Has anybody else noticed that education reform seems to be the big issue now? I honestly don’t know if I’m just selectively noticing this because I happen to be in the biz, or if this really has become the issue of the day, following health care. But in any case, I just felt like weighing in a little on this beautiful Sunday morning as we try to let Momma recover from the Yard Sale of the Century yesterday (more later!)
Anyway, here are some points that seem relevant to me. I have no research cited for any of this, but isn’t that what makes the Internet great??!!!!
I’ll start with the most important point: Putting all of the accountability for kids’ education, or lack thereof, on the schools and teachers is absurd. It’s like blaming doctors for people living unhealthy lives.
Here is the big truth of the education system: teaching is no worse - and it is probably much better on the whole - than it has ever been. Almost every teacher I know is dedicated, knowledgeable, and hard-working. In addition, we are supported by technological and pedagogical resources that teachers in the past would have given their left arms for.
Of course there are exceptions (see more later). But there have always been exceptions. I can remember many teachers from my school days that would probably make national news now for their horrible practices. I could write a book about the amazing people that I see every day in education – and another on the educational disasters that took place in the 70’s and 80’s. But I am positive that our biggest problem is not, overall, the quality of education.
So what is the problem? In other words, if we are doing so much worse now that in the past, what is different? Here you go:
1. Huge class sizes: I read an article a while ago (I wish that I would have kept it) that said that the only quantifiable variable in education that made a measurable difference for kids on a day-to-day basis is class size. They are very big now.
2. Number of school days: At Dad’s house last Summer I read a great book called Outliers. Among many interesting pieces of statistical information in the book was the fact that main difference between the U.S. and the countries that it is trailing in education is the fewer hours that our kids are in school. I hate this one because I don’t want to work more, but there it is.
Okay, here is the big question: what do 1&2 have in common? If you said, they are both enormously expensive, you are correct!! Shrinking class sizes requires more teachers and newer facilities. These things are hideously expensive, especially in big cities.
Expanding the school year requires paying teachers for working more hours, in addition to paying for the countless people that support the school system (bus drivers, janitors, etc.), plus huge costs such as insurance, water and power, etc. Again, scary money. In addition, how many Americans (including me) are really ready to fight for less vacation time? There you go.
Those are the biggest issues. Anybody who seriously wants change must address them. Good luck!!
By the way, this is completely without statistical support, but what else has changed to impact the education of our children? Here is a really partial list:
Play Station, Wii et al.
Cell phones
Cable TV
DVD players
The Internet
South Park
Flavor of Love
WWF
Texting
Etc. etc. etc. Not to sound too grumpy, but you want Of Mice and Men to compete with these? Good luck.
Okay, so what can we do? Most of the talk these days seems to be focusing on teacher accountability. Again, it all seems a little questionable to me, but overall, not necessarily a bad thing. So here’s what it comes down to:
Everybody wants more teacher accountability (i.e. the ability to fire bad teachers more easily) including many teachers!! That is, everyone wants this except the teachers' unions (who are also huge supporters of politicians). Everyone is down on the unions for this. But it does make sense in a way – the unions’ job is to protect teachers after all.
But everyone is missing something: a great many teachers are completely okay with more teacher accountability, including ideas like merit pay and reviews based on testing data. But these are the ideas that the unions are fighting – why?
Because the unions are run by older teachers. Younger teachers - highly trained, proficient with technology, and brimming with energy – are usually fine with all of these ideas. They can’t wait to try out their assignment using the students’ cell phones to teach binomials, and they are used to the idea of teaching laser-like to state testing standards because they can do it, and they haven’t known anything else.
On the other hand, teachers heading towards the end of their careers, who have done the same thing for years and are often uncomfortable with new technology and pedagogy, are often against many of these proposed changes. For one because they have seen so many that they have grown pretty cynical about the whole thing and two, because they could be fired!!
The veteran teachers are also often the ones most active in the powerful unions, and their concerns (pension and health benefits) are the ones most focused upon. Therefore teachers (in LAUSD at least) have great health benefits and good (if decreasing) retirement packages, but the unions have made themselves the targets of most reform efforts.
Of course the big question here is; even though a teacher may not still keep up with the latest brain-based pedagogy, may not use the Library of Congress Database to help students with research, and may not use every minute of the day preparing student for the state tests, don’t they still have something to offer?
What about experience, a deeper knowledge of their subjects, and a greater familiarity in areas like grammar that newer teachers are notoriously deficient in (see that predicate at the end of the sentence?) Don’t they count for anything?
