No disrespect to Bloomberg or its education panel, but this country has to move away from always seeking the corporate and national association directors for answers to the education plight. Corporations are a part of the solution, but not the answer to determining why our schools are failing. Why did your magazine not seek out real teachers and administrators in the trenches for responses? Instead you chose distant higher ups to add to the blame-game on the wounded profession. When was the last time either of them (the suits) were in a class room? It's like pulling together a team of farmers to consult and pontificate on the decline of journalism. What?! For real information, besides talking to teachers, you need a three year investigation done by strapping wireless microphones and hidden cameras on the body of those you interviewed (Fix This Response: Education) while working as substitutes to document charter, private, and public schools from all ethnic areas and economic demographics, for a three year period . Or try to accept and digest what I have to say.
Discipline, behavior problems, hyper-high stakes testing, and the power of popular culture are the major forces behind the failure of American schools. Stop blaming the failure on poor teaching. Why do you think there is a shortage of teachers as well as low retention. People can only take so much and the school environment is atrocious. The average teacher these days stays in the field 3 to 5 years. That is a turn-over rate close to the fast food sector. Yet, most in society are blind to this phenomenon or either don't care. Our government, and this is no surprise, has no vision for education, nor do education administrators. We are relying upon politicians and educational consultants to guide the industry. As a former teacher of 14 years, I had to get out! It's abysmal and my sentiment is not just anecdotal. What I"m talking about is rampant throughout the country.
First, behavior is so bad it's a national embarrassment. How many of the executives on this Education Panel by Bloomberg go to work and have to be cursed out by employees (students), chase employees wandering hallways, bust employes having sex and others videotaping it with cell phones, break up gang/neighborhood click fights, report bathroom destruction, argue with kids about the need to learn, look over their shoulder as a way to prevent getting jumped by angry employees, etc. etc.? And when they do act, the administration threatens firing them. Hands tied! This is under the radar because teachers are afraid to speak out due to retaliation by students and administrators, and administrators are experts at covering up these issues to block lawsuits and being labeled racist. Corporate execs may have great solutions, but they are clueless as to the real happenings in schools.
Second, hyper-high stakes testing. Ludicrous. We need more financial support for CTE (Career & Technology Education) programs so that American children can graduate with a license or certification in a trade or technology along with their diploma. We have to stop pushing this, "Everyone must be Einstein & go to College," scam. This began in 1957 with the launch of the Russian Sputnik. That is when public schools became federalized out of fear and we still follow that false ideology. Our system of education has been great. Every man, woman and child, regardless of economic status and ethnicity can enjoy the intellectual stimuli from art, science and philosophy, but we have moved to far away from that, forcing students to think, "college."
How do we create a balance and bring back sanity? CTE (Career & Technology Education) programs need to be infused from elementary through high school. Example, remove all testing for English. Start every 1st grader with a digital camera and guide them on coffee table book creation. Let them document whatever, design a picture book or coffee table book using bookblurb or an equivalent. Have them use simple wording for that grade level. Then use book blurb, Apple's book publishing software iPhoto or Amazon.com/CreateSpace to publish the books and allow each kids family to manage the accounts and sell the books. This program must follow each kid, each grade level, and the written material must advance, until when they reach their senior year in high school when they know they must have their novel written and published to graduate. They will learn english, how to write, how to market, how to design graphics and how to distribute.Learning on the job. Learning how to become a producer first, then a consumer. The same can be applied to engineering, broadcasting ,etc. Start a bicycle engineering program that follows kids from elementary to high school so that by the time they graduate, they will have designed a light frame bike, trademarked it, got it copy written and even have a company partner work to get the bikes built. We are a visionless country that lacks the will to engage in innovation. As a collective our only course of action is to blindly follow politicians and consultants. Wow! Where are our 1st through 12th school districts with cell phone app development, marine biology, photovoltaic construction, etc.?
It's time to remove the government from all public schools and usher in an age of corporate partnership education. Give it a try. It has to be better than what we have now. And as painful as it seems, education can not compete against popular culture; prison culture, hip hop, music, etc. It is failing and a counter to the counter culture is needed fast so we can remove teachers from the public enemy list.
In the meantime, enjoy these PSA's I produced, shot and edited entitled, "The Countering Counter Culture PSA Series." This first series is aimed at the African-American collective.
PSA #1 - Reading is for White
PSA #2 - BANNED
PSA #3 - Acting Black
PSA #4 - The new black language. Rated R. Use headphones!!!
Ted A. Irving, M.A.
