Another Brick in the Wall?
"We don't need no education. We don't need no thought control." Pink FloydAre we just another brick in the wall? Should teachers just leave the kids alone? Is dark sarcasm in the classroom increasing?
With education budget cuts across the country, these questions just may be a resounding "yes". Consider these events from various districts (read more at this October 2011 article in the Huffington Post):
- Texas town moves to a pay-for-ride transportation system
- Georgia cuts 20 days off of pre-kindergarten classes
- California cuts or decreases art, drama, and music programs
- Pennsylvania schools reduce or eliminate library hours, PE classes, literacy classes
- 120 districts nationally have gone to a 4-day school week
One solution from an executive director of Education Resource Strategies advises districts to "strategically raising class sizes to refocus on teacher quality" (What? More students = better performance?) Other advice includes "changing teacher compensation to be more tied to performance." (Look out, Learning Support educators!)
Just My Opinion Department: I'm just a classroom teacher, so what do I know? Well, I see a bit of hypocrisy and irony in our country's educational crisis situation. State-mandated, high-stakes testing isn't working simply because all students cannot be proficient in all core subjects. REPEAT: All students cannot be proficient in all core subjects. It's a great ideal, but it isn't reality. In reality, we continue supporting high-stakes testing and cut electives, the arts, physical education, vocational classes - the curriculum areas that make a difference in young teen's lives.
Just Thinking Out Loud Department: Consider these aspects of growth and development...
- At a crucial time in our global Information Age, when public schools should have the necessary financial freedom and support to provide students with technology and related instruction on responsible digital citizenship, this financial crises have cut technology programs, support, and training.
- At a crucial time in teen's lives, when moral and ethical choices are shaping who they will become as adults, sports programs that build character, teamwork, discipline, cooperation, and tolerance are being cut or are turning to a "pay to play" program.
- At a crucial time in developing young minds, when cultural awareness and appreciation for the impact (evidenced throughout history and across continents) that the arts, music, and drama have made, the programs are reduced or cut entirely.
- At a crucial time when young teens are deciding on career paths, doors are being closed on art rooms, industrial arts shops, and home economics labs.
More education budget cut reads:
- The 10 Most Painful Education Budget Cuts
- PBS - Beyond the Short Term Effect
- NEA Today - The Impact of Budget Cuts
- President Obama's Fiscal Year 2013 Budget
Louise,
ReplyDeleteYou have such a creative and informed writing style! Your blog design is also so clever and interesting as well as thought provoking!
That said ....
I couldnt agree with your more!
Your post is incredible!
Our classrooms needs to be teaching 21st century skills to students whose jobs have not been developed yet!
Reflectively speaking, all this can be summed up to CHANGE! Yes, education is always changing, but these forces are causing the meaning of EDUCATION to change in our country.
Sadly, our children are at the core of these changes! How will they view their education and EDUCATION itself in the future when they become parents and informed citizens in the community!
How to fight this "brick wall" you ask?
Well, we always have known teacher have a hidden agenda so I guess we will need to consciously use that hidden agenda to teach these student to live in the global Information Age while Washington non-educators continue to duke this testing war out. As for budgeting, I do think there needs to be limit somewhere to a FREE public education because I think some students and parents rely that the school will take care of their child's every need from lunch to health care to school supplies, oh yes I almost forgot, to an EDUCATION that will lead them into the future! But who should determine that limit? I don't have the answer when I see that 2/3 of the population in most communities are paying school taxes when they don't have children. It's almost as if teachers need to band together in an underground society to organize what the students need to survive instead of what lawmakers are recommending. Sounds like anarchy? Well, when Americans wanted free of the British rule, they boycotted what they did not like! Will this all lead to an education warfare to determine what is in the best needs of our students? Is there a clear answer? Who should determine it? What is realistic for our country, community, and each student? Stay tuned!
I'm resigned to doing just that, Jen. Teaching the technology tools and digital-age ethics that these teens need.
DeleteThere's an amazing book, "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change How the World Learns" that addresses why our archaic school institutions CANNOT change...
So I do my little part and hope I can change the world?!
My only thought is to rebel. We need an educational revolution! I'm in!
ReplyDeleteBe right beside you holding up the NO MORE! sign, Kellie!
DeleteI'm in as well. I do feel that we just close our doors and do the best we can with each class that walks into our classrooms. You have to believe that you are making a difference in those kids' lives. YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
DeleteTwo things scare me the most from all of this-
ReplyDelete#1 My children are part of the American school system right now and my biggest worry is what we are teaching them.
I've watched both of my children eagerly enter kindgergarten all smiles and ready to learn. I've watched the spark diminish over the years, to the point right now, that my high school son feels like he just has to put in his time. There is no interest, no motivation, no nothing and that really bothers me. We are teaching kids to take tests right now and that is so far away from what they need that it makes me sick to think of it.
