First Essay: The Goliaths of Education

Sean Carbrey

Professor Monique Williams

English 1A

28 February 2014

The Goliaths of Education

The chasm between the have and have nots in education is huge. We need a radical reform in our education system. The overall goal being to make it equitable. We live in the wealthiest country in the world from an overall standpoint. We spend an exorbitant amount of money to provide aid to countries all over the world. What about our country? The way in which the poor are treated in America is deplorable. The children of this country should come first. Not that I don’t agree that we should be helping other countries, but we need to help ours first. Assessments need to be implemented, and plans need to be carried out to correct this problem. Our country’s leaders need to face the challenges, flaws, and inequalities that exist in our educational system because this system is failing.

It is evident that many flaws exist within our educational system that negatively impact student learning. In my opinion the primary issues are the inequities of: educational facilities, teacher tenure, improper allocation of funds, lack of a “good teacher”, high class size, and lack of needed materials in the poor school districts vs. the wealthy school districts. “Average expenditures per pupil in the city of New York in 1987 were approximately $5,500. In the highest spending suburbs of New York City…funding levels rose above $11,000, with the highest districts in the state at $15,000. “Why…,” asks the city’s Board of Education, “should our students receive less” than do “similar students” who live elsewhere? “The inequity is clear.”

Teacher tenure is a road block to success in the schools. Teacher tenure is certainly contributing to the problem. I feel that teacher tenure should be eliminated and that teachers should have to work and be held to a disciplinary standard like other working individuals.  Teachers need to feel the fear of being unemployed which, in most cases, will have an impact on their work ethic thus complacency would be replaced with motivation. The elimination of teacher tenure would insure the expulsion of ineffective teachers who have become “burnt out” or those teachers who are just not cut-out for teaching. There was an attempt made to eliminate teacher tenure in the Washington D.C schools by the superintendent. That superintendent, Michelle Rhee was brilliant. She recognized the problem and set forth with a passion to fix it but was shut down by the lazy, and fearful individuals heading up the teachers union. “There is a complete and utter lack of accountability for the job that we’re supposed to be doing, which is impacting our kids.” Please understand that job security is important, however, there needs to be guidelines for teacher performance. The measurements for teacher performance are not cut and dry.

We need to make sure we have only excellent teachers in our school system. There are too many ineffective or unmotivated teachers. “We have teachers…who only bother to come in three days a week. One of these teachers comes in usually around nine-thirty.” This is not acceptable. Excellent teachers are those who aid in the growth of a student’s self-esteem, help encourage their students to learn and to not give up, and have an excellent grasp of content knowledge. A good teacher can find a correlation with the student and the material being studied to make it real. A bad teacher is one who cannot connect with a student or is unmotivated to sculpt the curriculum to the student’s needs in his/her classroom. The effects of a bad teacher are very detrimental. The effect a bad teacher has on a child promotes a lack of motivation, the classroom most likely reflects a negative environment. The student’s achievements will most definitely decrease. This will greatly affect the student, and any learned information will be lost which will impact the subsequent educational years if it’s not corrected.

            An obvious illustration of the inequities of the educational system is evidenced by the facilities where the children attend school. In East St. Louis the children where sandwiched between Pfizer and Monsanto. The soil surrounding the school is contaminated with lead and human waste. The environment in which these children are placed is extremely toxic and detrimental to their health, and imposes serious threats to their safety. This environment is not conducive to learning. This is a highly toxic industrial waste dumping ground for this school.  The children cannot play on the playground. Attracting teachers to this environment is very difficult, you do not receive high performing teachers in a heavy industrial and highly toxic setting. Because of the impact this has on attracting teachers, the resulting outcome is high class sizes. High class size can have a negative effect on a student’s achievement. Students benefit from lower class sizes. “Teachers who have fewer students are able to provide each student with more individual attention. Fewer students means teachers have more manageable workloads and more time to work one on one…” There are significant benefits to lower class size. There was a study conducted on the effects of class size on students. “The study concludes that…a small class increased the rate of college attendance by 11 percentage points.” Schools in wealthier areas do not experience the same facility issues that exist in the East St. Louis district. These students in the affluent areas are not handicapped by their environment and experience a much better outcome. This is appalling that conditions like this continue to exist in the United States. We are not a third world country.

