Pissed Off: education today

Showing posts with label education today. Show all posts

Thursday, August 07, 2014

We Lose

Today I spent quite a bit of time talking to a physics teacher from Lebanon. He works 13 hours a week because he has many years experience. New teachers work 20 hours a week. His students stand when he enters the room and say "thank you sir for teaching us" when they leave.

Teachers are respected and graduation rates are high. Students graduating are prepared for university study. He could not believe the stories I told him about Packemin, especially when I told him it was one of the best in the city. He could not imagine a school where students were pushed to use calculators and get answers by plugging multiple choices into calculator. He was astonished to hear how kids with 70 IQ's were suddenly passing all their exams.

The people in charge of education in the US should be ashamed. We might be graduating more students now but our students can't compete with those in the rest of the world. But, nothing matters except making sure schools keep improving test scores and administrators keep getting bonuses for doing this by any means possible.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Walcott Dry Your Crocodile Tears And Face Facts

Newsflash to Dennis Walcott--in his too long term, Bloomberg has made the level of education in this city an all time low. Walcott should dry his tears and look at the system today and compare it to the one that educated his children and, if he can't see a difference, he needs to go back to school.

Back when Walcott's daughter was a student at Francis Lewis HS, learning mattered. She had to go to class, do homework and pass rigorous regents exams. If she didn't cut it, there were repeater classes and summer school. There was no boot camp and no chances to get her friends or to pay someone to answer online questions for her. She worked and her teachers made sure she worked and learned. I'm not sure, but she might have been in an algebra class of mine. I don't think Walcott would have had any problem with the quality of education she received. And, since she is a success today, that reinforces what I am writing here.

Many kids today graduate without being able to perform simple arithmetic operations, write a coherent paragraph, or even be able to read. Under fear of having their schools closed, Principal's are getting everyone out. Kids are taking 8 regular classes, 2 after school classes, Saturday classes and then doing credit recovery work online. None of this makes any sense. A child who could not do well with 5 classes certainly can't handle a course load like this. My former AP thinks every teacher should be able to have 100% of their classes passing. This is hardly a reasonable goal. I've had kids say to me, "If I don't pass, you can get fired." Teachers have to pass them, whether they deserve to pass or not.

Bloomberg's reign has created an era of entitled students who think showing up half the time is enough. I see this in the college. The secretary told me the tale of students walking in, demanding to see the chairperson because their teacher refuses to give them extra credit to make up the homework they did not hand in, the tests they failed and the classes they missed.

I'm not a teacher worried about my job. I've left the system. I've had enough with the bull that passes for education reform. I've had enough of the bright kids getting mediocre educations so everyone can pass.

Walcott, wake up and listen to those Democratic mayoral candidates. I've been in the system. They know what they are talking about.

Monday, August 16, 2010

We Are Graduating Illiterates

Finally, what I and thousands of others have been saying for years. Anyone who doubts the validity of this should just pay a visit to any community college math class. And, it does not have to be a remedial one, although I will begin this post with a few thoughts on some of these.

Last semester I taught a second term remedial class at the college. We began with close to 30 students. From the 30, I managed to hold on to about 20 (and this took great effort). Out of the 20, approximately 8 got through and this was better than average. Many of the students had no idea as to what was expected. They were used to make up exams, extra credit, calculators and being allowed to be out as much as they wanted. They were used to not doing homework. In other words, they got used to being passed for doing nothing and they expected this to continue.

Now, the first real class for credit, the one that comes right after the remedial course, the course taken if the student scored at least a 75 on the algebra regents. Those students coming from the remedial class usually do okay in this class, not great but they manage to get through. Those coming from high school are usually not so fortunate. More often than not, this class is taken at least twice, sometimes more. The students cannot factor, or graph. They cannot even handle signed numbers, yet the high schools have determined they are competent enough to graduate. Even the pre-calculus course that comes next finds these students struggling. The foundation they needed in high school and earlier was never built. Like the buildings built on swamps, these students are tumbling down.

The high schools had to do this. If not, they would have had lower graduation rates and the city would have shut them down. Luckily, the colleges still have standards.

