A Rising Tide of Mediocrity

A Rising Tide of Mediocrity 

This is one of the first lines to a report called, A Nation at Risk, written by the Reagan administration in 1983. In senior project tonight we talked about this report and also watched a video about education thirty years later.

Depressing. 

That's the word I would use to describe the report, video, and where our public school system is at the moment. I just felt really sad after class tonight and my brain is in a tumbled mess.

I watch my roommate and people in my major stress about the credential program, all the components of it and the application and I can just feel all of the anxieties they have. It's a lot. And in a way I feel so glad that I don't have to worry about any of that right now.

But I'll tell ya, I don't even know how to describe my feelings right now. This quarter, this year, school, I'm just over it. I have the most beautiful picture in my mind of what elementary schools could be and I have a picture in my mind of what it is today. I mean the article is right in that it's not perfect and it needs a lot of work.

Public schools need to be drastically changed in order for it to get any better. 

The video said that within the last thirty years not much as changed in schools. The public school system has been the same way for years and years and years. Little change is not going to change schools for the better.

Administrators stand up and say we need better teachers or we need students to learn better or we need this or that. But I don't think those things are the actual problem.

Being a Liberal Studies major for the past four years I feel like professors and teachers have constantly told us that we need to be strong in all areas, especially science and math. I feel like they expect us to be experts in all of these areas, but what they do not understand is that it is not always humanly possible. Take an engineer or a business major for example, when they move throughout college they dive into their subject and dig deeper and deeper and deeper for understanding. Until they become experts in their field. For Liberal Studies majors we take a whole bunch of different subjects and only go so deep in each one and then we are told to teach all of them to students. Now if a parent were asked to have their kids learn each subject from an expert versus just from one teacher, they would probably choose the expert.

I am not saying it is totally capable right now to have public elementary schools to just have math teachers, science teachers, etc. But what I am saying is how much more do you think the child would get out of the subject if it were that way. If each teacher focused on their one subject. I know this happens in some elementary schools today by splitting older grades up in science/math and history/language arts.

I don't mean to sit here and complain or write a depressing blog post, but I am writing because I think it's sad that administrators and people higher up think that schools are so so so bad. Because I'll tell ya you walk into a kindergarten class in San Luis Obispo and I bet you anything their teacher loves them, they are learning, and grasping new ideas every day. I don't doubt that this is not happening. I know that there are a lot of places where this is also not happening. But you can't measure everything from a test. I feel like so much of why people are worried is because of test scores, but there can also be a lot of learning happening that can't be measured by a test.

Sometimes I get nervous because I think, "Am I only not getting my credential because I don't believe that i can actually do it. That I wouldn't make a strong teacher?" But then I have to reassure myself that I made the right decision and deciding to stay away from the public school sector right now is okay. And focusing on kids in another type of environment is okay. Because I agree, I don't agree with the majority of the public school system and I know there are a lot of issues, but maybe that's why I need to stay away right now.

When I graduate in June, I want to be able to stand up and say, "My name is Whitney Rose Lockman, I am graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor's of Science and Math in Liberal Studies and for the past four years worked my tail off to be where I am today and I am not perfect by any means, but I sure learned for the sake of learning and for that, I am so proud."

What I mean by all of this is that as a Liberal Studies student it is okay to say, I am not perfect at everything and there are some subjects that I am better at than others, but at the end of the day, I will make the best teacher that I can possibly be and know that even if I make a difference in one child's life, that's all that matters. We need to not feel guilty when people can be overly critical. It's gonna be hard, but we can do it.

Love, that Lib Stud who admits that it's okay to be mediocre sometimes.

Faraway Places

This quarter Katie and I are taking a geography class. As I have found myself reading my textbook this weekend, I can't help but imagine myself in some of these places. I have found that Katie and my texts lately have consisted of us talking about faraway places. In the past, I have found myself saying, "Oh I could never go there." Whether it be because of the expenses, or I couldn't picture myself there, or I just thought it was only in my dreams, I don't know. But yet lately I have thought, "why not go?"

I have 76 dollars and something cents in my creamy pasta jar currently. 

I have been telling anyone who will listen about this "BIG" news. Most people just keep laughing and think it's so funny how excited I am about it. Like a little girl who is saving for a new barbie convertible. 

