BE OUR GUEST

Robert L. Cox is Professor Emeritus of Industrial Technology at Southeast Missouri State University.

We hear a lot these days about education in the United States deteriorating, declining, going bad. Most of these observations are based on test scores which are going down slowly, or maybe rapidly in some places. Without disputing the arguments of the experts, mainly that teachers aren't doing their jobs, money isn't being spent properly, students are not in class long enough, and on and on, or the defendants who argue that not enough money is being spent, we aren't allowing teachers to teach, and on and on, I would like to propose a dimension that I don't hear discussed very much.

Our expectations of young people (students) have changed drastically in recent years. It may be explained with "our permissive society," the "repercussion from Viet Nam," "individual rights," or a variety of other discussions. The bottom line is that young people today have a lack of familiarity with, and respect for, authority. We pamper our children from babies up by letting them have, and do whatever they want. We refuse to say no to them because it may warp a personality, or injure an ego, or inhibit the development of the person. Child discipline is generally considered to be that process which teaches us that life, freedom, and success are developed within guidelines, yes, even laws. From this process, we tend to develop familiarity and respect for authority.

To be more specific, parents are refusing to control their children. When young people are not controlled at home, we cannot expect them to be under control in school. Many studies have shown that quality education is more apt to take place in a controlled situation. Even in situations that are improved by free exchange and interaction need an understanding of basic guidelines. Anything that distracts from that control lessens the quality of the exchange. Removal of attendance requirements, distractions such as a new automobile, a change of friends or location, illness and other tragedies, have proven to drop the quality of education.

For years, we have accused the schools of not preparing our children for life, and at the same time, we have stripped those schools of their authority and their power to control. There may have been isolated incidents where power has been misused in a school, but it happens in homes, it happens in business, and it happens in churches. There are many, many more situations in which a parent has verbally abused teachers, sided with students who were out of line, lied to a school by writing false excuses, cursed, denounced and/or sued schools without benefit of all the facts. More reports are received each year of physical attacks on teachers by students or parents who want to enforce their rights above all else and feel that those who disagree with them should be punished.

Education, teaching and learning, will not be raised to the quality and effectiveness desired, nor will its original objective of preparing individuals for life be realized until control of the classroom is given back to the teacher. Poor teachers should be reeducated, or replaced, facilities should be kept in a condition to encourage learning, and schools should produce evidence of their effectiveness, but students should be expected to respect authority wherever it is found, and to understand that the quality of their education depends on the amount of effort they are willing to expend for it. Responsibility for teaching is the teachers', but responsibility for learning is the students'.

It can be done. It will be done when administrators, teachers, parents, students, and the public accept responsibility for their part of the process.