The Tower of Babel does exist amongst us; it’s called public schools

We have various levels of English-speaking students in high school, from the recent arrival who doesn’t speak a word to those who have lived in the U.S. for 2-3 years or the youngsters who never bothered to learn the language well even though they started in kindergarten. The main problem for English teachers is to address these different levels of ESL (English as a second language) within their curriculum so as to satisfy the academic goals established by the state.

When a student uses only Spanish, as is the case in our area, during the time he or she is not in school, we have a problem in the classroom in every subject. I have already written about the failure of the bilingual program in elementary; kids should learn English the way they learned Spanish, by imitating the sounds of adults and associating the words with their environment. There is an optimal window to learn a language that closes after the age of 14, though we can still learn albeit with less satisfactory results at any age. We are not doing a good job of teaching English to those who were born in a different culture.

In any language, there are different stages of learning which go from easier to much more complicated: Hearing and understanding comes first, followed by speaking and, the real challenge, writing correctly. Every year, in English I for freshmen, I check the first essays for improvement. Alas, every year seems to get worse. Students come from middle schools with very limited grammar, spelling, and/or diction. One sentence may very well cover a whole page without punctuation of any kind and it’s not uncommon to see Spanish words intermingled with English ones. People who have learned English as a second or third language, as I have after Italian and French, know that its grammar is extremely easy compared to other tongues.The difficult part are the idioms and the wealth of vocabulary.

The teacher has the unenviable task of teaching English according to a curriculum that assumes the students already possess a satisfactory baseline. That is of course not the case for more than half the class. Some of the struggling learners will pass anyway to the second level where they will prompt the new teacher to wonder why they are not better prepared. Social studies in particular, though math and science will also feel it, require a lot of reading and text comprehension. Kids don’t read any longer, except for some texting which doesn’t count, and are thus deprived of sufficient vocabulary.

As they reach English IV, the seniors are faced with a very difficult challenge: British Literature from 500 years ago. Their teachers, in despair, dedicate part of each lesson to reviewing basic grammar, as students can’t even recognize a noun or an adverb. Unfortunately some of these instructors use teenspeak when addressing the class such “He was like..” “He goes”, misusing the conjunction ‘like’ and misusing the verb ‘go’ for ‘say’. They give the wrong example as they imitate the language vices of their learners.

Very few high school graduates possess the necessary level of English to succeed in college; they have to take onerous remedial classes paid by their hard-working parents and many of those students end up dropping out in frustration. From what I hear the same occurs for math and science, in part due to a faulty language preparation.

The solution is of course to revamp the language teaching program and add a strong preparation in Latin and Greek for obvious reasons. But so many financial interests would be affected that this proposal is dead in the water, unfortunately. Parents should seriously consider placing their children into additional language training during the summer..if the kids are O.K. with it, a tough proposition.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the famous philosopher born in Geneva, Switzerland (as was I) touched a raw nerve in education when he says that society (read parents and family) corrupt the righteous path that children are born to follow. Whether they are born tabula rasa (Locke), or preying on the innocent according to Freud (through the Id) or with goodness in their genes (much more likely), there is no doubt that our kids at times do not fulfill their potential and become antisocial or passive-aggressive or uncaring. Except for obvious causes such as catastrophic genetic mutations or brain damage, human newborns are perfectly designed organisms (sic) who should become model citizens and parents. But not all do, and that’s the crux of Rousseau’s message. As a sad analogy, dog owners who systematically beat their animals create ferocious monsters who may attack their own masters as shown in too many tragic incidents.

Morality and the thirst to learn are, I believe, an intrinsic part of our psyche, but it has to be cultivated and nurtured, just like the body. Although the main goal of education is not to teach moral concepts, that is left to parents, we try to develop their critical thinking to such a point that when they become adults, we hope  they’ll be able to analyze, examine, and understand what makes civilizations prosper and live in harmony. Too many parents have the wrong expectations about school, even parochial and religion-oriented schools. Teachers cannot ‘force’ a student to behave or study; we can only establish a framework and hope the child or teen will act within the guidelines presented to them. Parents have frequent one-on-one sessions with their kids, at least the good ones (parents). Teachers simply don’t have time to do so without neglecting the needs of other students. Yes, we can sit down with some of the worst cases and try to establish a positive communication, but the key is to do so frequently until we gain their trust, a very difficult and time-consuming task indeed. The school system simply does not allow us to do everything we should as I have mentioned before in the Paper Trail article.

