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The US public educational system is broken. The people that run it are doing generations of kids, a HUGE disservice. It's incredibly sad to see, the graduates are unemployable.
The 4th graders in the US are choosing which bathroom to use, while the public schools in China (4th graders) have already learned 4 languages (2 fluently,) physics/math and other sciences.
I wish I were being facetious, but rest assured, I am not.
I'm going to tell you a story...a true story.
I was the principal of a well-respected middle school in one of the Virginia suburbs of Washington. One morning I got a rather frantic telephone call from one of the assistant superintendents. He said that a group of visiting mainland Chinese teachers had been scheduled to spend half-a-day at one of our other middle schools, and something had happened at the middle school making that impossible (I don't remember what, but something along the lines of a power failure, or something similar, and the school had to close for the day). "Could they please come over to your school for about four hours? All you have to do is host them in the library, do a little presentation, have a question/answer session, give them a tour, and then treat them (LOL) to a school lunch". I said, "But no one on our staff speaks Mandarin!" "Oh, I forgot to tell you...they're all English teachers". So, I reluctantly agreed to host them, not that I had much choice, and the Super said their bus was actually already headed to our school. I quickly gathered together all our vice principals, counselors, and whatever teachers were on their planning period, took them to our library, and explained what we were going to do. And I said, "And it shouldn't be hard. They're all English teachers". Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the Chinese English teachers arrived fifteen minutes later. I ushered them into the library where we had a staff member sitting at each table, and the conversations began. Well, that's how it was supposed to work. Unfortunately, not a one of the Chinese English teachers could actually speak English. Not one. And the group of about 25 had 1 translator (why did they need a translator if they spoke English???). What a disaster this was going to be. But suddenly I remembered that we had the biggest gifted center program in the state, and we had quite a few students of Chinese heritage. I went to the office and made an announcement: "Would any student who speaks Mandarin Chinese please come to the office to give us some very special help. You'll b e rewarded". Within minutes about a dozen students reported to the office, all of whom were relatively fluent in Mandarin Chinese. They saved the day for us. So don't tell me how fluent in 4 languages Chinese 4th graders are.
No child or teenager should be considered a "lost cause", and to treat them as such will only cost society more in the long run. I have known many students who turned themselves around after high school, sometimes long after, and the education they received was part of their 'recovery'.
Some of them are though. We need to acknowledge some of these kids for what they are (a lost cause) and get them out of the ordinary school environment where it's clear they cannot succeed.
Just because they're a lost cause academically doesn't mean they're completely useless though. It just means academics aren't a thing. They're better off getting expelled and sent somewhere else and learning something more suitable to their talents. Perhaps expulsion might shock them on their path to "recovery" and they can earn their place back.
Frankly speaking, once you get to, say, 11th grade, the tracks should be diversified. The academic/college prep track needs to become a LOT more rigorous with MUCH higher expectations, as do the other track with equally high expectations. Under NO circumstances should anyone be allowed to graduate with a diploma without having completed all of the requirements with a minimum of a B- average.
The problem with public schools is that we pay for them to exist, and not for the outcomes they produce. Funding should be based solely on the school's performance year on year, and if the school's performance is unsatisfactory (based on benchmarks set in advance), the school should be shut down.
That goes for EVERY government program out there. Pay for outcomes, not for existence. If a program fails to deliver the promised (or satisfactory) outcomes, shut them down.
Same thing with teachers. Make it EASIER for people to enter the profession, and FIRE poorly performing teachers. High barriers to entry with poor pay (because you're paying for a bunch of dead weight) makes for a stagnant profession and the shortage that everyone refers to. The best teacher I had when I was in high school used to be a sales rep for IBM and taught Econ.
Same with students. HOLD BACK or EXPEL students who aren't making satisfactory progress. At some point, the lost causes are a waste of time and resources and take resources away from students who actually want to learn.
