Re: Asians to dominate space too?

Hi Len:

Len Philpot wrote:

I definitely agree with you as to our quality of life, including that
quality *available* to most families (whether or not they take advantage
of it to some degree). Inflation aside, other things being equal,
etc., etc., we're still far better off in many ways than we were 50
years ago. However, there's little doubt that, at least in the areas
visible to me (elementary school), the quality of education has
diminished. The problem isn't the kids (as you imply), but rather the
adults "running" the show.

Remember, though, that the schools you and I went to (I believe we are
at least close in age) were considerably different. In my suburban
school disadvantaged kids, _white_ disadvantaged kids were a rarity and
a curiousity. They were not just looked upon as odd by the kids, they
were talked about by the teachers in not too friendly a fashion, and
were treated, at best, in a condescending, patronizing way. African
American kids? They were shoved off into their own schools that always
had the worst of the worst: handmedowns and castoffs when it came to
resources.

The point is, back then, the schools I, and many other babyboomers had
an easy time. They were required to teach ONLY motivated, well-treated
and nourished students who had the best of everything. YES, things
became more difficult for the schools when they had to begin serving
ALL students.

My observation, however? Most schools do one hell of a job, with some
people choosing to denigrate teachers and schools because of a
particular political axe they have to grind. Teachers are one of those
groups that make fine targets because most Americans don't value them
very much and they are looked upon as essentially powerless (I am NOT
talking about you, of course, I know your dear wife is an educator).



<soapbox>
A part of it, maybe a small part, is due to unqualified teachers, but
that's always existed in one way or another. A MUCH larger problem is
the steadily decreasing lack of disciplinary control available to
teachers. My wife has taught elementary school for 20 years and has had
8 year olds tell her to her face, "You can't touch me." Problem is,
they're right. She can't touch them, pretty much no matter what they do.
They can be sent to the Pricipal's office, even suspended for days, but
it makes no difference. Many times the parents don't even know they've
been suspended, nor care if they do know. Besides, the Principal
shouldn't be there to apply discipline that should have happened long
ago in the classroom before the issue became critical. Plus, there's
always the educational value of the rest of the students seeing Johnny
B. Problem get his problem corrected right there in the classroom.

Again, Len, while this is a very real problem, the GOOD PART of it is
that problem students like this are at least being taught in the
schools instead of shuttled off to some "alternative" like they were in
the good old days. While I feel for teachers, too, there seems to be a
distinct lack of commonsense (amongst administrators) about how to
handle problems. In the past, what would have earned a student
detention now calls for a felony arrest. I am not exaggerating.


There are, of course, good students and good parents but the
(perceived?) fear of litigation, bad PR and whatnot has gradually taken
away disciplinary authority based on judgmental discretion (and the
supervisory support for it), replacing it with procedures, forms and
programs. That way, no one is ever ultimately responsible for anything -
They have the checked-off forms to prove it. And in the process, the
educational experience is suffering.

I think THE most harmful thing for the educational process at the
moment is not discipline, but the emphasis on measurement. I don't know
about your area, but here the teachers can do little but teach these
tests (which were decreed by politicians for political reasons).



My wife has taught Special Ed and has an autistic class this year. She
spends more time on paperwork, plans and other useless distractions than
she does no actually teaching the students (and that's no exaggeration).
These ideas largely come from bureaucrats in the educational system that
have little if any practical experience in the classroom, but have the
authority to tell teachers how to do their jobs. And of course, we all
know how that situation couples nicely with subsonic pay grades...

Problem is, I don't see it getting any better until parents get over
their "My little Johnny /can't/ have misbehaved!" denial mentality and
allow teachers disciplinary control in their classrooms. And it will
have to happen on a large scale before anything changes.
</soapbox>

Well, I guess I've ranted enough. Besides, all that has nothing to do
with Asians, nor Icelanders, for that matter ... :-)

I don't have the answers, far from it. In fact, all I can say is that
the kids who come through my university classes are good kids and smart
kids. And there seems to be plenty of them. ;-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of: _Choosing and Using an SCT_, and _The Urban Astronomers's
Guide_.
_http://members.aol.com/rmollise/index.html_
(http://members.aol.com/rmollise/index.html)

.

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