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The Parents Job II
by Diane Ravitch
Several weeks ago, I wrote an article in the Sun titled "Don't Blame the Teachers." My basic argument was that proposals for merit pay, performance pay, and other incentive plans assume that teachers are slackers who need more pay to do their best. [ed.: or, alternatively, proposals for merit pay assume that teachers are normal human beings who respond to incentives like everyone else on the planet] I contended that in many classrooms, teachers confront students who have negative attitudes about academics, are not pushed to succeed by their parents, and are immersed in an anti-intellectual popular culture.
The responses I received to my article were fascinating. One prominent businessman wrote to complain that I was letting incompetent teachers off the hook. A friend who is a member of a New England state board of education said that she had met many lazy teachers. A parent advocate complained that I was blaming parents. [ed.: parent advocate? as in advocate for parents?] A prominent journalist who writes about race and poverty said that I was blaming poor kids for their poverty, even though my article was about all sorts of students, not just poor kids.
Not surprisingly, the letters I received from teachers thanked me for recognizing that what happens to their students outside the classroom and the attitudes they bring to class are even more important than what happens in their classes.
ding! ding! ding!
wrong:
You shouldn't hold teachers and principals of school districts accountable for things over which they have no control. You should hold them accountable for those things they do have control over. Schools and teachers don't have control over the achievement level when children walk in the door, but they do have control over how much that level is raised during the year.
and:
"The biggest factor affecting student achievement is teacher effectiveness," said Sanders, who emphasizes that class size effects and differences in ethnicity, family income, and urban-suburban location fade into insignificance when compared to teacher effects.
back to Ravitch:
A response from a high school science teacher in Brooklyn, David R., was unusually thoughtful and detailed. He pointed out that he has students in his classes from 70 different nations, speaking almost as many languages, most of whom are lower-middle class or in poverty. Many of his students regularly miss their first or second period classes because they have a two-hour trip to school or they are expected by their parents to baby-sit for a younger sibling in the morning or they just don't care about showing up.
This same teacher said that even when attendance is good, large numbers of his students have poor language skills.... Many were indifferent even when the teachers used videos or PowerPoint or other visuals to try to stir their interest. [ed.: they were indifferent to POWERPOINT?????]
But even among his native-born students, he said, apathy is rampant. Recently he warned a student that if she didn't improve her achievement, she was unlikely to pass her Regents' science exam. "She shrugged her shoulders. That shrug wasn't the shrug of one student: that was a collective shrug of many, many students." Despite field trips and projects and every trick known to the teachers' trade, many of the students "just don't care." [ed.: field trips, projects, AND POWERPOINT - and they still don't care????]
When the teacher reports a high failing rate, the principal naturally wants to know what he did wrong. What could he do differently? [ed.: clueless administrators couldn't be part of the problem, could they?] He knows what should be done for students to have higher levels of achievement. He knows the answers, but they are out of his hands.
Get the students to study instead of watching television or playing on their computers or hanging out with their friends. Get them to sleep at a reasonable hour. Get them to comprehend the connection between what they accomplish in school and their chance to have a decent income and life after school. Get them to see the value of visiting museums and libraries. Get them to spend free time improving themselves instead of sleeping late, partying, or going to the movies.
Almost everything that students need to do differently takes place at home. None of it costs an additional dime. It is all within the control and the choice of students and their parents.
I have an idea.
Maybe I should write an unusually thoughtful and detailed letter to Diane Ravitch.
I could tell her how I have a kid who studies, makes the connection between what he accomplishes at school and his chance to have a decent income and life after school, sees the value of visiting museums and libraries, and spends at least a little of his free time improving himself (he's taken to running with his dad & last week he read two books after being shamed into it by his friend M., who has read 5 this summer).
He does all of these "free" things that don't "cost an additional dime," and yet he still can't take 10% off a price and come up with the dollar amount he'll have to pay!
Maybe he's not getting enough PowerPoint.
what is to be done?
[E]ven the best teachers cannot be held responsible if students don't show up for school, don't understand English, don't see the point of learning, and care more about what's on television or what their friends are doing than what they do with the rest of their lives.
