Why educators (and others) behave badly under pressure
Blog contributor and statistician Jerry Eads, a faculty member at Georgia Gwinnett College and past president of the Georgia Educational Research Association, sent me this provocative essay and series of questions about why educators cheat and whether we have created accountability systems that foster such behaviors:
Here is his piece:
This inferential statistician asks a probability question: Who among you think that two school systems in Georgia were the only ones in the nation that engaged in unauthorized test data manipulation (“cheating”) under No Child Left Behind?
I have watched the Georgia events unfold since questions arose about test results more than a decade ago. This saga has reminded me frequently of Stanley Milgram’s research in the 1960’s. See an overview here.
Milgram wondered whether Adolf Eichmann could have “just” followed orders as he testified during his trial. In Milgram’s studies, participants readily administered what they were told were potentially lethal electric shocks to others after simply being told to do so. (The “recipients” actually just acted as if they received shock.) Numerous other studies have confirmed Milgram’s findings (a review of them was published by Thomas Blass in 1999).
In his 1974 book “Obedience to Authority,” Milgram asked, “Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?”
Generalizing his findings beyond questions about the Holocaust, he concluded that “ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.”
Of course, the Holocaust was infinitely worse than any amount of student test results manipulation, yet if the Milgram study illustrates how readily so many will shock others, and if the Holocaust illustrates how readily so many will send others to their deaths, it’s not at all difficult to imagine that some educators might manipulate test scores if pressured by higher authorities.
That’s not to say manipulating test scores (or shocking participants in an experiment) is excusable; it’s simply to suggest that current national accountability policy creates an environment in which we should not be surprised that some people behaved badly. Perhaps we should be surprised, pleased, and perhaps even awed that the vast majority remained steadfast to their core educational beliefs and focused on doing what they knew was best for their students.
Given we’re so incessantly disposed to finger pointing, who in relation to No Child would you choose as the equivalent to Hitler and Eichmann?
Far more importantly, how might you suggest the-beatings-will-continue-until-morale-improves-prone policymakers rethink education policy so that we might begin making public education better rather than continuing to tear it apart?
Will “Race to the Top” correct the mistakes of NCLB or is it just working around the edges of the same underlying approach?
I find this lesson from Milgram’s later work of interest: When a peer, told privately to refuse to administer high shock, was “planted” in the room, almost all of the participants also refused to administer high shock.
Unfortunately, teachers who objected to cheating or refused to cheat were frequently threatened, punished or fired, and others learned that lesson. Perhaps, if teachers were treated as respected professionals rather than as serfs (and scapegoats), they might have been heard when they spoke and we never would have had the sad tragedy of Georgia’s cheating scandals. But then if teachers were treated as respected professionals, perhaps we would never have had the inexcusable travesty of NCLB in the first place.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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193 comments Add your comment
Teacher2
December 27th, 2011
3:21 pm
@Mahopinion, you sound like Good Mother (which was pointed out before on this blog).
Cindy Lutenbacher
December 27th, 2011
3:22 pm
Amen, Catlady. Respect for teachers is a bottom line for me.
Teacher2
December 27th, 2011
3:23 pm
@d-
Want some cheese with that whine?
Confirmed, it is Good Mother!
Incredulous
December 27th, 2011
3:24 pm
@mahopinion. If you;re familiar with medical practices, then your analogy fails. In the instance of wrong scripts, the nurse may lose their job, but the doctor is sued and it is their license that comes under scrutiny, Check the federal reaction to pill mills. In the case of education, the system carefully shields administrators from scrutiny, leaving teachers to take the full brunt of asinine policies.
d
December 27th, 2011
3:30 pm
@Teacher2 – thanks
@mahopinion – Hard to teach if I’m spending all my time justifying some faceless bureaucrat’s job….. never fear though, if your child is ever lucky enough to end up in my class, he or she will do just fine without being “taught to the test.” That is if he or she is responsible enough to actually take an active part in learning.
Teacher2
December 27th, 2011
3:31 pm
@d
” I spend more time documenting what I am doing rather than actually doing it. When I get back to school, I have to go back and copy information that was already provided to some faceless individual at the central office – and I have to do this manually because the form isn’t designed for copy and paste – before adding the current information to it. The sad thing is this data is already available to anyone at the central office. So instead of planning for instruction, I am regurgitating data that isn’t going to really affect future instruction.”
