There's Only One Fight Here
President Barack Obama today made it clear that he understands what it will take to make our public schools, as he put it, "the envy of the world." In his speech before the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the president called for providing all Americans with a comprehensive, competitive education that begins in early childhood and extends through their careers.
So, of course, the chattering classes immediately concocted a food fight between the Obama administration and America's teachers.
What? You don't see a reason for a fight here? Well, neither do we. The only fight we're engaged in is the one for our children, and we think that the road map the president has laid out is the right one.
So, make no mistake, chattering classes, there is a difference between the last eight years of education policymaking and what occurred today -- namely that teachers' voices will be a part of developing solutions. (And can you imagine if we took all the energy used to divine and contrive political battle lines in this country, and instead used it to help teachers and their unions help kids?) As with any public policy, the devil is in the details, and this time around teachers will play a role in fleshing out the details of President Obama's plans.
The AFT stands ready to work with the president to make America the leader in public education. And we are grateful that, in Barack Obama, we have a president who is ready to work with us.
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What President Obama is calling for are the same tactics implemented by Bloomberg and Klein to repair New York City's failing school system. We need teacher input and community outreach but we also need to make students the focus once again by holding those responsible for their education and future success accountable.
Study after study after study shows that the two key factors in successful education are small class size and parental involvement. Although studies of HeadStart programs are more ambiguous, I add a third factor - early education. Cognitive development research has long-established that children between the ages of 2 and 5 absorb knowledge like sponges - as much as 80% of a kid's lifetime vocabulary is learned between those ages!
Why does anyone bother funding the studies if everyone ignores the results?
I teach at my local community college and have noticed a HUGE difference in the last few years. Students coming out from under "No Child..." have few if any problem solving skills and very short attention spans. The time I see them perk up is when a quiz or exam in announced. "will we get a study guide? what kind of questions will be on the test? can we use our notes? will there be a review?' For this I lay no blame on the teachers in the public school system like the neocon dittoheads do. NCLB was and continues to be a disaster! It may have raised test scores but left a generation without the ability to write a coherent paragraph, to solve a problem after given the clues, and to be curious about anything other than their next text message. We worry about the economy and our 401k's, we wonder where the TARP money went and if the next bailout plan and spending bill is going to stimulate our economy. Well, in my humble opinion the most fearful event approaching on the horizon is a generation of young Americans coming of age whose last eight years were wasted by NCLB.
This was not the fault of the teachers. The mandate from the previous administration to raise test scores or else, was a failure.
Remind me, who doesn't want government so involved in our lives???
What politician doesn't mouth the goal expressed in Obama's "providing all Americans with a comprehensive, competitive education that begins in early childhood and extends through their careers?"
The question is how to implement it and by what means. NCLB has been a failure. Bush's use of nationwide competition as a means of assigning students and evaluating students is stupid (and I very seldom use that word). Center city and many rural schools have different parent involvement, resources, facilities, learning environments, cultural opportunities, community support and culture,etc. A few talented lucky students who get support may be able to rise above the handicaps, but most of the other students and teachers cannot or will not perform up to mandated standards. Rewarding students and teachers who don't have the handicaps, and penalizing the ones who do, will not lead to the ascribed goals and is patently unfair.
The words left out of the goal are "equal opportunit
Fine. As long as it's teachers, and not teachers unions.
I see per usual , there was a snide swipe at the Bush administration without merit and example...
I don't have any idea how to fix our K-12 education system in the big picture. But I do know how our teachers can be helped. It seems to me that our school administrators are not properly qualified and/or their incentives are screwed up. Our teachers need more support from their administrations than they are currently receiving.
For example, I hear teachers constantly complain that they try to discipline students that are disruptive (using cell phones, having conversations with friends, physically threatening the teacher) in the classroom and their administrators will not back them up. This is important because it is impossible to teach a class of students when even one of them is out of control.
Also, superintendents need to be trained in business management. That is what they do every day - manage a business. Yet, most superintendents get to that position by moving up from a teaching position. It is not the proper experience for the challenges of a superintendent job.
Wonderful post! This is a fine example of a thoughtful response. Randi, you're truly a teacher, teach us all to step back and consider the larger picture, not just our own interests. Teach us to understand that there are gray areas, not everything is black or white. I was so heartened when I woke up to NPR and heard your comments, and now see them here in full.