Even the best teachers can't compete with a powerful pop culture that makes heroes of dumb entertainers while failing to put before our young any heroes worthy of emulation.
....powerful pop culture....
....heroes of dumb entertainers...
....heroes worthy of emulation....
....our young....
Until we as a society begin to recognize that students and parents must take responsibility for the part of their lives under their direct control, we will continue to be dissatisfied with our schools. Scapegoating the teachers won't solve our problems.
hokey-dokey, then
Good advice!
I am going to take responsibility for the part of my life that is under my direct control.
.............................
So.....I'm wondering whether the part of my life that is under my direct control includes my turning-13 year old son.
7 comments:
Maybe I should write an unusually thoughtful and detailed letter to Diane Ravitch.
Or maybe you should write an Op/Ed piece for the Sun. You could probably get it published.
Hi, Ben!
I'm going to refrain from writing op-eds until I know what I'm talking about.
That will take awhile.
Seriously, though, Temple and I wrote a dandy op-ed that I now think was completely wrong.
I don't know enough about public policy to be writing op-eds.
Diane Ravitch's recent articles are quite puzzling.
She was extremely helpful when I was looking for good textbooks for my son, and her book "The Language Police" was very good.
But her last few articles are almost union propaganda.
Any thoughts?
"[ed.: field trips, projects, AND POWERPOINT - and they still don't care????]"
I know you're serious, but the unintelligentsia might mistake this for sarcasm - and that would mean that you're setting the bar too high.
"[E]ven the best teachers cannot be held responsible if students don't show up for school, don't understand English, don't see the point of learning, and care more about what's on television or what their friends are doing than what they do with the rest of their lives."
This is NOT about the teachers. The world of education does not revolve about them. The REAL question is what does the SCHOOL do for those kids who DO show up for school, who DO understand English, and who DO care about the rest of their lives. If schools can't or won't separate those who can or will from those who can't or won't, then they should let these kids take the money and go someplace that will give them a proper education.
"Scapegoating the teachers won't solve our problems."
Hiding behind their skirts (or pants) won't either. Most can appreciate the problems teachers have when kids don't care, or if kids enter fifth grade without knowing their times table. The question is why are they in fifth grade to begin with? There are very simple solutions to these problems, like flunking kids. The big question is why aren't schools doing that? Perhaps it's because following through requires a lot of backbone and character. It's easier to pass the kids along and blame them, the parents, and society.
Ah, blame the immigrants. What a classic device, even though I am sure that significant a minority they may be, they are still a minority and cannot be responsible for the MOST of the burden of underachieving students.
I came into the US speaking an English-based creole. I have Somalian and Vietnamese schoolmates, some of who often speak broken English. For me, immersion worked its magic. Even if immersion alone doesn't fully work for the older students, the lack of language faculties is unlikely to be the main flaw.
A school facing issues with teaching immigrant students has so many ways to look for aid. My school has a "learning lab"; I am not sure if this is standard -- I should expect it so, but immigrant students often go there so the language on their tests and schoolwork can be explained to them. Usually the problem is resolved by merely rewording the problem with simpler English.
And it's okay if teachers don't have the time to cater to every immigrant student. These are the things peers can do. But I've oft noticed that their teachers often don't have the common sense to assign buddies or ask for volunteers. Some of the students are talented but get shoved into the lower-level classes with less-than-competent teachers. It's not because they can't understand English, it's because the teaching less than vivid.
One of the things with tracking is that you must ensure that by streaming the students, you do not simply consign to an even more inferior education. This "spiral of education death" is my biggest peeve with streaming/tracking.
Math uses a universal language, a universal logic. It is in fact, one of the subjects immigrant students should score the highest on. When I work with immigrant students as a peer tutor, I find English tends to be a very minimal issue. They understand after you reword the problem. And with what other subject can you transcend language barriers by drawing diagrams and using graphical proofs?
And the fact that one can present the problem in a simpler way, using simpler language (often without sacrificing rigour) and using better diagrams shows a lot about the original presentation.
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