I complain about this all the time. People have no idea what teachers are required to do on a daily basis. We are told what to teach, how to teach it, when to teach it and with what materials. Then the public wants to blame teachers for the result! We do not make any decisions over the most routine school procedures! I spend more time testing the students than teaching the students! It is crazy!
Mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
3:37 pm
@ Teacher2
Yes, that has been said. I have also told you that I am not Good Mother. The fact that you keep skipping that part speaks poorly for your own reading comprehension skills.
Mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
3:42 pm
@ incredulous,
Obviously, you are not familiar with medical practice. A doctor may be sued for ordering a wrong script, but ultimately his license is not in jeopardy. It takes repeated acts of gross negligence to remove his or her license. A nurse, on the other hand, will lose their job and will have their license suspended or revoked with a single act.
Mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
3:45 pm
Continued to Incredulous: Doctors, like teachers, protect their own. Pill mills have nothing to do with an error in scripts, but rather a deliberate action on the part of the doctors and pharmacists who participate in them.
abaccowboy
December 27th, 2011
3:46 pm
I agree with this column that if teachers were respected more as professionals the probablity of cheating would have been low in these school districts. But thanks to NCLB and the pressure for raising the bar short cuts were used outside the code of ethics. This is another sad tale of why we need to reduce the influence of standardized testing in our public schools. The NCLB law and its bastardized version called “Race to the Top” is corrupting the teaching profession. It is nothing but treason at the highest level of education.
Mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
3:47 pm
Hmmm…deliberate act among those who participate in them. Kind of like the deliberate act of cheating on test scores….
Incredulous
December 27th, 2011
3:53 pm
Mahopinion, your responses indicate an inflated sense of knowledge and self importance. You know nothing of medicine, nursing, and obviously teaching. Perform a deliberate act of learning a suject before you spew ignorance.
Courtney
December 27th, 2011
3:54 pm
Myth = Teachers are never fired. Teachers are threaten and forced to cheat by bad principals trying to earn bonus checks for scores. We saw this in Atlanta and it happens in DeKalb and Gwinnett I know.
Milles
December 27th, 2011
3:59 pm
I continue to be appalled at the teachers who cheated. I am a retired teacher from Fulton County and before and after testing we saw and signed a contract, if you will, stating that we did not cheat. Not only that, but we weren’t even to look at the questions. I took my “contract” seriously and did not even dare to peak at a question. How dare these so called ‘teachers’ do what they did and then lie about doing it!
When those children fail a test it indicates further tutoring is needed and that information was denied to them. Again, how dare they.!
The system in Atlanta was indeed broken, and the top-down administrators should be charged, not just the teachers who did such a terrible disservice to their pupils.
Bone
December 27th, 2011
4:05 pm
Kids know they can do anything they want to in class, much less learn anything.
Parents, wake up and smell the coffee! Stop working your way through the pick-up lines in time to make it to Arby’s for dinner! Mama’s on the cellphones talking about nothing to the other Mama three cars ahead of you…you need to do more than just ignore your kid’s grades or doing the work for them the night before!
Stop blaming others and work with your kids instead of working on your own careers and/or worrying about who does what on RHOA!
sparta_bubba
December 27th, 2011
4:11 pm
Hey Folks!!!! It’s MONEY that drove the teachers to cheat, sorry manipulate test results. I’ll bet that 95% of you “honest folks” out there who are so upset would do the same under the same circumstances. You’re told that if your results improve, then you’ll receive extra money and by the way you get to measure your results. If they didn’t cheat, sorry manipulate test results, they should have been fired for being stupid. My company provides cash incentives when my results and the company’s results are good, but guess what? An independent firm measures the results for everyone, not anyone inside the company. And if you think APS and DPS were the only ones where cheating occurred,then dial BR-549 for AAA and ask them to send a wrecker to pull your head out of your ….
sparta_bubba
December 27th, 2011
4:16 pm
This is for you Milles the “Appalled Honest Teacher” I hope you didn’t teach English before your retired. The correct statement is “…peek at a question” and not “….peak at a question.” If cash incentives had been in place before you retired, you would have had to manipulate the test results to get your bonus.
mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
4:16 pm
“Mahopinion, your responses indicate an inflated sense of knowledge and self importance. You know nothing of medicine, nursing, and obviously teaching. Perform a deliberate act of learning a suject before you spew ignorance”
Your response indicates that you have never worked an actual job in any sector that required personal accountability. Nice try. You appear to know even less about the medical field than you do about teaching. I have no need to tout my resume here. Suffice to say that I do speak from experience with respect to all 3 of the fields you listed.