One exception was my 6th grade teacher, an elderly gentleman living alone in a large apartment (he invited me there), who took a special interest in me because of my bad grades (or for a hidden purpose). He talked to my parents, actually my mother, and even visited me in my home. I can truthfully state that this exceptional behavior from a teacher in the public school system of Switzerland was unheard of and my wise mother told me later in life that she suspected him of being a pedophile. Luckily for my ego, nothing happened though I remember him caressing my head a little too frequently. Remember, this was the 50′s when pedophilia was never mentioned in the news or in polite society. This man, whatever his motives, did change my attitude toward school in a most positive way.

I still strongly believe that kids want to learn as a result of their natural curiosity; the problem is what? We could try an experiment in one of the elementary schools: We could set up Learning Stations and let the students pick and choose whatever struck their fancy for as long as they wished. This has been done in Germany and later in England: Summerhill is noted for its philosophy that children learn best with freedom from coercion (Wikipedia). The only rule would be respect for the rights of others, again a part of moral precepts that children understand perfectly once we make clear that their own welfare and progress in life benefits from that rule. It is simple ego-centrism, a necessary phenomenon meant to protect the individual from harm. Schools should be organized and focused on  the needs of students and not the other way around.

Forcing kids to learn is conveying the wrong message: School is not fun and school doesn’t care what you want. Let’s see, where  have I seen this before? O Yes! Prisons, of course, and perhaps a few despotic countries. So what happened to democracy?

The next Einstein may well be an illegal immigrant already living amongst us

I was just discussing with a fellow teacher our most important role in helping teens become independent as adults; I told him that I had met an ex-student, a special education one, working in a supermarket packing goods for customers. It was a most uplifting experience as I had some doubts as to whether he could make it in ‘real’ life, considering his low intelligence level and lack of motivation while in school. Of  course, bagging products doesn’t make one financially independent, but at least he has made the effort to get a job and earn a few dollars, a boon for his parents without a doubt.

Too many students lack a definite purpose in choosing a career; they either answer ‘whatever’ when asked what kind of job they ambition or select one that is totally at odds with their level of skills and/or basic intelligence. Law enforcement for example is a glamorous choice for many who envision themselves saving hostages with blazing guns as a part of the SWAT team. Their first year is an eye opener as they discover how many difficult technical and legal terms they have to master. Business is another favorite as they dream of driving luxury cars and visiting expensive restaurants accompanied by glamorous women. However, as soon as they hit accounting, the drudgery of making balance sheets brings them back to earth.

Our youth doesn’t seem to be in touch with reality, with some notable exceptions of course. I discover their lack of information when I ask general questions about our economy and our government. Most of them had no idea that we just escaped a new depression between 2010 and 2013. Even the seniors in our high school seem to draw a blank regarding the recent political news. How can a teen plan ahead his or her future when they show no interest in the state of the union, literally? It is close to impossible to initiate an intelligent conversation, again with notable exceptions, about the United States’  foreign policy, about the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain the current low interest rate, or about a myriad of other pertinent modern themes.

Quite a few of my students bluntly answered my queries with their absolute certainty that the US government would take care of them, a sort of  “Why work if I am entitled to welfare?” All of them were born in this beautiful country and their dependent attitude contrasts sharply with newcomers’ unlimited ambition. I know two young undocumented immigrants (gasp) who graduated from my high school with top honors. One is now in  college where he continues to shine, the other holds two poorly paid jobs (nothing else is available in spite of her enormous talent) while taking free courses at the community college. Both are hoping Congress will legalize their status as they feel 100% American.

Is it only my neck of the woods where conformity reigns supreme among native born teens? Or is it a general malaise all over the nation? Most immigrants are bringing the energy and work ambition that fuel a good portion of our growth and importance in the world. Not passing the Dream Act would deprive us of thousands of brilliant minds which we can ill afford to lose. Their example should motivate many of our high school students to strive for excellence but so far it remains simply wishful thinking.

