On education...

[alexpgp]

"Promoted" from a thread on grammar_mavens:

Why aren't educators more vigilant about the quality of the education they dish out? Personally, I think it lies with the increasing politicization of education, particularly with the emphasis on equality of results as opposed to an educated citizenry.

My mother taught in the New York City school system for many years. Each year, it seemed, the curriculum would be made easier (I helped her grade papers), and pressure was placed on teachers to make sure students passed. Failing a student was more often than not a casus belli, leading to unpleasant meetings with parents and administrators.

Dumbing down the curriculum is a quick and easy way to achieve an "equal" result. If spelling and grammar no longer matter, then they can't be used to distinguish "better" students from "poorer" ones.

Gutting other requirements, such as language classes, helps streamline the process. Political pressure is particularly effective here. I've heard parents proclaim, at a school board meeting, that learning a foreign language was not essential to a good education. (I know you'll find this hard to believe, but not one board member rose to argue that contention or to advance an argument for language education.)

[Note added postscriptum: I have heard similar arguments regarding music classes, shop, and physical education. In each case, it seemed the parents were really arguing as follows: "My kid isn't any good at this, so it ought not be a required part of the curriculum."]

What to do about the situation? That's tough to say. Any initiative that smells of parents having a real say in education (i.e., having control of how the money is spent) is roundly condemned as right-wing fanaticism. But in the final analysis, nothing will change until individuals do have that power.

Cheers...

Comments

[rillifane.livejournal.com]

Indeed, education has been politicized in pursuit of the goal of having all students evaluated as "above average."

And its ever so easy when the left has made it an article of faith that any fact which indicates that that any portion of the culture or mores of the majority is superior to that of the minority must be false, must be a frabrication, and must have been fabricated for the specific purpose of the oppression of the minority.

It makes no difference what majority and minority is being discussed with the sole exception that any minority grouping that is wealthier or more successful than average is always presumed to be wrong.

So if, in the public schools, a student does not do well in a subject then the fault must be with either the method by which proficiency is determined or with the subject itself. There is no other possibility.

And teachers unions have converted teachers from respected (albeit underpaid) professionals to factory workers. And too many teachers today tend to act like factory workers, striving to do as little as possible for the highest obtainable pay while taking control of the process by which their work is evaluated.

I suggest that teacher's unions are largely responsible for the absurd teacher certification processes which we have today. They result in a corps of teachers who, according to several studies, are barely literate themselves.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Your comment brings to mind an exchange that resulted in my being labeled a racist some years ago. I was listening to a speaker hold forth on how "blacks" would always, as a group, perform less well than "whites" when taking tests written by "whites" because such tests were inherently designed to favor "whites."

During the question and answer period, I made the error of asking why, if such tests were inherently designed to favor "whites," so many Asians were able to ace them? The answer was not pretty, and wasn't an answer at all, but a diatribe, describing me and my question as "the kind of thing we have to fight if there is ever to be social justice in this country."

My error, aside from suffering under the delusion that discussion was possible, was in accepting the collectivist view of the world that insists on lumping people into convenient groups.

You make a good point about teacher unions, but I think blame must also be reserved for the educational bureaucracy, which exists for the purpose of self-aggrandizement and is ever so sensitive to pressure from the "public."

Cheers...

if such tests were inherently designed to favor "whites,"

[rillifane.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the famous white cultural bias of standardized tests which appears, somehow, to favor Asians.

Given that Asians do better on standardized tests than whites who do better than blacks what other explanation can their be than a conspiracy (no doubt vast and rightwing).

The possibility that it is related to the fact that Asian students watch less TV and spend more time doing homework than whites who watch less TV and spend more time doing homework than blacks is excluded and the mention of these facts forbidden.

[bsgi.livejournal.com]

I think your comments are on target. I would like to add, from the experience of a parent-watching-the-educational-system-screw-up-his-children, the following observations:

1. We had a teacher tell my daughter in 2nd grade that all of the men of our town were going to vote against her sister in the council race because she was female.

2. Same teacher told us that the most important part of 2nd grade was to ensure that the students learned to have "good" self-esteem. She then proceded to ignore the girls in class and cater to the boys. (I still haven't quite figured that out in light of #1.)

3. Mainstreaming: Mixing kids with severe socialization skills and kids with anger problems and kids who are academically incapable of average work into the same class all in the name of not identifying anyone as special or different. While it has done wonders for equality, it has destroyed the educational attainment of bright children.

4. Tell the parents to get involved in helping their children to learn then telling the kids that their parents "don't know how we teach that" or "don't do it right" anymore.

5. (see teacher #1) tell the parents at the beginning of the year not to help teach the students to do their math homework...cause they do not know how to do it correctly. One of the parents in the room was a elementary school teacher teaching the same grade.

[bsgi.livejournal.com]

I forgot....

5. homework which is so light that it can all be finished in school. Particularly when much of the time has to be taken up keeping students orderly or teaching the really slow student (who should be in a class that can focus on them).

6. Teaching theory but not how to apply theory.

7. College prep classes that do not teach techniques needed to survive in college.

8. Dumbing down of grammar rules.

9. ADHD and similar designations and the drugs used to control the student when a little discipline would do just as well.

10. Failure to teach critical thinking skills and logic, etc.

On Education

[laurelo.livejournal.com]

Teaching is a frightening proposition these days. I have been debating for the past few weeks about whether I want to pay a visit to the Board of Ed and pick up a teaching position. Kids don’t scare me at all, I have worked in inner city environments by choice. What I find unappealing is the salary, the administration, the lack of money for needed classroom resources, the adversarial view of learning, overcrowded classrooms and disinterested parents.

A postscript about the latest attempt in the NYC schools that was recently discussed in the NY Times series on education. One program in place is to provide a structure for people switching from other careers to become teachers. The program I read about has a formula that has the teacher’s day broken down almost to the minute, at least in the lower grades. The budding teacher has a “script” which they are expected to consistently adhere to, without any deviation, including any personal commentary.

What inspires kids to learn? In an age where most children have been brought up on technology -- television at the very minimum – learning has become a passive entertainment. But I do like to think that teachers, with an enthusiasm for a subject area and the ability to teach and mentor, have something to do with it.

I keep thinking over and over of the years of campaigning for the cessation of smoking. Both in adults and kids. I remember clearly when smokers always seemed to be a majority and I currently know few people now who smoke. Though it took years of advertising campaigns and indoctrination, it seems to have had a positive effect. So many have internalized the concept of non-smoking as the only choice. Maybe this is what we need for education. A long term aggressive campaign promoting the positive benefits of learning. There is a lot on TV and film that promotes the quick and dirty means to success, very little that glorifies studious effort.

Oh, and regarding parents having a say about education. I worked in a two-way language immersion magnet middle school, philosophically put together by parents and teachers. Other than a small core group of about 6 parents (of a total of 330 students) there was little interest by most parents and our school had the same scant attendance at open houses the rest of the schools experienced. My experience is a middle-upper class school system has active parental involvement and consequently the schools with higher test scores, etc. Despite aggressive outreach programs there has been little parent involvement in the economically challenged neighborhoods I have been employed in.

This really sounds like a rambling rant … sorry … but I’m going to post it anyway!