Public Education System Problems

The modern American educational system is filled with an assortment of problems. Many students are not learning much at all. Most students are graduating with less knowledge and capability than similar students in other industrialized countries. Classroom disruptions are surprisingly common. School violence is rampant, including the many violent incidents we all hear about in the news. Even violence on school buses is a tremendous problem.

What is the answer?

In general, the common approaches are to throw money at the problems, and to establish very broad guidelines and laws to solve individual problems of the system. Regarding performance issues, the teachers are generally blamed, and so better selection of teachers and better teacher training are publicly called for. Regarding violence, metal detectors and uniformed police officers roaming the halls are the common “solution.” In addition, everyone demands newer, bigger, more advanced school complexes.

These are all bureaucratic attempts at solutions for problems that arise on a very individual basis. Essentially, some “expert” in an ivory tower somewhere believes he/she has a universal solution for a problem he/she never actually faced in a classroom. Such “experts” have no idea of the emotions that erupt in the classroom, including the teacher, when violent behavior begins. It is a peculiar and frustrating situation to be a teacher a few feet away from two fighting students, knowing that even touching either one could send you to jail. I doubt if many of the “experts” know that feeling.

Such “top-down” approaches to establishing a peaceful and safe and productive environment in the classroom have little chance of ever succeeding. Each student is an individual. Each teacher is an individual. Both should be treated like individuals, with whatever amount of respect they each deserve, rather than as cattle in enormous herds. You might as well take their names away now and just get them numbers, because the education system is essentially telling them that they have little importance as individuals, and they better behave like the rest of the herd if they want to avoid being in trouble. Is THIS the way young people should be “controlled”? I hope not. Such authoritarian and bureaucratic structures and attitudes diminish whatever creativity and zest everyone brings to the table. Don’t I remember that this country was BUILT on the creativity and diversity of early settlers? So why should we move in directions of schools being “armed camps” where any behavior that is “different” is subject to question and doubt and possible punishment?

When I got done reading this I was pretty discouraged, but the great thing was that I found another page that dealt only with suggestions for solutions from all over America.  A man named Rick Kirkham has a website that is accumulating these solutions and it is very, very interesting.  You get to it through Yahoo.com under American education problems and solutions.  I’m just including the facesheet of ONE of many entries.  This is from  a social studies teacher who obviously is a very professional, dedicated teacher.  See below:

In an election season full of surprises and headline-grabbing stories, none may have been more polarizing than the $1 million donation that the California Teachers Association gave to the No on Proposition 8 campaign in October.

Proposition 8, which passed Nov. 4, will return the state to a place where only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized. The union had become concerned that the pro-8 forces were receiving more in donations and decided to rectify that situation.

While a prior $250,000 donation from the CTA to Equality for All (a coalition of gay advocacy groups which opposed Proposition got some media attention, the general response from the public was mild. However, something about the $1 million infusion seemed to galvanize many, especially teachers.

It seems that the public has awakened to the fact that teachers unions donate millions of dollars of their members’ dues to issues that have nothing to with education on a regular basis.

According to teachers union watchdog Mike Antonucci, the CTA spent up to $5 million on five of this year’s 12 state ballot measures, none of which had anything to do with education.

What makes all this even more egregious is that these monies come from members’ dues. The CTA does not poll its members on how it spends its political money; nor does it care that many of its members are outraged by its spending habits, which run consistently to the left.

It always amazes me when people get in a power position and forget that this is a democracy we live in. Bush has done it in Iraq against the wishes of most other countries in the world, and here the head of a union decides how to use union money collected from all the teachers in a state to do what He/She decides is right.  We really need to be very  congnisant of what our chosen leaders are doing at all times, so we can act as a check and balance against misuse.

When I was looking for information on how to bring heroes back into the lives of our students, I ran across this unusual example of a hero.  It was at www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/highway

“One thousand forty dollars:  That’s how much Thomas Weller shelled out to keep his gas tank full in July.  The self-employed 60-year-old mechanic doesn’t have to spend his spare time onthe road, but it’s a hard habit to break.  Since l966, he has crusied the SanDiego highways looking for motorists flummoxed by flat tires and dead batteries.  He pulls up in what was once a 1955 Ford station wagon  (I put it together from pieces”), grabs his tools, and fixes the problem – at no charge.”

reading stories like this one always gives me hope for America.  Despite all the stories of people in high places that seem to have left all decency out of their decisions, there are simple, normal, everyday Americans who do some pretty extraordinary acts.  This particular man saved the lives of a family whose car had stalled in the middle of the highway, and they were waiting inside it for help.  The man took them out of the car and put them behind the pillars of an overpass while he went to call the highway patrol.. As he came back he saw that another car had hit their car and it had burst into flames.  The driver of the car that hit them was killed.  To me, such an example keeps me positive about people. I like inspiring stories, so pass one along if you come across one.

In searching for information on war and peace, I have run across War Child International.  This is found at www.warchild.org/projects/WC_Holland/Israel_Palestine/isra…

I can never get the connection to hook up, so I will endeavor to share excerpts from this article and my feelings about the message.  This particular conflict (between the Palestinians and Isralies) is one that certainly has two distinct viewpoints and both sides have credibility.    First of all the impact to the people is amazing.  The conflict has gone on for over 6 decades, since Israel was first given a homeland to which to bring their scattered, battered people.  Since then there has been a war of aggression against Israel, an occupation of  Palestinian territory, continual violence, great suffering, loss of life and many refugees that are homeless and hopeless.  Both sides have reasons to hate the other side, but they are all commonly related.

