The education system we have is of our own making

Image credit: Pixabay

The Chronicle has a new education blog called “School Zone” with multiple contributors, including Jason Spencer and Jennifer Radcliffe. Currently the two top posts are about parental involvement in schools (written by Ericka Mellon), and the excuses schools give when they don’t meet state standards (written by Spencer). Here’s a bit from Mellon’s post:

So, my first question is, do you think parents are crucial to improving schools, or do you think educators blame parents when poor teaching is really the culprit?

And question two: If you think parents are crucial to bettering schools, how do you get them involved? (I’ll offer one suggestion: Free pizza.)

And from Spencer’s post:

Around this time every year we hear the same excuse from school principals who have learned their campuses didn’t make the grade under the state or federal accountability systems.

The explanation is usually something along the lines of: “Our whole school came up short because four Hispanic third-graders failed the math test.” Or maybe: “We’re a great school, but we’re rated unacceptable because two low-income students couldn’t pass the reading exam.”

[snip]

Just think if your own kid tried using this logic on you to explain why he failed an exam. How would you react if your son said he scored a failing grade of 69 on a 100-question exam because of one question? Wouldn’t you ask about the other 30 questions he missed?

Two interesting posts that are not completely unrelated.

Longtime readers will know that I have my issues with government schools. I applaud efforts to improve them, but I’m frustrated with decades of educrat theory/quackery ruining educational standards, along with the iron grip teachers unions have over school districts.

In the first post Ericka Mellon wonders how schools can get parents more involved. Well, in a very general sense (uh oh! Generalization alert!), schools that are better-off do have a good base of parental involvement, for several reasons, one of which is there is often one parent staying home who can be more involved, through volunteering at school as well as going over the school day and homework when the kids come home. In the poorer areas of a town, schools that might not be doing so well struggle to get parental involvement, because both parents have to work (taxes, you know) or because of a general apathy brought on by decades of nanny-state-ism.

Let me explain my thinking: For years and years, the drumbeat has been that government will take care of you if you can’t (or won’t) take care of yourself. Welfare, medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 housing, government education, etc. We know we have raised several generations of people who think they don’t need to do a thing — government will do it. So why should these parents get involved with their children’s schools? That’s government’s job! How surprising can it really be, then, that some parents aren’t involved?

Then add in a suspect educational foundation (curriculum) and we have a public education disaster.

Next we get to Jason Spencer’s post where he laments the excuses schools give for not meeting state standards.

The explanation is usually something along the lines of: “Our whole school came up short because four Hispanic third-graders failed the math test.” Or maybe: “We’re a great school, but we’re rated unacceptable because two low-income students couldn’t pass the reading exam.”

Parents must be buying the explanation, otherwise school leaders wouldn’t keep using it every year otherwise. I have to admit, I can see how that might comfort a worried parent.

But keep this in mind if your child’s principal tries blaming a low rating on a handful of minority/poor/special education kids. In the examples I gave above, the principal is giving you the number of kids who put her school beyond the failing mark, not the total number of kids who failed that subject.

His point is a good one, but again, not surprising based on the government education system we have in place. For so many years we had feel-good, self-esteem based education that focused little on the basics of learning and more on not wanting to hurt children’s feelings. Giving a child a low grade might hurt that child’s self-esteem — so no failing grades! Don’t use red pens for corrections — bad stigma! Don’t hold kids back — practice social promotion! And now we have the No Child Left Behind program which mandates that schools will meet certain standards (if they want federal money) or they’ll be labeled as failing. But there are decades of poor education that must be undone. Fixing decades of mismanagement and educational quackery doesn’t happen overnight. An entire educational system needs to be radically changed (with teachers unions fighting every step of the way) and public expectations must be reoriented. Educational standards MUST mean something! There must be consequences for not meeting those standards and children will have to toughen up.

Therefore, it is not surprising (to me at least) that schools will find a way to explain unacceptable ratings. Just as it is not surprising that some parents are not involved in schools. It is the system we have allowed to flourish for decades.

BLOGVERSATION: Discouraging Longevity: School District Salaries (Misunderestimation)

(Old) Forum Comments (5)

About Anne Linehan 2323 Articles
Anne Linehan is a co-founder of blogHOUSTON.