Before I begin this particular
rant, I would like to state that
I am a strong believer in a solid education for all willing and able students, and I most certainly am in favor of good schools. I come from a family that has always valued education. My own grandmother went to college and became a teacher back in the 1920's when most women did not even work outside the home. All her brothers and sisters were college-educated, and her oldest brother was a Rhodes Scholar.
My mother holds a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree. My aunts and uncles are college professors, accountants, teachers, etc. Most of my first cousins hold degrees (some hold Ph.D. degrees and one is a physician). My own sons are well-educated. The oldest is an historian and an attorney, and my youngest is finishing his Bachelor's Degree.
I know what it takes to properly educate a child, and I also know that
the first and most crucial step in that educational process must begin at home. Children must be inspired by parents who value education.*
-- --
For the last seventeen years that I lived in Louisiana, I was a good teacher, and I enjoyed my job very much during
most of those years; that is, until the state of Louisiana became
test happy. (This was prior to the implementation of President Bush's
No Child Left Behind, and I hear from my teacher friends at home that things have only worsened.)
During the last few years of my career in education, we were required to complete more and more paperwork. I honestly do not even know
how to begin an explanation of all the ridiculous demands the state increasingly handed down to us. I also cannot reasonably explain the impossible methods we were expected to use in our adherence to those demands.
One would simply have to make an effort to study the manuals and documents, and since I don't have nearly enough webspace to display them for
one subject (even if I still had copies of them), you must take me at my word.
Every fact that the state deemed relevant in the educational process required documentation on paper. It had to be taught
on schedule and tested
on schedule as to date, time and manner.
Every fact. [Example of a fact in the subject of history: The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.]
Now I had no argument with the subject matter (for the most part), but I did have an argument with the manner in which I was required to teach and test the subject matter.
We were told in
ambiguous terms to 'teach the test' which is the
exact opposite of which I was told when I first began teaching (back in the days when sane assessment tests such as the Iowa Test were administered).
Believe it or not, Louisiana was a leader in this new wave of insanity called School Accountability Reform and the state used a 'strange' formula to determine a particular School Accountability Score.
I cannot emphasize enough just how many children have been unnecessarily traumatized by these ridiculous tests they've had to pass. I cannot emphasize enough just how many teachers have become utterly disgusted by the testing process and by the useless paperwork.
I've not studied
No Child Left Behind. I tried but became physically ill during a cursory reading of it. (I understand that this seems melodramatic, but I assure you it is the truth.)
Google Search for it, read past the first few pages and see what comes up.My strongest argument against
No Child Left Behind is that it will further the federal government's 'powerful nose'
in reference to our children's education... which should be left to states and local school districts! In fact, I think the local school districts have
already lost too much power.
While discussing all these issues with Johnny last night, it suddenly dawned on me that more and more like-minded teachers will be leaving education for the same reason I left.
Eventually, the only teachers who will remain in our nation's classrooms are the type of people who possess a
high threshold for bullshit and those who thrive on
regimentation -- the
taking of orders, the
following of orders and the
giving of orders. (Regimentation is fine for the military, but it only serves to stifle the learning process in a public school system.)
I believe that eventually, our children's education will be 'watered-down' and that the students themselves will become as robot-like as the teachers and administrators. The implications from this
alone is quite frightening!
Gone will be the imaginative, creative teachers who recognize absurdity (and question the authority behind it).
Gone will be the teachers who
demand backing from administrators and parents when it involves issues of classroom discipline.
Gone will be the 'inspired' teachers who love their subject matter and can freely impart 'knowledge' in that subject matter with their students.
-- --
* I fully recognize the fact that not all parents value education or respect the school system. Their children are
usually the very students who display an unwillingness to learn.
These students are the reason we have so many problems in our schools.
I'm sorry, but it should NOT be the role of the state and federal governments to attempt the motivation of these students by placing undue pressure on them, on all other students and on their teachers and principals (through coercion and threats) via the use of standardized assessment accountability.
The role of government should be
at the very least an attempt toward the enlightenment of parents. Let's spend that 'testing and accountability' money (the bureaucracy which is already in place must be huge) toward the education of the parents!! If that will not work, let's coerce the parents!! I took responsibility for my children, and so should we all.
The home is where
that spark of curiosity should begin, and the school is where
it should be nurtured, fed and allowed to grow. The home is where 'school learning' should be reinforced.
I have a rather radical theory concerning the educational system in America --
We cannot educate the masses.
It is a noble ideal, I admit, but it is also an ideal that is doomed to failure... I submit that it has already failed.
Why not try the following:
Every student should be given the advantage of an academic education during the first six to eight years. (Everyone should be able to read, write and possess basic mathematical skills in our country.)
After that:
Students who are motivated, self-disciplined and who possess the necessary intellectual ability for learning should be placed in a further academic setting
at some point (as I stated above...
perhaps after elementary and middle school). I assure you -- the academically-oriented students will thrive and they will learn in this setting.
Students who are not scholastically motivated can be placed in a school where they will be taught a trade or a skill. They will become assets to their communities, and they will become productive citizens and taxpayers.
I realize that 'the above' sounds quite
undemocratic, but I think my experience as a teacher qualifies me to state my beliefs.
If we do NOT do something radical
very soon, it will be America (and ALL her children) that will be left behind. Period.
