What's Wrong With our Schools?

So much to say about our kids and what they have to face every day when they go to school. Bullies, politics, administration turning a blind eye, teachers bullying students...The list goes on and on.

Parents get fed up with huge public schools who cannot manage their students, who do not provide an adequate education, who support some, while banishing others. They turn to private and independent schools who promise "opportunity," a safer environment, a place to grow and be loved.

Parents buy into the propaganda private schools are selling; pay college tuition prices for private elementary and middle schools, only to find that these schools fail as well. They promote themselves as being able teach a child with a learning difference, as being tolerant and understanding of AD/HD, Austism Spectrum Disorders, and the like, but in the end, they fail miserably. Why? Teachers and administrators are not getting the education they need to support today's students, yet the schools they teach in advertise their ability to do so effectively.

Today's students are different learners than their parents were in their educational institutions. Yet, our teachers and administrators are not evolving with today's generation. They remain in the dark about how to help our kids learn, grow and be successful young adults in today's society. They preach about accepting diversity, embracing each other's differences, and understanding one another. Yet they fail at practicing what they are preaching.

It's disappointing at best. At its worst, it is a devastation to the child and his parents, as they begin again, the search for another place to educate their child who has unique qualities, and amazing gifts and talents.

I see countless children every day in my practice, beaten down, defeated, and often, broken, because they cannot find a place in their own schools. Because they can't find a teacher who will listen to their plea, who has the time to care, and stand up for our children. Teachers and administrators are too afraid of the liability they expose themselves to, to stand up and champion our kids who struggle.

Their parents bring them to me, looking and hoping for answers, and a way to help re-build the self esteem that school has taken from them. It's frustrating and sad to see young children asking the question "What is wrong with me?" When the real question seems clear to me...What is wrong with our schools?