An article by Anthony Cody, Oakland, CA science teacher caught our eye in a recent Teacher Magazine blog. Those who know me have heard me talk about “bleed and die” issues, those things we stand for that we will not compromise. For me, Cody’s article epitomizes what should be the “common core standard” of the teaching profession. That is why I continue this struggle to take back the public schools from the corporate elitists who have now gained the upper hand. Although this article is directed to teachers, I believe all citizens have a stake in the fight. The Cody article can be found here: <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/10/a_declaration_of_professional.html>.
Bob Valiant
Speaking of corporate elitists, it has only been a few years ago now that Bill Gates’ Foundation for educational reform came to town and gave a gob of money to the Kennewick School District. Of course strings were attached, two of which were making small schools within the walls of our large schools and developing a 1 computer for every 4 student ratio throughout the district (a bit self-serving on Bill’s behalf, but we let it go).
As a member of the the original design team for using the Gates money in my high school, I can say we logged a lot of time trying to implement the principles of Mr. Gates’ foundation. And now we find that his foundation has rejected the idea that smaller schools increase student learning.
These corporate giants have incredible power that is absolutely short-circuiting our democracy. They throw their money around in front of cash-strapped schools, and we dive at the piles. They throw their influence around in front of power-hungry politicians, and both Democrats and Republicans unscrupulously hand them the keys of our children’s educational future.
I noticed the other day that even one of our most liberal media outlets, National Public Radio, is advertising for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
I’m not sure how we as teachers can fight this kind of influence. If we say something needs fixing in our schools, it gets minimal play. If Bill Gates says charter schools and merit pay are the answers to all our pedigogical prayers, why even the President of the United States listens!
So far as a teacher I have been able to keep a pretty good level of educational quality in my classroom, but it is growing increasingly more difficult. I have 11 years left before retirement, and at the rate we are going I see a day coming soon where I won’t have any choice but to accept the tapioca curriculum and robotic delivery system required to have my students pass the state test.
I know this is not what is best for kids and the future of our country. We need citizens who can think, problem-solve, create, and innovate. This requires a rich and highly rigorous curriculum. And finally, we need citizens who have some concept of a social ethic. With all this crazy testing and teaching to the test, the inherent socialization process imbedded in our educational system of old has been squeezed out.
It’s not a pretty picture right now, but we have the power to change it.
Yes, I am replying to my own comment. I noticed a bit of a contradiction. I believe I roughly stated that the cause is lost and then went on to say we have the power to change.
The first sentiment is probably more of how I really feel, but I hate throwing in the towel. The last sentiment is more wishing than believing. This slow-motion train wreck we call education reform is not going to stop until citizens and educators get accurately informed and active. If we leave this up to the politicans, educational snake-oil salesmen, and the corporate bigwigs, then the destruction of what has been good in public schools will be catastrophic and complete.
I don’t have much faith citizens or even other teachers will get involved. Most of us are too busy taking care of “now” to take the time to prepare for “tomorrow.” Others of us are just lazy and willfully ignorant taking the easy answers and solutions as the final word. This is a complex problem that will take real problem-solving skills to fix. But we Americans can’t be bothered with complex problems and answers. Our Big-Mac mentality always prompts us to satisfy ourselves quickly and cheaply. And we all know how healthy it is when we eat this way!
One easy answer is that if we eliminate the teacher unions, then we fix the schools. On one hand this is a blatant example of a quick and lazy answer to the problem, but on the other hand, we have all had a lousy teacher, so we know there is at least some level of verity in this claim. Part of the complex problem’s solution lies in the fact that my union needs to do a much better job of holding our own members accountable for maintaining a high level of professionalism. This is not going to be an easy thing for the union to accept or do, but it needs to be done. As teachers, our credibility is constantly being undermined by the weakest of our members. (By the way, most of us have also seen some lousy doctors, lawyers, and engineers.)
Another easy answer is to turn everything in education into a number–a statistic. This is perhaps the most lazy way of all for dealing with our problems. People have a real misunderstanding about math and science. We hear people all the time saying things like “It’s a scientific fact that so and so is true.” But if we ask most scientists about these so-called facts and the statistics that seem to point to these conclusions, the real scientists will say it is still more of a theory than a “fact.” Numbers can indeed be highly reliable when we are dealing with very objective material like metal and gas which have fixed properties, but when we are dealing with the subjective processes of learning in human beings like synthesizing, evaluating, ordering, comparing, contrasting, reading, and writing, then putting numbers on these things becomes a whole different animal. If good scientists are still reluctant to call the culmination of their study of objective material and the data that comes from this study “fact,” then how much more should we be reluctant to rely solely on test scores to determine a student’s competency?
And then there are the easy answers called “Charter Schools” and “Merit Pay.” As for the charter schools: Of course they work! Your kids don’t go to this school unless you as a parent sign the charter. This means that you agree with the school on what the definition of a good school is, how this process is supposed to work, and what the roles and obligations are for each member of the process . . . including the parents’ roles! Until something is done to fix all the deliquent and AWOL parents out there, public schools are completely hanging out. The lowest common denominator of humanity will ultimately end up calling the shots for all the rest of us. This can take the form of a meth addict mother who needs Johnny to stay home 3 days a week from school to watch younger siblings because this single mom is too strung out to cope. (If you don’t believe there are such parents in Kennewick schools, I challenge you to send me your challenge!) When he reaches 12 absences and is told he will lose credit for his classes, she raises holy hell, and the administration and board sometimes reverse the policy because they don’t want a lawsuit from meth mom’s laywer. Accountability is lost because of this one case! And then there is the parent in Richland on his holy cause to root out all evil in the Richland schools by combing all the district’s literature looking for bad words and sexual and racial references. As a Christian myself, I have to take exception to this and say I am ashamed to have such an officious and self-righteous do-gooder in the ranks of the Faith. This person is one of the big reasons public schools have lost their power to educate. After this guy gets done scouring the shelves for corruptive influences, there is nothing left to wrench the heart or fire the mind! No George with a gun in his hand standing behind Lennie (too violent!) No Huck floating down the Mighty Miss with a black man who is more of a father to him than his own–all because of the N-word. And no Catcher in the Rye because troubled teen Holden Caufield sees the F-word on the steps of an elementary playground and is outraged that someone would put such a word in front of little kids! All our righteous do-gooder sees in that book is the F-word, and out it goes. Such a person can never see the forest for the trees–not to mention the irony of his own actions. This idiot will make policy for the entire district! He will have the kids reading the most politically correct, bland and boring crap ever conceived in the minds of dolts with access to word processors! So the dumbing down and loss of accountability for students is always at risk in public schools because of these two extremes. The first parent would never sign the charter at a charter school, and the second would either etch the public school in his own image, or send his kids to a private school that teaches the earth is only 4000 years old.
As for “Merit” pay: Teachers will move or cheat! A guy like me who has a lot of senority in the district would be very tempted to transfer to a school on the west side of Kennewick where the demographics are much better. The younger teachers would be left to deal with the poverty and correlating lower scores on Kennewick’s east side. We can rest assured that if their pay is based soley on the outcome of some high-stakes test, then they will teach directly to this narrow test throwing out anything on the shelves that doesn’t help with the test. Why read any of Shakespeare’s sonnets? The student only needs to know what one is to pass the test. Art? P.E.? Geography? Drafting? Are they on the test? Then get rid of them! They are wasting my time and decreasing my chances of getting top scores and top pay!
Easy answers indeed!