———————————–
@mahopinion – Hard to teach if I’m spending all my time justifying some faceless bureaucrat’s job….. never fear though, if your child is ever lucky enough to end up in my class, he or she will do just fine without being “taught to the test.” That is if he or she is responsible enough to actually take an active part in learning.
There is the rub, D. It shouldn’t be a matter of “luck” that a child ends up with a teacher who holds themselves to a higher standard. Teacher’s unions and districts that hide poorly performing teachers under the guise of tenure are as much to blame for the current situation as they are trying to pass to the parents and administrators. I would think that as professionals, you would want to do a better job of vetting out the teachers that aren’t living up to the higher standards as teachers such as yourself. I can say without a doubt that my children were and are lucky enough to have been taught by some fine teachers, as well as having the misfortune of being stuck with those that really seem to have obtained their degrees from a cracker jack box.
I’ll pass your well wishes on to my children. My oldest is graduating with her BSN this May and has already been accepted in to an MSN program. My middle child is a senior who just received his early admission letter from his first choice of colleges. My youngest is doing surprisingly well in her AP classes despite diagnosed with severe dyslexia at a young age. That might have something to do with the fact that we chose to go with intensive therapy and tutoring rather than putting her in the remedial classes as suggested by her teacher.
Incredulous
December 27th, 2011
4:20 pm
@mahopinion. You’re masquerading. Please do tout your resume’. I have a suspicion that it is as fraudulent as your posts.
sparta_bubba
December 27th, 2011
4:23 pm
This is for you Milles the “Appalled Honest Teacher” I hope you didn’t teach English before you retired. The correct statement is “…peek at a question” and not “….peak at a question.” If cash incentives had been in place before you retired, you would have had to manipulate the test results to get your bonus.
(Not a teacher but caught and corrected my own error, unlike Milles the appalled retired teacher.)
Incredulous
December 27th, 2011
4:24 pm
@mahopinion. You’re masquerading. Go ahead and tout your resume’. I have a suspicion it’s as fraudulent as your experiences.
William Casey
December 27th, 2011
4:25 pm
Fascinating topic. I’ve studied the Nuremberg Trials in detail and reached the conclusion that most (not all) of the 22 top Nazis would have been “normal” employees in 2011 corporate America or Georgia school systems. Normal people can do evil things for the sake of “career.” I saw a lot of “ethically challenged” behavior in my 31 years as an educator. We’ve just explored the tip of the iceberg as far as cheating on standardized testing is concerned. I didn’t always do the right thing but am proud to say that I challenged the cheating culture rampant at Chattahoochee High School in 1995 and was fired as Dean for my efforts, returned to the classroom. It was my study of the Nazis and Milgram’s work that caused me to at long last take a stand. Perhaps, had I been smarter, I could have accomplished this goal without getting fired. Maybe not. In any case, it was worth it.
catlady
December 27th, 2011
4:42 pm
William, you can sleep at night, right? Bless you for doing the right thing. I feel kind of like Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes). When the bully takes Calvin’s money, he says something like, “A lightning bolt would be good about now.”
autoteacher
December 27th, 2011
4:56 pm
Your last two sentences express all I would ask for as a teacher. By the time I retired last year I had all my passion destroyed by administration and principals that were only concerned with grades and their own pathetic jobs. I love teaching and sharing with students. Forcing students to “learn” /Read memorize! and teacher to teach to the test is absurd. NCLB is a fool’s game. Adding the pressure to respond/reach out to parents that could care less was the other passion killer. It is so sad to watch a cycle of entitlement with five and six generations of welfare. The students were great and some are saved by great teachers but those teacher’s are the Harrison Bergeron’s of education.
mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
5:06 pm
@Incredulous-
Though it adds nothing to the course of discussion here, I obtained my BSN in 1987 and my MSN 1994. I worked as a bedside nurse as well as a clinical educator until I obtained my Doctorate in Nursing in 2004. At that point I became the Clinical Nurse Specialist for the intensive care units of a local hospital. I moved to Risk Management in 2008. A large part of my job is educating nurses and doctors in the legalities of the much bemoaned documentation overload.
