Well, well, well, it’s almost September 1st, and you know what that means. School’s about to start, which means it’s time for everyone to start complaining about the educational system again. Everyone’s got an opinion, that’s for sure.
Recently, this article from the Netherlands came out. They were considering mandating teacher trainees to read three books a year. The story made its way to social media, and everyone jumped on it like a pack of wolves. “Can’t even read three books?” they howled. “No wonder our education’s down the tubes. Back in my day, things were different, let me tell you!”
Hold your horses there, bud. Take a step back and read the article in full. What you’ll find is, most of them are already reading more than three books a year. Here’s the deal. Teacher trainees typically have to pick two subjects to teach. And guess what? Pick a language, whether it’s French, Dutch or English, and you’ll get a list of classic literature to read, immediately placing you well above this supposed three book a year deal. But suppose you didn’t pick a language. Well, no one is forcing you not to read any books in your free time.
So, what are we talking about here exactly? Are there really that many teacher trainees who are illiterate bozos, or is there something else going on here? Because the more I think about it, the less it makes sense. I mean, which three books would you have them read? And what makes you the expert in what they have to read? What if it’s a math whiz, wanting to teach calculus, who just happens to not care for literature, why push a reading list down their throat?
I can make neither heads nor tails of it. I suppose I’m giving it too much thought, much more in fact, than these comment section warriors ever did.
It confounded me as much as this other news article. According to some oh-so-trustworthy study, the Flemish youth aren’t ambitious enough. One of our educational community’s higher-ups has figured out the solution: let’s just toss in some ambitious teachers into the fray. By way of osmosis, the fervor will rub off on the kids.
I’ll put the link up here, otherwise you won’t believe what I’m about to tell you: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2022/08/19/koen-pelleriaux-voorstellen/
This fellow’s thinking about taking industrial engineers and similar professions, and having them moonlight as part-time teachers. You know, let’s take the dude who’s earning six figures in the petrochemical industry, and have him teach high school chemistry. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
So, to sum it all up, there’s this elusive thing called ‘ambition’ that others have, but which teachers lack, for whatever reason. All we need to do, is somehow convince these high earners to give up their free time, take a pay cut, and go teach a bunch of kids apparently lacking in ambition. And even though these high earners lack any teaching experience, they’ll somehow not only teach the material perfectly, they’ll also transfer their ambition, somehow.
Does this make any sense to you? Yeah, me neither.
By the way, I’m knee-deep in Patton’s biography again. Ol’ George was no stranger to ambition, let me tell you. What strikes me is Patton’s constant push – year after year, he’s making strides up that ladder. Get this: he even participated at the 1912 Olympics. Now, he wasn’t exactly Usain Bolt, but he gave everything he had, probably seeing it as a stepping stone, a way to get promoted somewhere down the line. Because, boy, he sure dreamed of becoming a general one day.
Here’s one of his quotes:
“You must do your damdest and win. Remember that’s what you live for. Oh you must! You’ve got to do some thing! Never stop until you have gained the top or a grave.” — Patton.
Oh, by the by, “damdest” is spelled wrong, but the fact is, Patton wrestled with dyslexia. Knowing that, now there’s a certain charm to his ambition, don’t you think? Maneuvering his way through West Point, plowing through the Olympics, it seems his whole life was a battle. So ambition can be a good thing. But let’s not forget how poorly Patton handled the interbellum, impatiently waiting for his destiny to come true, driving his wife and kids up the wall. So ambition can be a bad thing as well.
I guess that means, that ambition needs a sprinkle of equanimity, if you will. It might be a fuel, but beware, because if you don’t contain it, it might well turn into a blaze and engulf you.
Food for thought.
Kind regards
Vincent J. Dancet