C Role Models Equals C Students

Since my posts have been pretty long, this is actually a continuation of the previous post, where I discussed how President Bush is a C student and a terrible role model for kids. Now, I’m completely aware of how many people in this country do not approve of the president, but there are still thousands of Americans out there that do, and sadly many of them are very influential. Even though the majority of public school teachers hate the president, the school system is not controlled by teachers, it is run by the government and specifically the president. Hmm, what happens when you have a C student controlling the schools, who thinks he is intelligent enough to run a country? YOU CREATE A SCHOOL SYSTEM THAT ONLY PRODUCES C STUDENTS WHO THINK THEY ARE A STUDENTS. That is exactly what is happening in the U.S., children are taught at a C level, a minimalist level, where only the basics are required to pass with high marks. We must develop schools that teach at an A level, where children are taught more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. As simple as this sounds, nothing is going to improve until we force the people in charge to be A students, who are intelligent enough to know something is not working. When those people finally open their eyes and see a country full of failing machines, the same machines that one day will be running this country, maybe they will realize how desperately things need to change. Of course, the problem is the people in charge are C students and they too are machines, unable to comprehend how a generation of dumb children affects them directly, since the school system also forgot to teach them common sense. Yep, the majority of Americans do not have common sense, they cannot connect the dots in life and only understand information based on memorized facts that if not presented exactly how they were in school books, do not make sense. When the people in charge are able to see the bigger picture and begin thinking in a way that reflects on that notion, we will have a country full of A students, and not C students.

Really Bush???

QUESTION: Do you think there’s a risk of a recession? How do you rate that?

BUSH: You know, you need to talk to economists. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible with the people’s money.

I know this is from a few months ago, but I came across it again randomly today and I just had to laugh. I wasn’t laughing because it was funny, or a joke, I was laughing because I’ve gotten to the point of delirium where instead of facing the problem, I just laugh and pretend it’s a figment of my imagination and there is no way Bush is actually our president. I mean really, this is the man that has been running our country for 8 years and he’s still getting away with this shit. Now, Bush forgot to mention as he was JOKING about the U.S. being in a recession, that he was also a C student and probably wouldn’t have even passed if it were not for his daddy. No wonder the public school system is so bad and American’s are so stupid, look who we are letting run this country; a C student, who needed his daddy to bail him out of the National Reserves. The president is supposed to be an icon, a super role model that everyone strives to be like. Personally, if I had kids, President Bush would be the last person I would tell my kids to look up to, or at least one of the last as there might be a few individuals in his cabinet that could give him a run for his money. Maybe if we put better role models in power, we would not have a generation of children striving to be C students.

ONE Campaign Changing the World

As a change of pace, my post today will not be negative, or angry in nature, but instead hopeful. The ONE Campaign is a coalition of Americans from all walks of life, joined together as one, in a fight against global poverty and disease around the world. With the motto “Powered by you,” the ONE Campaign is based on the idea that everyone has a voice and united we can make a difference. The campaign was launched in 2000 by the joint efforts of 11 American aid groups who were inspired by the signing of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which was signed by 189 nations around the world. This coalition of Americans inspiring other Americans is a sign of great changes that are occurring in this nation that have the potential to change the world. As cliché as that might sound, the ONE Campaign proves that we must change the way we think, in order to change the way we act. Since its start, the ONE Campaign has inspired over two million Americans to stand up and demand their voices be heard and now its satellite campaign, ONE Vote’08 is encouraging the American public to insist that the presidential candidates make ONE goals part of their campaigns. Over the past year, ONE Vote’08 has successfully stopped foreign aid budget cuts by having over 100,000 members sign a petition, encouraged President Bush to visit Africa, and had all presidential candidates pledge their support to the campaign. This is what is going to change the public school system, end American isolationism, and hopefully change the world. You may be wondering how a campaign to end poverty is also going stop ignorance, but it’s simple, CHANGE THE WAY AMERICANS THINK. The ONE Campaign asks Americans to think and act as if they are equal to all humans, and not superior to those living abroad. It also asks Americans to see human existence and the world as connected, with every culture, society, and individual affecting each other. When the American public begins thinking this way, they will also begin acting this way, joining together as ONE in order to solve the world’s problems. We must remember that Americans are not necessarily ignorant because of the lack of historical facts they have memorized, or because of their math scores, they are ignorant because of how they think and view the world. If this still does not make sense, I suggest you read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, it is a life-changing book that should be read by everyone. More importantly, we much understand that we are not superior; not only as Americans, but as humans and that this change in thinking is something that must occur with all humans, not just those living in America.