Whether you believe it or not makes no difference to me. In fact, the only reason you question it is because you know I am making valid points and you are having difficulties with light being shined on the failing educational system here in the state. Teachers are refusing to accept their part in the responsibility of the dismal state of education. To do so would then require that they actually change their behavior. It’s much easier to accept the status quo as long as the checks clear.
ScienceTeacher671
December 27th, 2011
5:10 pm
College Student, you don’t have to take ANY education courses? My undergrad degree is chemistry, but to become certified to teach high school science I had to take additional classes in biology, earth science, and physics.
OTOH, I once took a class in “Teaching Math in the Elementary School,” and some of the prospective teachers in that class had trouble passing a sample 6th grade math test. That’s ridiculous; I’m not sure how they made it to college in the first place.
d
December 27th, 2011
5:10 pm
@autoteacher – you said something interesting there with the “forcing students to learn…” comment. I’ve seen in this blog many times how people want teachers to have students memorize basic facts – multiplication tables, spelling, 50 state capitals etc…..That is the definition of teaching to the test, but these same people say don’t teach to the test. These basic skills, while important, are not what the 21st century student needs, but since so much revolves around the test, there is a sacrifice that has to be made. Students need the ability to think critically – a skill that is not tested, so testing proponents would not see this as important (and current elected officials may not like the result either)…. Students need to understand cause and effect – something that isn’t taught properly because the aforementioned faceless bureaucrats override teachers’ policies on turning in homework on time. I am so glad that I graduated from high school before the era of NCLB and I hope that during my teaching career the pendulum swings back away from this madness.
Jordan Kohanim
December 27th, 2011
5:26 pm
This may fall under the cyberbaiting topic more, but I think it speaks to “behaving badly.”
I’ve heard of some organizations hiring “trolls” to stir up reactions on blogs. It seems this blog has quite a few trolls. I wonder if they are working pro bono.
No names mentioned, so I’m just wondering.
mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
5:43 pm
@d-
How is teaching the basics such as the multiplication tables not an important component of thinking critically? If the sum of 8×7 isn’t an automatic response, than how can a student progress to learn more critical thinking skills? Basic skills are just that, the ones that set up the foundation of all knowledge.
@Jordan-
I love how the term “trolls” is often brought up when someone disagrees with the status quo. The term would be more aptly applied to those who are can’t handle the fact that not everyone agrees with their perspective. It’s meant to be dismissive and shows an appalling lack of maturity and an inherent inability to discuss or debate opposing view points.
Jordan Kohanim
December 27th, 2011
5:53 pm
I’m sorry, Mah, did you think I was referring to you?
Perhaps, just perhaps, this blog doesn’t revolve around you.
Just my opinion.
Teacher2
December 27th, 2011
5:59 pm
mahopinion = troll
Good Mother = troll
mahopinion = Good Mother
Mr Dave
December 27th, 2011
6:08 pm
I think we should go back the parochial school system, that is taught by nuns…At least kids came out of school knowing math , grammar, etc…We need more nuns LOL..and its a heck of a lot more affordable
Mr Dave
December 27th, 2011
6:12 pm
Enter your comments here
Lee
December 27th, 2011
6:14 pm
“…who in relation to No Child would you choose as the equivalent to Hitler and Eichmann?”
Every now and then, I read something on these blogs and have an “Oh my God, are you serious?” moment. This was one of those times.
————————————–
“But then if teachers were treated as respected professionals, perhaps we would never have had the inexcusable travesty of NCLB in the first place.”
Have you not read the blogs of the previous few days? Have you not read about the Dougherty teacher who commented on the fifth grader who could not read?
Perhaps if Teachers and Principals acted in a professional manner and not pass along students from grade to grade who could not do the work, perhaps if they didn’t inflate grades to the point where we have “A” students in college remedial classes, perhaps if schools weren’t graduating illiterates, then you might be thought of as “Professional”.
Until then, if the shoe fits…..
