WEDNESDAY THOUGHTS: IS "EDUCATION NATION" THE NEW BUZZWORD?

I really want to see "Waiting For Superman". 

I'm interested in the whole "Education Nation" phenomenon.

 
I watched Tavis Smiley's interview with Geoffrey Canada and David Guggenheim, this afternoon. 

I liked what they had to say.
I hope that the increased interest in Education is not just a publicity stunt for the major players. 

I hope that it's not merely another political football. 

I hope school children actually benefit from all of the hype.

 
Face it. Talking about the problems with schools is one thing. Getting up every day and going to teach at a school-- in a nation where your profession isn't respected, but you're STILL desiring to make a difference in the lives of students--is another.

Do I want to return to the classroom? Is that what this is? 

Do I miss teaching? 

I have to admit, sometimes it's so frustrating listening to people who have a lot to say, but would never step foot into a public school. 

I feel such a burden as I watch anything regarding public schools. 

I'm a former student who remembers exceptional, caring, diligent teachers. 

I'm a former teacher, the mother of a successful student, and the daughter of an outstanding educator. 

I saw quite a bit in my tenure as a teacher, and came away convinced that children want discipline, need guidance, and will do what they are allowed to do. 

I'm convinced that teachers have way too much on their plates, that have absolutely nothing to do with the education of the children in their classrooms. 

When people don't respect what you do, or the time required to do it; if they think that what you do is trivial or too easy, they will endeavor to pad your schedule with what my former Design professor E,H. Sorrells-Adewale called "extemporaneous BS". 

Teachers are often inundated with busy work that cuts into valuable time--time that could be spent helping students.

I watched several education-themed interviews in the past few weeks, and I STILL didn't hear anyone bring up the problem of disruptive, disrespectful students, the need for effective classroom management, and the critical need for parental accountability and support. 

You cannot have an effective discussion on education, but leave out parents and their responsibility to require/demand their own children to simply follow directions, and show respect and common courtesy for the learning environment and the people in it.

Go to a successful school and look at their policy regarding student behavior. Look at what they will, and will not tolerate, under any circumstances. Look at what can get a child expelled, then compare it to public school policies. 

When children are instructed about rights without being instructed about responsibilities, it's difficult to maintain order. 

Anyone can learn when given the opportunity. 

Children prove, every day, their capacity TO learn, but the content isn't always healthy or appropriate. 

Learning can't take place in confusion. 

When students know that they can, without consequences, disrupt the learning environment, they will. 

In many public schools, the authority to maintain order has been snatched from adults, and many, in turn, have given up trying to get it back. 

It's sad when the only person learning in a classroom is the teacher. 

Too many parents leave their children in the care of others, but dare them to correct their behavior. 

I firmly believe that if the only person a parent requires a child to heed is him or herself, then they should consider home schooling their child.

Some excellent teachers, who started out wanting nothing more than to make a difference, are just tired of spending 60% of their days being ineffective disciplinarians, (who are daily in danger of being accused of corporal punishment) 30% in pointless, boring meetings that yield nothing of valuable use in their classrooms, and the other 10% producing dog and pony shows for administrator's photo ops.

I did hear in the interview, unfortunately, that the geographical location of a school often determines just how low or non-existent many people's expectation of student success really is. That is not new, and I experienced it first hand. 

I heard "these kids over here" every day of my teaching career. 

Some teachers simply stopped believing that their students could learn because they were stripped of all of the safeguards of an environment in which they could effectively teach. Many teachers regarded themselves as overpaid babysitters, and watched the clock until they could retire, or go and teach in Maryland or Virginia, where it seemed that teachers were respected as actual professionals.

Chancellor Michelle Rhee's problem was that she came in as an enforcing stranger, not an agent of unity. 

As always, when students aren't learning, teachers, no matter what the extenuating circumstances, are the first to blame.

 

When you are given a job and given directives, sometimes, that's all you focus on, and forget that there are human beings in your view. 

When you're cleaning house, every now and then something valuable ends up broken, or in the trash. The house is cleaner, but there's so much anxiety and suffering, that no one can function happily in it. There's so much animosity, that any good that has been done, doesn't even matter. 

Whether the chancellor stays or goes, will determine if she was working for the Mayor, on behalf of the children of the District of Columbia, or if the incoming mayor has any confidence in her.

It has always baffled me, over the years, that within the ranks of DCPS, NO ONE was deemed qualified to be the superintendent/chancellor. Someone was always imported from somewhere else. 

Rhee adopted the position of the little boy in the story "The Emperor's New Clothes". 

She called things the way she saw them, and folks felt she didn't have the right. Was it racial? 

Intellectual? 

Petty? 

Who did she think she was recognizing that a student, unless highly self-directed, could be no more proficient than the individual tasked to teach them each day? 

We don't like to be told that we are horrible when, for years, our deficiencies have been deemed acceptable. When there is a failure to correct a thing, it is soon considered normal.

I was a DCPS teacher for 16 years. I witnessed a great deal that made me shake my head, but I also witnessed excellent educators and administrators who were committed to the success of their students, and modeled the kind of behavior they expected to see. 

I know that there are excellent educators and public schools in DC, and the potential is there for all of them to be so. 

It's not where you live, but the attitudes and expectations of the people who live there, that matter. 

I grew up in SE, DC, attended DCPS until 5th grade, had a mom who taught in DCPS for over 25 years, and I still reside East of the River. 

I raised a daughter who attended DCPS. It was my aim that she attend the best schools DCPS had to offer. I was told which schools fit the criteria I wanted, and that's where she attended. She graduated high school, went on to college, and will soon graduate law school. 

I KNOW that DCPS can, and has worked. 

I had to do my part as a parent. 

I get messages from former students on a regular basis. 

They are contributing members of society holding varying degrees, and engaged in varying professions. DCPS is not, and has not been all bad. Sometimes, I admit I felt as if someone, somewhere WANTED it to be a failing system, and was deliberately working to make it so.

Sometimes, I think the panel discussion producers ignore the success stories--and there are scores of them. 

The common denominator is not wealthy parents, state-of-the-art technology, new supplies, or smaller class sizes. It's parents who aren't so litigious; who are honest about themselves and their children; who knew that if they wanted their children to learn, they had to be supportive of schools and teachers, and instill in their children a few things, including the following:
1. They were not adults, and not in charge.
2. Their job was that of a learner.
3. Education was important.
4. There were consequences for inappropriate behavior.
5. They were at school for the betterment of themselves.
6. There was a time to play. it was called "recess".
7. The teacher was not their equal, playmate, nor enemy.

The power struggle, arrogance, posturing and immaturity among adults has to end. Every adult in the educational process has to see themselves as a servant, not a king or queen who rules over others. When administrations establish an us-against-them climate where teachers work in fear for their economic future, belligerent parents abound, unruly students reign, and their professional competency is based on standardized test scores, what does one expect?

Leadership is required--not puppets who can be told what to do; not bullies with axes to grind; not people who have no vested interest in the education of children; not people with notoriety and fortune in their eyes; not people who spend little or no time in a classroom, and only pass through for Kodak moments. 

People who never cross the threshold of a school can't possibly create policy with any efficiency. Theory sounds good. Practice determines whether the theory is sound.

We can all sit around and talk about what ought to be, but without order--without embracing basic principles--without requiring, seeking, and expecting the participation of parents and students, NO school system can be successful, and teachers will always be the disrespected fall guys.