We give too much to our children: Too much food, too many toys, too much freedom, too little supervision, and, as a result, they grow up feeling entitled to everything without making the necessary effort. School will never be a substitute for parenting; we cannot do the job of fathers and mothers in the little time we have them under our care. The time has come to reform education.. at home.

“We are all close neighbors in today’s shrinking world”

http://mecwrites25.wordpress.com/

A good friend who presents delightful insights and photos from her travels

http://dougsboomerrants.wordpress.com/

He has helped me reflect on several aspects of education through his very accurate comments

http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org/

We can all teach these kids; wonderful interaction through the Internet

http://teachforus.org/

Teach for America produces the best teachers, albeit for only 2 years.

http://thespian70.blogspot.com/

Tech savvy teacher

“If you are afraid of the heat, don’t go to the kitchen“

It takes guts to become a teacher, not just knowledge and how to communicate effectively. Few people realize that facing 25 or more kids or teens is indeed a terrifying experience. I have seen novel teachers use the revolving door, that is, they came, they saw, and they fled, sometimes in tears. They could have become excellent teachers with time and patience. Perhaps the system is faulty as it doesn’t prepare future instructors properly and throws them to the wolves just like primitive tribes which used to send their teens to the jungle armed with only a spear: If they returned safe and sound, they became men, they became warriors. If not, O well!

OK! You are about the start your career as a teacher; your legs shake, you feel cold sweat dripping from your neck, even though you are confident that you prepared your material well. You know you can answer their questions, you trained for months with all teaching methods, for all learning styles. You studied Piaget, the development of intelligence in children, you know what temperament is, what learning disability is, how long term memorization works, what specific learning goals you must meet, and how lessons must be structured. Still, the moment you enter the ‘sacred’ site, the classroom, you feel the enormous pressure of 50 eyes following your every move, analyzing every word, and worse, stripping your soul bare. At that moment, you’d rather be anywhere else than in front of 25 juveniles. You hear every whisper, perhaps they are mocking you, you suspect every half-formed smile, every facial expression, every giggle, and you wonder if they can detect how nervous you are (you bet).

You can react in different ways: some teachers will try to appear authoritarian to impose their will; others will attempt the ‘I’m one of the good guys’ stratagem; still others will make a few witty remarks to break the ice. In every case, they’ll fail to succeed in bonding with the students, simply because kids can detect B.S. a mile away. The only thing they respect is authenticity. They want a leader, a genuine one, a leader who will help them reach the learning goals while at the same time making the learning process as much fun as possible.  They don’t want a comedian, they want a teacher with a good sense of humor; they don’t want a dictator, they want a strong figure who knows how to listen and who knows how to help them academically. They don’t want a mother or father, they already have one, they want an adult friend they can respect and talk to whenever needed.

But how does a school principal detect the good candidates? How do colleges prepare these future teachers to guarantee their success? I have worked with teachers from TFA (Teach For America) and I found them exceptional instructors and mentors. Was it a lucky coincidence or are they really the best prepared educational professionals in the U.S.? Probably the second, mainly because they are the cream of the crop of college graduates, a natural selection that doesn’t take place at local universities.

Unfortunately, this very factor is also the cause of their leaving education after 2 years, a sensible loss for schools in difficult districts (We no longer accept them for that reason). Facebook has allowed me to follow the career of some of them and these ex-teachers have blossomed into doctors, Ph.d’s, scientists, and well placed functionaries in international organisms.

This terrible conundrum, losing extremely valuable candidates because they are too good, is affecting our public schools as they cannot compete salary-wise with the private sector. Out of one hundred teachers, perhaps ten percent can be qualified as outstanding; the others are simply average, ordinary citizens who are doing a decent job but who cannot deliver the superior teaching quality we really need in the 21st century.

We could change all this, but it would require a lot of money, maybe the billions we are wasting on Iraq and Afghanistan..

