03.07.05
Posted in education at 2:47 pm by
It occurs to me that some readers could have taken the No Child Left Behind post a bit differently than I intended for it to be taken. While it was sarcastic and satirical, it was not intended to belittle the opposition to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB ) bill.
Toni, a commenter on that particular post, raises an excellent point. She mentions that while a humorous point was made, it’s not always so funny for those teachers at ‘failing’ schools. In truth, they are entirely held responsible for their students’ performances.
Now, I also don’t pretend that ALL teachers are responsible wonderful human beings that should in no way be held accountable for the job they do. However, it also makes no sense to place the entirity of the responsibility to bring the children of this country up to some stellar sense of what is par.
Some teachers suck. Some teachers rock. No child left behind assumes that all teachers suck, and it’s up to them to prove that they don’t. Some of the teachers that rock have no problem proving that they rock. They simply do the job that they’ve been doing for so many years, and their students succeed.
However, some teachers that rock will keep rocking, and their students will ‘fail.’ No child left behind legislation says that because the students ‘fail’ the teacher sucks. And that, my friends, sucks.
I find it particularly suspicious that the teachers that have proven that they rock come from predominantly white, well-funded, and properly equipped school districts. Claiming that ALL the teachers at these economically challenged schools suck is a grossly racist concept.
I think my biggest problem with the legislation is the underlying belief that failing schools have a personnel problem. To me, this is VERY ignorant of problems of racism and classism.
So, in short, I don’t think that ALL teachers are doing a good job. Those teachers who are doing shitty work in well funded ‘passing’ schools, don’t deserve to get paid the salaries they do. But, it’s also true that teachers doing a good job in ‘failing’ schools don’t deserve the often relatively poor salaries and conditions that they have.
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Posted in education at 2:47 pm by
It occurs to me that some readers could have taken the No Child Left Behind post a bit differently than I intended for it to be taken. While it was sarcastic and satirical, it was not intended to belittle the opposition to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB ) bill.
Toni, a commenter on that particular post, raises an excellent point. She mentions that while a humorous point was made, it’s not always so funny for those teachers at ‘failing’ schools. In truth, they are entirely held responsible for their students’ performances.
Now, I also don’t pretend that ALL teachers are responsible wonderful human beings that should in no way be held accountable for the job they do. However, it also makes no sense to place the entirity of the responsibility to bring the children of this country up to some stellar sense of what is par.
Some teachers suck. Some teachers rock. No child left behind assumes that all teachers suck, and it’s up to them to prove that they don’t. Some of the teachers that rock have no problem proving that they rock. They simply do the job that they’ve been doing for so many years, and their students succeed.
However, some teachers that rock will keep rocking, and their students will ‘fail.’ No child left behind legislation says that because the students ‘fail’ the teacher sucks. And that, my friends, sucks.
I find it particularly suspicious that the teachers that have proven that they rock come from predominantly white, well-funded, and properly equipped school districts. Claiming that ALL the teachers at these economically challenged schools suck is a grossly racist concept.
I think my biggest problem with the legislation is the underlying belief that failing schools have a personnel problem. To me, this is VERY ignorant of problems of racism and classism.
So, in short, I don’t think that ALL teachers are doing a good job. Those teachers who are doing shitty work in well funded ‘passing’ schools, don’t deserve to get paid the salaries they do. But, it’s also true that teachers doing a good job in ‘failing’ schools don’t deserve the often relatively poor salaries and conditions that they have.
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Wendy said,
March 7, 2005 at 4:59 pm
My aunt works in one of those economically underprivileged schools you mention and you wouldn’t be able to tell that she rocks — and she does — by looking at her students’ grades. After helping her grade one particularly dismal stack of failing paper after failing paper, I asked her why her students seemed so, well, dumb. And she told me:
1) Half the girls are pregnant.
2) 1/4 of the kids only come to class ocassionally.
3) No effective methods of discipline are allowed to be implemented, so basically the kids are allowed to run wild and the teachers’ only option is to kick them out of class.
4) No one can seem to do anything to stop the drug problems.
