Everybody is talking about education. Is anyone listening?
"Incarceration is becoming the new American apartheid, and poor children of color are the fodder," said Marian Wright Edelman (Children's Defense Fund)
Over the past few weeks Georgia has been the epicenter of education debate, hosting some of the most notable — and controversial — voices in the field today.Speaking to the Georgia School Boards Association in Savannah 10 days ago, historian Diane Ravitch urged, “Don’t stand by and let politicians tear down a public institution that has been the foundation of our democracy for 150 years.”
Reminding the audience that more than 90 percent of Georgia’s students attend public schools, Ravitch, author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System, ” said: “We must improve those public schools. We must not pretend those children don’t exist while we are creating more choices for 2 [percent] to 3 percent of them.”
Following her to the podium was a politician, Gov. Nathan Deal, who won applause with his pledge, “We have to restore the joy of teaching to our teachers. And that means diverting away from the concept that everything hinges on a CRCT score.” (If that sounds familiar, it’s because Deal, the candidate, said much the same thing to the same group last year in Savannah.)
Last week, the National Charter Schools Conference brought 4,000 charter school advocates and a pantheon of national figures to Atlanta, from former President Bill Clinton to Newark Mayor Cory Booker.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke to the conference attendees from Washington, telling them, “I think one of the most insidious things that’s happened in this country over the past couple of decades has been the dumbing down of standards for children. In far too many states, including the state I come from, Illinois, we have been lying to children and lying to families in telling them they are prepared for college and careers when, in fact, they are nowhere near ready.”
The charismatic and fiery Mayor Booker was more preacher than politician in his speech, calling education the new civil rights challenge and declaring, “We fought the greatest war on American soil for the liberation of our people yet we imprison more and more of our own in prisons of ignorance every single day.”
Children’s Defense Fund president Marian Wright Edelman also spoke at the charter conference and amplified Booker’s theme of ending the cradle-to-prison pipeline.
“Public education is the battleground for the future and soul of America, ” she said. “Today education is the Freedom Ride and the sit-in movement of this era.”
Edelman described the moment in which she realized the desperation of many poor children’s lives. The day after the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Edelman went into Washington, D.C., schools to warn students not to riot or loot because arrests would hurt their futures.
A boy about 12 looked Edelman in the eye and said, “Lady, what future? I ain’t got no future. I ain’t got nothing to lose.”
“I have spent the last 40 years and will spend the rest of my life proving that boy’s truth wrong, ” Edelman said. “I had no idea how hard it would be. This boy saw and spoke the plain truth for himself and millions of others like him.
“Despite great progress for some over the last 40 years, so much peril remains to snuff out the hopes and dream of children like him, ” she said. “Incarceration is becoming the new American apartheid, and poor children of color are the fodder.”
America’s most pressing dangers come not from an enemy without, she said, but from a failure within to invest in its children.
Quoting Frederick Douglass, Edelman said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Donald L. Hense, a Morehouse College graduate and founder of the Friendship Public Charter School in Washington, came to Atlanta to receive a hall of fame award from the charter conference. Hense’s charter high school, which awarded its first diploma in 2003, awarded its 2,000th this year.
As the student representative on the Morehouse board of trustees, Hense served alongside King, who was a Morehouse grad. When King was killed, Hense ushered at the funeral. In the aftermath of King’s assassination, Hense recalled sleeping in his Atlanta dorm room with buckets of water for fear of bombs and fire.
“What with everything that we faced in the 1960s, I feel threatened more today as a part of the so-called education reform community than I did then, ” he said.
“Our schools are threatened not by people who don’t believe in charters or school choice, but by education reformers who believe that reform is best charted and directed by the same public school system that did nothing the previous 100 years, ” he said.
Hense said the charter movement is under siege, adding that he lives in “a city that will try to kill charters by a thousand cuts. Every single year, something happens to try to knock the legs of education reform from under charter schools, every single year.”
“Somehow, we have to find a balance between the undertow caused by those who justify the continued existence of failing schools and the overzealousness of TV reformers who believe that schools can be transformed in 20 months, ” he said.