2008 Budget What Is He Thinking?

The 2008 budget for education sets aside $56 billion for U.S schools. This sounds like an adequate amount of money, but don’t forget the growing clock in the corner, $502 billion and counting. So what is Bush’s big idea in his last year in office, that is going to reverse all the harm he’s already caused on our schools? Forcing every student to be proficient in reading and math by 2014 based on No Child Left Behind standardized testing. You, didn’t really think he was going to do something right, did you? I mean why would the President abolish an act that the majority of teachers and schools around the country hate. I guess the White House didn’t get the memo, because they quote, “Under NCLB, States and local school districts have made enormous strides in putting these reforms in place, and the first returns are promising...show that we have reversed a decade of stagnation in student achievement, with scores rising significantly in both reading and math in the early grades”(http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/summary/edlite-section1.html) My favorite part about this quote is how obvious it is, that other than improving scores for younger students, the No Child Left Behind failed miserably. It gets better, $24.5 billion of the $56 billion dollar budget goes towards No Child Left Behind. This is the same act that FairTest Executive Director said is, “Aggravating, not solving, the real problems that cause many children to be left behind.” The extensive study you can find at
<> outlined key problems with the act including,

•The law falsely assumes that boosting test scores should be the primary goal of schools, an approach that has not improved education when implemented by individual states;

• Widespread school "failure" is an inevitable outcome of NCLB's one-size-fits-all design because of rigid "adequate yearly progress" provisions, which set unrealistic goals for academic gains, punish diversity, and ignore measurement error;

• NCLB's school transfer policy undermines ongoing reform programs and disrupts the lives of students and teachers. Heavier sanctions required for schools that do not boost test scores have previously been shown to be counter-productive;

• The requirement that limited English proficient students score "proficient" on English exams is self-contradictory, as is the provision that most children with special needs demonstrate competency in the same manner as other students;

• Education is being damaged as students are coached to pass tests rather than taught a rich curriculum that will help prepare them for life in the 21st Century; and

The federal government has failed to adequately fund the law.

Now all of these points seem very familiar, it could be that if you type in No Child Left Behind in google, you get thousands of articles and interviewers from teachers, students, and just about everyone else urging it be abolished. Let’s recap, there is no evidence it succeeded at all, Bush is trying to require all students by 2014 to pass its tests, people from all corners of the country are speaking about how much it has hurt our schools and not helped them, and of the $56 billion dollars dedicated to schools in 2008, $24.5 billion goes to No Child Left Behind. This is all very strait forward, easy to understand. It is obvious No Child hasn't been successful and the majority of educators are against it, and yet we just allowed half of the 2008 budget slip back into its grips. As the American Federation of Teachers put it, “Flaws in the law are undercutting its original promise. Guidance for states has been unclear, untimely and unhelpful, and the U.S. Department of Education's attempts to make the law more flexible have brought about only minimal improvements” So what did Bush have to cut in order to pay for the No Child Left Behind in 2008? Just 44 education programs including,

•Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants: $770.6 million
•Enhancing Education Through Technology: $273.1 million
•Even Start: $111.6 million
•Tech-Prep Education State Grants: $104.8 million
•State Grants for Innovative Programs: $99.2 million
•Smaller Learning Communities: $90.4 million
•Physical Education: $72.7 million
•Federal Perkins Loans Cancellations: $65.5 million
•Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships: $64.5 million
•Teacher Quality Enhancement: $59.9 million
•Byrd Honors Scholarships: $40.6 million
•Parental Information and Research Centers: $39.6 million
•Arts in Education: $35.3 million
•Elementary and Secondary School Counseling: $34.7 million
•Civic Education: $29.1 million
•Star Schools: $14.9 million
•School Leadership: $14.7 million
•Ready to Teach: $10.9 million
•Comprehensive School Reform: $10.1 million
•Gifted and Talented Education: $9.6 million

Unions Teachers How Do They Get Away With This?