—————————————
What APS and Dougherty should have illustrated is the fallacy of political correctness and how school systems should consider the ability levels of the students when designing curriculum and teaching methodologies. However, to do so would expose the third rail of political correctness, which says that everyone is equal and should attain equal results.
Tell me again how that’s working out for ya…
mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
6:15 pm
Of course, Teacher2. I am a troll because I don’t blindly accept your whining ways. If you are a teacher, I suspect that you teach gym because you have no critical thinking skills at all. That goes hand in hand with your lack of reading comprehension skills. It truly doesn’t matter to me if you need to believe that I am Good Mother. No matter how many times you say it doesn’t make it so. Mahopinion is not a troll, so your argument fails. Please go back and review the guidelines for Socratic debates.
@Jordan-
Does it matter who you are referring to? Did I say this blog revolved around me? I didn’t think so. You and your ilk will continue to refer to anyone who calls you out on your bad behavior by labeling them as trolls. It’s simplistic, but that fits with the rest of your argument that everyone but the teachers are to blame for the abysmal state of education.
What makes me the sad is that you are supposedly representing teachers on this blog. Actually, let me rephrase that. It makes me quite happy that you are trying to represent teachers here. You are doing an incredible job of removing any doubt from the minds of the public that many of the teachers here in Georgia have no business being in the classroom. The educational system needs a complete overhaul. Getting rid of teachers who cheat and teachers who defend the cheating to justify getting their paychecks is just a starting point.
Jordan Kohanim
December 27th, 2011
6:17 pm
“but that fits with the rest of your argument that everyone but the teachers are to blame for the abysmal state of education.”
When exactly did I make that argument?
I represent myself. Which is more than I can say for you, oh anonymous moniker.
Teacher2
December 27th, 2011
6:34 pm
@mahopinion
The comments made were ridiculously stupid. Ignorance is bliss!
Mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
6:46 pm
@ Jordan and Teacher2,
You are both fine examples of what is wrong with the school system here in Georgia. Sarcasm and defecting blame to everyone but yourselves ensures that no meaningful change or improvement will ever take place. With teachers like you in the classroom, things are doomed to get much, much worse.
Jordan Kohanim
December 27th, 2011
6:49 pm
Mah,
When have I been sarcastic? Where have I deflected blame? When have you seen me in my classroom? Besides the fact that I made a comment about trolls (which never mentioned you) what proof do you have that I am part of the downfall of education?
teacher&mom
December 27th, 2011
6:51 pm
IMHO… Jordan K is a fine example of what is RIGHT with public schools. She, along with others who participate in intelligent discourse on this blog, are ensuring meaningful change is taking place. We need more teachers like her, catlady, and ST671.
bewildered
December 27th, 2011
7:13 pm
What a spirited discussion here! I’d like to see solutions offered for correcting our “educational inadequacies”, as opposed to sarcasm though.
Poor Analogy
December 27th, 2011
7:30 pm
The Holocaust and the discussion of Adolph Eichmann
should not be used to explain decisions that educators
make. I find the analogy and the argument made by
the writer demeaning to the Holocaust. The negative
attitudes towards teachers,administrators, and parents
by some people posting comments do nothing to
give insight into the problems,or bring about possible
solutions.
mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
7:43 pm
“Mah,
When have I been sarcastic? Where have I deflected blame? When have you seen me in my classroom? Besides the fact that I made a comment about trolls (which never mentioned you) what proof do you have that I am part of the downfall of education?”
—————————
Please educate me on how bring up trolls, let alone paid ones, does anything to further the discussion. It was meant to be dismissive of anyone who is not a full time teacher. You then continued with your dismissive and demeaning behavior by saying “I represent myself. Which is more than I can say for you, oh anonymous moniker.”
It can only be surmised that the way you conduct yourself on this blog is the same way you conduct yourself in the classroom, as most people aren’t clever enough to hold their true personalities in check. Lucky students who are forced to deal with your tongue if they don’t meet your expectations. I’m wondering what your students, their parents and your administrators would think of your comments here. My guess is that they would be embarrassed for you.