“Everybody is entitled to make a stupid mistake from time to time”

Schools overall are overreacting to innocent pranks and/or innocuous objects brought to the classroom; the kid who had a ‘pistol’ made of cardboard was expelled: he was only 9 years old. The zero-tolerance policies are hurting students beyond reason, as happened to the poor child who had a nail-clipper in his pocket. Even if a teen phones in a bomb threat, is that a justified reason to put him (always boys) in jail for 20 years? A teacher asked me seriously whether she could ask kids to make cardboard swords without getting into trouble. I understand the hysteria after Newtown but we should be careful not to ruin a kid’s life for one stupid mistake. Don’t we make stupid mistakes ourselves and rue their consequence? Why not send the students to counseling and community service for a year instead of locking them up or kicking them out of school? In another case that shows the total lack of common sense by school authorities,  an 8-year old was playing cowboys and Indians after a class on the subject and, in the hallway,  pointed a finger at a classmate pretending to shoot him: he was severely reprimanded and placed on suspension.

As a whole kids are safer in school than they are at home, where abuse is often prevalent; I have a teen who comes to school mainly to get two decent meals a day, learning for him is secondary. His parents are divorced and the father told his son that he didn’t like him; the mother is hard-pressed to make ends meet in the very small space they call home. Yet this student is no threat to the school or his classmates; he accepts his fate and the help we can provide him in clothing and school material. That is a facet of education that public education critics fail to write or talk about: It’s not just learning to count, read and write, it’s about making sure that basic necessities are met for every student in our care.

One of my kids, special education, spent four weeks overall since the beginning of the year in ISS (In school suspension) because she had excessive tardies and absences. That means she was not in class, did not receive any instruction since all they do is sit in a chair all day long, and consequently did not do the assignments; of course, she is failing most core classes. This is ridiculous; we are there to make sure the students learn and yet we deprive them of the opportunity as a ‘punishment’, instead of doing just the opposite.

Kids who misbehave should be ’punished’ constructively; if they skip school, we’ll teach them a lesson by making them learn what they missed during lunch time or after school. If they had a fight, instead of sending them to an alternative school where they will meet teachers who have no idea what they need, we will provide special counseling and community service while leaving them in the same class with the same teacher. We will avoid disrupting their rhythm and level of learning, unless of course the student is such a difficult case that he really needs a special school in a correctional facility. A teen accused of a serious crime is an example, but this happens rarely. Most kids who smoke a joint, get into a fight, or skip class are not hardened criminals; they simply need help.

Let us return to the common sense policy of understanding and tolerance in our schools; the zero-tolerance approach is teaching our kids just the opposite. Who knows how much resentment toward society they will carry as adults and what the consequences may be?

My Duties Are:

1. Thank the Liebster Blog presenter who nominated you and link back to their blog.

http://middleagedcoed.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/i-won-the-liebster-award/

My sincere thanks to Sharon, the middleagedcoed in question, for nominating my humble effort for the Liebster (from the German LOVER) award.

2. Post 11 facts about yourself, answer the 11 questions you were asked and create 11 questions for your nominees.

See below

3. Nominate 11 blogs who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen.

Sharon’s obviously, a great place to get informed and relaxed.

4. Display the Liebster Award logo.

(1) Which famous people living or dead would you invite to your fantasy dinner party?

Alexander the Great, Leonardo Da Vinci, Socrates (You have to be dead to be judged worthy of making my list)

2) What is your favorite topic to Blog about?

Obviously I write about education since I am still working in this field, but I have been known to write about politics (after all, the word means people)

(3) Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Yes, eating the forbidden food (I am diabetic)

(4) What three words would you use to describe yourself?

Hotheaded, complex, animalistic

(5) Who would play you in a movie version of your life?

No doubt about this one, my wife even says that I used to look like Marlon Brando (alas, what happened?)

(6) If you were to write collaboratively with any author, who would it be and why?

Douglas Child, a guy who really researches his themes in the technospy thrillers.

(7) Is the glass half empty or half full?

My Life? Half full, my wife is the filling portion.

(8) If you had your own theme tune what would it be?

Beethoven’s Ninth, love it

(9) What is your greatest ever achievement?