When I was writing my last blog on teachers, I spoke again to the President of the School Board in my former home town. The first thing I asked him was about a part in “Stupid in America,” that mentions how hard it is to fire a teacher, even if they did something as bad as sexually abusing a student. To my disbelief, I was given a similar answer to the one presented in the film that explained a specific case in New York City where a teacher had sent a very sexual email to a 16 year old student and the school was unable to fire him for 6 years, even though he admitted sending it. To make matters worse, while the school was trying to fire the sex offender , he was still getting paid and allowed to stay in what the school calls a “rubber room.” Personally, I had never heard of this term, but it basically is a place where teachers who are under investigation go and hang out, that is away from the students. The film said that last year New York City spent $20 million dollars on “rubber rooms.” Why the hell are schools responsible for babysitting bad teachers, while they are on trial? I’ll let that question resonate in your minds and point out that the school district is also responsible for all the legal fees of the normally lengthy process of firing a teacher. I can only imagine how much a 6 year long trial cost the school, not to mention the amount of press they probably had to deal with.
So why does is a school, that is supposed to educate our children in a safe environment, not able to fire a potentially dangerous teacher? Once again it’s the good old union behind this and a book of rules and regulations that a school must follow when firing an incompetent, or dangerous teacher. Yes, I said a book because that is literally how complicated it is to fire someone, no matter what, even if they are clearly guilty. Even more disturbing is the fact that no matter how terrible the offense is, the union still stands behind the teacher and provides a lawyer and anything else they may need to win the case.
You may be wondering if this is a very rare event, as you’ve probably only heard of a handful of cases like this. Well it’s not and the only part that is actually unusual, is going to trial. Most cases of this nature are covered up by the school, which frequently offers money and other incentives, in order to have the teacher leave quietly. This also means that nothing goes on the teachers record and he, or she can easily go to another district and start working without anyone knowing what happened. When I was discussing this with the President of the School Board, I could hear a sadness in his voice, as he stumbled over his explanation, repeating how costly and hard it is to handle these situations. It was pretty obvious to me, that he had seen this first hand and was not happy about the outcome. After a few seconds, he also informed me that a proposed new law is under review in Oregon that will force schools to put everything in a teachers record and report any past offenses to future employers. At first I was happy to hear this and then I realized it’s actually legal for a school to let a teacher go quietly? I just assumed the schools were breaking the law, but I guess they’re not yet. It’s really depressing and scary when you think about it, considering a proven sex offender could be teaching your 8 year old child, legally.
I’m not even sure I can continue writing right now because I’m so appalled by the school system and more importantly, the union. I thought that unions were created to improve working conditions, not hurt them. How can a union member preach about improving schools and the importance of a good education, when they are draining millions of dollars out of the budget, defending unarguably guilty teachers, and allowing dangerous individuals to teach our children? Not to mention, the millions of dollars being taken away from schools normally leads to good teachers being fired, which is a pretty big contradiction when you think about it. I’m still having a hard time fully taking in just how horrendous this situation is and how the American people can allow this to happen.

What's Wrong With Teachers?

Many Americans point to teachers as the source for any school’s success, and maybe they are right? It seems like a reasonable answer, considering they are the ones providing children with the knowledge that is supposed to lead to their success. If this is true, then shouldn’t improving the school system be as easy as improving teachers, or maybe it’s not that simple.
In my last blog, I spoke about the video “Stupid in America,” which I didn’t mention also talked about teachers. During the video, the subject of teachers was brought up in a variety of situations and from many different points of views. The students that were interviewed commented on specific teachers mentioning things like, “He only teaches for the benefits,” “She could care less about her students,” and “He even showed up intoxicated one day.” As I watched this part, I tried to remember all of my past teachers and although I went to a top high school, I too had experienced many of these things. I specifically remember a science teacher whose short temper and opinionated lessons almost got him in a fist fight with a student. There was also a math teacher who blatantly picked favorites to the point of openly giving certain people right answers during tests, while leaving the rest of the class to fend for themselves. Both teachers should have been immediately fired and yet to my knowledge they are still teaching and probably doing the same thing. I also had some amazing teachers that I will never forget, one of which was let go after I had her, due to budget cuts. At the time I didn’t understand how one of the most liked teachers could get fired over a teacher that kids had been complaining about for years. I later learned how the system works and as the film points out, even the most amazing teacher is still at risk of losing his, or her job if there are other teachers who have worked there longer. That is exactly why my favorite teacher got fired and the two teachers who made it clear they could care less about the success of their students, got to stay. What kind of system does not differentiate good from bad and bases who they fire on length of stay and not competence? It’s definitely not how successful corporations work, or any business of that matter, because why would an employee be motivated to put in the extra effort if they knew they weren't getting fired? In that respect, why would they put in any effort at all, especially since they were not getting rewarded? These are the questions that trouble almost all unified schools and as the budget continues to get cut, so do the eager new teachers, who often bring new knowledge and teaching styles to schools stuck in their ways. Most of the time, these potentially amazing teachers turn to private schools, or give up teaching all together. It doesn’t help that most young public school teachers only make around $30,000 a year, which is not effected by how well they do their job. In this day and age, you can make a lot more money with 6+ years of higher education than a public school teacher.
So if teachers are so important, why do we pay them so little and why do we not fire incompetent ones? The issue with income is a little bit complicated, but I will remind you of the continuously growing Iraq budget in the top right hand corner of this page and the already $502 billion dollars we have spent in Iraq. I bet there is a lot of great teachers that would still have their jobs and probably be paid a lot more, if it wasn't for that $502 billion dollars. The issue of firing new teachers over veterans, even though the new teachers are doing a better job is a matter of the union. The teacher’s union is one of the strongest and most influential unions in the country and it is their rules that make it so hard to fire long time teachers. This is not the only negative effect they have on schools, but I will wait till later to get into that.
Back to the real issue at hand, what is wrong with our teachers, other than what I’ve already mentioned? This is of course highly dependent on the individual and the school district, but there are some fundamental problems that are not necessarily the teacher’s fault. One of the biggest issues is teachers lack of input on curriculum and teaching styles, due to state and district regulations. Why do teachers even have to go to college if they are going to be forced to teach directly out of a book and why do students have to attend class? I know that in college I never went to my classes where the teacher read directly off of a power point. Why would I go to class when I could be reading the same thing in my bed? We must encourage teachers to be creative in their approach and motivate students to share their own ideas. Teachers must also be allowed flexibility with the curriculum and urged to find new sources of information that could relate to the subjects being taught. We must also find a way to reorganize the union and its rules, so that the best teachers get rewarded and those who fall behind get cut. If our children are the future of this country and teachers play such a crucial role in their success, then why do we spend so little on both our teachers and our schools?

