Education is absolutely a hot button issue. We've got Romney denigrating Obama and his consultants in "the faculty lounge," Santorum ripping on public schools because of the "weird socialization" of "age segregation" (apparently forgetting the fact that school children have lives outside the hours of 8:00am and 3:00pm), and of course, Florida's own Rick Scott, who declared war on public schools from his first day in office.
Everything from school lunches to teacher pay has been dragged out into the limelight. When the economy goes sour, it's time for the nation's children to make some sacrifices. No more fresh fruit in the cafeteria for you, Timmy.
Speaking of lunch, you may want to watch this "Lunch Scholars" video produced by a high school student. According to his classmates, there are 53 states, Canada is one of them, and our vice president's name is Bin Laden. After you watch the video, read the comments at the bottom of the article, and check out the link to the Hillbuzz article using this video as a reason to cut teacher pay. And if that's not a good enough reason, the Bible apparently forbids paying teachers more than what they need to stay above the poverty line.
The great thing about passing blame is that no one has to think too hard about any of the real reasons behind educational inequity, such as poverty, lack of parental involvement, child abuse, teen pregnancy, and a whole host of other problems that teachers have no control over. But those problems are too painful to examine. Then we'd have to admit that they exist, and if we do that, we might actually have to put real effort into educational reform.
What might that look like?
"The biggest change that needs to occur is doing something about FCAT. Now that I'm out of Florida, I've come to realize that 90% of the education I remember and actually put to use is from elementary school," said Deanna Leahy, who grew up in Hernando County and now lives in Minnesota. "We spent all our high school years, and a good chunk of middle school, just prepping for FCAT without actually learning anything we should. Technically, yes, all the stuff on the FCAT was below our grade level, but none of us were at our grade level because of it. When teachers have to worry about their job/pay security in relation to standardized test scores, what else are they going to want to teach?"
Rebecca*, who is a teacher in Hillsborough County, states, "Regarding the video, I learned those things in elementary school, because we did them every day. Now, thanks to FCAT and other standardized testing and increased requirements for the amount of time spent daily on reading, social studies in elementary school is often relegated to only once or twice a week for 45 minutes or so. When society deems that subject less important, they don't get to complain about what our kids don't know.
The biggest change we need in education is for society to understand that teachers - from public or private schools - are only the second most important set of teachers our students will ever have. Our parents are the most important. In their earliest years, they look up to you, they value your values, they accept from infancy that you are the pinnacle of human existance towards which they should thrive. And though they become more aware of their options in life as they grow older, and they can evaluate the lessons you taught them and choose for themselves whether or not to accept them, you are their first education, and if you do not take the time to demonstrate the importance of continued learning and social awareness, then school teachers will be fighting an uphill battle from day one."
Jennifer,* who is studying to become a teacher at the University of South Florida, added, "The teaching profession should be a position of respect that is paid accordingly. Student success is as dependent on their home life as it is on quality teaching (and something should be done about it). Cutting funding for education will certainly not fix it, and neither will getting rid of tenure. Just leave the teachers alone to do what they do well: TEACH!"
Educational reform that requires less standardized testing, more parental involvement, and respect for teachers?
Where do we sign??
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