Who knows? But should the schools be like Glengarry Glen Ross: ruthlessly weeding out the teachers (often older) who are not pulling their weight towards the educational standards? Again, who knows? But that is the big question.
So anyway (and I applaud anyone who has made it this far!!), if real reform is either super expensive, politically unfeasible, or morally questionable, what can be done?
Again, who know? But here are a couple of ideas:
Stop putting all of the weight on the schools. Parents are critical to this process. How about offering tax incentives for succeeding and/or failing students. Finn and Jack are doing well, but if we could get a couple of hundred back at the end of the year???? Why not try it?
Fund Accelerated Reader. This is a big one for me, but more on it later - this is enough for now.
Finally:
RAISE TAXES AND PAY FOR EDUCATION!!!!!!!
Have a great week everyone!!
Anyway, here are some points that seem relevant to me. I have no research cited for any of this, but isn’t that what makes the Internet great??!!!!
I’ll start with the most important point: Putting all of the accountability for kids’ education, or lack thereof, on the schools and teachers is absurd. It’s like blaming doctors for people living unhealthy lives.
Here is the big truth of the education system: teaching is no worse - and it is probably much better on the whole - than it has ever been. Almost every teacher I know is dedicated, knowledgeable, and hard-working. In addition, we are supported by technological and pedagogical resources that teachers in the past would have given their left arms for.
Of course there are exceptions (see more later). But there have always been exceptions. I can remember many teachers from my school days that would probably make national news now for their horrible practices. I could write a book about the amazing people that I see every day in education – and another on the educational disasters that took place in the 70’s and 80’s. But I am positive that our biggest problem is not, overall, the quality of education.
So what is the problem? In other words, if we are doing so much worse now that in the past, what is different? Here you go:
1. Huge class sizes: I read an article a while ago (I wish that I would have kept it) that said that the only quantifiable variable in education that made a measurable difference for kids on a day-to-day basis is class size. They are very big now.
2. Number of school days: At Dad’s house last Summer I read a great book called Outliers. Among many interesting pieces of statistical information in the book was the fact that main difference between the U.S. and the countries that it is trailing in education is the fewer hours that our kids are in school. I hate this one because I don’t want to work more, but there it is.
Okay, here is the big question: what do 1&2 have in common? If you said, they are both enormously expensive, you are correct!! Shrinking class sizes requires more teachers and newer facilities. These things are hideously expensive, especially in big cities.
Expanding the school year requires paying teachers for working more hours, in addition to paying for the countless people that support the school system (bus drivers, janitors, etc.), plus huge costs such as insurance, water and power, etc. Again, scary money. In addition, how many Americans (including me) are really ready to fight for less vacation time? There you go.
Those are the biggest issues. Anybody who seriously wants change must address them. Good luck!!
By the way, this is completely without statistical support, but what else has changed to impact the education of our children? Here is a really partial list:
Play Station, Wii et al.
Cell phones
Cable TV
DVD players
The Internet
South Park
Flavor of Love
WWF
Texting
Etc. etc. etc. Not to sound too grumpy, but you want Of Mice and Men to compete with these? Good luck.
Okay, so what can we do? Most of the talk these days seems to be focusing on teacher accountability. Again, it all seems a little questionable to me, but overall, not necessarily a bad thing. So here’s what it comes down to:
Everybody wants more teacher accountability (i.e. the ability to fire bad teachers more easily) including many teachers!! That is, everyone wants this except the teachers' unions (who are also huge supporters of politicians). Everyone is down on the unions for this. But it does make sense in a way – the unions’ job is to protect teachers after all.
But everyone is missing something: a great many teachers are completely okay with more teacher accountability, including ideas like merit pay and reviews based on testing data. But these are the ideas that the unions are fighting – why?
Because the unions are run by older teachers. Younger teachers - highly trained, proficient with technology, and brimming with energy – are usually fine with all of these ideas. They can’t wait to try out their assignment using the students’ cell phones to teach binomials, and they are used to the idea of teaching laser-like to state testing standards because they can do it, and they haven’t known anything else.
On the other hand, teachers heading towards the end of their careers, who have done the same thing for years and are often uncomfortable with new technology and pedagogy, are often against many of these proposed changes. For one because they have seen so many that they have grown pretty cynical about the whole thing and two, because they could be fired!!