So now more money is being spent to generate reports showing what every high school and every college teacher has known for years. What a joke! What a travesty! What a waste! There will still be no real plan in place to help. Yes, there will be a change in curriculum and there will be something else to hold teachers accountable for but there will be nothing else. Nothing changes but the name of the game.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Obama Aims To Energize Unions Before Midterm Elections

Funny, he applauds the firing of all the teachers in Rhode Island, he promotes non unionized charter schools and blames the teachers' union for many of the problems that ail education today and now he wants our support? The teachers union doesn't count, I guess.

(Newsday only gives article access to subscribers so I will post the entire article here.)

Obama aims to energize unions before midterm elections
August 4, 2010 by BEN FELLER. The Associated Press /

WASHINGTON - Rallying a pivotal part of his base, President Barack Obama pleaded with labor leaders yesterday to energize their members about the upcoming election, depicting a choice between those who fight for the middle class and those who are "not lifting a finger to help."

Obama's political speech to the AFL-CIO's governing executive council underscored the stakes of the November midterm elections, in which his Democratic Party is trying to hang onto its majorities in the House and Senate. Democratic loss of control in either chamber, or even a major erosion of seats, could deeply hamper Obama's agenda.

The president tailored his message to the interests of the union leaders, citing such priorities as fair pay, enforcement of trade laws, tax breaks for the middle class and safe working environments.

And he took a shot at the two-term Republican administration of his predecessor, George W. Bush, saying that for eight years the government held "a profound animosity towards the notion of unions."

Speaking of Republicans and repeating the White House's key talking point of the campaign, Obama said: "They want to go backwards; we want to move America forward. And that's what the choice is going to be in this upcoming election. And all your members need to understand it."

Obama also described the plight of the unemployed in personal, labor-friendly terms.

"That pain goes beyond just the financial pain. It goes to who they are as a person," Obama said. "It hits them in their gut. Having a conversation with your spouse and saying, you know, 'maybe we can't afford this house anymore, maybe we're going to have to give up on being able to save for our kid's college education.' That goes directly to people's identities, to their cores."

Millions of people remain out of work in a deep, enduring recession. The toll has soured the nation's mood and Obama's public approval along with it.

Republicans, out of power in the legislative and executive branches, are eager to seize on the same voter sentiment for change that helped propel Obama to office.

The president, however, is casting the prospect of Republican leadership as a return to failure. And he is devoting larger chunks of his time to do so.

Wednesday he reprised his tale of Republicans who drove the economy into a ditch and warned them that voters won't allow them to do it again.

As for his own efforts on the economy, Obama said: "I'm here to tell you, we are not giving up, and we are not giving in."

Friday, October 16, 2009

Educational Executioner

I miss my team teaching class and my team teaching partner. We were so good together. We planned on taking the four term algebra class and making them a two term class. We knew, working together, we could do it successfully. The kids in that class had their second test this week. She told me they are all doing great and the plan would have worked, and then ...(you'll have to click here and have access to read the rest.)

(Continue here after reading the other blog.)

Some of these kids could be candidates for an advanced regents diploma but tracking their math classes this way will probably eliminate this possibility.

Even if by some miracle, I could get that class back, it would be too late. The kids in the class I picked up have also been jerked around and it would be cruel to change teachers on them again.

Bloomberg calls himself the educational mayor. I say he is the education executioner. Our school is too big. Kids are not being put in classes correctly and there aren't enough of the correct classes to go around. Every day more and more kids are having their educational options cut short because of the ills this man has foisted on public education. He talks about accountability. Well, he should be accountable for the things Packemin HS students and students around the city are being forced to endure. Things might not have been great when Thompson was head of the BOE, but they were never as bad as they are today.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Reflections

What good is a high school diploma given to a kid still can't read or write or do simple math?

What good is a high school diploma given to a kid whose teacher has been persuaded to pass him even though he has been absent 30 times, does not homework and is disrespectful?

Ask Bloomberg. He'll tell you that he is increasing graduation rates in NYC. He's moving them off the education budget and into the welfare budget.

But, he is the education mayor. He must be doing something right.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

My Saturday Rant

I probably shouldn't be writing this, but after reading Chaz's last post, I have to.

