Finally someone offers concrete solutions to failing education. It's time for real solutions not political fighting.
Leia Mais…Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
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.
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Trenches Are Really All The Same
Indiana Senator Tim Skinner and his wife, both teachers, are leaving their profession due to legislative changes. Although the Great Debate is the constitutionality of vouchers for private religious schools, the underlying debate is the professionalism of teaching and the functioning of public education.
No one should deny the fact that "bad" teachers exist; there are "bad" ____ in every field. But no one should also imply that just because some are public educators that they are hard to fire, in fact, it's very simple...rather it's very easy to move them around, encourage resignation/retirement, or hide their incompetencies, just like any other field. (Actually how many principals are fired for being "bad" at their job? Good statistic to try to find ;) Yet, it's blasphemous to compare teaching to "normal" careers, isn't it?
Being an educator has become a circus job: you need stamina to endure the grind, practice year-around to stay agile, and you have to jump a lot of hoops...and hoops...and hoops.
The Skinners point out that older, experienced teachers are in much better positions that the upcoming troops, whose concept of education will definitely take on a different perspective and set of expectations than their ancestors. I'm all for reforming education (it clearly doesn't function properly now), making more schools and teachers available everywhere, competing for students to attend a fitting school for their skills, etc. But we can not keep attacking the people in the trenches or one day we will find those trenches empty.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Who'da Thunk It?
So cheating is suddenly common? I should think this was to be expected the second the ink dried on signing high-stakes into law. And to think that the Atlanta superintendent was named 2009 Supt. of the Year! Thank you, Atlanta, for proving once again that standardized testing is irrelevant to today's economy and the preparation of students to employed citizens.
I feel I've said this ad nauseum but tying test scores of students with whom teachers get about 1 hour/day to the teacher's economic livelihood is a recipe for disaster. Teachers can not overcome the years of parental failure with just 180 or so hours a year while competing with 29 other students; that roughly means a teacher can average 2 min of one-on-one instruction with each student daily. Image that parents only involved themselves directly only 10 minutes a week (and some do!). No wonder prisons are getting more funding than public education.
Which reminds me of a game my education friends and I like to play: School or Prison?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Cycle of Absurdity
How far would you go to get health care? Would you be willing to rob a bank? This man did just so and only for $1. He rationalized that being unarmed for so little an amount would be enough to put him in jail for 3 years - long enough for him to reach Social Security/Medicare eligibility. He says that after losing his job of 17 years and savings, he could not find gainful employment as his health deteriorated. I can't say that I blame him.
Despite numerous laws, age discrimination is still a widely-known secret in the US. Although I'm apt to blame uncaring HR practices, perhaps the real blame here is the unchecked abuse of the legal system. Everyone and their mother brings a lawsuit at the drop of a dime now (hell, it's a recession - there's no dimes dropping anywhere....pennies!) the consequences are definitely a ripple effect: paperwork backs up, legal professionals extort hourly fees, ridiculous claims are made, laws become more and more complicated, health care costs soar, insurance costs soar, then the only way out is through a loophole.
This time the loophole should be a glaring spotlight on the inadequacies of American systems. We demand punishment for crimes and spend billions of dollars on a system to do so. We expect to have access to the best medical professionals and equipment in the world and spend billions of dollars to do so. We demand that no one gets a "free ride" and spend billions of dollars to legislate blocks to do so. We pride ourselves on treating all people humanely and to help those in need, regardless of citizenship, because we're better than "other countries" and spend billions of dollars to do so.
But what happens when punishment is more important than meeting basic needs? What happens when making access to health care harder is more important than sharing cases that could help advance the medical profession? What happens when stopping a "free ride" is more important than charity?
That's when you find a loophole. Maybe we should take a cue from this man to demonstrate the true absurdity that we created. Maybe if we are all criminals, we all won't mind paying taxes to punish ourselves while humanely treating ourselves to health care.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
What Are We Working Towards?
Today people have shared with me some educational things that have got me going. The first is an article that makes the argument comparing the way the US reacts to military failures versus educational failures. In sum, if the military fails, we don't blame the soldiers, we blame the administration and call for more support, tools, different strategy, etc while educational failures are blamed on "bad teachers". God forbid we ever blame the parents...oh *gasps* the students!
The second is from the creators of South Park about carrot sticks, which ties in nicely with a CNN article about graduating with a [useless] degree and realizing there is no place for you in today's economy except probably your parents' house.
It's a good day for reading,folks!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
To Voucher or Not To Voucher: It All Misses the Point
Yesterday The Indianapolis Star published an article claiming a majority of Hoosiers say schools are failing. Although this should come as no surprise (really, what constituents are truly happy with public education nowadays), the president of the state teachers' association claims their polls do not find this view. Yet no one denies there are serious problems in public education.
This blog is not the place to expound why there are problems; the internet is filled with such rantings. It is far more efficient at this point to start expounding real solutions and it cannot be anything like what has been tried before.
We can't think of education as a factory stamping kids out from ages 5-18 in lock step. We can't think of localities' property tax rates as the sole form of sustaining education institutions. We can't think multiple choice assessments as proof of success or failure.
Vouchers could be a good thing. But I harbor far more fear that politicians will find a way to politicize them into total useless oblivion, as another failed potential to achieve real reform. It shouldn't be about whether or not the voucher money ends up in a private school if that's where a parent sends their child; it should matter what specific school and how the child performs after studying there. If the student did not make any positive progress, then that was a bad investment - even if the outcome might have been the same had the student stayed in the previous school.
If education is indeed a "free public right" (free being a conditionally-operated term), then the money should follow the student immediately - none of this ridiculous 5-year waiting period currently in place in Indiana. School administrations might be more careful in spending and more aggressive in pursuing effective management methods (behavior policies if anything else!) if "income" were more business-oriented. Losing students left and right? What is it about your "practice" that's turning away "customers"? Have a reputation for allowing ridiculous student behavior? How will you rebuild your school's image? Getting massive applications from students and teachers? What are you doing that is so attractive?
The fact is businesses come and go; so do students, teachers, and administrators. Yet the system they all operate in does not...and the results are getting worse. It's high time the foundation itself is totally rebuilt with new thinking.
It's not like we build skyscrapers out of sticks and hides, now is it?
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