Real Education

If one listens to almost any self-professed educational guru on the market today, the conclusion may be reached that no education can take place without technology. And while it is true that we are living in an era that demands high-tech approaches to learning, some of the best methods are the tried-and-true practices of pedagogy.
Please, don't misunderstand me here: I fully believe that we as teachers need to utilize all of the technological resources at our fingertips, be that Promethean boards, SmartBoards, PowerPoint (which is quickly getting obsolete), or ELMO projectors and their kin.
However, having said that, allow me to assert a point here that needs establishment: Think of your grandparents for a moment. In my case, I had a grandfather who could do complex calculations in his head, and who had a better sense of American and World History than most college graduates of today. Why was that? His public school teachers took the task of teaching as their profession, and they performed their jobs with the utmost quality. As a result, "the greatest generation" was better educated with their high school diplomas than many workers today who have sheepskins from prestigious universities.
Did these same teachers use fancy electron microscopes, the latest software, and all of the other "bells and whistles" that we as educators use today? No, they did not. They took it upon themselves to ensure that every child in their classroom had grasped the knowledge that they needed before moving on. If the student had not achieved mastery of the subject, he was held back. It was just that simple. There was no such thing as "social promotion," and it was a mark of shame to be retained one grade or more. Students today have no such shame: we as a culture and a society have enabled them by applying convenient "learning disabled" labels to anything that was previously thought to be a simple personality quirk. This is not to say that some students are not truly learning disabled, as I know many who really do fit that category. But in some cases, parents of our current era have decided to rest on their accumulative laurels and play the "disabled child" card out of convenience. How simple it is to visit a doctor and have him or her prescribe Ritalin or similar drugs that are oftentimes unnecessary, if parents would simply give their child the tutoring or assistance they needed. Parents today are copping out of their duties, and using twisted science as a lackluster excuse in many instances.
Is it any wonder that our high school graduates of today have not memorized basic multiplication tables? Is it any wonder that our college graduates have no recognition of historic events like Normandy or Gettysburg? It is not.
Tragically, we are enabling and promoting a generation of self-proclaimed know-nothings. This learned helplessness can only be countermanded by the parents of this country standing up and saying, "No more! I will not inappropriately label my child in an attempt to justify their lethargy. I will not put my child on unneeded and dangerous prescription drugs for an inexistent condition. I will not be among the rabble of victims who have fallen prey to our society's victim mentality. No more!"
Stand up for your children, parents and teachers. It is the only way to get our country back on the true path to academic, social, and moral significance. Let's take back the minds of our students, and prepare tomorrow's generation to be even greater.