Dismissing and demeaning those with different opinions than yours is one way to guarantee that there will never be an open and honest debate about the educational system. There is a serious set of blinders in place when teachers can’t even admit that they are part of the problem. If there isn’t an acknowledgement of all the things that have gone wrong to get us to this point, then how can the problem ever be fixed? Many of the teachers here on this blog are so busy patting themselves on the back and pointing the blame at everyone else that they’ve completely missed even identifying what the problem is.
One of the things I have learned working in risk management is that sometimes the root cause of the problem has seemingly no relationship to the outcome at first blush. That’s why all problems are dealt with in a multidisciplinary approach. For instance, one of the most surprising solutions we came up with for handling a problem in a nursing unit actually came from the environmental services department. If we had been as closed minded and dismissive as you have been, we would have missed a fantastic opportunity to fix a “nursing” problem with a non-nursing solution.
But I suppose that as long as I am not bowing at the feet of these poor, over worked, under paid “saints” on here, I will continue to be called a troll. Fine with me. I’ll continue to fight to make sure that students aren’t paying the price for teachers who cheat and then pass the blame for their lack of ethics on to everyone else.
irisheyes
December 27th, 2011
8:02 pm
@mah, you don’t know who Jordan is, do you? Search the blog a little. You’ll find out that she’s a well-respected teacher who has gained the admiration of her peers, her students, and the parents of her students as well as others outside of education.
But it’s just easier to shoot the messanger rather than think deeply about the message.
Cranky_Yankee
December 27th, 2011
8:05 pm
I have been teaching over 30 years, NJ, NY, Mass (10) & GA (the rest).
Before that I worked for Singer-Kearfott, I was on the design team that created the targeting system for the Abrahms tank. Works pretty good, huh?
To supplement my income after I started teaching, I designed log cabins for a log cabin kit builder called Country Log Homes while also working on my MA in SpEd.
I have served on local, county & state level curriculum design teams, been active in school improvement ventures and am active in national & international student competitions.
I have been asked to move into administration but that would take me away from the kids.
Bona fides out of the way I think I can speak with a modicum of authority on the subject of education with a strong background in the “real world.”
NCLB is a joke. A political ploy to amass votes IMHO.
Race-to-the-top smells the same (lets have the parents & kids evaluate the teachers along with standardized test scores, who does that pander to?).
Strong teacher organizations help weed out those who do not belong (and there are many) more effectively than admins who, on paper are supposed to be educational leaders but are really sublimated to being discipline officers, have little time to evaluate effectively and whose hands are tied when it comes to weeding out ineffective teachers.
Super-sized schools were supposed to reap savings due to the economies of scale, I haven’t seen it.
Instead, the kids have become numbers, know it, and act accordingly, it is easy to hide in a large mass. Discipline suffers (see Arabia Mtn HS).
A pox on those “educators” who cheated (I’m lumping them all in here, supts., admins & tchrs alike).
Understandable? Yes. Culpable? Absolutely. Excusable? NO!
2 years ago, my principal told me to my face all he cared about was test scores because that is on what his job depends. The culture in my building has changed. I would retire except I equate that with running away from the problem.
There are many problems in education, all interconnected, no one is untainted. Parents who do not parent, teachers who do not teach, legislators who over-legislate, students who look for a way to skirt the work, professionals who are not. It is a societal problem with no one faction to blame. We all need to accept responsibility and do something constructive. Finger-pointing is destructive.
Bottom line is this, you cannot run a school system like a business. In a business atmosphere, you can reject sub-standard parts. In a public school system, we do not have that inhumane luxury.
Jordan Kohanim
December 27th, 2011
8:06 pm
Mah,
I’m sorry if you feel I’m dismissive. It isn’t my intention. I guess I need to work on what my students would call “e-tone.” My question about trolls was a sincere one; in fact, I’d wager to bet you view a few teachers on here conduct troll-like behavior. I have never said teachers aren’t part of the problem. I hope I’m not a troll, and I certainly am no saint.
I’m not perfect. I try my very hardest to be respectful to all my students, parents, and coworkers. I sincerely hope I do not embarrass any of them with any of my publications (here or other places). I have been thanked by many of them for be willing to stand up for my beliefs–parents, students, and coworkers. I feel it is important to come on blogs like this one, under my real name, and voice my opinion. I disagree with finger-pointing. Actually, Good Mother and I agree on a very important point–blaming one group will get us no where–that means teachers, parents, reformers,or students.
