18Sept2012V3: Education and the time-oriented goal

I've been thinking a lot about our last class--how we tried to grapple with educational policy, realizing how difficult it is, and how frustrating it can be.  We all seem to be emotionally invested into the cause.  As students at a liberal arts college, we undoubtedly value education and what it can provide.

What I want to respond to now is the last comments made before we moved on to the next class.  It expressed the frustration of "not having enough time" to execute all the goals we set out for ourselves when trying to be good teachers and educational policy makes.  I make mention of this point because I think "the time crunch" that all educators feel is one of underlying problems, and one that we all had a hard time trying to grapple with as well.  

Perhaps then, the problem isn't necessarily that we don't "have or possess" enough time to get everything we want done in the day, but that we think that must accomplish everything by a certain date, or else we're doomed to failure.  A kid who does not pass meet the requirements of a third grader by the end of his school year must repeat the year all over again.  If the teacher does not prepare her students by this date, then they will fail the state exam.  In other words, maybe we're a little too concerned about the deadline than the inquiry of the kids themselves.

To be sure, we need deadlines in life.  Somethings must be done within a certain time frame, otherwise, they may never be accomplished.  What I'm trying to say is that perhaps education at the moment agonizes over time and what should be or what little can be accomplished within a set time frame too much.  By doing so, they no longer put the emphasis on the people who want to learn, and instead on them just racing to the next due date.

I know I'm talking a little abstractly and haven't even referred to concrete examples just yet.  I hope there is more to come in class or perhaps even in another post/paper.