And yes, "The West Wing" took the time to illuminate the complexities of this issue.
Children are our greatest asset. They are our natural resource, they are our future. The people who teach them should be compensated generously. They should be respected, and nurtured and honored. We should demand that they be the best, but we should give them every tool they need to accomplish that.
We need to get our priorities in order, and I think this administration will give us the opportunity to do that if we can be open to it. With leadership like Randi's, I imagine it is possible.
I have to say that for my whole life I have watched teachers unions work for their own security and benefit above all else. The worst result of that is protection for too many bad teachers.
Reward the good ones and please, get rid of the bad.
I truly do hope that we can get beyond that and make something work for the kids because this has gone on long enough.
Sorry, but improving education does not equal more money for teachers. In fact, the whole school marm classroom model is outdated. Kids could get a better education in less time and at a tiny fraction of the cost through interactive computer programs. Such programs allow students to progress at their own pace and receive instant, personalized feedback. The captive setting of a traditional classroom should be reserved for remedial and disciplinary cases.
On what data are you basing your claims?
How is it that 'less time' and 'progress at their own pace' are consistent with each other? Faster, cheaper, but you get to go at your own pace? This presumes that we're wasting students' time, yet we're not seeing kids excel from innate ability.
If the 'whole school marm classroom model' is outdated, why do you think it will be effective in 'remedial and disciplinary cases'?
And, finally, I didn't learn physics from a computer module; I was taught by an energetic, enthusiastic human being who conveyed his love of science to his students. I didn't learn fencing from a computer program; I was taught by a fencing master. Oh, and that computer with the program about World War II wasn't a concentration camp survivor; one of my history professors was.
Beyond that, it's time we stopped funding failed executives with million-dollar bailouts and invest that money in our children and their futures by providing them with teachers and a quality education.
Yeah, kids who have computers at home. Kids who have someone at home who will make them do their work, with their educational programs, instead of going to Heavy Games and playing something more fun. Kids whose parents are teaching them the middle class social skills and language patterns they will need for success.
And then there is the rest of America's population. And since a lot of the reason America stands so low educationally to begin with, is because we allow so many of our children to grow up in poverty, the end result will be to deepen the divide we have already.
...Oh, and to deny our middle class children the socializing opportunities they get at school.
Thank-you Bill Gates.
Perhaps you'd be interested in the following federally funded study that shows -- "statistically insignificant effects" in 9 of 10 products.
"K. Summary of Findings for the 10 Software Products
Tables III.1 and III.2 summarize the context and findings for each of the 10 software products. The tables highlight the main features from the text descriptions and findings separately for the six reading products and the four math products.
The study’s main objective was to assess the effects that using software products may have had on reading or math scores on standardized achievement tests. Nine of the 10 products had statistically insignificant effects on test scores for the full sample (two years of student data) and the second-year sample. One product had a positive and statistically significant effect for the full sample. The magnitude of this effect is equivalent to moving the average student from the 50th percentile to the 54th percentile (an effect size of 0.09). "
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While your kids are edgecatin' themselves at their own pace put Rush and Hannity on the radio in the room wit'em and round out a wonderful edgecation. fer lunch maybe they ken have a cornsyrup loaded twinke and an RC cola and go out fer a smoke befer finshin up there compter lesons.
Perfect pre-emptive strike post.
Jed Bartlet, 2016
Great news that Educators will be part of the process!
However, the Pres needs to check the history on Charter Schools and Merit Pay in Texas, where both have been a proven, abominable failure.
The big O needs to take on entrenched interests on both sides of the aisle!
"Democrats in Congress are trying to quietly force nearly 2,000 children back into the D.C. public schools. One parent whose children are using the federally funded D.C. voucher program to attend Sidwell Friends School along with the Obama daughters told the Post, 'The mere thought of returning to public school frightens me.' But some people just can’t stand to think that kids might get educated outside the grasp of the government. The most honest, decent, and thoughtful Democratic president of modern times, Jed Bartlet, was surprised to find himself supporting vouchers on an episode of NBC’s 'The West Wing.'"
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