14 Comments
Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleTuesday, April 19, 2011 | 11:01 a.m.
Elsewhere on this blog, I have posted a plaintive letter from a teacher who says he and his wife are leaving Nevada despite their success here because of the value placed on education.
I have received another one that is just as poignant and worth reading:
Rarely do we witness paradigm shift that takes place at a pace that is rapid enough to even be measured, but in this nation, we are standing by and watching change at warp speed. Sadly, the shift is not for the better, and in Nevada, the growing state of mind seems to be that our service industry base does not really require a huge educational background; thus, all legislators need to do is minimally fund what would appear to be free public education. If one wants real educational settings, go private, go charter, go expensive. If one simply can't afford that, go free with what they have to offer at our educational institutions, and when we can't produce a functionally literate generation of test-takers in classes of 55 for $1.98 a student, well, blame it all on the ultimate scapegoat, public educators who clearly don't do their jobs and whine and moan about pay and benefits. Hmmm...I suppose if one has the cash, and the contacts, keeping an "appointed" school board on your side would be simple, and when people become critical, sacrifice some CCSD teachers, students, administrators. Why worry? That method has always worked in the past. Spin the story. Alter the statistics. Hide the reality of the waste and keep the fat at the top. The public will buy what is sold because they are products of a grossly under-funded educational endeavor. Keep them ignorant! One need not fret about being analyzed by an uneducated and ignorant populace.
How convenient.
Wasn't it Hitler who said, "Knowledge is ruin to my young men?"
Makes one think, if one takes the time to do so.
No worries there. We can keep the masses happy with distractions and glitz. Keep those episodes of Jersey Shore coming. We wouldn't want to make room for critical thinking. As for staging meaningful protests, well, if Jersey Shore is cancelled, we might get a few more to show for rallies. I have always been one to feel that if someone violates my rights, or denies me due process, I stand up and make noise and lots of it ; however, the pitiful failures of rallies prove a sad point. People are rampantly apathetic until they take a hit personally, and the deciding powers that be will not be impacted by the abyss of mediocrity, if we even meet that lovely standard, because those with the money will have education that works. The rest of us, we get the welfare version with too little funding, too few qualified teachers, too many students in a room, and a plethora of tests and teacher evaluation tools to track all of the nonsense. We worship the educational reformers who can afford to pay for their statistics. We even welcome them to this state and publish their opinions in our papers. Maybe public educators should do what may be the reality of the future. Offer one room school house old-style teaching sessions and freelance. Students would get one on one attention, and the meaningless fat could be cut.
If all they want are test scores, I guarandarntee you I can produce stellar results whether I teach fifty students or ten, but if I am put in a classroom and continue to be required to maintain miles of records and “cover our backsides†forms all while fulfilling a myriad of other duties and extra curricular activities, on my own time, in a set schedule that does not mind current trends regarding what is conducive to real learning, well, I can still produce results, and most of us do just that even with the current testing formats. Dare I even address this aspect of our lovely educational system? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Unfortunately, the testing measures used today cater to methods of measurement that work for the masses. They do not measure genuine and valid growth and performance gains. Multiple choice simply is not an adequate form of assessment. My student portfolios with writings and exercises implemented over a period of time will document genuine achievement gains quite effectively. Teachers today still function under the weight of the mighty microscope, but the drive to do so at great personal costs financially and in massive amounts of personal time donated, in an environment where education is not valued as a culturally important foundation for a people does wane a bit when faced with such challenges. Why would young people want to put their time and energies into something we prove is worthless when we gut it and devalue it?
I have been a teacher here for over twenty years, and I promise you, the students are the only reason I keep working and loving my work. No one goes into education to get rich unless they have suffered massive brain injury. At the current pace of change, no one will even consider going into education without having suffered massive brain injury.
Ask students in classrooms today if they want to be teachers. A roar of laughter is all that will be heard. This is tragic. No melodrama. Really, tragedy of Greek proportions. I love my work. I value my students. I believe in education as the backbone of our society, but when I stand before my students and work to motivate them to see that learning for the sake of self-discovery and wonder and personal growth is critical and worthy, I feel like a liar when they listen to me and then look at what is taking place locally and nationally.