“We cannot allow the continued mindset of either these groups to prevail, ” Hense told his audience at the Georgia World Congress Center. “Our children’s lives depend on those of us who believe that the liberating value of education is too important to be left to either group. Thoughtful reforms with a clear sense of urgency, without gimmickry, must take the lead.”
When you attend these education events and hear how many dedicated people are working toward better schools, from small-town school board members to former U.S. presidents, you have to wonder if anyone is listening.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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284 comments Add your comment
Really?
June 30th, 2011
9:05 am
gamom, re: your feelings about face to face conferences as opposed to phone calls. I had a face to face, after which parent reviewed, and then signed conference form. Additionally, a copy was xeroxed for her to take from the meeting. (There was another grade level member there also present at the conference. We do conferences with the homeroom teacher and one other teacher present as a rule.) At some point after the conference, parent feigned ignorance about child’s difficulty, denied she had been at a conference, and denied that she signed the conference form when it was shown to her. So who signed it, an impersonator, LOL
William Casey
June 30th, 2011
10:03 am
@gamom: Allow me to establish a REAL In-School Suspension program at your school and there will never be a need to hit a kid. Work and remediation will occur. The catch, of course, is that if the “student” can’t earn his way back into regular school, I send him/her home and it’s YOUR problem for awhile which is as it should be. There is no way I’m allowing 5% of the students to deprive the other 95% of their education.
Ole Guy
June 30th, 2011
10:18 am
Case, you’re a retired Marine D.I. Am I right?
Ole Guy
June 30th, 2011
10:55 am
Claven/Ga Mom, your views on corporal punishment seem somewhat short on execution. There are two basic components of any form of punishment; if you’re going to “take the wind out of someone’s sails” by way of any type of punishment, the dynamics of the punishment don’t start and stop with a “swing of the club”. It is paramount that the punisher “places the wind back into the sails” of the punished. If the punished is left with the notion that he/she has been punished merely for the sake of punishment, much time has been wasted; much damage has been inflicted, and no positive result can be achieved.
This transformation need not take place on any given schedule, but over time, the kid needs the opportunity to understand the objective(s) of the punishment; this responsibility falls squarly on the punisher.
I firmly believe in punishment, both corporal and the more subtle forms of psychological readjustment, but these cannot be successfully executed by merely “swinging the club”…and that, I feel, is where people, opposed to corporal punishment, misunderstand the true remediation value of corporal punishment.
I am sure there are many ole farts out there who, like yours truly, were the recipients of some rather (seemingly) harsh modes of punishment. As we matured, we came to fully understand…and appreciate…the methods our elders employed. These, of course, were times completely devoid of the strictures of political correctness; completely devoid of the “self esteem” movement where such esteem was the product of facing and enduring challenge (often grudgingly), and, in the end, knowing that “YOU EARNED IT”.
Granted, in an era where self esteem is almost considered a birthright; where “achievement” is, all-too-often, the result of entitlement borne of simple desire rather than doged determination…the corporal punishment, that we ole farts knew, may be as alien to a younger generation as water is to oil…perhaps there can never be a successful combining of these character-tempering methods and the psyche of today’s youth.
Another Math Teacher
June 30th, 2011
2:47 pm
gamom:
“No I’m not hijacking the thread.”
Yes, you are. Stop it.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
2:52 pm
I would like to elaborate on a post stating that reformers provide fodder for the naive and gullible and stir hate- mongering against teachers. I completely disagree with this opinion. Just because a person takes into consideration a reformers theory does not make one gullible and naive. I see it as being open minded to others point of view.
A handful ( minority) of teachers ( if they really are teachers) on this blog are doing an excellent job of setting the tone for teacher hate mongering by themselves, even the naive and gullible can see this.
Teachers(?) are blogging and blaming their lack of education on how to deal with childhood behaviors in school on parents. May I suggest that you request professional development with your school district, because you are an embarrassment to your profession. I am a parent who has had extensive training in PBIS, ABA, Verbal Behavior etc. and I cringe when I see some of the uneducated advocating hitting children to change their behaviors. Do you think you can knock sense into kids? Sounds to me like your taking the easy way out from your lack of knowledge.
