THE OPINIONS ARE HIS OWN

Who is to teach our children? “Why, the teachers, of course,” you say.

“Nonsense!” say I. Teachers are too busy filling out all the forms that prove their effectiveness to have time for teaching. Teachers also have to give more and more tests to see how well their students have assimilated the information the teachers haven’t had the time to teach. The question remains: who will we find to teach our kids so that America won’t sink to the bottom of the international business pool? Why, you of course. Those who now make a living in society are the very persons to pass along the culture of our society and the lessons of how to succeed. We all need to make a profound investment in the future by giving the most precious commodity, our time, to the kids in school. How many Little League coaches are there teaching kids the basics of athletics? Surely there must be as many private citizens willing to teach kids the basics of living in a society that is not getting any kinder or gentler. The kids need those in the field of business to explain, say, taxes. Why are they needed? How are they spent and by whom? The kids would get two lessons at once: one in arithmetic, another in civics.

Why do we allow so many people to retire at 65 and not make use of them as instructors at schools? Why do we waste that knowledge? Well, for one thing, the old-timers wouldn’t want to put up with filling out forms, or giving useless tests. That is something that could be done by trained teachers because that’s about all they are trained to do. The actual passing of information from one generation to another should be left to the people who have the information in the first place.