5) The parents don’t give a hoot about most of their children, or if they do care, they’re too busy working three jobs to support to their children to really take the time to be there for their kids.
6) Did I mention there’s a huge drug problem?
There’s only so much that teachers can do. And when the state ties their hands, it shouldn’t expect terrific results. And if the parents are working against the teachers’ goals of having their students pass the class, that make things even worse.
Brandon said,
March 7, 2005 at 6:58 pm
Thanks, Wendy, for your input!
I almost totally agree with your statement. The reason I don’t totally agree is only because I really haven’t any idea what type of administration your aunt deals with.
I’d be surprised if there were NO effective discipline techniques allowed, however, I think that an effective one can be very difficult to implement, and even harder to find.
Nonetheless, I think your comment is spot on.
Martha said,
March 8, 2005 at 2:21 pm
My son attends an expeditionary learning-geared Middle School that is so excellent teachers come from around the country to observe methods and be taught by the teachers themselves. But this school is failing in the NCLB standards. Why, you may ask? Because this unusually diverse (for Maine) school has a large percentage of ESOL students. Many of those students are mainstreamed at an early date due to the great work that department is doing in the school. But the ones who are new can’t pass the tests!!! And there is no way to compare one year’s sixth graders to the next, because the population is so fluid.
http://king.portlandschools.org/index.html “More than 120 of King’s approximately 500 students speak 28 languages and come from 17 countries.”
This “failing school” has created an environment in which these diverse students get along together and don’t think twice about who is from where. The NCLB scores for the elementary school that has most of our ESOL kids are even worse, but the programs are just as successful. It’s all pretty frustrating.
Toni said,
March 9, 2005 at 7:09 pm
Brandon,
It is possible for a school to have no effective discipline. In my the high school where I teach, we have several large fights and almost daily “Springer-like” explosions in the hallways. Earlier in the year, two young men and been in a fight against each other and when they returned from their paltry suspensions, they stood in the hall, before school started, and screamed that they were going to kill each other and that one of them was going to get his m-f Glock to do the job. Were they expelled? Nope, just 3 days off.
missi said,
March 13, 2005 at 10:00 pm
i taught for 5 years in highschools, one in the inner city in Cincinnati and one in the burbs, before i decided to stay at home with my two kids. i don’t know if i’d ever go back to teaching because of the no child left behind act. in ohio, the tests that these students have to pass are incredibly difficult. the district’s administrations are wanting the teachers to ‘teach to the test’ and the textbook companies are beginning to see that they can make a buttload of money by developing new textbooks geared to these tests. what is beginning to happen is that we are teaching students how to think in one way, how to take a test and we aren’t doing our JOB of teaching students how to think, how to learn, how to love these things how to grow as a humans. It’s such a horrible thing. my husband and i are struggling with what to do, we are trying to get our son into a montesorri school where we know he will learn how to learn. It’s a no win situation.
I don’t think the problem can be solved on such a national level. Way back when schools were being formed, they were formed by communities to educate those living in the area so they would be voters who understood what the issues were and would be able to make wise choices for canidates who most reflected their views. Education is not an obligated service of our national government. There have to be better solutions, but God knows that the problem is too big for there to ever be any real solution.
Shelby said,
October 31, 2005 at 10:57 pm
I’m in 8th grade and I’m labeled one of the “gifted” kids at FMS…so what do we get?? “study” partners that are lucky to know their own names and by study i mean you do their work for them so it looks like they know what the f*** their doing. We also get high expectations from everyone so if we fail it hits us WAY WAY WAYYYY harder than it would any other human being living in our wasteland. I skipped the second half of algebra one day because we were doin the same stuff over and over but do you know what happens to me?? I get threatened to be kicked out of school because I’m a role model (why cant they just kick every kid out of school who’s bored…I’d rather teach myself everything)…SOO I go to my next hour class and I argue with the teacher about No Child Left Behind…in the end I am wrong because the teacher said so and she can send my a$$ down to the principal again::Moral of the story…don’t give a damn about your education…suck up to teachers…and SCREW THE F**KIN NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND BULLSHIT because all it does is get you suspended:D