The statement most made by teachers on here as to the cause of disruptive children (in school) is lack of parental involvement. I have seen several parent’s blogging their opinions on here and these parent’s are called trolls, and vehemently attacked by some authoritarian know it all teachers. If you know so much or know the cause of, why are our schools in the shape they are now? Never mind don’t answer that question, I already know what your answers are… NCLB, testing of students, administrators, dead beat parents, students etc. everyone except the teachers are the problem and cause of our education system failure.
I suggested, many months ago, that we model our failing schools on the successful schools in our nation. Guess this would be to simple a solution to consider.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
3:12 pm
May I suggest you watch the documentary filmed in 2009 titled- ” The War on Kids”? This is very eye opening as to the current state of public education in the US. Why aren’t the very children enrolled in the public schools allowed to have input into decision making? Oh, I forgot, children haven’t any rights if they are enrolled in public schools.
Stacy
June 30th, 2011
3:29 pm
J4a–
I am not a teacher, but I am a parent and very involved in my child’s school. The whole issue with parents being the problem is the truth. I will admit that there are some bad teachers, but as a whole most are very good at what they do but have to deal with too many distractions in class to truly teach like they can. When a parent does not teach their child to have respect for their elders, and gives in to any demands of the child, that child becomes spoiled and thinks that the world revolves around them. I know many teachers who work in many different counties in the state as well as other states. Teacher are taught how to be teachers, they are there because they hope to guide their student in an adventure called learning. This does not work very well when students misbehave and disrupt the class. If the students respected the teachers and their peers they would not be so disruptive. Also when parents do not instill the value of education to their children, the child has no respect for the process. So these points are the fault of the parent, but it is not all the parents fault. The society that we live in today has caused a great deal of issues for the education system. Teachers are stuck in a situation to where testing is the only thing that maters, but how does one test a year determine the success of a child, it can not. The overall progress that has been made by that child for day one and everyday following is what should truly matter. This society put to much emphasis on political correctness, and self esteem. Giving a child a 70 on a paper he didn’t even do just because you want the child to feel good about himself is just crap, and it happens all over the country. Ultimately, the problem with education is not just the teachers or the parents, or testing, but all of them combined. One will not function properly without the other doing their job. Also basing pay on the students performance is the craziest thing ever that our government has come up with. Seriously, how can you compare any 2 children on what they have learned? Two kids could sit in a classroom under the same teacher at the same time, 1 might not get it at all. Is that the teachers fault? If you think that it is, How do you suggest that the teacher adjusts? BTW, there are 30 people in the class, 5 classes a day, and according to the state a certain amount of material has to be covered by test day.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
4:42 pm
@ Stacey, I am so glad to hear a teacher who states that this is a combined issue and doesn’t play into the blame game. I have stated numerous times that the persons directly involved in educating children ( teacher’s and parent’s) and of course with the child’s best interest at heart should be the final decision makers. Teacher’s are the ” receivers” in education and should play a major role in the decision making. Don’t believe education can be reformed, it is too far gone at this point, more bandaids will not help. Need to research and find when the downward spiral began, what changed?
We as a people need to unite and remove all government control ( fed and state) of our schools, take our schools back, oh but there is the issue of funding that keeps these authorities in charge.