Paragraph 1,2: If you shut down "bad" schools, those students still have to go somewhere. One of the big trends I've seen since I started teaching in the 1980s is that schools keep getting bigger and bigger. Districts probably do it because the larger the student body, the more you can have a really nice gym or an excellent auditorium or whatever. That scale allows them to do more things. But more and more kids fall through the cracks that way, there's more overcrowding in classrooms so teachers and students struggle to function.
According to this list, if your school has 3000 students, you don't even make the top 100. I know a guy who taught at one and he said he couldn't hack it, and it was just dangerous.
Also I would point out that a lot of things that happen in schools aren't tested. A student goes to his guidance counselor for help because he's terrified to tell his parents he's gay. Low-income students depend on the meals because their parents are struggling. Teachers report to child protection agencies when students are being abused. Counselors help get students scholarships. I worked at a middle school that had an after school program...we advertised it like it was about having fun but really, it was because a lot of parents had to work so we functioned as babysitters till they could get home.
Plus there's a lot of behavioral learning. My asst principal told me that she'd never broken up so many fights as this year. Because they had been at home, students forgot how to talk out their differences. They just started punching. What about how to work on a team? Or how to budget your time and meet deadlines? Many important things don't show up on a state test.
Someone once claimed that America was a melting pot. Much later, someone else came along and said it really is more like a salad bowl. I mean, if we all blend in so seamlessly, why is there a neighborhood called Chinatown or Little Italy (or others) in large cities? It's because we don't really mix...these groups keep to themselves and try to preserve their culture. But if there's one place we DO mix, it's in public schools. Gays and straights, rich and poor, various religions, various colors, the whole gambit sitting in the same cafeteria. If Billy's dad is racist, he probably will be too (unless we can get to him) so let's show him people are people.
Paragraph 3: A teacher can do his job but if the student doesn't do the work? It's true, teachers hope to motivate students but some won't take the bait. Or the teacher is required to pursue goals that don't make sense because the state agency, heavy with people who haven't been in a classroom in years, has lost their mind? That whole testing thing...they have errors. Even Pearson, a huge purveyor of state tests, has made numerous mistakes.
And we're basing people's lives (teacher and student) on these results like they're straight from God or something.
I would propose something else. I've heard that in Japan if you start work in a factory and you don't do well at your job, they find you a different job. So ask the kid what he wants to do. He wants to be a doctor? OK, let's get you in science classes etc. If it's true, he loves it and work isn't a problem and he works to learn as much as he can. But maybe he becomes disenchanted with that. Now he wants to be...an architect. OK, move him over to classes pertaining to that, see if he has some aesthetic sense and let him see if it's for him. If a kid is really motivated, many things just fall into place. And when it gets tough, he pushes to get past it. Before the computer, I would have thought it impossible but now I think it could be done.
Last paragraph: How do you differentiate between a teacher who isn't performing and a student who isn't performing? If the kid slept through half the classes, is it the teacher's fault? If the teacher's boring, is it his fault? What if nobody else in the class is sleeping? How do you document this for purposes of determining whom to keep, whom to fire (or expel)?
Inspired by this 14 year-old kid, who died after running wind sprints in football practice:
What would you do with a kid who sleeps in class? I asked an assistant principal (before that incident) and she said, "Have him stand up." So I did. After that football kid died, I asked the same assistant principal. She said, "Ask him if he would like to stand up to help him not fall asleep." In other words, the first time it was kind of a punishment. But the second time the thinking was that if the kid keels over, that's not going to look good, so make it look like you're helping him.
I've often thought that kids who won't behave (the stories I could tell you...) punish the whole class but I suspect in the business world, there are people who don't pull their weight either. I did discover something that worked but not all principals wanted me to use it.
It is much more common for teachers to give easy A's. It is extremely rare for a teacher to refuse to give an A. I've only encountered one teacher in my entire life who refused to give an A and it was a college professor. She was my English I professor and nobody in the class received an A.
