearing it with regards to secondary education as well (though for a positive outlook, look here).  I don’t doubt that there are problems with both, but I do maintain that the problems are not entirely the fault of the teachers or the schools.  Students have to be prepared to be in school and they have to want to be there.  You can’t teach to a student who either never shows up for class, or who insists from day one that schools have nothing to teach them and they shall ‘learn their lessons as they please themselves.’   There’s responsibility to go around for everyone here in explaining the problems we face.