Smashing Through Our Problems Head Through Glass First

This is interesting... an engineering student (yes, a graduate student in engineering) not understanding the concept of an automatic sliding glass door.

And so he SMASHES THROUGH THE THING HEAD FIRST!!


Now at first, I thought, well, the guy is just an idiot. Except, then I realized, don't we often try to solve a lot of our problems in schools in much the same manner -- especially in the realm of NCLB. I mean when they don't know the answer, instead of asking the people who might know, pausing, being contemplative, and the such, the powers that be just SMASH RIGHT ON AHEAD figuring that the consequences of having done so will be less formidable that the consequences of NOT having done so.

So on one hand, I see a Pakistani graduate student who is, let's face it, kind of an idiot. On the other hand, I see an exemplification of educational symbolism in this day and age which drives me bonkers. I mean when I look up and see how we are treating our ELLs, our students with special needs, our children who are dealing with so many socio-emotional issues on the home front (and on and on and on) and witness how we make virtually no accommodations for these students and simply drive home the mantra of Test! Test! Test! well... it's like smashing our heads through a glass door figuring "Hey, I gotta get out of this building, don't I?"