Let's Not "Reform" Public Education

[proud2BlibKansan]

Recently, I had the honor of being dubbed a "vapid champion of the status quo" by American Enterprise Institute (AEI) resident education scholar Frederick Hess, a widely published, renowned advocate of the free-market public school "reform" movement, one that has reached the mainstream with the popularity "Waiting for Superman." Hess has published numerous books; he's on the head of national organizations and even hobnobbed with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at a recent event for AEI. To my shock, Hess made time to write in his blog about me, a lowly assistant professor of English at a community college with a blog audience of a few hundred.

The conflict was over a cover story in The Oakland Tribune, in which the reporter pointed out the role that teacher pay played in creating budget problems. Hess was cited as a nonpartisan education expert, which I took issue with in my blog - not because he shouldn't have been cited in the article, but because the reporter failed to point out to readers that he is a scholar for a neoconservative think tank, one that is a strong proponent of the pro-corporate education "reform" movement and that states on its official website: "The government's authority to tax and regulate represents a growing encroachment on the private sector." In other words, Hess is paid to advocate for a fiscally conservative, free-market educational ideology, a fact the reporter neglected to mention, and one that readers deserved to know so they could best evaluate his perspective.

In response, Hess lambasted me, framing me as someone who stands in the way of real reform, a stodgy supporter of the "status quo," the establishment standing in the way of reform. Hess reveals a prevalent attitude among free-market education advocates: that if you don't support their reform - if you don't support a capitalist, competitive approach to education replete with extensive testing - you don't support students, or improving education in general.

Hess - and the corporate reformers, such as Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee - present the public with a false choice: that there is, on the one hand, the "status quo," one that doesn't work, and, on the other, their "reform" movement, which is the only pathway out of our morass of mediocrity. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has unquestioningly bought into this limited conception of educational reform.

more . . . http://www.truth-out.org/lets-not-reform-public-education67006

[mmonk]

1. Recommended because of its truth.

Negated by unrec as usual. My philosophy is more like JFK's (a more traditional approach on how to make education world class). I believe in including everyone and putting the money into stressing education itself and not the re segregation academies and people that want to profit from it. But I'm a traditional Democrat not a "new" one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I used to laugh at the unrec comments but I'll be glad to see that system go away

Just the other day folks were unreccing an OP asking for prayers for a sick family member. I thought I'd seen it all till I saw that. Sheesh.

[mmonk]

4. I wonder what they will do without it?

They might actually have to post something and explain to make their points.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I have believed all along the unreccers are mainly trolls

They enjoy talking about it on several right wing blogs that can't be linked here.

Restricting who can rec would solve that problem.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[snot]

6. K&R'd.

Two comments:

(1) From the p.o.v. of effective p.r., this article spends most of its time repeating the opposition's narrative, instead of creating one of its own--& LEADS with it. The unconscious does not hear the negative; and it might be more effective to lead with the story you want people to take away.

(2) Substantively, people agree public ed. USED to be good, say in the 70's. Teachers' unions existed in the 70's; ergo, they CAN'T be the problem. What HAS changed? After inflation, hasn't pub. ed. been substantially defunded? Both parents now work 50 hrs/wk & can't help w/ homework let alone PTA, school board? Those might be part of our alternative narrative.

[dkf]

8. We used to be good until the Asians stepped it up.

The question is if we can continue to use so much more of the planets resources per capita if other countries are more diligent and are better educated than we are.

[immoderate]

19. Actually our top students measure up pretty well.

Only their top students are represented in competitions. Usually It's USA against Shanghai, not all of China.

When I was teaching math in middle schools, they introduced an educational game called "24." Four students sat at a bridge table. One turned over a card from a deck which displayed four numbers. The object was to order the numbers and add operators such that the expression would evaluate to 24. The first student to figure it out slapped the card with a hand, and recited the expression. Point scored. (Example: For numbers 1,1,3,7 an expression would be: (1+7) x 3 x 1. )

The kids liked the game. So the schools formed teams. At the first "meet" the kids from Chinatown blew everybody away. All their kids had memorized every card so they could "slap down" on every play, and then look at the numbers afterward. They (or their coaches) had discovered a flaw in the game, as there were finite cards. Most of the kids lost the taste for tournament play, but for those who memorized the cards, it became a game of Slap Jack where every card was a Jack. In short, a contact sport. Interest in tournament play languished. The kids who memorized the cards also memorized the answers. They may or may not have had the chance to build the expressions, which was the point of the exercise, not Spoon!.

Some of the reasons should be obvious. From pre-natal nutrition to home libraries, some kids are prepped to do better. You know that reading scores correlate most with property values. I have taught students that, if they could get to sleep at all, would surely have been awakened by gunfire in the hallways some time during the night. School was a bit of sanctuary for them, but they weren't focused on learning.