gamom
June 30th, 2011
5:06 pm
Stacy – I must ask – have you had any exposure with children with disabilities, or chronic illness or mental illness. It is the attitude of people like you that leads to discrimination. Blame blame blame the child. Have you ever volunteered in inner city? Have you ever helped a needy child or the abject poor. You can’t just keep blaming the kids. They often are victims of circumstance. It is what it is. Children act out oftentimes due to a need not being met. And if a child has poor language skills you’ve got a double whammy, or perhaps a sensory issue. I do hope you are not volunteering in the classroom until you get exposed to children of all kinds and learn empathy. What we have evident on these blogs is a constant theme of lack of empathy. You know where kids get that from? The adults! Children act out, it has nothing to do with people leaning toward self esteem concerns. They’ve acted out for millenia, but people like to exaggerate their positions on these blogs for effect. The truth of the matter is, most of these kids would benefit from an early intervention, better health care in general, an earlier diagnosis of whatever ails them, and a schoolhouse that that offers respect and dignity no matter what.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
5:17 pm
I agree that basing teacher pay on student performance is ludicrous. The norm referenced tests are completely subjective. Who decides what’s normal, because what is normal for one individual may not be normal for another individual? As long as majority rules apply to all individuals the minority doesn’t stand a snowballs chance in h:!! of succeeding in any facet of education. There are bad people in all professions, not just teachers(: I have a child who will be in fourth grade next year, he scored 98 NPR on ITBS in third grade and has excelled on all CRCt’s. Reading at a seventh grade level. My child gets so bored in school ( very well mannered, loves his school and teachers) because he is not challenged. Why are all children taught at the same level of the lowest achieving child in class. We tried the gifted program and it is a joke. My child made a very adult
observation of his classroom this year, he said, ” mom I noticed only the really smart kids and the very bad kids get attention from the teacher and the middle kids get nothing.” During summers I have to teach and prepare my child for the preceding school years curriculum. I graduated in 78 and can not believe how our education system has gone downhill! Something needs to before our educational institutions fall into the abyss. I have always stressed the importance of education to my children and support our teachers.
stacy
June 30th, 2011
5:38 pm
j4a—
I agree that taking education away from the gov’t would be the best thing posible. People how have never been in a classroom for extended periods of time show not be making the laws that govern how those schools run, teachers teach, and how a child learns.
Gamom—
I have had a lot of experience with children with disabilities, I myself have two disabilities along with coming from a very poor family. Also my uncle who was mentally retarded lived with us most of my early life. The only reason that I made it through school is because I had wonderful teachers and parents that cared and taught me right from wrong. If i did my work, it was graded for correctness, if I did not do it I got what I deserved, a 0. If I was good I was rewarded, if bad punished. I have never helped out in an inner city school but I have great compassion for all people no matter their background. I have never blamed the kids, it is the parents that are the problem, and it is not the childs fault, but the child has to live by the rules set forth reguardless of their upbringing.. A child that is raised in a abusive home must rise above the situation, if they grow up and do the same they have not learned anything. Not all parents are bad, many are very good and their childern are usually the best behaived. If their parents hold the accountable for their actions they mostly behave. These post just come aut generalized. I commented you in an earlier post and discussed how much better it would be if all parents were like you. Teachers would have an easier job teaching the kids and would have more time to differentiate their instruction to increase the learning potential for all students. I agree that early intervention is a key and I agree that a schoolhouse that offers respect and dignity is esential, but that respect and dignity should include all persons who have a stake in the school, including parents and students.
stacy
June 30th, 2011
5:48 pm
j4a—
I totally agree that education has gone down hill. I believe that the major issue with this has to do with all the government restraints that have been place on teachers. The gov’t is too involved with education, and we all know that anything the gov’t is in control of doesn’t run well. That is why private schools are more successful, they don’t have to answer to the state, they have their own guidelines and their teachers are free to teach, not worring about a test. NCLB has grouped all kids together with only a select few being placed in Gifted which as you said can be a joke. My 2nd grader is in the same situation, he gets in trouble in school because he is bored. Also if you go back and read my origional post on page one you can also see the issues of the college education of middle school teachers.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
5:56 pm
Special education is a complete failure. I know schools that have classrooms that half of the children have a disability ( autism, ADHD, EBD etc) and the class runs as smooth as silk. Do you know why? These classes have co- teachers ( reg. ed teacher and spec. Ed teacher ) and guess what? It works. I know there are some children w/o disability who are disruptive, but a spec Ed teacher should know how to diffuse or control the situation w/o resorting to violence. The reg Ed teacher can continue with business as normal with the rest of the children. If I were a regular Ed teacher I would educate myself( on behavioral intervention, PBIS, ABA, verbal behavior etc) as autism alone is increasing at such a great rate that the chances of you having a child with a disability in your classroom are great. Don’t wait for your admin. or psychologist or counselor to help you, do this for your self. I was skeptical before I began my study of behavioral interventions.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
6:20 pm
I know your not a public school teacher, but as far as I’m concerned parents are the first teacher and will provide lifelong learning experiences for their children. My posts were made in the hopes that some of the public school teachers on here will see this situation from a parents perspective.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
6:27 pm
This is not a duplicate
As I was saying… I know your not a public school teacher but I believe parents are the first teacher and will provide life long learning experiences for their child. I am hoping some of the teacher bloggers will read our blogs and see this situation from a parental point of view.