            Student materials are necessary for success. Not all materials are important, however fundamental ones are. A school district that does not receive proper funding needs to look at the needs of the student population and prioritize. For instance, desks are not really necessary, but books, paper, pencils, and teacher manuals are. It’s all about resources and per pupil funding. If the money is not available you have to weigh the needs and the wants. More affluent areas depend heavily on parent supplementation for funding. In my school district, parents were expected to contribute a substantial amount (called a recommended donation) to cover various costs/programs. This money went into a ‘Learning Fund’. A percentage of this money was allocated to the teachers depending on grade level needs to use for supplies. If the money is not available, or parent assistance is not possible, then many of these ‘needs’ are scratched which is a huge disservice to each child. It then may become the classroom teacher’s responsibility. Most classroom teachers spend a substantial out-of-pocket expense trying to assist the needs of each and every child. There is no getting around it. Basic school supplies are needed to facilitate a learning environment. “A teacher at an elementary school in East St. Louis has only one full-color workbook for her class. She photocopies workbook pages for her children, but the copies can’t be made in color and the lessons call for color recognition by the children.” Unfortunately, the poorer school districts lack even the basics. 

Society in general has not recognized the severe inequities in the educational system. In the book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire spends a great deal of time studying the teacher/student relationship. I find the Pedagogy of the Oppressed to be insulting when it comes to the poorer school districts in this country. “A careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship…involves a narrating Subject (the teacher) and patient listening objects (the students).” The basic premise of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed is that students are being oppressed by the teacher/student relationship. Really? In the East St. Louis schools you cannot even get teachers let alone worry about the teacher/student relationship oppressing students. I find the Pedagogy of the Oppressed to be very esoteric and not germane to an impoverished school system. “Education is suffering from narration sickness.” I am sure the students of East St. Louis and other impoverished districts would not mind suffering from “narration sickness.”

As expressed in the movie Waiting for Superman, the society in which you are placed will determine your educational experience and outcome. If you are placed in an underprivileged area, you are going to get a poor quality education. Our educational system is discouraging our students instead of propelling them forward. This is a very complex issue with a lot of moving parts between the federal, state, local city governments, teachers union and parents. “No individual is necessarily to blame, but collectively they are the goliath of the system.” The educational system is flawed. We have put into place educational acts and doubled the money per student thinking it will help. But there is no improvement. “The things we’ve done to help our schools work better, have become the things that prevent them from working.” The flaw is not just with funding, it is with the system. There is no clear answer.

            Our educational system is in desperate need of reform. I get so frustrated when I hear ‘education reform.’ They have been doing education reform for so many years with no positive outcome and we still have a myriad of inequities in our school system, i.e. East St. Louis. The question is this, how can we provide an equitable education for all students? I do not have the answer. However, I will do what I can to foster change and will support measures to improve the quality of education for all students.

Works Cited

Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities. New York: Crown Publishing, 1991. Print

Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum Books, 1993

Brozak, Jennifer. "The Importance of a Low Student to Teacher Ratio." Everyday Life. Demand Media. 28 Feb. 2014 <http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/importance-low-student-teacher-ratio-8579.html>.

Dynarski, Susan, Joshua Hyman, and Diane W. Schanzenbach. "Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Childhood Investments on Postsecondary Attainment and Degree Completion." Class Size Matters. 16 Oct. 2011. 26 Feb. 2014 <http://www.classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dynarski-120426.pdf>.

Guggenheim, Davis, dir. Waiting for ‘Superman’. Walden Media, 2010. DVD.

Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman shed light on the injustices of our society and the flaws in our educational system.  The movie really goes to show everything that I have been saying in my blogs. Our educational system is discouraging our students instead of propelling them forward. This is a very complex issue with a lot of moving parts, between the federal, state, local city governments, teachers union and parents.  “No individual is necessarily to blame, but collectively they are the goliath of the system.” (Jonathan Alter, Waiting for Superman) The educational system is flawed, we put into place educational acts and doubled the money per student thinking it will help. But there is no improvement.  “The things we’ve done to help our schools work better, have become the things that prevent them from working.” (Narrator of movie) The flaw is not just with funding, it is with the system. There is no clear answer.