Not for me to decide, I am biased

(10) What is your favorite film

Avatar comes to mind, but so does 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yes, I am a devoted Sci-Fi fan.

(11) If you could be an animal for a day, what animal would you be

None, I’d be shot the first day by a stupid NRA redneck with a 50 rounds magazine.

(The rest of my duties will be performed at a later date)

For the students, by the students, to the students

Only two concepts should motivate teachers to act: 1) It benefits the student  2) It causes no harm to the student; everything else is secondary, especially the immense accumulation of paperwork. One teacher who trained to become a principal confessed in a moment of frankness that she could no longer enjoy the classroom duties; the bureaucratic paperwork was taking so much of her time that she often stayed till 8 o’clock at night to comply with the myriad of data demanded by the school administration and by the district. Her family suffered as a result, an unacceptable consequence, She now apologizes profusely when transmitting such demands to her teachers.

This excess of forms and requirements is partially guided by the fear of lawsuits, often in the special education area, but it also finds its cause in new administrators who want to shine for their superiors by inventing more and more unnecessary documents. Instead of simplifying the teachers’  load, they make it more complex. And here I naively believed that computers would eliminate paper.

A serious side effect of such abuse is the creation of confusion among parents. As I present form after form for the mother to sign (the father rarely has time to be present), she simply writes her name on automatic control without even checking the statements. I could easily slip an IOU for a considerable sum among all the documents and they would sign it blindly. Trust in my competence? No, simple conformity with the bureaucratic system. If you have ever gotten a new mortgage, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Does all this benefit the student? Of course not, but as some astute observer noted, I believe it was Murphy of Murphy’s law, every bureaucrat creates enough unproductive work to justify the need for a new position.

The resulting tragedy is however much more serious: Many teachers told me in confidence that they would never apply for a special education job; they can see how we try to keep up with the paper trail; just this morning we were all threatened with dire consequences if we did not deliver the forms on time, usually five days after a meeting with the parents. When one takes care of 20 kids with special needs, from making their schedule, following their progress, talking to their teachers, calling the parents, counseling the kids when needed, trying to avoid truancy courts when they exceed their absence quota, taking them to tutorials, making sure they have all the school material, and generally acting as surrogate mother or father, time is never sufficient.

We have trouble finding competent special education teachers due to all the requisites owed the governments (state and federal) and the district; this is in addition to passing three different state tests in which you have to prove that you are able to teach all subjects; for the elementary level, I understand it, but when you deal with high school academic areas, there is no way a special education teacher can be well trained in all four categories of core classes. If by chance he or she is qualified, he or she would make a lot more money outside education: The world needs such geniuses.

Let us go back to the good old days when teaching was fun, when paperwork was much smaller, and when a teacher was able to raise a family and do her job at the same time. It is difficult enough to deal with 25 kids (in elementary) or 140 (in high schools) every day for 184 days. If you think it’s easy because of the long summer vacation, I’ll gladly let you do my work for a week..if you last that long.

“Being a teacher is a vocation, not a job” (The author)

As an informal experiment, I asked 10 teachers in my school to answer the following question: “If you won the lottery biggest prize, what would you do?”
Only 2 instructors answered that they would continue to teach for at least five years. The others promptly said that they would ‘retire’ and enjoy their new found financial freedom, though a few of these emphasized that they would use their money to help society, whatever that means.

Let me clarify that those who had over 10 years as a teacher were the ones who most likely would retire. The two ‘rookies’ quickly asserted their vocation to teach at least 5 more years.
What can we assume from this brief non-scientific survey? I truly believe that all 10 teachers answered sincerely and, in some cases, took advantage of my question to vent their frustration with the public school system. Besides those people who take teaching as a job, meaning they would resign immediately if destiny granted them financial riches, the truly dedicated academic mentors would quit mainly because teaching is no longer ‘fun’ for them.

I have vented my own frustration regarding the interference of politicians and the kowtowing of school officials toward irrational demands made by abusive parents. There is also the growing problem of spoiled kids who richly deserved a healthy spanking when they were misbehaving at home. Our fear as a society that we may ‘hurt’ our children’s psyche by punishing them physically is grounded in excessive permissiveness. Within limits, no brutality allowed, parents should be able to slap and spank whenever necessary: It must be immediately after the misbehavior occurs or else it won’t be effective.

