Education

Ok, what you need to learn is that there is always going to be an income gap in every society around the world. Schools need to realize that not everyone is cut out for college. There should be more trade schools and less push for college success. Therefore, let the brilliant do their job. Education is the foundation for competition in society. EVERY country succeeding has individuals dedicated to their education, if they are dedicated to their ambitious desires. We shouldn't hand everything to everyone on a silver platter. Remember when our grandparents were younger and after the Depression? They didn't see working at McDonalds flipping burgers discouraging, they saw it as an opportunity. Open your eyes and mind to the world's progression and historical realities of the societies throughout the years. Life is tough and education unfortunately is going to have to be measured by standardized testing. Yes, poverty makes our lives more difficult, however we should learn from India in this economic transition and see where women walk 10 miles to school every morning. This is the reality. Americans need to realize they are falling back based upon their own decisions.

Please, Lauren . . . please!  Our income gap now is the largest in history, and NO I don't need to learn that there is always going to be an income gap.  What you need to learn is that it doesn't need to be exacerbated at every turn for the have-not's: no health insurance, no dental health care, lower quality food at higher prices, less access to books (and other learning opportunities), more exposure to harmful enviromental contaminants like lead.  Brain scans of people of poverty have revealed they have brain scans like those of stroke patients. 

I pity you if you think education is the foundation of competition in society.  It should be the cornerstone of our democratic republic and the preparation of the citizenry for participation in our society with the ability to think critically, to evaluate options, solve complex problems of the future.  Schools should not be a corporatized system for delivery worker drones for their use.

Yes life is tough and schools should have other options than a college preparation focus.  However, schools DO NOT have to be evaluated by standardized tests.  Try reading Collateral Damage by Sharon Nichols and David Berliner if you want to discover the damage the the high-stakes standardized testing is leaving in its wake.  The high-stakes testing cultural is turning teachers into Test Preparation Agents for the State.  Standardized tests are being misused and abused.  There are no reliability studies on the tests states have developed.  But ETS can with over 80% accuracy predict a student's test score by considering the following five factors: 1) free/reduced lunch status; 2) attendance; 3) how much TV is watched; 4) single-parent status; and 5) how much five year-olds and younger are read aloud to at home.  All standardized tests tell us is who is poor and where they are concentrated in our schools.  Again, schools with less than 25% of poverty do well, and only schools with 75% poverty score below the international average.  What don't you understand about that?

Finally, it was my parents that lived through the Depression.  And it was through the GI bill after World War II that allowed my dad the opporunity to be one of two out of ten of his parent's children to earn his college degree and go on to dedicate professional life to a small college.  No one in my life has received anything on a silver platter, nor do I advocate anyone getting such a thing.  However, public schools should be palaces of learning that are not "adequately" funded, but well-funded stocked with fully shelved libraries staffed by dedicated librarians, with classrooms staffed by many more dedicated teachers than are already there that get to make decisions based on the situation and terrain that is right in front of them, not teaching from some scripted curriculum devised to make teachers irrelevant and standardized test scores the Holy Grail.  There should be abundant art, music, physical education classes, field trips to museums, zoos, gardens, games, and all the rest of the educational opportunities a region has.  But currently schools in low-income areas, especially urban schools, supplies are inadequate, facilities are barely maintained.  But instead, the socialized aspects of this country go to support the VERY wealthy with TARP funds and stadium deals.

Finally, I am a teacher.  I hold a B. A. in English, an M. A. in Sport Administration, and an Ed. S. in Education Leadership.  I read educational experts in the effects of the "reform" policy on public schools.  I live those effects on a daily basis.  Schools aren't a business, students aren't a product, and parents aren't education consumers.