Franken on education reform ...

[chicagiana]

I do like Franken's topics lately on education reform. But I do think there is a red herring in all of this.

People talk about "the most qualified candidates". Honestly, I don't think it matters. There is an issue of removing historical low pay as a barrier to entry into the teaching field.

However, the notion that having a masters degree in mathematics will make you an excellent jr high math teacher is absoluetly farsical. Teaching is about communication. And exceptional geeks are often noted for their poor communication. One need only deal with their college TAs for excellent examples.

The notion of "accountability" is also a red herring when you don't hold parents "accountable". And giving the students the knowledge that they can penalize a teacher big $$$ simply by failing their class is a recipe for disaster.

Another likely ploy from such reform is to simply award teachers whos students have the best grades on standardized tests. This would be a simple matter of funnelling the best students to the teachers you like and penalizing other with those who are academically challenged. You would punish Mr Carter for wanting to deal with kids who were challenged.

There is some possibilities to track "improvements" that teachers can affect. You would get credit for taking sub-par students and bringing them up to standards. And I would suggest that those benefits follow for a few years AFTER the student is with that teacher.

Finally what education needs more of is DIVERSITY. We need to ditch this notion that every kid is college prep or nothing. We cannot have a society made up solely of white collar workers. Someone has to weld steel and dig ditches. To that extent or vocational programs need to get stronger. AND we need core subjects that TIE IN better with vocational programs.

To a student in geometry, calculating the volume of an abstract geometric shape seems ridiculous. But if you tie it in with a masonary program, it makes a lot of sense to be able to know how much concrete to order. Same thing on the girls side. Fashion design should be a SERIOUS subject and learning to do the business side is IMPORTANT which includes calculating the costs of materials and how to most efficiently cut your pieces from your bats.

Abstractness bores most kids to death. The nerds DO get it. But they're not the ones you need to help.

[clichemoth]

1. Agreed.

I agree with you 100%. I actually wrote a paper for a college class a year or so ago suggesting that core subjects and vocational programs shouldn't be so divorced from one another (I should mention, though, that when I wrote it I was a libertarian and damn close to being a Freeper).

And did you mean Mr. Gabe Kotter or Coach Carter from the Laurence Fishburne film? :)

[chicagiana]

2. Thanks for the correction ...

I meant

"Ooh, Ooh, Mr Kotta, Mr Kotta".

I really think it would be neat to do a "Welcome back Kotter" movie with Mr Kotter as the principle and Vinny (John Trovolta) as a guy coming back to the old (severly changed) hood to teach.