Attack of the clones!!

I've been silently rebelling the school system since I was a teenager.

It has something to do with one size fits all.

As a parent, I remember my first parent teacher meeting. I was so excited. Finally I would know what happened in these secret meetings my mom attended.

"Your daughter has difficulty in prioritizing time in art class. She spent 10 minutes thinking about what she wanted to do. She didn't complete her painting in the time allotted."

Teaching the value of planning wasn't important to this person. Urgh.

Last week, I was speaking to the principal of my kids' school. The issue was my son. He takes classical music lessons at another school. He gets bussed there and returns to his school after dark. He caused a commotion on the school bus.  I was informed that the bus was a privilege and not a right.

Sounded like I was back in grade 8 with mademoiselle Bourque as she referred to me as monsieur Nicholson. It still gives me the shakety shakes when people use mister in a condescending way.

"The number one priority of the bus system is to ensure the safe transportation of ALL kids. Your son's actions distracted the driver while he tried to perform his duties."

Can't argue with that line of thinking. Safety on the bus is my biggest priority too. Then I thought if safety was so important why there were no seat belts on the bus, except for the driver.

"Since we're talking about safety", I retort, "how can the bus driver leave children in the school parking lot unattended in the dark?"

"The bus driver belongs to a different department, and legally we can't be held responsible for the safety of the child when it's the parents' responsibility to pick up their children on time."

"What's your moral responsibility? If something happens to a child, you will all feel extremely bad. You'll carry it on your conscience for the rest of your life. You'll waste valuable time devising a strategy, sending it for approval to your boss and your boss's boss. Eventually someone will come up with an action plan that will require the bus driver to wait the extra FIVE minutes until all parents arrive."

"Tell me which parents are late. I will follow up with them to make sure they are always on time for their children".

Agghhhhh!

Why aren't these people thinking past their own responsibilities?
Have they lost the reasons why they are educators?
Are they drone teaching clones?
What happened to creative thinking?
If they are not curious how do they teach our kids to be more curious?

I was talking to a call centre agent acting as a principal. She was scrolling for possible answers on her computer screen. Using pre-defined answers demonstrates again that creativity and the ability to think for oneself is something not promoted in public school.

I don't want my kids to be clones.
I want my kids to question everything like they did when they were two.

I have friends who are teachers. They are extremely creative yet get bogged down by administrative tasks. Teachers have a raw deal. One that I would never want, except in July and August.