When I ask myself what matters here in reading about the varying success of 3, well 4, different states, the main point I come away with is that change is possible yet we should not just change for change itself; there should be sound reasoning, vision, belief in a program before districts, states, or even the nation made wide sweeping changes. Darling-Hammond quite pointedly asserts there is a strong correlation to the money invested in teachers to the ability to increase student learning. While increasing the national human investment in education is important, it is also prudent to make sure money is not being merely tossed around but rather frugally and intentionally applied. One thing I wonder is if the policies/programs being lauded are really focusing on the best interests of students/the nation or if they are too ingrained in and/or dominated by policy makers without adequate training (and sometimes lacking respect for) as a professional educator. While professional educators should not be the only voice, the only stakeholder whose opinion matters, it would be refreshing to see more value placed upon their input/voice than has been afforded the profession in recent events. The debate over ideology, struggle for political power, and of course big business profit in the constant cycle of “crisis”/drive for change should not come at the expense of students/the nation.
While I am thankful to work in a district that at this time is not struggling financially, I can’t help but think about students who come from low income families and challenging neighborhoods. First, no child asks to be born into a financially strapped family. Second, it seems doubtful to me that families would object to having a well-paying job with benefits thereby being able to afford possibly their own home, have access to retirement, and health care options. How can our nation justify penalizing students who have little control over the circumstances they are born into? The issues I see stretch beyond education; I see them as connected to broader socioeconomic issues. I don’t believe in handouts, I believe in bridges and teaching people skills while expecting responsibility and ownership. I also do not believe students should be punished for failing a high stakes test if it is an unfunded mandate and/or the ethical, moral, and potentially criminal issue of inequitable funding has not been addressed. For people to take pride and care about themselves and their community (thus maybe helping reduce crime and other social issues/drains) then it seems reasonable people need to feel connected/care about their community; people need to know they are valued.
An idea I scratched (very roughly) out today in class is aimed at a potential idea to connect students, increase ownership, and perhaps provides an avenue for service learning. I thought I’d start with a reflection journal and request students talk to parents or other community members. I thought I’d ask them a question or two a week (examples include: How much does your education cost? Who pays for your education? Bring to class 3 examples of how your community invests in you? In what ways are you investing in your future? Who should pay for your education (explain why)? Do you feel you are taking advantage of educational opportunities provided to you (why or why not)? If you had to demonstrate to taxpayers that the money was not being wasted, what could you do? Who could/should you thank for investments made for you and your community? Bring at least 3 ideas about how you and/or your classmates could demonstrate appreciation for your educational investment.) I thought I could have them journal responses they make as well as discuss the ideas with others then move the project into some sort of community action plan or “pay it forward” idea. Too often, in my opinion, our youth lacks ownership for their education and respect for their education (including the facilities, materials, teachers, support staff, and so on) and I thought this might be a way for them to start to take on some responsibility and see themselves as connected to something bigger than themselves. For instance, realizing the cost of vandalizing a wall – in my opinion, if they had to prep, prime, and paint to a certain standard and/or pay for/work off the costs involved then it would have more meaning than a suspension from school (which many see as a reward). Early stages of thinking about this, but I feel somehow something like this is important – question is can I help bring about change?
Question for further inquiry (originally posed by Ryan I believe and piggybacking on points posed by Shawn): If the nation empowers and trains administrators, cultivate good leaders, it will better benefit schools/teachers/students and inadvertently the nation will benefit. The question is what do administrators look like in other countries? What are their roles? What training is required? The more I think about it, the more I wonder how this avenue plays into the comparisons between the South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Finland.
Angie as I was reading your blog the quote from Kennedy came to me, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?” I think in some aspects it is time to flip this quote and once again ask what our country can do for us or more importantly what it can do for your youth and students.
ReplyDeleteEducation is on the forefront of political agendas and campaigns. Promises of fixing the broken system and raising test scores are being used as a platform for elections. But are these promises good enough to make improvement and push our education system in the right direction? One of the questions you posed Angie was about how your students might feel if the government paid for their college education. I find this an interesting question, until recently I didn’t realize that the majority of other countries paid for their students college tuitions. I thought this was a good question to ponder and thought about it as a kindergarten teacher and realized that before our government pays for college tuition I think they need to pay for pre-school and full day kindergarten. I am a huge advocate of early intervention and think that if the government is going to do something for our youth they should provide avenues for children to get a head start. By investing in our youth the government would be doing something for themselves and the payback to them would be priceless.