Education in this country is one of my main interests. Nobody can make it in this world without it. Yes, there have been some entrepreneurs who had success without formal education (Bill Lear and Tom Edison come to mind), but theirs are percentages of success so small as to be almost unmeasureable.
I worked as Commandant at a small private military school for a couple of years. We had grades 7-12, and junior college. Many of the high school kids were intelligent, but had no self-discipline. On the other hand, the junior college students were primarily Proposition 48 football and basketball players. That is, they were talented enough to play at a major NCAA Division I school, but didn’t have the grades and SAT/ACT scores to qualify. They had no self-discipline, either. And they had never been required by their school system to accomplish anything academically. Bad grades meant no sports.
The liberal answer to this quandry might be, “getting an athletic scholarship may be his only chance to get a college education.” My response is that they have no chance of getting a college education unless they first receive a high school education.
Most of these young men failed to finish their first year. As soon as their season was over, they had no interest in attending class. I taught a study skills class, and was amazed at how little most of them knew. As it became apparent their grades would be failing, they began to ask if they could do some extra credit work to bring them up.
It hit me–So, that’s how they made it through high school. They would go to the teacher, who would give them some simple tasks to accomplish, and that extra credit would get their grade high enough to allow them to play.
When they asked if they could do extra credit work, I agreed. I told them that as soon as they completed the work originally assigned, I’d be happy to give them extra work for extra credit. I generally got a look of disbelief. I’m sorry to say, they really didn’t disappoint me. Instead of doing the work they had, then asking for extra, they simply quit doing anything.
Some people may say I failed these students. Maybe they’re right. I don’t agree. The failure took place years before when these boys were allowed to progress (not a very good word for this) through school without having learned anything.
I had two offers to teach in high schools. The administrations of both schools wanted me for my knowledge, but also for my demeanor–you know, the mean old retired GI who could intimidate any high-schooler. There was one catch: I had to get my teaching certificate within three years. I told myself “no sweat”, and submitted my transcripts and resume to the local college that had a teacher program.
They required me to take another 22 hours of credit, including Speech 101. On top of that, I needed to pass the high school exit exam. I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and an MS in International Relations. I have taught as a military instructor both in the classroom and in flight. I have built entire curricula from scratch. I taught for two years at the Air Force Academy. I have coached kids from age 5 to college in baseball and football, including two years at one of these high schools. I have no doubt that there would be some piece of information in each of those eight classes they wanted me to take. But I just couldn’t see that the sum of what I would learn could fill even a single semester.
I’m not teaching.
I don’t think public school teachers are evil. You don’t go into that kind of job without caring. But a terrible lack of world vision hampers their personal education. Most graduate from high school, graduate from college, and begin teaching. It is hard for them to relate real-life issues, but they try. Most get some experience in the “outside world” working summer jobs, which puts them ahead of their counterparts at colleges.
It falls to them to give students an education many do not want. As a high school coach, I saw many athletes who thought colleges would just come looking for them. Their future was assured when some college coach recognized their talent. Every school in this country has twenty or thirty athletes who think they’ll get a full scholarship. The truth is, maybe one at each (on average) will. And the percentages are even smaller for being selected by the pros, let alone making a career as a pro.
I can’t criticize teachers too much because they deal with these realities.
But money is not the answer. What got me going on this is a post discussing education budgets. And there are links to stories similar to mine regarding teacher certification, as well as Professor Caroline Hoxby’s Papers on the Web which detail research into education.
In constant dollars, American school budgets have increased 300% since the 1960s. Where has that taken our education system? Down. In my ever-so-humble opinion, much of it has to do with the education level of teachers and administrators.
Teachers don’t earn a lot, but they are paid for nine months of work rather than twelve. On that basis, they are paid a fairly equitable salary. I will also say that it still isn’t enough. To progress on the pay scale, they must get continuing education credits and graduate degrees. They must move from teaching to administration. At schools of any size, the principal has a doctorate. The superintendent definitely does.
Dissertations must be based on original work. That means a doctoral candidate must find something obscure which hasn’t been done before. Once he/she does all that work, it would be a tremendous waste to not implement the results. And that’s where many new educational programs come from. And they displace solid academic effort which used to give students a basic, and useful, education.
Schools also continue to increase the number of “soft” courses with the admirable intent of broadening student interests. This would be a wonderful thing if the basic requirements of reading, writing, science, and arithmetic were being met. Apparently, they are not.
I have no silver bullet to slay this monster. But the gunpowder is certainly available: return to the core educational requirements defined in the 1950s and 1960s when students walked out of high school with a diploma that actually meant something.
Someone recently grumpily told me that her brother used to be a kindergarten teacher but that he couldn’t live on a teacher’s salary, so he quit and started working in construction and makes more. She said it was a horrible indicator of our country’s priorities. Instead I think it’s an indicator of her brother’s. He couldn’t live *the lifestyle he wanted* on a teacher’s salary, which is a far cry from not being able to live at all. Teachers make decent money for the amount of vacation they’re afforded. It’s indeed a hard job, but in all fairness they do teach the same thing every hour for years on end, and rarely do they update their methods or material. I even had a chem teacher once who used the same tests from year to year! I too think we need reform, and we need teachers who are don’t get stuck in a rut.
Comment by Sarah — February 6, 2004 @ 3:48 am