What are you willing to do?

How important is eduction to us?  For educators in Wisconsin, it was important enough to occupy the state capitol for days and weeks on end.  For a few thousand educators, it was important enough that they travelled to Washington D.C. for the Save our Schools rally this summer.  As legislators continue to push an agenda of pseudo-reform, educators continue to push back.  But, how hard are we willing to push?  Are we willing to push this hard?  Education reform, Chilean style...


photo: msnbc

High school and college students are rioting in Chile because of the lack of government funding for education and because of tax-exempt private universities that do not put their profits back into education as they are required.  Sounds familiar doesn't it? A lack of funding and a push towards privatized, marginalized for-profit education is happening right here in the good ol' USA.

Stand up against harmful education reform, reclaim public education!

Innovation Revisited

I have posted several blogs about how high-stakes testing is detrimental to innovation in education and to fostering creativity and innovation in our students. Not only are these exams a poor measure of potential, but they go a step further and displace art programs and elective programs that actually allow students to develop creativity.

When a school is not making the grade on standardized tests, the first programs to go are the arts, music and electives, which are replaced by more math and language arts classes. Those kids who struggle in core classes probably find it hard to go to school each day faced with possible failure, and electives such as woodshop or film making are what provide the motivation to attend school at all. We are not serving students, we are serving the test.

As a nation, we are concerned that our students are not globally competitive and thus we are pushing to institute a rigorous, standards-based curriculum. There is nothing wrong with this, but we then place all measures of success on a standardized test. If we do not do well on the tests, we will apparently be overrun and teased by our global competitors.

The other day I was thumbing through the May 16, 2011 issue of Time magazine. In the Economy section on page 17 was an interesting breakdown by country of the cost of producing the iPhone called “Adding Up the iPhone: How an American invention makes money for the world.” While parts and assembly generate income in Japan, China, Germany, South Korea, and elsewhere, the bulk of the profit goes to the US. The graphic states:

“While America doesn't make much of what goes into the iPhone, it’s always better to innovate than to fabricate; just see Apple’s profit.”

About Japan,

“It doesn't innovate as much as the U.S.”

And about China the article states,

“Often more of an assembly line for other nation’s wares, work here accounts for only 3.6% of an iPhone’s production cost.”

While the production of the iPhone feeds the world economy, the bulk of the money stays in the U.S. where the product was developed. So, while many supposedly better educated foreigners may be working on the iPhone, its ultimate existence is a product of good ol’ American ingenuity.

Perhaps our decline in competitive fitness is best measured by the creativity vacuum left by the slashing of inspiring arts and elective programs, all in the name of test scores.

Do something innovative, deemphasize standardized testing, reclaim your creativity, and reclaim public education! Is there an app for that?

Why Education Reform Isn't Really About Education

When viewed in a larger context, cuts to education are part of a Republican agenda to privatize America, be it social security, medicare, or public schools.  Government is getting involved in all levels of our lives (something Republicans normally would resent) to try and change the way we do business.  In the end, corporate America and the wealthiest win, and the majority of us lose. 

So when education reform comes to your town, you might want to find out if it really has anything to do with education, or if it is about fattening the wallets of the wealthiest while the rest of us suffer.

Reclaim Sesame Street, reclaim Head Start, and reclaim public education!

It is Time for Teachers to Drive Education Reform

If you are a teacher, you are probably frustrated by the current climate of education reform.  Everyday we hear  news of politicians and reformers who make our jobs more difficult and less effective in the name of saving American education.  I personally am tired of having reform dictated to me by the likes of Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates, Arne Duncan, and other self-possessed individuals. 

I have written and will continue to write about the state of education reform, but now I am trying another tactic - to start a grassroots effort to help teachers better visualize and communicate what reform should look like.  The idea is simple: by providing a site for teachers to communicate ideas, we will see where common ground exists and where we should concentrate our efforts on proactively fostering meaningful reform.

Please visit this site and add your input, thanks!

http://meaningfulreform.blogspot.com/

"Mayor Bloomberg Gets Schooled After Cathie Black Fiasco" (HuffPo Post)

The problem with applying the "business model" to education is deeper than whether or not it is transferra­ble. The problem is that not enough people are asking whether the "business model" is a good one in the first place. I know that as a consumer, I have to constantly guard against the dirty practices of local and national businesses that are driven more by a bottom line (test scores) than by the needs of the customers (students)­.

Bloomberg, Gates and the rest of the billionair­es are obviously intimately tied to the model. Wanna-be Rhee is trying to make her billion dollars by asking for it in the name of bashing teachers and unions through her Students First organizati­on. The sooner these types get out of education, the sooner we can develop a model for education, not business.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost