Stop trying to “fix it”!

I get the same responses when I criticize education.  Be it math/ science curriculum, college board monopolies- no matter what I say, I get a knee jerk “so how do you plan to fix it?” Nearly every time! Just stop. Please. Can we just slow down and think about this for a minute? 

Example: in 2018 there was an alarming rate of kids vaping. We had faculty meetings addressing ‘the situation.’ The meeting was staged with props (security guards bringing out boxes of vape pens), statistics, and direct orders to: “be present in the hallways during passing periods, take away juul paraphernalia. Look for the signs…”  Wait, what? How about we ask kids why they want to vape in the first place? A personal withdrawal from intolerable realities of institutionalized education perhaps? 

We want a quick fix, but those un-fixes creates more complications.  Kids just get smarter and sneakier and we still don’t focus on underlying causes.  Plus, it is no surprise to me to see law suits mounting against Juul years later- due to evidence of said company directly marketing to kids- from the cartoon network to personal websites.We educators are up against behemoth juggernauts.

So, what a great opportunity for lesson plans! Teach kids the predatory nature of BM’s- business model strains- and educate them.  I had an argument with a colleague who insisted if kids knew the physical harm of smoking, they wouldn’t do it.  Disagree.  Kids are estranged from their environment.  Hostile, inhospitable habitats do not promote healthy minds and bodies.

Why would kids care about their health when schools don’t?  It just does not make sense to me- and yet it does- we want quick solutions to long standing issues. It’s illogical and the ‘solutions’ divert attention from root problems and create more short term challenges. If it isn’t a vape pen it will be something else.  I propose direct meaningful conversations with kids- not the adults propagating malefactions. Not a fix- just more honest dialogues for a slow unfastening.