Let the Test-Prep Begin

     The teacher instinct/desire is to teach the younger data-mine fodder to be up, moving around and exploring to learn. For several years the pressures on primary grades to measure and rank has gradually removed much of the social/physical development focus for younger kids- meaning elementary level kids with increasing academic struggles d/t weak foundations. Teachers are seeing more and more kids who are less comfortable with those around them, unsure of where they/how they fit in and kids who have less control over their bodies and how to move around the school or the classroom filled with other bodies and things...not to mention the decreasing "skill-building" time at home, replaced with video games and other hypnotic media.

     Unfortunately the direction of public education for the masses is one of denial-rolling forward with education reform bandages and pretending that simply teaching better or harder is the fix, and that the failure of teachers to do that to begin with is the cause of problems we're seeing. It's the triage, not the bullets, I guess. Now, teachers are faced with job-security largely based on the students' ability to sit still, be silent, and carefully fill in bubbles and write responses for extended (developmentally inappropriate) amounts of time. It's not normal or natural, but we're forced into cooperating with the propaganda that it's the most important measure. Let the test prep begin.