Schools are in serious trouble. Many of the kids are incapable of learning what we are required to teach them. Vocational and general education programs were eliminated because they were used as dumping grounds and were stratified racially.

The kids are not learning and not succeeding. My racially diverse school has kids failing, kids representing all ethnic groups. And, while vocational programs might have been segregated, lower level classes, repeater classes and advanced placement classes are segregated as well. We've done away with the programs but not with the racial issues when we did away with these schools.

Goals seems to be the new catch phrase that will help everyone succeed. A girl in the tenth grade, whose goal is to have an organized notebook, will never be able to master any levels of higher learning. The same is true about the eleventh grade boy whose goal is to come to class daily or even the ninth grader whose goal is to stop being a disruptive influence in class.

The kids are failing and someone must be held accountable. You can't blame the politicians. They sit in their ivory towers and only see the problems, not the causes. You can't blame the principals because they are busy sitting in their fancy offices coming up with plans that sound great on paper but have no hope of working. You can't blame the parents. Education is the job of the school, not their jobs. And you can't blame the child, that would be politically incorrect. Since teachers are on the main front, they must be the cause.

Yes, blame are the teachers. We are at fault. We are the ones dealing with these kids every day and if they are not succeeding, we are doing something wrong. The older teachers can't succeed because they resist change. They won't even try sitting the kids in a horse shoe. They resist the workshop model. They fight technology. And, since most ATRs are older teachers, why bring them back when they will only worsen the problem.

The young teachers, as Chaz says, are pliable. They only ask "how high", when told to jump. And, when they don't produce, they can be shown the door. Without tenure, they have no job protection.

The UFT and the AFT are some of the most powerful organizations around. By standing against education as it is today, they will be standing up for teachers. If the Principals did not have such pressure on them to keep their school an "A" and "well developed" they might be more willing to hire some of the more experienced teachers. These are the people that know how to teach,no matter what the data shows. There were always principals who refused to hire experienced teachers. Even under the old transfer system, they hid openings whenever possible.

The NCLB laws are not only being followed in the United States, they are being adopted all over the world. We as educators must take a stand against them. Not taking the stand is the same as taking a stand against education.

(and all I planned on posting today were my pretty red pictures from Ikea--oh well, ranting is more therapeutic)

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Message To An Educational Scientist

From a comment by an educational scientist regarding credit recovery:

I will tell you a personal story about a kid who may have described as not bright or whatever you want to call the kid. You see David never said much and was completely unengaged with school. When I met him he was close to 2 years behind grade level. He came from a poor family etc. I met David on a whim when he walked by my classroom and saw that I had a computer in pieces on a desk and was trying to figure out what was wrong. He asked me a couple of probing questions so I asked if he knew how to fix it and he said he could try. I left him there with what was basically trash and when I came back I had a working computer. You see David was a prodigy of sorts, with Credit Retrieval & recovery we got David out of school in 2 years and into college where he is studying computer science. I can go on & on about students who have succeeded at the highest levels of achievement based on tapping into something that caught their interest and using that as a hook to drive them to those high levels of achievement. David might have been written off by some people, but David just needed a reason to see why he needed to get a high school diploma and go to college. He was now motivated.

David sounds wonderful and what you did for him is wonderful as well.

A child as wonderful as David really does deserved a second chance, a real second chance, a second chance that would have involved a real education, not just a rush to collect necessary credits.

If we really want to help kids like David, we need to stop insisting that kids like him graduate high school in four years. Some of them need more time to grow up. Abel, a student in one of my classes is currently going to night school as well as day school. He is not studying or doing homework because he is too tired when he gets home. He will not graduate because he cannot physically do the work. And, if he does manage to somehow get seat time, he still will know next to nothing. June, another student is taking two English classes. Her reading is poor and she cannot read two books at once.

So, Mr. Educational Scientist, while I suspect your heart is in the right place, I believe your thought process is not. If we give the kids the opportunity to stay in high school an extra year, we will be doing kids like David a much great service. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

(Comments on the other parts of the response to follow at some later date.)

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

My Sentiments Exactly

(click on cartoon for an easier to read version)