I had a student who was very smart and went on to a prestigious high school. He came back to visit and said he wasn't being challenged. For this, I was ready. "Jack, (not his name) you are one of the smartest people to come through here. And teachers represent a variety of people. At some point you are going to be with a teacher that you perceive is not as smart as you. How do you handle it?"

Another student was a kind of misfit that I got interested in astrophysics. She was a terrific kid and classic "ugly duckling." She hated high school and didn't return her junior year. A year later, I was in a summer workshop at a city college and she was there. She had talked herself into an early admission and was thriving. Last message after that, she told me about how thrilled she was to meet Freeman Dyson(!!) in person at a lecture. How do kids like this affect our numbers?

Fact is, the graded classroom system we use everywhere, does not serve the best interests of the students. Most of what I learned was outside the classroom. I had better than average support systems. There was a lot of peer education. We "hung out" at the library. There are lots of methods that are intrinsically motivational. Sitting for exams ain't the best.


--imm

[Hannah Bell]

21. bullshit on which you've been corrected multiple times

[maryf]

24. some students are learning disabled...

but we can't give up. ;)

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. 25% of our kids are on food stamps

And the number keeps on going up.

But instead of being appalled by THAT, we are attacking public education and labeling teachers incompetent based on false data.

It's incredibly frustrating.

[maryf]

12. some good points, funding, parental overwork...

Basically related to the system which is sucking every penny for the military industrial complex. Educational advocates have to look at the military budget and lack of an equitable tax structure...Taxing the rich a lot would help a lot, and would relieve the need for the overwork of some and underemployment of others.

[northoftheborder]

7. Very important post to bring to our attention.

Wake up, everybody! Another example of the powerful monied interests taking over, and eating away at probably is what the most important: the education of our nation's children. It looks like they are winning. And what is most aggravating and angering for me personally is: the President of the United States is CHAMPIONING this "reform" movement, indeed had a big part in, if not starting it, giving it huge momentum. Although I have not taught for years, I have a degree in education, and I have watched this turn away from the methods and philosophy under which I taught, (and the way my children were taught,) to this militaristic, rigid, viewpoint of learning, with growing alarm. It is so obvious that Gates, Duncan, POTUS, have no regard or interest in knowing anything about how children learn, even to the point of not having any educators included in their national forums.

Think about how to fight back on behalf of teaching and learning.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Education majors aren't even taught about developmental psych any more

I had to take several courses - in psych and child development. But the new teachers coming out of college haven't had that background. They don't even know who Piaget IS.

That just blows my mind.

[Reader Rabbit]

20. Nor is it encouraged for continuing professional education plans!

I actually had to argue with my district to be allowed to take Neurobiology courses as part of my continuing professional education plan. They kept saying, "But you aren't a science teacher!" I can't tell you how many letters I had to write before I convinced them that understanding how the human brain works might actually be beneficial to teaching and learning! Good Lord, the inmates are running the asylum.


Gaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

[maryf]

11. Thanks!

I'll be sharing! :hi: K&R

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Thank YOU

:hi:

[hfojvt]

14. reform is such a fun word

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/91

the GOP loves the word reform

Posted by hfojvt in General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)
Wed Sep 03rd 2008, 01:57 AM

Bush promised to 'reform' social security - by killing it.

He promised to 'reform' the tax code. In other words, take away its progressivity and call that 'reform'.

It's pure marketing. Take a policy which benefits rich people or corporations and sell it to the idiot masses by calling it 'reform'. It's like a political sub-prime loan. Just sign it and don't bother to read the fine print, and then act surprised six months after the election when you have lost your house.

To quote Dennis Kucinich

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!

[MattBaggins]

15. And don't forget the Boogeyman

Must have a Goldstein to hate and blame for everything.

How would this whole thing fly if they pointed the fingers at the parents instead of the teachers? If they took they same level of demonization, vitriol, bombast and hyperbole they direct at teachers and directed it at parents instead?

The whole damn "Deform" movement would collapse.

[MoonRiver]

16. I think teachers should work for FREE!

Furthermore, they should not burden taxpayers with demands for pensions after 30+ years of "volunteer" work. I mean this is all part of a teacher's civic responsibility for the greater good of society. They OWE these sacrifices to students and families across the country.

:sarcasm:

[hfojvt]

23. this is kind of interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement_plans_in_the_United_States#History_of_pensions_in_the_United_States

The idea of pensions is not very old. I wonder what percentage of workers are covered by pensions. I know that I have not been for most of my working life. And defined benefit pensions are becoming less and less common. They are mostly unsustainable.

[Starry Messenger]

17. k&r

[callous taoboy]

18. k&r

[WillyT]

22. Most Excellent !!! - K & R !!!

:kick:

[kickysnana]

25. Fox 9 Newscaster "Can Minnesota enact enough education reform?".

Sweet straight faced newscaster. I turned it off to stop from arguing with the TV.