                The movie discussed multiple issues. One topic in particular was teacher tenure as a road block to success in the schools. Teacher tenure is certainly contributing to the problem.  I feel that teacher tenure should be eliminated and they should have to work and be held to a disciplinary standard of other working individuals.  Teachers need to feel the fear of being unemployed which would make anyone want to work harder and not become complacent. Get rid of tenure to get rid of poor teachers who have become “burnt out” or those teachers who are just not cut out for teaching.  There was an attempt made to eliminate teacher tenure in the Washington D.C schools by the superintendent.  That superintendent, Michelle Rhee was brilliant. She recognized the problem and set forth with a passion to fix it but was shut down by the, lazy, and scared individuals heading up the teachers union. “There is a complete and utter lack of accountability for the job that we’re supposed to be doing, which is producing results for kids.” (Michelle Rhee, Waiting for Superman)

I’m in complete agreement with this movie. One of the former superintendents of Washington D.C., Lt. General Julius Becton, is quoted for saying that he has “never faced a more difficult task then reforming the schools of Washington.” This goes to illustrate how dysfunction the politics are in the educational system. Lt. General Becton was awarded two purple hearts and a silver star, I think he would have an understanding on what is difficult. He resigned sixteen months later.

A Series of Questions

Question #1: DO THE MATERIALS REALLY MATTER? WHY OR WHY NOT?

Certain materials are important to meet student’s needs. Lets define what materials are first. A material is anything that the child or teacher uses. Not all materials are important, however fundamental ones are. A school district that does not receive proper funding needs to look at the needs of the student population and prioritize. For instance, desks are not really necessary, but books, paper, pencils, teacher manuals are.

It’s all about resources and per pupil funding. If the money is not available you have to weigh the needs and the wants. More affluent areas depend heavily on parent supplementation for funding. In my school district, parents were expected to contribute a substantial amount (called a recommended donation) to cover various costs/programs. This money went into a ‘Learning Fund’. A percentage of this money was allocated to the teachers depending on grade level needs to use for supplies. If the money is not available, or parent assistance is not possible, then many of these ‘needs’ are scratched which is a huge disservice to each child. It then may become the classroom teacher’s responsibility. Most classroom teachers spend a substantial out-of-pocket expense trying to assist the needs of each and every child.

Question #2: WHAT EFFECTS DO BAD TEACHERS HAVE ON A CHILD?

What is a good teacher? They grow a students self-esteem, they are organized, have an excellent grasp of content knowledge, motivate, encourage, possess excellent people skills, strive to constantly be educated on where the students are, and can connect with the students. A good teacher can find a correlation with the student to make it real. They strive to make the material relate to the student’s own life, and relay how the subject matter has effected the past and how it will affect the student’s future. A good teacher will take the time to study the curriculum and fit it to the needs of the students. They will vary instruction to make it relevant and interesting. They should establish a positive learning environment to build the students self-motivation and self-esteem with encouragement and positive reinforcement.

What is a bad teacher? A bad teacher is someone who cannot connect with a student. They don’t fit the curriculum to meet the student’s needs. A bad teacher can be someone who is burnt out, or has just chosen the wrong profession. The educational system is designed to build upon itself. If you get a teacher in the second grade that is not effective, the students needs for the third grade will be impacted. The effect a bad teacher has on a child is a lack of motivation, and most likely a negative environment. The student’s achievements will most definitely decrease. This will greatly affect the student, and learned information (if any) will be lost which will impact the subsequent educational years if it’s not corrected.  If a child is motivated, feels valued, understood, receives positive encouragement, and is taught according to their individual needs, they will flourish.

            I have been a product of both good and bad teachers. I have always been a very divergent thinker, somewhat sit-still challenged, needing additional assistance in some areas. When my needs were met and my learning style understood, I flourished. Only a good, committed teacher would take the time and initiative to understand his/her students, and cater his/her teaching style to meet the individual needs. My fourth grade teacher was truly devoted to her kids and her craft. She was understanding and chose to implement a diverse teaching style. She would teach per child and not per class. My sixth grade math teacher was completely opposite. She lacked understanding. She thought the way she taught was ‘brilliant’. When she saw a student did not understand the material, she openly made fun of them and said, “Look, I don’t understand why you don’t get it! It’s not that hard!” Oh my…what that does to a child! It takes time to understand your students…you need to be devoted!