j4a
June 30th, 2011
6:28 pm
Was a duplicate:( sorry!
gamom
June 30th, 2011
6:40 pm
Stacy, sorry if I came off sounding kind of shrill. I think there are some ‘absentee’ parents, but not as bad as some of these bloggers like to make it sound. Some parents are just making it or are working 2/3 jobs, so one might assume they are absentee, but really they are just trying to put food on the table. I think the economy has taken a toll on a lot of people, so many just are not making ends meet. If a parent has to choose between conferencing at a school or going to work to their second job to get basics need met, like food and housing – do you also fault the parent? There are so many situations out there – and what I get concerned about is the generalized attitude that comes from people who say they are educators on these blogs (I still don’t think they are, because I don’t know of a single good educator who would get on a blog page and condone hitting a child with a paddle or use physical force to get their point across. The fact still remains that because of budget cuts everyone’s frustration levels are up – and I think that is a dangerous combination to give an educator that kind of power to physically discipline a kid. At what age does it stop. It’s even going on at the high school level. Do people really believe it is acceptable to hit a high school age kid. I sure hope not. However a parent raises their child at home is their business, but educators, who may be frustrated need not be hitting kids at all. Remember I said some districts are reporting in data incidents in the thousands. I think teh number has grown actually, so its not as rare as one might think.
stacy
June 30th, 2011
7:17 pm
Gamom–
I agree that the current economic situation has caused some parents to seem absent, but the fact is that there are parents that are not in that situation who will tell teachers that they don’t care what their child does or how they behave. They are going to drop out as soon as they turn 16 and work in there fathers garage and work on cars. Parents like that are what I am talking about. Where I live that is a major issue. Every school in my county and several around are all Title 1 schools. I do not condone anyone HITTING a child, and paddlings do not take place where I live and hasn’t in nearly 25 years, however I do spank my kids when need be. I don’t do it to get my point across, it is a consequence for their actions that they are well aware of before hand. Paddling is not my first line of punishment, and I only have to do it maybe once a month. I have never done it in anger nor have I ever hurt them. I base this punishment on the Bible (Proverbs) and how I turned out from the same upbringing. My wife on the other hand was never spanked, but as an adult now she wishes that her parents had been more strick on her, and had been more supportive of her education.
stacy
June 30th, 2011
7:22 pm
Gamom— I think there are some ‘absentee’ parents, but not as bad as some of these bloggers like to make it sound.
It doesn’t take many absent parents to have a kid that becomes a discipline issue in class. One disruptive child can cause 29 others of precious learning time that can not be recovered. Even if the child is only mildly dispurtive they can affect a child trying to learn if that child has a learning disability.
Paddy O
June 30th, 2011
8:03 pm
how has feminism altered the perception of child rearing?