Our whole society is grounded on punishment, whether through heavy fines or jail time. Citizens as a whole behave properly to avoid unpleasant consequences. Remove said consequences and anything may happen. Kids in school, especially as teens, are aware that many transgressions will be ignored to avoid problems with parents. Too much freedom always ends up in chaos, as history has richly shown time and time again.

Going back to my limited informal research, the reason many teachers would gladly quit if they became rich is due mainly to the appalling lack of support for their attempts to keep discipline in the classroom. Without order, no teaching and learning can take place; very little respect is shown by many students toward the difficult task of an instructor. Parents are called and few bother to come to school to confer with the teacher to find a solution. Without their support, very little can be done to help these unruly children.
Many private schools are successful because they can expel any student who refuses to obey the rules. We don’t have that choice in public schools which are burdened with many more requirements than the private sector.

Smaller classrooms and more discipline are needed urgently to help valuable teachers and attract exceptional candidates to the exciting field of education. There is no more important goal than preparing future generations of Americans, so what are we waiting for?

“A superior teacher is born, not made” (The author)

1. “The push for high test scores undermines the very essence of teachers’ creativity and their ability to be responsive to the particular needs of their students, varying as they do from student to student, year to year, and classroom to classroom,” Milner writes. “Their ability to draw from and put into practice their professional judgment is compromised.”
2. Fast-Track Teacher Preparation. Alternative teacher certification programs that push candidates into classrooms without any real intensive training contributes to the already pervasive sentiment that teaching is something anyone can do
3. Narrowing of the Curriculum. A highly-scripted curriculum, while it may provide a useful roadmap for educators on what to teach and when to teach it, nonetheless does not allow teachers to rely on their professional judgment to make the best decisions for student learning
By Tim Walker NEATODAY

1. I have already mentioned the nefarious influence of teaching to the test in previous articles; but I might add to Milner’s opinion that comparing science-math teachers’ results to social studies-English ones is not quite fair. I know of a Social Studies teacher whose students consistently obtain high scores on the respective state test and yet is well-known as an unstructured-let-them-do-what-they-want-instructor. The explanation lies in the low level of difficulty presented by history and geography questions as compared to equations and chemical formulas’.

For some reason, kids see science and math as the difficult and sometimes insurmountable challenge that stands on their way to graduation from high school. You can teach English from any book, pamphlet, or worksheet; after all, they (students) are exposed to this language everywhere they go, even if they don’t read regularly. By the time they reach high school, they have had eight years listening to teachers giving instructions in English (with a few regrettable exceptions). Science and Math, on the other hand, are subjects they touch occasionally and usually with unprepared instructors. The solution would be, of course, hiring teachers who are specialized in making science and math accessible to kids from day one. But of course this means more money and we all know that politicians prefer spending our taxes on the mating habits of bumble bees than on education.

2. Fast-track preparation for future teachers is an essential tool without which we couldn’t fill all the available positions. However, as a product of such strategy, I would certainly recommend stricter requirements such as one whole year of practice under the supervision of an experienced teacher who would decide whether the candidate is fit or not. The only exceptions would be those who already bring years of teaching from another state or country, which was my case.

3. Every teacher in my high school was given a complete, detailed, step-by-step curriculum which must be followed to the letter. Creativity is therefore stifled almost completely except at the senior level which is not subject to state testing. We must therefore conclude, to my unending sorrow, that we are teaching to the common denominator without taking into account the rich diversity of student populations. Their individual needs are simply swept under the rug of passing the test or else. May I mention en passant that less than 50% of freshmen passed the first new state assessment in English with much worse results in math and science?

Granted that these contentious matters came out of the NEA (National Educators Association), a very active and powerful lobby which often defends the worst teachers unions in the country. Yet, in these cases, I strongly believe that they have a point in criticizing government decisions regarding accountability based solely on state results. We cannot attract capable teachers lest we change the absurd image of robotic teaching created by incompetent politicians.