I'm so proud of myself though. 

It's funny because since I have applied for Mission Nanny and since I have started saving, it all seems more REAL to me and actually POSSIBLE. My brain has told me lately, "you could go somewhere Whit, have a real adventure." It's all exciting and terrifying to me at the same time. Maybe because I'm a homebody. I love traveling, but I haven't been out of the states before, besides Mexico. But the fact that I have saved 76 dollars for the future, whatever that may be, just by that fact, I realize that if I am accepted, I can really GO. 

Each week with my babysitting money, I have been taking about a third of it and putting it in my "future" jar. And I don't allow myself to remove any of that money. I won't necessarily take that much out each time, but you know. If I make 150 dollars in one week, I can easily take out 50 and out it in the jar. But if one week I only make 20, then I'll just put 5 dollars in the jar. I know 76 dollars isn't A LOT yet, but give me a break I've only been saving for two weeks so far! 

I'm at this point in life right now where I am know I am so over school. I have come to learn over the years that that's not what life is ALL about. It's part of it, but not all of it. I want to go on an adventure so that I can have unforgettable real experiences in the world. I just want to take care of babies, teach kids, clean a mom's house, and not have to WORRY about other silly things. Like school. You know? 

Lots of people think I'm crazy when I say I just want to get married and have babies. I don't talk about it as much as I use to, maybe because I'm at this point in my life where I DO see people getting engaged and married and I feel like since I am not in a relationship right now, that that is too far off and it doesn't seem realistic to me. I don't know. But I do know this, the reason I say that is because I DO want to be a mom. It's a total passion of mine. I love pretending I'm a mom when I babysit. You don't tell an engineer to not be passionate about his career, in the same way I don't think you can tell someone to not be excited about wanting to be a mom or even not wanting to be a mom.

What does this have to do with traveling and adventure? 

Because babysitting, nannying, traveling, families, being a mom, these all have a common thing. The things that I could potentially do nannying are many "mom" things. Things that I love to do. What I am saying is I cannot wait to embrace these passions and not have to be worrying about what the thrust of an airplane is or that I failed a math test.  

Moral of the story? 

Geography gets me excited about the world, I am thankful for babysitting jobs to fuel my future, and I want to take care of babies and teach kids how to learn while living in a beautiful far off place that God created with his very own hands! Because today when I took care of eight toddlers in Sunday school all by myself and we were singing songs about monkeys and giggling and blowing bubbles, I just knew God has me where he has me and I don't need to worry about the future. Because right now in the present he has the perfect little children in my life :) 

xoxo, 

Whitney Rose 

Missions for Nannies

This afternoon I submitted my application form for Mission Nannies.

Mission Nannies is a organization where nannies are sent all across the world to help Missionary families homeschool, babysit, and help with the household for a certain period of time. Room and board is covered by the family, but everything else is volunteer. The application asks that you list three families (that have been posted) that you are interested in helping. I listed a family in British Columbia, a family in Baja, California, and a family in Honduras. Once accepted by the organization they choose one family and help you get into contact with that family. From there, you decide if you are a right fit for the family. Three months is the minimum amount of time that the organization asks you to stay, but if the family would like you to stay longer and you agree, than that can happen as well. 

Now the waiting game begins. 

Many people have asked me lately what the future looks like for me. To be perfectly honest, I don't what it will be. I don't even know if this opportunity will work out or not. Am I worried? Yes, slightly. 

But God knows exactly what is in store for me. 

So really, I shouldn't be worried. Yes, I need to be actively looking and searching for job opportunities and experiences that I can apply for, but at the end of the day God's got it. Deciding to not get my credential after graduation was a hard decision for me. But I believe that it is the right choice in my life right now. And I know wholeheartedly that God will see me through. He always does. And He always will. 

So now, I have a Creamy Alfredo pasta jar with a sign on it that says "The Future." That future may be British Columbia, it may be Mexico, and it may be Honduras. But it may not be. It may be San Diego, it may be Montana, and it may just be Riverside, California, but whatever it may be, God knows. So every time I babysit or earn extra money a little bit of those earnings are going in "the future" jar. Because being proactive, God likes that. Having faith, God likes that even more. And a little hard work goes a long way too. 

Happy New Years everybody :) 

Whitney Rose

http://www.missionnannys.org/