The veteran teachers are also often the ones most active in the powerful unions, and their concerns (pension and health benefits) are the ones most focused upon. Therefore teachers (in LAUSD at least) have great health benefits and good (if decreasing) retirement packages, but the unions have made themselves the targets of most reform efforts.
Of course the big question here is; even though a teacher may not still keep up with the latest brain-based pedagogy, may not use the Library of Congress Database to help students with research, and may not use every minute of the day preparing student for the state tests, don’t they still have something to offer?
What about experience, a deeper knowledge of their subjects, and a greater familiarity in areas like grammar that newer teachers are notoriously deficient in (see that predicate at the end of the sentence?) Don’t they count for anything?
Who knows? But should the schools be like Glengarry Glen Ross: ruthlessly weeding out the teachers (often older) who are not pulling their weight towards the educational standards? Again, who knows? But that is the big question.
So anyway (and I applaud anyone who has made it this far!!), if real reform is either super expensive, politically unfeasible, or morally questionable, what can be done?
Again, who know? But here are a couple of ideas:
Stop putting all of the weight on the schools. Parents are critical to this process. How about offering tax incentives for succeeding and/or failing students. Finn and Jack are doing well, but if we could get a couple of hundred back at the end of the year???? Why not try it?
Fund Accelerated Reader. This is a big one for me, but more on it later - this is enough for now.
Finally:
RAISE TAXES AND PAY FOR EDUCATION!!!!!!!
Have a great week everyone!!
9 comments:
Oh, man, lots here to think about. I'm especially impressed that you wrote this at 7:30 in the morning! I can't even write my name that early!
As a new parent, in a new-ish city, I'm definitely thinking and hearing a lot about education reform, so it's not just you. Jamie and I are constantly wondering about what schools we will want or hope that Felix can attend. Without a huge cash fund for our little guy, the prospects seem very limited and depressing.
Since I am a product of public schools, I can't complain too much... I mean, I am writing this, I can write my name later on in the day (or maybe this is due to my three years in private school....thanks Immaculate Heart!). However, I also feel that because of my schooling I CAN absolutely complain about public schools. I know first hand how easy it is to slip through the cracks, to get away with the bare minimum, to feel absolutely uninspired by not a few but ALL my teachers. So, no, I don't want Felix to go through that. I want much, much more for him. But what and how? I'm all for raising taxes, if the money goes to education. Please, please raise taxes...take my money...I'm begging you. Just spend it on the schools.
Now I'm going back to bed. Love to you all,
Amy
Amy, I totally understand a lot of your apprehension, but I have to say, so far we've had very good luck with the public schools. I honestly think the biggest different in ANY school situation is how involved the parents are with their kids. Since Patrick and I both work so many hours, I actually think this is one of our biggest failings as parents. We simply don't have the time to shuttle the boys back and forth from music class, to soccer practice, and so forth and so on. Finn's after-school program helps a lot, but I really wish that we were able to offer the boys more opportunities.
Patrick, i think you're absolutely right about kids needing smaller classrooms and more time with teachers, but I also think parents have a big responsibility to invest more of their own time and energy in their kid's education. Speaking of which...we need to find a preschool for Jack. Oy!
Em
Yes.
Schools should be like Glengarry Glen Ross.
Sorry.
And we apparently need an Of Mice and Men Wii game. You could use your motion sensitive controller to accidentally crush small animals and/or mercifully kill giant simpletons.
"different in any school situation" Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Apparently my public school education is failing me. Either that, or my complete lack of sleep this weekend.
And I didn't catch it - see why we need those veteran teachers! Actually, I do agree with both of you - the parent involvement is soooo crucial, but if a teacher is just a drag weight, they should find something else to do.
I like the Wii idea too - up till now we've had to use real mice and mentally handicapped people to make these important points - very expensive!
One more thing:
WHAT INCREDIBLE ART IS THIS?
I must know.
Thank you in advance.
Hi babe. Here's a perfect example of everything you said. http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_14681169?source=rss
It's so sad! And who's trying to raise the 3 million to save the teachers' jobs? Concerned, active parents.
Em
Hey, we could do it - only 2,500 more yard sales!!!
that was incredibly deep for a sunday am. Unfortunately it is now late Sat night and I can 't stay awake long enough to write a coherent reply, but I totally agree and have always felt that we must (as parents) take the final responsibility for seeing that our children are educated properly. but what about those who cannot do this for various reasons-think Precious- she actually might be able to, though. I think that this is an ailment in our society across the
board, not just with regard to education, but our health, spirituality,,,,,,Anyway, as I was saying it is late, so off to dream land.
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