I havent been motivated to write anything recently, but this, un-delicately, pissed me off. My response today to my wifes post ... I will. Classist, elitist, racist, ignorant, manipulative. A move to privatize education and leave certain children behind. WHEN are we going to listen to TEACHERS, and STOP so-called educators who fall in love with the gimmick of the month and continue to experiment with children? Return to simple concepts. Stop coddling students. Stop the small thinking that every student is the same. Stop promoting the passe ideal that only wealth and possessions equal success. Standards yes. Common SENSE. Every student is NOT the same. In the REAL world outside the ivory towers of those with their doctorates, the job market, industry, even consumers are crying out for tradespeople, skilled laborers, technicians -- not just science and math majors. Long ago I accepted Im not the brightest -- that Im of perhaps average intelligence. But I have skills. I know how to communicate. I have common sense. I can problem solve. I can perceive when Im out of my element and need assistance, so Im not afraid to ask for help. I can survive. NONE of what I am, or what I have achieved came from testing, Common Core, No Child Left Behind, or some other contrived buzzword. It DID come from growing up in a culture where LEARNING was job one. Reading, writing, basic math skills, and science to the point of understanding life and the world around us, were the priorities of the day. (I grew up in the 60s and 70s.) While theres blame aplenty, our children are victimized by a extremist political culture. Both ends of the political spectrum point fingers and allow politician-legislators to destroy a legacy of learning which made this country a world leader. Apply the concepts of our parents and grandparents, and their ancestors -- homework, hard work, grades ... and yes -- tests -- NOT retests and certainly NOT testing and all the useless data that comes with it. Education is NOT a new. Its been around since the beginning of time. You can have ALL the latest gadgets and technology, but the concepts that work havent changed -- they havent gone away. Educators merely ignore them, bastardize them, label them with new buzzwords and acronyms, and twist them to either accomplish some agenda, or justify their jobs (which is usually the agenda). When are we going to stop tinkering around with it and just DO IT? Im married, proudly, to a unionized PUBLIC SCHOOL MATH TEACHER who entertains herself by examining so-called data from our states department of education and local school district. The BIGGEST manipulation, and quite frankly CRIME in my estimation, is New York State Department of Education administrators re-working the numbers. Whether its local, regional or state test scores, its not as simple as A, B, C, D, or F. Its not as simple as 100 percent, 80 percent, 65 percent is passing, and anything less is failing. Everything is manipulated via curve, rubric, or some asinine formula -- all designed to make THEM look good, obtain Federal aid, or beat the neighboring state, county or school district. In my world, the CRIMINAL world, even at state government or corporate levels -- its called Falsifying Business Records, or the like. For me, what Ive seen since my teacher-wife has opened my eyes to the real way education works -- its a CRIME what were letting the New York State Department of Education get away with. Im making the accusation publicly. I dont know how to say it without sounding like an extremist, but our states Attorney General needs to look at the manipulation of data -- the falsification of the numbers in Albany, and in our schools themselves -- and promoting it publicly as fact. While Im sure its gone on forever and accepted as educational culture, its time to put a stop to it. Get the politicians, millionaires and bureaucrats out of education and let our teachers TEACH.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 18:06:19 +0000
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