Nostalgia of What?

Coming across "The Awkward Truth of 'Make America Great Again'" was like a mini-epiphany. What exactly are these presidential campaigns referring to when they want to "go back"? As a history teacher, I am more than familiar with the myth that our history is not as tidy and simple as we (or textbook companies) kid ourselves to believe.

For whomever preaches about how good the past was, they are ignoring how bad it was for something else. It would be easy to take a jab here at white American men, but that's unfair as that segment is as divided now as ever. Benefits come with a cost - even if some say white American women "benefitted" from staying at home expecting men to be the breadwinners, it "cost" those same women the benefits of pursing a professional passion, ability to travel, or shape the very political climate that surrounded them.

The harsh fact is that American culture NEVER matched "Father Knows Best" or Reaganism. We have never been a socialist utopia either. All along the game has been winners and losers and forgotten marginalists. So whatever campaign slogans arise, they are simply that: slogans, not a way of life. And whatever candidate finally makes it to the White House will [hopefully] quickly learn that give and take with everyone is how anything is accomplished because each term will create winners and losers.

A truly successful term will lessen the forgotten marginalists and not forget our history.

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Can't Argue with "Stupid"

A Yahoo article aptly titled "The Stupid War on the Common Core" posted today is also aptly located in the politics section.

Why?

Because education is never about education, it is ALWAYS about politics....

It is a stupid war for a variety of reasons and the most vocal arguers probably don't understand the arguments in the first place. Yes, the US has fallen embarrassingly behind on standardized tests scores compared to other countries. Yes, the US is drowning in standardized test time throughout the school year. Yes, students are ill-equipped to perform in today's economy. Yes, students, teachers, and parents are miserable because of these things.

The most right-wing argument is that a "common" set of standards amounts to a federal "takeover" of schools. One must realize the Takeover Ship sailed long ago - we have standardized tests, minimum numbers of days that "count", regulations on how educators are prepared and licensed, laws upon laws on handling behavior and funding, what constitutes a public school, etc, etc, ETC! Is anyone naive to think that local means much anymore?

But the purpose of standards is to draw a line in the sand pointing out what teachers should teach and what children should know by a certain age in specific subject areas. As a former teacher, this in itself seems silly - how else are you going to teach a subject at all and NOT cover these things? It seems so blatantly obvious to me that I consider "standards" to be an explanation about what teachers do for those who have never taught.

So what is wrong with a national, federal set of benchmarks? Other countries have them - countries that continuously score better than the US. The answer is there is nothing wrong or evil or nefarious with having the entire country striving for the same thing - being able to explain the Bill of Rights, solving an algebra problem, describing how food is digested as just some examples of standards. These kind of goals have been around for years.

In 2014, are we really arguing over WHO gets to write them officially? Are we really arguing that American children are not  ready to do some material because it is "too hard" while, in the same breath, gawk at how advanced foreign students are and complain they are taking our jobs? Are we really arguing that it is better to let fifty states come up with their own verbiage on what to teach rather than to agree and collaborate on something truly strong?

The real argument should be not what or when we teach something (because at the end of the day, I think we can all agree that all these things need to be taught in the K-12 spectrum anyway), but how we assess what is learned. We aren't giving the exact same tests to every student across states. We're testing them into oblivion all school year. We're are flinging money around doing it. Textbook companies and assessment companies and lawyers are the only ones benefiting.

All the arguments about teacher accountability tied to standardized tests based on common standards are also hokum. We're punishing educators for things beyond their control. Humans do not make progress exactly the same and American culture has a serious parenting crisis. Are we really arguing that teachers and schools should be financially and professionally penalized when they are purposely undermined by parents and students themselves? We wouldn't apply this thinking to doctors because patients don't necessarily follow doctors' orders. And many other people are involved in health recovery but no one is screaming accountability for them. So why can't we pay educators according to their specialty and experience?

So instead of acting like selfish children who didn't get to do things their way, let's work together to write solid benchmarks as components an American education (based on things that have already been written years ago). Every student must work their way through this program of study if you will - age and grade level are no longer important; some eight year olds might end up working on the same standards as thirteen year olds. There is no "social promotion" - you simply have to prove your are able to do the requirements of the program in order to receive a diploma (because a high school diploma no longer carries any real significance anymore). And there are no ridiculous multiple choice tests. Either you can apply these standards skills in a real setting or you can not. Can you say growth portfolios?

So it's time to step up our performance and apply our skills in real-world settings. It's time to stop the mind-numbing standardized testing year-round based on "standards" that keep being rewritten under a different name.

God forbid anyone learns anything useful, right?

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Who Spiked the Kool-Aid?

This Yahoo article is one of the best non-partisan reviews of the last decade of economic failure. The take-away point is that investors are sheep that will follow whatever cookie crumbs are left hoping to find a pot of gold at the end; the ones leaving the crumbs are corporate gangsters who know the crumbs are the small leftovers of a meal already finished. Intuitively we all know this, but apparently someone spiked the kool-aid because how quickly we forget what we "learned".

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It May Hurt But It's The Truth

Roland Martin is defending President Obama because he used the word "lazy" in context of discussing American work and employees. I have no problem because it is the truth even if it is politically incorrect.

For the past 35 years or so, we have been accepting the 800 lb pink elephant in the room because no one wanted to move his fat butt. So if we now find ourselves disgusted with his foul smell, unfortunate waste, and rude stares from others, it's clearly our fault.

Stop promoting unlearned students, stop hiring/keeping people that aren't good at their jobs, stop giving bonuses to executives simply because their employees are good, and stop with the political correctness - use our English language to be perfectly clear!

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Finally

Finally someone offers concrete solutions to failing education. It's time for real solutions not political fighting.

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American Politics As Usual

The media has spent the last few weeks cringing over the U.S. debt debate and now it seems to be a case of overreacting; it is not a worst-case scenario and (surprise!) other countries have their own issues to worry about, like say Norway and Sudan, with those pesky home terrorists and civil war and all. But Americans are playing politics as usual, thinking everyone....well, cares.

CNN is reporting that world reaction is mixed, because American debt has not been totally downgraded to "junk" status like Greece but simply down to AA. The dollar is still the world currency reserve (although China is complaining about this). But the overarching theme is that EVERYBODY blames American political fighting as usual for the escalation of the debt problem.

For all the enlightenment and democracy, we Americans only have two sides: "right" and "wrong" and we are increasingly unable to see anything in between as this is somehow caving in and selling out our ideals. Maybe it's time to take an objective look at our behavior; perhaps we'll see this childish anti-compromising Congressional process as the rest of the world does.

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