OK, our education system is not something I write about. I don't follow the school board like I do the city, and normally am not up to par as to what's going on. I do however have 4 boys, one of who has graduated GHS, 2 in high school, and a 4th starting Jr. High. I think I have a clue as to how our schools are functioning. And with the release of the current status of our local schools where GHS and LHS along with others received unacceptable ratings, along with Nixon and others dropping in their ratings I thought it was time to pipe in.
So what do I think of our educational system? I'm going to tell you they are crap. Now before I hear about all the great teachers and staff and all I want to clarify. Our system is broken. It's a crappy system we have. I don't believe that any amount of 'fixing it' will do a bit of good. It's a true Humpty Dumpty.
We have some OUTSTANDING teachers. How do I know? Because as anyone who has had one of my boys can tell you I'm very involved in their education. I believe I have met almost every teach my boys have ever had, and generally several times over the course of them teaching my boys. That goes for the administrators too, I know EVERY administrator for all the schools my boys have attended. Out of all of those involved, I can think of 4 teachers I'd rather not teach one of my children ever again, and in all fairness I believe circumstances were involved with one of them, two I think possibly were good teachers but needed to retire, and the 4th just shouldn't be a teacher. But with all the kids teachers that's pretty good odds.
But we have this notion that our children are to be taught one or two (sometimes more) test that they need to pass every year. That these test are the entire focus of education system. Wrong! Our goal in education should be to teach our children to think/reason and to give them a trait that they can take into the world awaiting them and be productive members of society.
For those who don't know, I'm the Scoutmaster for Troop 262, so I see boys from the age 10 1/2 to 18, and hopefully beyond. Out of those I've met several boys that would NEVER go through college. They will make good welders, good mechanics, good ranchers, good carpenters, good plumbers, etc, etc, etc but they will NOT be a PhD. They aren't even going to get their BA, BS, or any other letters behind their name. So why are we spending money teaching them things like English in their later years of High School? Why are we teaching advanced sciences to those who honestly won't use them? Or Social Studies? or or or or....Why aren't we instead doing what we need to and that's give them a skill?
To think that every kid can or should be taught to be a Doctor or Lawyer from kindergarten is nuts.
Don't misunderstand me, I think it would be sinful to not make sure our kids know how to read, write and do math. It's a must at almost any job you will ever have. And to expose kids to variety of activities so they can learn where their aptitudes truly are, be them in science or dentistry, or forestry, or mechanics, or...you get the idea, is what both schools an parents need to so do our kids figure out what they want to do in life.
This morning when reading Christina Moers blog, Welcome to my brain, she posted a video from a conference, Ted2010. In it Sir Ken Robinson (yes a Brit) discusses how our educational system is messed up. It's a 20 minute video, of which 16 is Sir Robinson. It is well worth the time to watch this video.
I would love to hear what other parents and employers think of this. Why employers? Because they are having to deal with the results of our educational system. So put in your 2 cents worth and let's see, am I the only one that believes we have a broken system that we need to trash and start from scratch with?
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
"A Tale of Two Stories"?
ReplyDeleteInquirer Headline: GISD Conservatism helps budget.
Cannon story: GISD budget helped by increased enrollment and increased property tax values because of the oil boom.
Two different stories about the same issue.
Sounds like DC!
Concerning your article:
Parents should be the number one teachers in the education of their kids. But look at the parents. Many are actually kids being supported by their parents who teach them the benefits of welfare and help them lie through the system.
Sorry, just my opinion.
Another comment, my parents took the teacher's side in any issue: education and discipline. If I didn't do my assignment, my parents knew. If I disrupted the class, my parents new. And I didn't do it again.
ReplyDeleteNow the parents take the kid's side. "My kid didn't do that." "Don't you discipline my kid". "He didn't have time to do the assignment, he had sports/fun/swimming/goof-off time."
As an employer, just look at the stuff coming from the schools. Can't read, can't add without a calculator, can't tell time without a digital watch/iPhone, can't get to work on time, don't know how to dress, can't communicate, can't write so you can read it.
ReplyDeleteAll think they are the boss. I tell them that when they can sign their paycheck then they are the boss and not a minute before.
Seems as though WE have voted in people to the state board of education that only advance their own screwed up agendas and the local school boards that would rather build new gyms than teach kids to read and write.
ReplyDeleteOk, now that we have failed at TASS, Taks, and whatever else, we are going to dumb them down some more with STAAR. Hell, we can't even teach them to pass the tests, much less how to read and write.
Dennis...you know I have been a teacher. I've taught for 5 years. I've left the profession because of all the things you have written about and more. This is how things were summed up to me at the end of this year: I wasn't "lazy enough". I'll leave that to your own interpretation.
ReplyDeleteI loved GISD. I really did. My problem was with some of the stuff that they have had us do. CSCOPE is a failure and schools that have implemented have seen those scores decrease. Now they wanted us to go to "project based learning" (another acronym: PBL) with absolutely no idea as how to implement it in our schools because its been used in special/alternative campuses. TLU has advised their student teachers to avoid PBL schools because those schools are failing, too.
Budgets: the state has spent millions upon millions for a new testing system when those millions could've kept our education system afloat.
Other money waster: education service centers. Places to go for "teacher training". This year I went to a class where I cut and paste and colored. Seriously. A coworker of mine went to a 2-day workshop on how to get ready for the new tests only to have the presenters tell them they have no clue. Seriously.
We the citizens are told when campuses are shut down and budget cuts made and teachers let go that its about business. If school is a business and its a failure, then why isn't the "CEO's" and those in charge still elected? Politics.
The loss is twofold: new teachers with bright minds and new ideas are gone, laid off. Old teachers who don't care stick around. Who wants to return to teaching after that? Students who will be crowded into classes of 25-35 students where some will definitely drop out or just not care even more than they did already. Discipline issues will increase.
In the end the song remains the same: apathy. Across the board from the top down apathy. Nobody wants to deal with the issues. Not the state, not admin, not teachers, not parents, and now not the students. How do you change that?
To the first person, no apologizes necessary. Note that I specifically talk about how involved we are with our kids education. It's vital if you want them to succeed. And you're right, when you're talking about a parent that can't hardly do the 2nd grade work, how will they ever help their kids in Jr. High?
ReplyDeleteBut there is help! You just have to ask for it. There is tutoring. The teachers have free periods to discuss solutions. There have been after school programs. But the parent has to be the parent and take lead in their kids education. The kid is NOT going to ask for help.
We look at grades every Friday in our house, it determines what the next week looks like for our boys. Papers not turned in, or bad grades are not without consequences. We have had to get on some of the teachers over the last couple of years to please enter grades. I can only help you if you give me the tools to help you. If you wait till the end of the 6 weeks to post grades I can't help you.
And we always take the teachers side of the story first. Only once in all these years have I gone back and said the teacher played a roll in that problem (one of the 4 I mentioned above).
Parents do you really believe the teachers have a vendetta against your child? For what possible reason would they do that? Children lie to save their butts, it's just the facts of life. If you bust them on it a couple of times, generally they realize they have to just do the work (or act right or what ever else they are doing). But if they get away with it they are going to repeat the actions. There are exceptions to the rule and there can be relapses. I've found that teenagers sometimes have to be reminded that we've been here before. But in our case a few days with no electronics generally refreshes that memory.
Bill, get rid of them ALL! No more testing. I'm tired of 2 weeks before the test is the pretest testing, and the work packages that the kids get swamped with that get them no where but overwhelmed.