As I’ve mentioned before, I keep getting pulled back towards my chosen profession. I think Karma is trying to entice me. I’m beginning to forget why I ran away two years ago ...
Education is completely broken. Healthcare is a political darling and our infrastructure is crumbling around us. That little thing called ‘The War on Terror,’ has grown completely ridiculous. The scientists keep arguing the best environmental course, my daughter has the animal rights issue covered and although I have strong opinions on the issues concerning women's rights, I believe they're a bit too controversial to post. So, when this week’s Weekly Geeks prompt was to get on a soapbox about something I'm passionate about, education was an easy step for me.
First, let me talk about the calendar. Our students are stuck with an agrarian relic. Other than a few farming communities across the Midwest, students do not need a ten week break all at once. One, it puts undo strain on working parents having to seek summer childcare. Two, it gives them time to forget skills that they had just begun to master. Three, many people don’t understand year-round-school. They moan, ”Oh, they need a break.” Year-round-school gets the exact same number of days off. The students still attend the mandatory 180 days. The difference is that the breaks are two and three weeks instead of a long ten. (FYI: I'm not defending multi-tracking, just year-round education)
Next, let me talk about testing and, specifically, NCLB. The idea behind No Child Left Behind is a good one. Basically, students are tested every so often to watch for progress in key areas. Teachers use these tests scores to alter individual instruction. Principals watch for areas where teachers might show weaknesses (longitudinal weakness not class weakness). Sound educational policy. ................ Until the politicians got hold of it. They tied it to funding with elaborate verbiage and threats. The lawyers tied it to panic and the businessmen dirtied it with shady revenues. Real simple folks: You test Johnny on week one. You test him again at the end of each semester. Teachers & support staff make a plan for Johnny if he’s got some issues. Principal monitors teacher needs. No fear, no big state test that scares the piss out of Johnny (to only have the scores lowered after the powers-that-be see how many damned kids missed the mark). The teacher, parent, principal and support staff make determinations for retention/advancement. Accountability you say? Send the whole year’s worth of test result to the state where they watch for further trends, meet with the principals and offer support. We have fantastic Web 2.0 sites that log all sorts of data. Maybe the government needs to hire the folks over at Library Thing!
Thirdly, stop hijacking the classrooms. Because teachers have to worry about these damned tests and politically correct curriculum, they lose huge chunks of teaching time. History is history. PERIOD. Stop with all the mandated “We’re Special” months. Teachers are generally less prejudiced; they like multicultural stories. Let them pick them WITHIN CONTEXT. And stop the stupid NCLB workbooks with their drill and kill crap. It’s boring the shit out of the students (not to mention the teachers). There's all kinds of talk about extending the school day. Completely unnecessary if they stop throwing unneeded curriculum.
Finally, the greatest threat to our educational system is society. We are changing faster than schools can keep up. Teachers must compete with the glow of technology and too many are resistant to change. The sciences need serious consideration and there is absolutely no reason that every single kid in America should not be writing and learning on their own personal laptop computer. While we’re busy worrying over the death of print, our students are typing away on computers, cell phones, and any other cool gadget… What are they typing? WORDS! PRINT! And they stink at writing because we waited to embrace the techno-beasts and never taught them that capitalization and punctuation were important enough for technology too!
And while some forms of citizenship and morals are imparted by the very nature of a classroom, don’t expect the teachers to be the primary ethics teacher. I've heard parents bad-mouth teachers; yet, they’ve never stepped foot in the teacher’s classroom, never attended a PTA meeting, can’t even tell you the last time they saw their kid’s assignments. It’s not okay to let your kid use Wikipedia to write that book report. It’s not okay to let them come to school dressed like that. It’s called respect and until we get some of it back ….. Crap, sounding like an old traditionalist there. Damn.
To me, I was the most frustrated by the complete lack of vision within education. Things that were so simple were made so difficult. Sometimes the teachers were their own worst enemies, but it was mostly bureaucracy. I just wanted to scream. Oh! Now, I remember …..
Next, let me talk about testing and, specifically, NCLB. The idea behind No Child Left Behind is a good one. Basically, students are tested every so often to watch for progress in key areas. Teachers use these tests scores to alter individual instruction. Principals watch for areas where teachers might show weaknesses (longitudinal weakness not class weakness). Sound educational policy. ................ Until the politicians got hold of it. They tied it to funding with elaborate verbiage and threats. The lawyers tied it to panic and the businessmen dirtied it with shady revenues. Real simple folks: You test Johnny on week one. You test him again at the end of each semester. Teachers & support staff make a plan for Johnny if he’s got some issues. Principal monitors teacher needs. No fear, no big state test that scares the piss out of Johnny (to only have the scores lowered after the powers-that-be see how many damned kids missed the mark). The teacher, parent, principal and support staff make determinations for retention/advancement. Accountability you say? Send the whole year’s worth of test result to the state where they watch for further trends, meet with the principals and offer support. We have fantastic Web 2.0 sites that log all sorts of data. Maybe the government needs to hire the folks over at Library Thing!
