The Education System - A Review

I'm feeling very "reviewy" lately so I'm rolling with it. As some of you may know, I am a Big Sister in the Big Brother Big Sister Program. I highly recommend this program but don't think about it unless you can actually be committed to your little.

On to the Review.
I went to visit my little at her new elementary school. This was probably the most entertaining 30 minutes I have had in my life besides the time I saw Jim Gaffigan or when Smashley Boyner developed what we now call the T-Rex.

In 30 minutes I learned that:

1. Teachers ruin the lunch. We had to be quiet almost every five minutes. The kids at my table could talk to me since I am an adult. One teacher got so annoyed she made them put their heads down on the table. Every kid in there was no more than 10 years old. Um, did teachers miss that part in their college education where you learn that kids have a lot of energy? And you know, that maybe, they need some time to RELEASE IT.
2. My little has recess twice a week. See above comment about energy.
3. An eight-year-old she is in school with claims to have had sex with some other kid in the sandbox. EIGHT YEARS OLD. I didn't know what sex was when I was eight and sometimes I'm still not sure if I do now...(kidding of course)
4. Kids are starved for genuine adult attention. All of them were word-vomiting what was going on in their lives to me. One little boy told me his father has 10 children with a couple of different women. The boy lives with his older sister who doesn't smack him with a shoe as much as his Dad did. Isn't that good news? Another little girl has an older brother that likes to smack her but her Mom usually isn't around to punish him when he does it. One boy's father lives in Florida. I have experienced this in my own life and I can tell you, especially for a boy, this is not a good thing. Unless of course he isn't being beaten with shoes because of the distance. I mean seriously, these kids need to be talking to someone about these things so they don't grow up dysfunctional adults.
5. Teachers talk to children like drill sergeants. There is nothing fun about the classroom. Not all teachers do this of course but some of my favorite teachers were the ones that knew how to control the classroom without being Nazis.

There is so much more one can get into on this subject, I haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg. I guess it just saddens me that little lights are going off all over the country because of environments like these. A lot of these kids are "at risk" and frankly, they will stay that way in that environment unless they have an intense amount of perseverance.

Most of my lunch was fun and the kids are used to all of the above listed items, I just couldn't help but notice some of these things as I strongly abhor that teaching style.