I’m not trying to be dismissive or sarcastic; I’m also not trying to deflect blame. I just don’t see how calling teachers “the downfall of education” is useful. I try to point out solutions in my posts, but perhaps I should frame it in more positive language so as not to be accused of “dismissive tone?”
Here’s a possible solution to the discussion at hand: instead of basing a student’s/school’s/teacher’s success on a test score, why not base it on a portfolio of accomplishment? Why is there so much emphasis on test scores in the first place?
mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
:The Holocaust and the discussion of Adolph Eichmann
should not be used to explain decisions that educators
make. I find the analogy and the argument made by
the writer demeaning to the Holocaust…”
I agree that the analogy is flawed, but the results of Milgrim’s study support what we all know to be true. Mainly, that people would rather do what everyone else is doing (and telling them to do) than risk being ostracized and labeled a trouble-maker.
What I find the most disturbing about Ead’s statement is “perhaps we should be surprised, pleased, and perhaps even awed that the vast majority remained steadfast to their core educational beliefs and focused on doing what they knew was best for their students.” Really, be awed about people doing the right thing? What a sad statement about his views of the moral character of teachers. What happened to the expectation that one would choose right over wrong? He then goes on to explain away the cheating scandal by saying that it’s due to teachers not being treated like professionals. Perhaps when they start behaving like one’s, they will get treated that way.
mahopinion
December 27th, 2011
8:29 pm
“Here’s a possible solution to the discussion at hand: instead of basing a student’s/school’s/teacher’s success on a test score, why not base it on a portfolio of accomplishment? Why is there so much emphasis on test scores in the first place?”
Why do you assume that the success of a student is based upon a test score? We can see example after example of students whose educational failings are evident in the real world. I stood behind two teenagers in a store recently who couldn’t figure out what 50% off of $14.99 was without dragging out the calculator on their cell phones. It’s glaringly obvious that these 2 were lacking in basic math skills that would have been evident to a teacher who was paying attention long before their standardized test scores came back.
Have their been any studies that show a correlation between test scores and future academic/life success? At this point, I seriously doubt it. Do you honestly believe that the creators of these tests did it just to make your job as a teacher that much harder? Do you truly believe that reading all that paperwork you are complaining about is an administrator’s idea of fun? The point of all these tests and records is to get a real apples to apples comparison so that fundamental trends can be identified. Complaining about having to do it, or worse, cheating to “improve” the results serves to make sure that no real, positive changes ever occur.
I always laugh when a teacher says “why is there so much emphasis on test scores”. Aren’t the very students you are teaching evaluated on their test scores? Would you give a passing grade to a student who had failed every test, yet they had shown up for class every day? Why should teachers and schools be exempt?
No, the standardized testing as we know it is not the panacea to fix all of the ills in education. But it’s not the bogey man out to get everyone either.
Ana Hale
December 27th, 2011
8:35 pm
Oh my…. all the rhetoric! We’ve deviated from the topic at hand. I guess I’m going to add to the problem….
@mah wrote: I’m wondering what your students, their parents and your administrators would think of your comments here. My guess is that they would be embarrassed for you.
Please don’t rebuke an educated, intelligent, dedicated teacher for sharing her opinions in a public forum. She has the right to express her thoughts and opinions, as do you.
For my money, I’ll take Jordan and her opinions for the following reasons:
1) She’s on the front line – all day, every day.
2) She’s one of the best teachers I’ve ever worked with (and probably will ever hope to teach with).
3) She knows more about education than most people will ever hope to know about any subject.
And finally, 4) I know her students, I know her parents, and I know her administrators… They wish every teacher they come in contact with is half the teacher Jordan is.
Now, all naysayers keep spreading your vitriol. You are a prime example of what is wrong with the educational system: uninformed individuals who think they can do the job better than those of us actually doing it. It is our cross to bear and we bear it every day, all day, and still manage to make a difference to our students.
No thanks necessary.
William Casey
December 27th, 2011
8:42 pm
@Ana: Thanks for your 8:35 post. As to being off-topic, that is SOP here. Many posters here simply spew stream-of-consciouness rhetoric about their own pet topics or how teachers are at fault for everything. This was an interesting topic. Oh, well.