The Perils of Inadequate Education

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     I read a satirical piece today that, unfortunately, had a tidbit of the truth in its biting satire.  The piece listed that thing that each state does very badly.  It listed Washington State as being the worst at "loving Justin Bieber" but it listed my current state, North Carolina as being THE WORST at education.  Unfortunately, the more I see and my kids and students experience, the more truth I see in that statement.  Being a teacher is increasingly difficult in a place where education is not valued.  That is not to say, of course, that North Carolina is alone in its devaluation of education, but it is making decisions on a regular basis which will affect many young people, educators and citizens in North Carolina for many, many years to come.
     The athletic and academic scandals at the University of North Carolina could have been brought to light before DECADES had passed, but it was more convenient and profitable for all involved (including the unfortunate students) to put their attention on athletics rather than on the pursuit of knowledge.  What kind of "educator" could roll over and let student after student get grades for classes and material that did not even exist?  I cannot even imagine being in a situation where that would be an acceptable option.  And, I must say, at this point, that I have been in some pretty disturbing and desperate situations in my life, and none would have warranted being involved in such a thing.
     So, the very foundations of education and the pursuit of knowledge have been shaken, as has my faith that there are politicians and voters in my adopted state that have any interest in what happens to anyone else, just as long as their pockets have been filled.  It has taken a steady decline in education here for me to realize that change will not be enacted easily nor willingly.  I have colleagues in many states and cities, and their plights of "teaching to the test" and not having the time to impart knowledge are very similar to my own.
     Education, knowledge and problem-solving skills are essential our success as citizens, human beings and brothers and sisters in the fight for the survival of our planet and our species.  If there are not people in power here and in other world governments who do not recognize this, it is time for each and every one of us to do our part to make sure that new people with these goals in mind are installed at the earliest opportunity.
   

Ed.D. vs. Ph.D. and...WHO SAYS ONE CANNOT WISH TO PRACTICE AND RESEARCH?!?!

     Ok, so I am old.  I finished my undergraduate work in the 20th century.  That being said, I finished a master's degree in teaching with a concentration in ESL at the top of my class only weeks ago.  And, the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education is nothing to sneeze at.  I began an Ed.D. program several weeks ago and, though I anticipate that I will learn a lot about transformative leadership eventually, it has seemed like an unending cycle of writing assignments with no feedback beyond a perfect score and "Great ideas!" or "Excellent point!"
     When I applied to the doctoral program, I was told that my essay of intent was the best that the committee had ever seen for the doctoral program, but that I would be required to take THREE TERMS of scholarly writing.  I do not mind writing.  I actually LOVE writing, but that seems  TOTAL waste of the professor's and my time.  I understand that they cannot gauge my writing from several application essays and a 35 page writing sample, but as of yet, I have not had one single point deducted for content, style, APA format nor any other criteria.  The writing of many of my colleagues in the program gives me pause, but their writing quality does not affect me.
     I need to give a little background information before embarking on my next plane of resistance.  I went to a very very conservative, strict all-girls private Catholic high school in Washington, DC.  This was a 180 degree change from my parish church which was presided over by Jesuit priests, who have long been touted as the most liberal of all Catholic orders.  Upon entering high school, I went into culture shock, but I was 14 and at that age, I was very malleable and eager to learn anything and everything in any context.  Even considering the stiflingly religious tone of everything and the BEYOND repressive uniforms and social agenda, I know for a fact that I got an education far surpassing anyone that I have ever met.  Now,  that is not to say that all of my classmates received the same.  A vessel can only be filled when it is at the ready.  I was starving for knowledge and I filled up every day.  I can still recall the information that I learned in my high school so many years ago.  I adapted wholly into the religious climate and social agenda of the school, I took four years of Latin and remained after school to take AP classes which were not offered during the school day.  this is all to say that i am not anti-religious, blasphemic nor anti-Christian.
     I am in  doctoral program for transformative leadership in education at a  Christian-principled university.  Having n undergraduate degree in philosophy, I know that a study of ethics requires a foray into Christian thought on the matter.  However, writings which usurp the basic human dignity and moral clarity of non-Christians for the sake of making a point are not inherently Christian.  Christianity is not a label synonymous with hateful, bigoted, oppressive or narrow-minded.  In fact, from what I have read, Christ Himself exhorted acceptance of those with ideas different from one's own.
     I do not take issue with the original works, as many are rather dated and one must consider the historical and social contexts in which they were written (Kant, Bonhoeffer, Rawls, Mills), but with the narrow-minded, selective interpretations of the writings which are so common.  Not only is it academically unsound to remove a selection from its and its author's context in order to reword it as a racist, sexist or religious rant, but it is wholly unethical.  In the context of a doctoral course on ethics, it should be cause for alarm.
     One takes a doctorate in education, especially in leadership, for many reasons, none of which should be to force-feed one's own religious fervor down someone else's throat until he or she gags.  I, for one, want to see a grand pedagogical shift toward showing our students their worth and capabilities rather than their lack of ability (the current focus via Common Core, mandated testing, etc.).  I want to show teachers how to do it and I want to show kids how to believe it.  I also want to pursue research in educational equity and access, along with the preservation of the home cultures of language minority students.  That will require a Ph.D. at some point, but the end is so valuable to future generations that it seems well worth the effort.