Question #3: SHOULD THE RICH HAVE TO HELP THE POOR:

            There needs to be some sort of assistance to help the poor with achieving a proper education.  The rich should be taxed higher than the poor, and there should be a program that takes that income from the taxes and evenly distributes the funds to those schools that are considered to be in low income districts.  The money should not go into the families pockets.  Some families are poor because of a lack of self-motivation due to acceptance.  Granted there are those that are born into poverty this is a valid reason why we should be helping the poor with education so they can have a means to an end.

Inequities of Eductation

The federal government has attempted to try and lay the groundwork attempting to improve low performing schools.  Their first attempt was the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (IASA).  There was a follow-up on the legislation No Child Left Behind.  Both of these laws specify actions that have to be taken when the schools do not meet the standard test scores.  The federal government is clear, they specify that once the school has been identified as a low achieving school they have to show annual yearly progress.  If they do not show progress, then more severe intervention has to be deployed.  RTI (Response to Intervention) strategies and plans need to be in place for each site.  Next steps are; “Close and reopen as a charter school, replace relevant school staff, turn the school’s governance over to the state, contract with a private management company to operate the school, and any other major restructuring of the school’s governance designed to produce major reform”.  In reality, no one is implementing these reforms.  The last category gives schools a loop hole of “other activities”[i].  It is rare for the state to take over a school.  The problem with replacing staff is most of these schools have trouble getting people to work there.

In both California and East St Louis, very little progress has been made.  Unfortunately, the impact this has had on students, teachers, and administrators has been detrimental.  There are several schools in the Bay Area that are similar to East St. Louis, and both environments are not improving.  The East St. Louis schools have not made drastic steps to help the school system and to better improve the quality of education provided.  The similarities are, both schools systems are trying to just keep the schools afloat.  Both school districts realize that it is going to be hard if not impossible to improve the schools.  The salaries in East St. Louis are poor and so are the salaries in Hayward and San Lorenzo.  They have trouble attracting people to these areas.  East St Louis attempted to reach out to the private community, but with very little success.  The same thing is occurring in the Bay Area on involving private businesses through the use of fund raising.

Even though there are varying issues defining both school districts, the problems are not being addressed.  Within the East Bay California school systems, RTI (Response to Intervention) is noted, sometimes addressed, not fully funded, which has a huge negative impact on student performance in this area.  In the East St. Louis district the same needs are well known, but unaddressed.  Both school districts have many issues with hindering student success.  Hopefully, resolutions to these issues will become a priority in order to make student achievements a possibility.

---

[i] Mead, Sara. "Easy Way Out: "Restructured" Usually Means Little Has Changed."Education Next. Education Next, Winter 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://educationnext.org/easy-way-out/>.

The Heart of Education

I know that oppression exists at varying degrees and at varying levels, but I am going to focus on oppression of the creative mind in relation to education at the grade school level.

I feel that the most oppressive instance of academia is the lack of creativity afforded to the teachers and the strict adherence to standards and benchmarks instituted by a curriculum that has been constructed by upper management business people who have never set foot in a classroom.

Teachers feel locked into a system that lacks autonomy. They become stagnant and unmotivated because they are not given opportunities to work the curriculum to support all students needs. They are afraid of loosing their job if they don’t conform; they begin doing what they’re told. Educators are forced to move through the curriculum too quickly. They are teaching to the test.  They work at a hurried pace, narrating, pontificating, not allowing freedom of engagement with their students.

I feel some solutions to academic oppression are:

·         Stop oppressing the teachers. Give them back their autonomy. You hire them to teach so you know that they are capable of teaching. You should not dictate how they should do their job. The teacher goes into the teaching profession because they love it. Telling a teacher how to teach shows a lack of trust and demeans their professionalism.

·         Lack of funding: You can’t have a cohesive learning environment without the necessary funding. Some districts lack the books necessary to teach the curriculum. This means that one student is getting a better education then the other student because they have the necessary tools. Also, funding is needed to put programs in place for students of varying needs, i.e. resource, reading resource, gifted, special day, etc.

·         Bring back the arts so that you can teach to the different learning styles.

Education focuses too much on the errors made instead of thinking, “how can we make it work?” There are always going to be pros and cons of a system, but it should be up to the educator to weigh out the pros and cons and see if the effects have a long-term positive or negative outcome. Learning is difficult. Educators want to keep positive attributes and propel students forward instead of pushing them forward and driving them like cattle. We want students to be excited to learn on their own.