“Of the 4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, around 53% are children. They are victims of the violence, not only by being killed or injured by Israeli forces or internal armed factions, but also by being psychologically affected by acts of violence hitting them or their relatives and friends. The conflict has a severe impact of children’s possibilities to live a safe and healthy life, and most of them see their right to education, health or an adequate standard of living violated on a daily basis.”

On the Israeli side, the children live in fear of attacks bby Palestinian individuals who carry out suicide bombings in commercial and recreation sites in Israeli cities.  The fear of rocket attacks and of intrusion of Palestinian militants into private Israeli hoses in the proximity of the border is continual,indiscriminately falling on public buildings including schools and houses.

Because of this the divide between Palestinian and Israeli children is expanding, and opportunities for mutual understanding are continually challenged.  In face of the continued occupation and the radicalization on both sides, the political situation is not favorable, particularly in consideration of the fact that decision-makers in the region frequently fight for their own political survival based on short-sighted policies rather than working toward long-term solutions.

War Child helps many different local organizations financially, but also contributes to the development of the organizations’ projects, by training staff and methodology and knowledge transfer.  One of the projects is a camp which has both Palestinians and Israelis spend weeks together working through the issues that the children bring.  I think that the opportunity for these children to express their anger to the people that are making them angry, and listen to the other side of the issue is invaluable.  Holland has done alot to foster communication between the children, but even in America there is such a camp for young people of that region.   I can understand the huge issues that these children bring with them, but my hope has been expanded when I look at our own country and see what amazing strides have been made between whites and blacks.  If we can learn to quit pointing fingers and always blaming the other side, there is hope for everyone.  Maybe this plague that humans suffer from, the struggle to find fault with people of other races, can be cured if dialogue is kept of open and we learn from and teach from our experience.

I don’t know if any of you are familiar with this company but I have used many of their ideas in lesson plans.  The web site is charactercounts.com.  It is a program for schools on ethics building for young people.  The students I work with really need some direction in life, and the videos and lesson plans of this company are relevent to young people and everyday problems they encounter.  There are 6 basic character traits that are explored, but there are an additional 4 that have been added to the basic group.  I am looking at a unit on courage, but there is one on responsibility, fairness and caring, trustworthiness, etc.  They also have a new addition that involves work skills.  Since you are all planning to teach or are already teaching, let me stress how important this kind of instruction is.  It’s not preaching, but it helps to replace the lack of parental guidance that has become a huge problem in AMerica.  There are few heroes of any calabre with whom students identify. I hope you feel the urgency of the need for some program like this for all kids.

This is just a question about a website I was reading.  It said that someone from Kenya has sent a copy of Obama’s birth certificate showing he was born in Kenya, and that his mother was too young to have lived  the required number of years in Hawaii to have him born as a US citizen.  OK all you bloggers, what significance does this have?  It all sounds so sinister, because it is being revealed secretly without verification.  What kind of effect would this fact have on the campaign.

I found a website at www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculm/units that provides interesting units for teaching all types of writing.  The one I’m writing about is called His Story/Her Story/Your Story. It’s a unit that explores the use of biography as a vehicle for helping students gain a working a personal knowledge of black history.  It involves the students keeping a journal as they read autobioraphies and biographies from various periods in history.  The list of materials to choose from is extensive, and the clasroom activities involve writing letters as Frederick Douglass, composing a diary entry of a freed slave going to school for the first time, interviewing a family member on tape for family history, family recipes, remedies, diagraming a family tree and , writing a skit from one of the autobiographies.  I thought this would be an interesting unit for the high school students with whom I work.  This is  just one idea.  Try the site yourself.

I want to share with others some of the great things you can find on the website, readwritethink.org.  I went in search of materials for teaching  writing, and I found under Elements of Fiction a very helpful set (in poster style) of the elements with extensive explanation for  classroom use. For example, under Characters the poster gives a general definition and then a breakdown of round, dynamic, flat and static characters with individual definitions. Another one explains Methods of Characterization broken down into Direct and Indirect with subheadings of  through thoughts, words, actions, and appearances.  There were story mapping graphic organizers providing different methods for students to analyze writing.  I hope you try this site.

I found a web site that has alot of good ideas on writing topics that are part of the secondary writing curriculum.  It is http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/compar2.txt.  Some of the subjects covered were writing a compare and contrast essay, an autobiography, a fictional diary, a point of view assignment, an opinion writing, a review, a description, etc.  It also gave ideas on grammar lessons.  Each of these subjects had suggested lesson plans and procedures.  I felt it was a very worthwhile site.

Another site, www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view gave excellent writing lessons.  I liked one called  As Slippery as an Eel:  An ocean unit Exploring Simile and Metaphor.   This lesson explores figurative language comparisons formally known as the simile and metaphor. Although this is an elementary unit it was so clever in the way it was presented that I thought it could be adapted to a highschool class with the assignment of making a children’s book.

The chapter had the students move frin their notebook ramblings to the next stage of writing development, expansion of a theme that they noticed in their writing.  Bomer gave excellent suggestions on how to get past some of the problems that students were having with their writing.  Page 79 was really valuable.  Teaching one convention of language at a time during editing  makes sense, even though I too often ten to show too many mistakes to my students. 

In chapter 9, He suggests having our children learn to pay attention to their lives, “crapting themselves into certain kinds of persons by choosing what has been mportantt to them, by deciding what matters.”  His idea of having students work on their life history is interesting.  He suggests writing a memoir of someone who has been special to them or of a part of their own life.  Memoirs have to be deveoped because they contain alot of minutiae, especially sensory detail.  It can jump around, as memory does, from one time to another.