   

Paolo Freire is Alive and Well and Eating Barbacoa in Los Angeles

     Well, not literally....

     It has been quite a while since I have jotted down my thoughts on the plight of our young people in schools in the United States.  I guess there are not too many people interested in this sort of thing, but I sincerely would like to see that change.  I became more aware of how negative mindsets can affect our students through an incredible gentleman by the name of H Richard Milner IV.  He wrote about the effect that color blindness on the part of teachers could create animosity in classrooms that could not be educated away.

     I genuinely believe that any student I have in my classroom for ESL intervention is the smartest kid in the school.  Even if I have twenty at the same time, each one is the smartest kid there.  I am tough on them in my own way.  They know that I expect them to excel, to speak, to write, to advocate for themselves and their peers.  I do my best to cultivate their voices, their interests and their confidence.  I am sure to others observing, I am not teaching anything at all some days.  But if you ask my students, I am 100% certain that they would disagree.

     In a program that I teach after school for several low-level English learners, I teach a concept from the students' content area and ask them to analyze the idea and tell me what they know.  They tell me that they cannot remember what I told them.  Last class we were reviewing for a re-test in World History and they could not recall how conditions were on the slave ships in the Middle Passage.  I rebuked them for being small-minded and only trying to spit out what I had taught them.  I encouraged them to think, to be one of those young men cloven from their land, their families, their languages, their livelihoods.  I could not even keep them quiet after that.  The words, phrases, ideas and conclusions came pouring out faster than I could note them on the board.  I am certain that they will not leave that question blank a second time on a test.  

     In schools, there is a push toward cooperative education, as I have noted (ad nauseam) in previous posts.  The problem with this is that our students have grown up with a banking system of education and do not know the rules of this new game.  When we are used to just spitting out facts and figures, and someone asks us our opinion, or to analyze why something is how it is, we simply do not know how to proceed.  Learners need to be taught how to analyze, how to form educated and sound opinions, how to debate the strengths and weaknesses of certain options that are open to them.  I have always been a Socratic teacher.  Of course, I was one of those students that a teacher would have hated to have.  I found every error in every textbook, every logical flaw and every needle in a haystack.  Unfortunately, my sons inherited that aspect of my brain and my character, which makes them also very trying students for their teachers.  I am glad and proud that they have such strong opinions and can argue the merits of what they believe in, but it is heartbreaking to see them fail at school because they are not being asked to analyze, create or engage, but just spit out facts.  It is a very hard sell for my kids to call what happens in their school each day education.  They tell me on a daily basis that they are not learning anything, that they are bored and angry at having to attend a place where they already know the facts and figures that are being roughly related to them.

     I cannot believe that the academic failure of my own sons in a banking system of education is an isolated event.  Of course, no one at the school will recognize that they need to be challenged and allowed to use their voice because that would be contrary to what the school believes. I am, of course, seen as an overly permissive parent who does not control her children.  It is very disconcerting to think that my own children are seen as problematic simply because they analyze everything around them every waking moment.  Isn't that what a kid needs to do to mature?  My own kids tell me that they think I have raised them incorrectly.  they want to both stand out and fit in simultaneously, and the middle school years were miserable for me as well, for exactly the same reasons, though they could never see that commonality.

     I am sure that there are other parents in the United States that are aware that their kids are not being well-prepared, or even adequately prepared for an increasingly global economy and work force that is growing day to day.  I have not met any in my local context and even the parents of my students believe that preparing their children to be leaders is not a necessary part of their education.  The parents want their children to be invisible and quiet adults who will not bring attention to themselves or their plight.  I wholeheartedly disagree.  I know that we should be educating every single child in our classrooms to be a leader, whether he is from the poorest neighborhood, is an immigrant with limited English or is a child from an affluent family in another town.  Each of them has his own voice...and who is to say that my limited English proficient students are not the smartest kids in school?

     Paolo Freire is alive and well.  What I would not do to be able to have a conversation with that man and tell him how he has truly changed my life.  I will be presenting a paper at a conference next month, a conference of Freirean educators in California.  I am nervous about the actual presentation, but I am so excited to meet people who are as passionate about helping students shape their worldviews with language and literacy!  I am sure that I will see Paolo Freire over in a corner eating barbacoa.