A high school teacher would have parents calling the principal complaining about the teacher. I have first hand experience with this. Last year I hand a 9th grader with a 92% average. He needed a 93% for an A. His mother called the principal a couple of times complaining that my tests were too hard, I hadn't covered material in class, etc. I had to justify to the mother and principal why he was getting a B and not an A.
And that is the problem that I keep mentioning. At most schools, a 92 is an A. If people see a B, they will assume 80-89, not 92. Since grades are supposed to assess how well you know the material, they fail to do that if not everybody is graded on the same scale. Was 93 being the cutoff for an A your policy or your school's policy?
The problem with public schools is that we pay for them to exist, and not for the outcomes they produce. Funding should be based solely on the school's performance year on year, and if the school's performance is unsatisfactory (based on benchmarks set in advance), the school should be shut down.
What happens to the students at the school districts that are shut down?
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Same thing with teachers. Make it EASIER for people to enter the profession, and FIRE poorly performing teachers. High barriers to entry with poor pay (because you're paying for a bunch of dead weight) makes for a stagnant profession and the shortage that everyone refers to. The best teacher I had when I was in high school used to be a sales rep for IBM and taught Econ.
I definitely agree with you there, except for the poor pay, since, where I live, teachers are paid more than most other professionals. We don't have a shortage of teachers, just the opposite. So it means that the only people who get hired are the former teachers' pets, who just keep following the same mentality as the previous generation of teachers. They get tenure, and then there is nothing anybody can or will do to them. And nobody else will get hired mid-career since they don't have an education degree.
Quote:
Same with students. HOLD BACK or EXPEL students who aren't making satisfactory progress. At some point, the lost causes are a waste of time and resources and take resources away from students who actually want to learn.
What would be done with the students who are expelled?
That was a difficult call. If they would have remained open, what percent of families would have kept their kids home. My guess -- a majority, so that wouldn't have worked.
Maybe initially that's the case. But only maybe. My district closed March 9 and 10, then reopened for what turned out to be one day, March 11. Apparently attendance was normal. I think, after the initial two-week closure, they could and should have reopened. In my area people were not dropping like flies.
Maybe initially that's the case. But only maybe. My district closed March 9 and 10, then reopened for what turned out to be one day, March 11. Apparently attendance was normal. I think, after the initial two-week closure, they could and should have reopened. In my area people were not dropping like flies.
Right...only slightly over a million Americans died from covid.
Any responsible school system puts the health of children above all else. Not to mention the health of adult teachers.
The gap between advantaged and disadvantaged only widened. Society's losses were grievous. The Covid death numbers are greatly inflated. Nothing good happens from pulling the plug on civil society.
And that is the problem that I keep mentioning. At most schools, a 92 is an A. If people see a B, they will assume 80-89, not 92. Since grades are supposed to assess how well you know the material, they fail to do that if not everybody is graded on the same scale. Was 93 being the cutoff for an A your policy or your school's policy?
I think it is irrelevant what the grading scale is and I don't know why school feel a need to have grading scales. There has been a thread on here about that topic and I didn't bother looking at it. A comparison of grading scales between schools would only be relevant if all students were taking the same objective tests on the exact same material, such as with the SAT or ACT. Teachers will typically adjust grades up so that most students actually receive a higher grade than they earned. This is done with extra credit, bonus points, grades on subjective tests or other assignments, or changing the weighting. In the school where I went to high school, an A was 94% -100 and 69% and below was failing. Did that mean students at my high school got lower grades than other schools? No, they did not. In fact, some teachers used a different grading scale where 90%-100 was an A.
The gap between advantaged and disadvantaged only widened. Society's losses were grievous. The Covid death numbers are greatly inflated. Nothing good happens from pulling the plug on civil society.
Except that very few people heard about this. Most schools were not shut down that long. Students and teachers should've been able to function online for these periods of time. What it pointed out was the lack of motivation of many students to do any school work at all when they are not in class. Some just disappeared.
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