Given the horrifically large number of students who struggle in homes where they are abused, neglected, or simply tossed away like rubbish by adults who have lost their way to addictions of many types, student achievement is secondary to survival. Child Protective Services rarely even bothers to make a report on most teen abuse. They simply don’t have the time or resources. Engaging in meaningful interaction with parents grows increasingly rare when everyone works varying schedules and multiple jobs just to put food on the table. Somehow, these young souls do manage to make their way to school. So, we keep on hoping; keep believing; keep teaching and figure maybe some of them will be able to keep the torch alive so that our future is not a dark wasteland and new Dark Age. Young people are the burning hope for the future, and they have so much light to share with the world, but at this rate, I am not sure those of us left in education have enough energy to keep fanning the embers to keep them at least smoldering when the great raging storm of greed, political game playing, and a lack of respect for knowledge culturally and socially keeps producing a deluge. Education is being swept away in a tsunami of ignorance, a lack of foresight, and a love of the dollar and the power it grants for those who sit on the mountains and say, "Oh, look at that- the little social experiment of public education was just obliterated. Hmmm...sad that didn't work out." Okay, now that was melodramatic, but it feels pretty accurate. I have to go now and put on my lifejacket and find something resembling a boat because come Hell or high water, I am a teacher. Teaching is what I do, and when the waters recede, I will be drying out my Shakespeare, my Hawthorne, even my stick to draw diagrams of sentence structure in the sand because without knowledge, without learning, the thing with feathers dies. Even hope has to be kept alive, and I won't ever stop believing in the value of learning. For me, hope will spring eternal because I will make it so.
Don't teachers understand that they are hated by the mob-at-large because they get more than one week of vacation per year? Jesus Christ could be a teacher and still be despised for this simple fact. The rabble, instead of battling for more work rights and vacation times for themselves (as is the case with Europeans), continue to bad mouth educators all-too-often simply because of RAW ENVY for real or perceived perks (while utterly disregarding the many negatives associated with the profession). Truly we are an empire in decline. GOD BLESS OUR IDIOCRACY!
That is a great letter, thanks for sharing Jon.
Sadly though, his/her words will fall on many deaf ears in our State who control the purse strings and do not seem to care about quality public education system.
They only care about lowering taxes for corporations who already pay little or no taxes at all. They want to create a third world work force in our own backyards. They want a workforce that believes the words spoken by the Beck's, Hannity's and Limbaugh's, none of whom have a college degree, are the gospel, the only thing they need to know.
They (the ubiquitous them) want an uneducated populous. Fox and their echo chambers are constantly telling their audience that parents should NOT send their kid to college because that's where all the "Liberal" professors are and they will turn your kids into zombie socialists. They preach that ignorance is bliss.
Nevada's education system is in the toilet and Sandoval has his hand on the flush lever.
Sandoval was told by various executives that the number 1 reason that keeps them from relocating to Nevada, is a brain drained populace and an education system that they themselves would never want their own kids or the kids of families who would relocate with them to be placed in.
But what did Sandoval say he heard, "LOWER TAXES".
A great letter, and 2 great comments...
Somehow, some way, Nevadan's have come up with the odd notion that they already spend too much on education, and cutting back shouldn't hurt a bit, even though they never invested in the first place and have now cut to the bare bone. On top of that, they expect BETTER RESULTS regardless of this latest "austerity program".
NOW, B.S. is calling for 1-year teacher contracts and other anti-education initiatives that should boggle even the most feeble of minds.
It is stunning to witness such an ignorant "can't see the forest fer the trees!" mentality existing in the 21st century USA.
Mississippi, here we come!!!
One of the most important career is teaching. Washington shouldn't be so ignorant.
At one time we had an educational system which was the envy of many countries. What happened? Which came first- Fox TV or the resultant population?
Sarah Palin's obvious stupidity made ignorance into a gold standard for the general population. They embrace it. I can't begin to imagine how a huge country like the United States will look as a third world country. The top 1% of the country's richest can, along with the politicians who are owned by the corporations.
When citizens refuse to deal in facts we have a serious problem.