Thirdly, stop hijacking the classrooms. Because teachers have to worry about these damned tests and politically correct curriculum, they lose huge chunks of teaching time. History is history. PERIOD. Stop with all the mandated “We’re Special” months. Teachers are generally less prejudiced; they like multicultural stories. Let them pick them WITHIN CONTEXT. And stop the stupid NCLB workbooks with their drill and kill crap. It’s boring the shit out of the students (not to mention the teachers). There's all kinds of talk about extending the school day. Completely unnecessary if they stop throwing unneeded curriculum.
Finally, the greatest threat to our educational system is society. We are changing faster than schools can keep up. Teachers must compete with the glow of technology and too many are resistant to change. The sciences need serious consideration and there is absolutely no reason that every single kid in America should not be writing and learning on their own personal laptop computer. While we’re busy worrying over the death of print, our students are typing away on computers, cell phones, and any other cool gadget… What are they typing? WORDS! PRINT! And they stink at writing because we waited to embrace the techno-beasts and never taught them that capitalization and punctuation were important enough for technology too!
And while some forms of citizenship and morals are imparted by the very nature of a classroom, don’t expect the teachers to be the primary ethics teacher. I've heard parents bad-mouth teachers; yet, they’ve never stepped foot in the teacher’s classroom, never attended a PTA meeting, can’t even tell you the last time they saw their kid’s assignments. It’s not okay to let your kid use Wikipedia to write that book report. It’s not okay to let them come to school dressed like that. It’s called respect and until we get some of it back ….. Crap, sounding like an old traditionalist there. Damn.
To me, I was the most frustrated by the complete lack of vision within education. Things that were so simple were made so difficult. Sometimes the teachers were their own worst enemies, but it was mostly bureaucracy. I just wanted to scream. Oh! Now, I remember …..
Some titles I'd like to investigate:
Making Literacy Real by JoAnne Larson
New Literacies by Colin Lankshear
Reading The Web by Maya B. Eagleton
Common Sense School Reform by Frederick M. Hess
Education Myths: What Special Interest Groups Want You to Believe About Our Schools--And Why It Isn't So by Jay P. Greene
Cheatiing Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education by Joe Williams
7 comments:
"it's not ok to come dressed like that"
I am all for uniforms.
Great rant! YES! I'm all for year round school, I'm all for parents not surrendering their kids to expect teachers do EVERYTHING and I hate the triplicate paperwork and bureaucracy that takes the whole focus off the goal. And I have a beef with the must-go-to-college snobbery, too, but that's another day. wow - I didn't realize I had so much to say...
Wow, when you get on a soapbox, you REALLY get on a soapbox! I'm totally with you on all of it. My daughters' school is so focused on state testing. They teach to the tests all year to the exclusion of all else, and it is a huge deal. Thankfully they have wonderful teachers and are doing very well.
PREACH IT SISTER! ;)
So many valid points. But...???? Women having rights is controversial???? I am baffled.
Oh, and I think you forgot one! Why does school start so early, at 7:30 or 8:00, or even in one town I lived in, at 7:05? Since most parents work until 5 or later, this means so many kids are home alone, while they're leaving for school much earlier than their parents leave for work. Ok, I know the reason: sports. If we modeled ourselves on successful school systems in other countries instead of on business models, we would see that many of the most successful countries separate school and extracurriculars. In France, for example, there are youth centers in pretty much every town, and kids take their sports or drama or pottery there. School is then left for, what a surprise, school!
"although I have strong opinions on the issues concerning women's rights, I believe they're a bit too controversial to post."
My Soapbox:
You should stop self auditing your posts. You don't care for small talk and false pleasantries, so don't do it on your blog. Let the chips fall as they may and you'll clear out the chaff (people that can't stand individuality). I like debating people with differing opinions and like people that can handle it too. No one grows if all we read and hear is what we already agree with.
after i read "On My Education Reform Soapbox," i was a little hesitant to come see your post. too much of the "education reform" we see proposed where i live has to do with denigrating public education and promoting business models and the privatization of education - things that the organization i work for has to fight against all the time. so i was pleasantly surprised by the points you made. let's let teachers teach; let's get parents involved in their children's education; and let's give our schools the resources they need. then we can talk about some real reform!
bkclubcare: I'm with you on the college thing. It seems people have forgotten the value of the trades. My son has a trade degree and is exceptionally happy with his job.
lisamm: Unfortunately, it's not just your child's school. It's every school in the USA right now because of the pressure put on from NCLB funding requirements.
Dewey: Don't even get me started on the superiority of European schools! Let's talk about how they let kids track into trade apprenticeships. I can really get on a soapbox with that one. In regard to Feminism, see my remarks below...
alisonwonderland: Thanks for stopping by and not being too afraid of my rant :-)
Philospher Jeff: You have to keep me honest, don't you? I guess my ideas on women's rights aren't really all that controvertial, but I just didn't have the energy (as things have been a little crazy around here) to formulate a post that made everyone happy. You're right. This is a serious issue with a blog and with my decision to try to stay anonymous (and the fear of discovery). A blogger wants to glean readers, but fears losing them. Yet, as you say, if they are so small minded, why do I want them anyway?
And I really enjoy your calling me out on posts. I'll be thinking about my feminist/ women's rights post of the future....
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