#2 My next major worry is us- we the teachers who are just complacently doing what we are told even when we all know that it is wrong. I'm beyond ready for the NEA to make a stand against testing, class size increases, program cuts,... What are we waiting for? Where are the teachers speaking out? Parents? administrators? The kids are the unknowing bricks in the wall, but what about us? We should know better, but it seems we are right there mortared in next to them.
I had the same concerns about my two boys. Our schools are suited to the world 40 years ago. They aren't serving today's students and needs.
DeleteYes, we are mortared in the wall beside everyone else, unable to lobby or make effective changes. The hierarchical structure, organization and VISION of our school systems has us pigeon-holed!
I think that there are changes being made, but not by enough of the teachers. How many teachers do you have in your buildings that are bringing technology into the classroom on a daily basis and that are changing their teaching styles to adapt tot he way today's learners learn? I guess we are changing, one teacher at a time and it will take a very long time to get everyone to a point that is beneficial to the way student's are learning in todays society.
DeleteI know of less than a half dozen who use technology beyond research and worksheets in my building. Many use technology in their teaching, but are not consistently putting it in the hands of students. Our labs are full of classes due to staff cuts, leaving only one lab available for sign up. And we have 5 laptop carts to serve 50 teachers and 900 students. How is the playing field level? Some kids gets through entire school years with little to no exposure to any apps beyond Office. Sad.
DeleteComing from a former inner city school teacher, I can tell you the state of a school, especially when in disrepair, speaks volumes as to what the community is willing to invest in education and the battles that will be fought for those schools. In such a disposable world, we are faced with the dilemma of trashing one school only to build a new one. This is what they did at the school in which I teach now.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, a recipient of the CFF Classrooms For the Future Grant, my district has lost the funding of support personnel, hardware, and software needed to keep this technology in students’ hands. A travesty itself, this situation has brought forth a new type of funding issue for my school. No joke—our school started collecting aluminum recycling from the community and cafeteria to turn in to gain money. Even more, we have initiated a department where “consultants” sell our own district gradebook application, Simple Gradebook, and our IEP information gathering application, IEP, etc. Students will continue to “pay to play”, while teachers continue on the pay freeze that, despite the cost of living raises in the country, will be in its third year this year. Positions are cut and there is a refusal to fill the positions when teachers retire. However, our district sees a need to continually add administrative positions and extra-curricular jobs.
The budget is cut and cut, but the spending continues to grow. I see education reform the same way we view any public program reform. It has to be done, and it has to be done with urgency and immediacy. No longer are we able to sit by and watch our kids flounder because we are unable to give them quality instruction due to funding.
How can we solve it? Offer early retirement. Oh, that’s right. The state retirement system gave districts a pass in paying their share of teacher retirement and now that it is due, the state wants to collect, reaping more damage to district budgets. Not only that, but if the state offers early retirement, it will bankrupt the retirement (PSERS). 30 and out was not a bad idea, but it should have stayed into law so districts didn’t have teachers who are at the top of the pay scale staying there year after year, costing districts much needed economy. 30 and out would have had a gradual effect on the retirement account, but now districts have to offer their own retirement incentives, which quite frankly are a joke.
It's a catch-22 all the way around, isn't it? You say it nicely, that how the community, or state, views education is reflected in the investment. Cuts, cuts, cuts, and more cuts are not going to improve education!
DeleteTotally agree. Let get rid of the tests! How can you test students which each have a total different personality and learning style and give them all the same test and then say, go ahead take the test and try to get to a certain level that we set. I bet there are governement officials that couldn't even pass the tests. The economy is having an impact on teaching jobs, but I think the districts are getting put up against the wall by the legislators (especially Corbett) and they are making decisions that are very tough one to make. I think there are some districts that are taking it to the extreme and using this time to really lower their budgets and using the economy as the excuse. They are also lower their quality of education.
ReplyDeleteExactly. The buzzword has been "differentiation" for how long? Allow students to move at their own pace, when they're ready. And we also adapt and modify for learning support, which I don't resent at all. But these standard practices are both in direct opposition to NCLB testing. As you say, Chris, every child has different learning styles and intelligences and preferences for performance.
ReplyDeleteI get angry when district retirement contributions are put off, taxes are not raised for years until a big hike is required because payment is due, then the public gets angry, and we look like the bad guys. So rich, we are. I agree, many districts are using economic reasons to cut programs and employees and look good in the public eye.
Sorry to hear that Louise. It sounds like your school should allow the students to bring their own devices to school. It is definitely a cheaper way for schools to bring technology into all of the classrooms. If it makes you feel better...our building doesn't even have wireless!! We are supposed to install it this summer, but who knows with all of the other budget cuts. I can't wait for that, because it will just open up the possibilities in my building.
ReplyDelete