Sam Houston State University Alumni Board of Directors
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Houston Fulbright Association
2002 Hightower HS Teacher of the Year
2003 Houston ABSE 2ndary Teacher of the Year
Former NAACP Gloster B. Current Leadership Award Winner
2002 Texas Regional Emmy Award Winner
2006 Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher
Discipline, behavior problems, hyper-high stakes testing, and the power of popular culture are the major forces behind the failure of American schools. Stop blaming the failure on poor teaching. Why do you think there is a shortage of teachers as well as low retention. People can only take so much and the school environment is atrocious. The average teacher these days stays in the field 3 to 5 years. That is a turn-over rate close to the fast food sector. Yet, most in society are blind to this phenomenon or either don't care. Our government, and this is no surprise, has no vision for education, nor do education administrators. We are relying upon politicians and educational consultants to guide the industry. As a former teacher of 14 years, I had to get out! It's abysmal and my sentiment is not just anecdotal. What I"m talking about is rampant throughout the country.
First, behavior is so bad it's a national embarrassment. How many of the executives on this Education Panel by Bloomberg go to work and have to be cursed out by employees (students), chase employees wandering hallways, bust employes having sex and others videotaping it with cell phones, break up gang/neighborhood click fights, report bathroom destruction, argue with kids about the need to learn, look over their shoulder as a way to prevent getting jumped by angry employees, etc. etc.? And when they do act, the administration threatens firing them. Hands tied! This is under the radar because teachers are afraid to speak out due to retaliation by students and administrators, and administrators are experts at covering up these issues to block lawsuits and being labeled racist. Corporate execs may have great solutions, but they are clueless as to the real happenings in schools.
Second, hyper-high stakes testing. Ludicrous. We need more financial support for CTE (Career & Technology Education) programs so that American children can graduate with a license or certification in a trade or technology along with their diploma. We have to stop pushing this, "Everyone must be Einstein & go to College," scam. This began in 1957 with the launch of the Russian Sputnik. That is when public schools became federalized out of fear and we still follow that false ideology. Our system of education has been great. Every man, woman and child, regardless of economic status and ethnicity can enjoy the intellectual stimuli from art, science and philosophy, but we have moved to far away from that, forcing students to think, "college."
How do we create a balance and bring back sanity? CTE (Career & Technology Education) programs need to be infused from elementary through high school. Example, remove all testing for English. Start every 1st grader with a digital camera and guide them on coffee table book creation. Let them document whatever, design a picture book or coffee table book using bookblurb or an equivalent. Have them use simple wording for that grade level. Then use book blurb, Apple's book publishing software iPhoto or Amazon.com/CreateSpace to publish the books and allow each kids family to manage the accounts and sell the books. This program must follow each kid, each grade level, and the written material must advance, until when they reach their senior year in high school when they know they must have their novel written and published to graduate. They will learn english, how to write, how to market, how to design graphics and how to distribute.Learning on the job. Learning how to become a producer first, then a consumer. The same can be applied to engineering, broadcasting ,etc. Start a bicycle engineering program that follows kids from elementary to high school so that by the time they graduate, they will have designed a light frame bike, trademarked it, got it copy written and even have a company partner work to get the bikes built. We are a visionless country that lacks the will to engage in innovation. As a collective our only course of action is to blindly follow politicians and consultants. Wow! Where are our 1st through 12th school districts with cell phone app development, marine biology, photovoltaic construction, etc.?
It's time to remove the government from all public schools and usher in an age of corporate partnership education. Give it a try. It has to be better than what we have now. And as painful as it seems, education can not compete against popular culture; prison culture, hip hop, music, etc. It is failing and a counter to the counter culture is needed fast so we can remove teachers from the public enemy list.
In the meantime, enjoy these PSA's I produced, shot and edited entitled, "The Countering Counter Culture PSA Series." This first series is aimed at the African-American collective.
PSA #1 - Reading is for White
PSA #2 - BANNED
PSA #3 - Acting Black
PSA #4 - The new black language. Rated R. Use headphones!!!
Ted A. Irving, M.A.
Sam Houston State University Alumni Board of Directors
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Houston Fulbright Association
2002 Hightower HS Teacher of the Year
2003 Houston ABSE 2ndary Teacher of the Year
Former NAACP Gloster B. Current Leadership Award Winner
2002 Texas Regional Emmy Award Winner
2006 Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher
This is an absolutely amazing piece of work! I love your ideas at the end about guiding students through all the different academic subjects by having them start a project and take it all the way through to its natural conclusion in the "real world." I would love to see my children do something like that.
ReplyDeleteThanks John. Such a frustrating field to be in at this time. Not sure when change will occur.
ReplyDelete