Paddy O
June 30th, 2011
8:06 pm
stacy – the FEDERAL government is too involved in education. Reason? It would appear to be to increase teacher salaries. Does this lead to better educated students? It does not appear to be a direct correlation here in GA.
stacy
June 30th, 2011
8:42 pm
Paddy O—
The Federal Gov’t does not pay teacher salary. They are to involved by NCLB, which has impossible goals to reach. These laws cause the states to pass other laws as to how a teacher is supposed to teach and what they consider to be learning (Standardized testing). Passing one test a year has no barring on whether or not a child is educated, and teachers are still underpaid for the amount of schooling that is involved compared to other professions that require the same amount of school.
gamom
June 30th, 2011
8:46 pm
The Federal Gov’t gives millions of dollars to Title 1 schools. Millions
gamom
June 30th, 2011
8:46 pm
There also is IDEA moneys given to schools – also federal dollars
gamom
June 30th, 2011
9:04 pm
not sure where the Bible falls into child rearing either
stacy
June 30th, 2011
11:54 pm
Gamom—
Really didn’t think that you would have a clue about the Bible by some of your responses.
gamom
July 1st, 2011
9:25 am
I know about the Bible, just not how it applies to this discussion. Raised Catholic here, Catechism was a big part of my childhood
gamom
July 1st, 2011
9:44 am
You know — some guy named Jesus, who said love one another, etc; spoke against violence, never advocated hitting anyone.. hmmmm?
Yes Excuses
July 1st, 2011
9:13 pm
Spare the rod, spoil the child.
Ole Guy
July 2nd, 2011
3:24 pm
The year…1963. Bruce was a weird sort of a kid, made straight A’s in the most-demanding courses, yet couldn’t control his class behavior. The teacher, after repeated warnings, would paddle him till his butt probably took on the appearance of two Jap Flags (there goes my sensitivity award). He would simply smile both during and after the paddlings, return to his desk and continue his antics. He was a helluva guy, likeable and such, but his classroom behavior was certainly not in accordance with maintaining a good learning environment.
Under today’s system, Bruce would probably have been deemed in need of special education status. Under such placement, he probably never would have come close to classes in trig, physics, and the like. Had special education status, in those “simple” years, been confered as (seemingly) passivly as it appears to be today, Bruce would probably have been compelled to fill his days with “fingerpainting-type courses” which would have prepared him for little..
As it turned out, Bruce was an Honor Graduate, went to the Ivy Leagues, graduated with honors, gained a Commission and, weeks after arriving in Viet Nam, was killed.
Why do I recount this sad story? Simply…just as with so-called “normal” students, are we subjecting special education students to academic challenges of ultimate mediocrity? Are these kids capable of far more challenge than the educational system is prepared to offer? Already, the (so-called) normal kids enter the post-high school world woefully ill-prepared. Are there any tracking mechanisms in place to see just where these special ed kids go? Like my friend, Bruce, are they really capable of a helluva lot more than we dare envision?
j4a
July 3rd, 2011
1:15 pm
Ole guy, you are correct about children placed in special edu classes. They are taught to very low expectations. My preschool child had an IEP and the goals are set very low, such as goal to wear a hat at 50 %, cross street safely 50% , say his ABC’s at 50% ( for non verbal child). I removed my child from school and worked with him and he learned all ABC’s, labeled all animals and sounds, the growth in the two months during the summer was astronomical. The reason for this cognitive growth is because I actually taught and worked with him. In Georgia, special education is a room where special needs children are sent. I would love to post my three year old ( then) child’s psychoeducational evaluation and the IEP’s made for him up until I removed from kindergarten for all to see. Would also like to post the picture of my 3 year old passive child in mechanical restraints taken by the teacher and used on the picture board.
Cliff Claven
July 4th, 2011
9:49 pm
Ole Guy, I am an Interrelated Special Ed teacher and I can only speak from my own experiences. I have taught kids who have taken honors classes (however, in a different subject than I teach). My point is they have been properly placed. Just because they are in a special ed class does not limit what they can do or where they are placed. Often times, when they reached an acceptable level and they student and parents feel comfortable they are removed from Special Education classes altogether.
Cliff Claven
July 4th, 2011
9:55 pm
j4a, you have to start somewhere and then manage the goals. If they can hit 80-100% right off the bat why would they need the goal. We start at 50% and see where they go. Usually it’s a little lower or higher. If in the next 6 weeks they succeed and hit, say, 70%, we’ll raise the level up to 80% for a goal.
And special education is not just a room where they put the kids. As a matter of fact, they have pretty much gotten rid of small group classes altogether. It has many levels and many different umbrellas.