Just a Few Thoughts

I finally did it.

Yep, today I decided to blog...hopefully somewhat more successfully than before. I am going to try to do my best to comment on useful information and give commentary that I have not previously seen on the web. I used to consider myself web savvy, but lately I am beginning to feel like my mother who refuses to use a computer.

Incidences I am going to try to avoid...

1. Identifying myself

Because I really just want to use this to bitch kvetch to the world.

2. Swearing.

I will attempt to sound intelligent.

3. Questioning from the FBI.

Yeah, I haven’t done it yet, but I feel like I have that kind of stupidity when it comes to the internet. Really.

4. Writing Occasionally.

I need to write everyday. It’ll be good practice because I’m out of habit.

5. Illogical, irrelevant commentary.

TRY is the key word here.

I think most of my commentary will have to do with social issues, namely education. Yep, I’m one of those thousands of teachers without jobs. However one of my bones to pick is that education isn’t about educating...it’s politics. I think as Americans, we have seen the results of such “education”--kids who can’t read, write, or think unless it is spoon fed to them. Good teachers who are fired because they attempt to educate against “Board of Education” recommendations (read: BOE member’s student doesn’t like the teacher or class) or disagree with administrators.

Here’s an example:

Agreement Will Alter Teacher Evaluations

I’ll be honest, my jury’s out on this. Like I mentioned, I’m super jaded on education right now. The first thing that comes to my mind when I read this article is, “Great--now there’s just another reason to fire me.” Apparently after two years of being “ineffective” you could be fired--of course, all teachers know that it will only apply to the untenured. The teachers who are simply waiting to retire and who hate kids--you know them--but are well indoctrinated in the system will some how get a bye and really, nothing will change. Oh--except energetic, creative teachers with a drive to truly educate will be disappointed and disillusioned. The National Center for Education Statistics found that “666,000 of those new teachers will leave sometime during the first three years of teaching and one million of them will not make it past five years” (The Center for American Progress). The same research found that 38% of those new teachers that stopped teaching left because they lacked supportive administrators. Although the new teacher evaluations mean well, I think it’s just going to add more stress to those new teachers.

There’s a brief mention of how the Regents tests are “useless”. Indeed, in several district report cards that I looked at, only about half of the students achieved scores in the 85-100 range, which demonstrates a strong understanding of the material. In addition, the rate of passing in suburban schools was somewhere between 80-90%. However in smaller rural districts and large urban districts, anywhere from 10-25% of the students didn’t pass the Regents (I only looked a few report cards and I saw the same trends. Check for yourself at New York State School Report Cards).

I agree that the Regents are all but “useless”, but I think really looking at the education system and what we teach in New York is probably step one in all this. In New York state, a student must pass a Biology, Math A/Integrated Algebra, Global History, U.S. History, Comprehensive English, and foreign language proficiency examination to get a Regents diploma. If you are a student with a disability and have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), you can take the Regents Competency Tests (RCT). In all honesty, the RCTs are more based in the real world than the Regents. They test basic information that a student needs to survive in the our world. It’s general. It’s useful.

The Regents diploma, however, is a great prep for college bound students. It requires more explicit information and application that you would expect a high school student prepping for college should know. But here’s maybe something that New York state and administrators didn’t realize--

NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO TO COLLEGE.

There are plenty of vocational programs and training students can get in high school for life after school that really and truly, don’t require being able to answer a Document Based Question (DBQ) or being able to use literary theory to criticize Of Mice and Men. In one suburban district, the rate of high school students going to four year colleges in 2005 was only 66%. (Let’s not ask the professors of those incoming freshman, how many students wrote well. We’ll save that for another day.) Students going to two year colleges--28%. If you look at other districts, the percentages vary as well, whereas about 30-40% of students are not heading to four year colleges.

So is it necessarily fair and just to students and teachers to have evaluations based on a test that isn’t relevant for a 30-40% of a school’s population? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a test that was based on actually comprehensive ability and not specific tasks designed for a college bound student? Basically, that means students would have to demonstrate ability in writing versus simply passing a test. In a perfect world, teachers could actually teach skills and information not just teach to a test.

Education--what a novel concept.