People still believe those receiving public assistance make a killing. For one year I worked in a program specifically designed to help single mothers develop job skills. Women with children receive so little in cash assistance they are better off NOT taking it considering what we require of them.
I tell this to people who rant about single mothers living rich off the system-and they refuse to believe me!
What is this phenomena of refusing to believe facts?
The biggest threat to education is lack of parenting.
Beautiful letter, and well said. Only one point I'd like to make. I'm not a big rally attender, mostly because I'm not sure of their effectiveness. They're easily ignored by lawmakers because there's no way to determine if the people in attendance are voters, and which lawmaker should be answering to them.
I'd love to see a more concerted effort, perhaps a "call your representative" drive, with registered voters who care about education being urged to flood their Assembly and Senate representative's voice mail and e-mail with pleas for their support of education.
Aug46 -- You are absolutely correct. Parents are the primary educator. Education starts and ends at home. Period. Yet day in and day out parents abdicate their job as educator in favor of being BFFs with their child. It makes me mentally vomit every time I hear a child or an adult gush about their BFF status. Seriously? How can a mature adult not see that there must be the proverbial line in the sand between parent and child. Do I love my child to distraction? YES. Do I want him to confide in me? YES. Trust me? YES. Do I want him to fear my disapproval and disappointment? YES!!! How else can I expect him to strive to achieve? I am his teacher. I am his role model. Education begins at home. It is my job to support his teachers. And, if I feel his teachers are not getting it done in the classroom, I must exercise my rights as his primary educator. But if HE is not getting it done in the classroom, I must exercise my right as a PARENT at home. Parents are educators. We are the ones not getting it done. It is the fault of ALL the teachers in the schools. The governor needs to dock the faulty parents 20%.
Anyone interested in education today should google Diane Ravitch, one of the brightest people in this debate.
Her most recent book is The Death and Life of the Great American School System.
"At one time we had an educational system which was the envy of many countries. What happened?"
*************
Carter's Federal Dept of Education comes to mind. Have they helped johnnie read/write/rithmatic better at all in over 30 years? But we do need more government!
Jeff is a great teacher, a good writer and a humane soul. I had the pleasure of working with him for too short a time, but I'm able to see his wit and wisdom in his signature words and unrelenting passion for the noble profession.
Raise taxes when you can guarantee the money will make it to the classroom. How may Vice presidents/principals and specialists do we need? Teachers for the last two decades, good and bad times have been forced to spend their own money for supplies. Hold the Administration accountable and maybe the support would increase.
If only this sad drama was new, unfortunately Nevada's' (and America's) education system has been at the bottom of our society s values -- the last thing on the minds of most citizens. In his book "The closing of the American mind", Allen Bloom stated that "------ education has failed democracy and impoverished the soul of today's student". His gloomy view of our ed. system rings as true today as it did 1987.
We are a dumb nation and an even dumber state! The valiant and well intentioned efforts by our teachers are not enough to overcome this quandary - we have dug a hole and it may be our burial plot. Is this symptomatic of the end of America's empire?
Given the massive amount of administrators in the school who do nothing more than paperwork;
Given the teachers care more about their pensions than the children
Given the families care about their children but not so much the restrictive policies of the schools
Given the whining nature of the teachers today and the too small of class size
we have lost sight of what is important about education.
Schools are failing due to the massive amount of administrators at the top trying to prove their self worth; teaches who care more about their pensions and vacations. Teachers have not tried to be good teachers any longer - you always see them putting down hard working parents of their children. Teachers also have one hand on their luggage for their next vacation and one hand in your pocket to take more tax money from you for their airline ticket - they just love those vacations and fully paid retirements at taxpayer expense.
Teachers today refuse to focus on the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Their new basics are vacation, pensions, and how to rip off the tax payer.
I would say fire them all - and replace them with people who care about children and teaching. It would mean a much improved school system in Nevada. Get rid of the administrators. Close down the federal departments of education; keep them at the local level only in the state and in the communities; we have to pay so many people to do so little....its alarming.
Teachers should be ashamed of themselves and where they have now put their personal selfish priorities.