Put up or shut up... scratch that... just shut up

There was an article in this weekend's New York Times about how a good number of teenagers feel that their high schools let them down. Basically the article stated that in this survey, high school teenagers felt that their high schools were too easy. This is problem number one that I have. Teenagers know NOTHING. They have a hard day and all of a sudden they HATE their teacher's guts. These are the wrong people to be asking about what they feel they need. I’m sorry, they don't know what they are talking about. They're teenagers... they're a notch above children.

Later on in the article, there is a quote - "A lot of business people and politicians have been saying that the high schools are not meeting the needs of kids," said Barbara Kapinus, a senior policy analyst for the National Education Association. "It's interesting that kids are saying it, too." This quote was from someone from the NEA??? OK, here is problem number two. Business people say we're not meeting the needs of KIDS??? BULLSHIT. They're not satisfied with the way we are meeting the needs of BUSINESSES. They are not satisfied with the worker-bee/drones we're churning out. My question is WHO THE ---- CARES WHAT ANY... ANY... ANNNNNNNNNNNNY BUSINESS PERSON HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE STATE OF EDUCATION? What to businesses contribute to schools? ZERO! Yet they want to have a say in the way it's run?There is one exception... Bill Gates. Bill Gates gave a butt-load of money to the NYC schools. The catch? They have to start charter schools.

So we get some dough from Gates, we try these schools out, maybe they'll work, maybe not. But its worth a start and it's on Mr. Gates' dime. At least he puts his money where his mouth is. Although some might say, NYC will go where EVER the money is. (People like me.) If I had the money to donate to NYC schools with a catch - that catch being that each student had to wear propeller beanies, guess what NYC students would be wearing come September.

Problem number 3 comes in the form of a philosophical quandary. I taught Romeo and Juliet this year. I would say 9,000 times I heard how boring the story was, how it sucked, and my personal favorite... "WHEN ARE WE EVER GOING TO USE ROMEO AND JULIET IN REAL LIFE?" Let me answer this to any person who has ever said this about something they have done in school that they didn't like.

You will probably NEVER use Romeo and Juliet in real life. In fact, the only person I know who uses Romeo and Juliet at their job... is me.

But knowing about Romeo and Juliet (or any other story/etc. for that matter) is not a matter of being able to tangibly use it in your future. But it most certainly does have value. It is called cultural capital.

The notion of cultural capital is that you have knowledge about your world, your culture that elevates you above the unwashed rabble. Some call it being “well-rounded.” I will ask my students, "Would you wear lime green, polyester bell-bottoms to school?" All say NO. Why? Because they already have an idea of cultural capital, even if they don’t know the actual definition. If they did wear those bell-bottoms, they would probably be teased. They know what they can or can not wear according to their culture.

So when I hear teenagers saying that schools don't give them what they need, to that I say they have no CLUE what they need. But business on the the other hand KNOWS what it needs and that scares me even more, because they will probably end up getting it.

Also, this picture was in the July 18 New York Times. Taken by James Estrin. Images of the Bronx in summer... this was my childhood and it is still going on today.