Why Do American Schools Rank So Low?

I just finished watching “Stupid in America,” a recent 20/20 special on failing public schools that compares American students to students in Belgium. Although I was happily surprised by the content of the episode, I once again found myself wondering why so many people are concerned and yet doing nothing. As Americans, we are given the right to stand up and fight for what we believe in, which I believe is something we all take for granted. The video showed individuals from all over the country, who are outraged with the public school system and how little their children are learning. What these people do not seem to understand, is that they are not alone and there are thousands of others out there that feel the same way. As cheesy as it sounds, I’m going to say it again, “OUR CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE,” and we must always make them our first priority. Taking money away from schools, should be the last thing considered when making budget cuts. Now I’m not saying that money is the solution to all our education problems, I’m just using it as a metaphor to show how desperately we need to fix our schools.
Going back to the episode, I wanted to address a few points that it brings up. First, why did we score so much lower than the students in Belgium, even though we were confident with our performance? I also forgot to mention that the American students that took the test, went to one of the top high schools in New Jersey and have continuously ranked above average in test taking. With that said, the New Jersey students scored an average of 40% lower on the test than the Belgium students and were unable to answer simple question like what is the Bill of Rights, when asked? The video also showed Jay Leno asking college students, where is the Kentucky Derby held? Sadly, many of them answered incorrectly and it was not a skit.
You would think that even a person that had never heard of the Kentucky Derby, would still guess that it had something to do with Kentucky. In my previous blogs, I’ve spoken about current events, relating education to the real world, and removing standardized tests, but this brings up a slightly new problem. Do American’s not have any common sense, or as many like to call it, street smarts? In my opinion yes, our schools do not teach kids how to survive the real world and most importantly, how to problem solve. This is a perfect example of how vital it is for our schools to re-prioritize what they teach and how they teach it. If we spent more time teaching students how to think analytically and relate what they learn to the outside world, we would not have college students making such dumb comments. It is very likely that those same people, who were unable to decipher where the Kentucky Derby is, attend great schools and probably even earn above average grades.
Again, this is not an isolated problem, it is a problem that stems from the difference between real knowledge and book knowledge. I’ll never forget my friend in high school that was a straight A student, who whenever we went out in public, made a complete fool of herself. She literately, had no common sense when it came to real life situations and would frequently make stupid comments about the most obvious things. As funny as it was at the time, I’ve met tons of people that are exactly the same and I’ve realized this is a much bigger problem than my one sheltered friend. You may be wondering how street smarts has anything to do with how badly Americans ranked compared to the Belgium, as they took a standardized test. Even though I do not approve of standardized testing, I do believe that common sense and problem solving are crucial when trying to find a single right answer from a group. They are also critical in almost all day to day situations in any environment.
How do we teach students common sense in a classroom? We don’t, we take them outside the classroom and give them hands on experience, volunteering, visiting local businesses, and talking to kids their own age with different backgrounds. Most importantly, we encourage children to speak up, ask questions, share their own experiences, and relate new knowledge to as many other subjects as possible. When they are in the classroom, we follow the same guidelines, offering only an outline of subjects and encouraging students to learn from each other and ask questions. Its common knowledge that the best way to retain information is by actively participating in a situation and not just listening to someone else speak.
The reason why students in countries like Belgium and Finland, which is ranked first, do so much better than the US is because how and what they are teaching their children. Students in Finland spend less time in class than any other Western country and remain with the same classmates throughout their learning. So what’s their secret? A recent article pointed out a few major differences in Finland’s education philosophy. Ms Haatainen, a minister in the government stated, “...widening participation in education is the most effective way of finding the most talented students.” and that the economy is best served, “... by having a broad-based, open-access education system.” The Finland Programme for International Student Assessment, “Aims to assess the knowledge and skills needed for full participation in society, rather than mastery of a curriculum,” which is the belief behind their school system. I believe those quotes sum up everything, I’ve been trying to explain about what US schools are missing. Maybe its as easy as analyzing and emulating the schools abroad that have already proven their success.