No Child Left Behind by those evil teachers

First read this:Ruben Navarette's article.

(Warning: although this post looks slightly more formal than some others, it is, as always, completely unedited. I'm just too lazy to proofread and revise.)

With all due respect to Mr. Navarette's credentials, the subject is not nearly as simple as he makes it seem. If the argument were only "NCLB and the exit exam ensure that students are meeting a minimum criteria of achievment before they are awarded a high school diploma," then I suspect there would be a lot less debate. And in that case, I too would accuse teachers who are against the testing of not being concerned with students' results. But the waters are significantly muddier than that. First among the many things to consider is the fact that until a very recent judgment, for the first time ever students in need of special education were going to be denied any kind of diploma, despite their best efforts and their many challenges.

Second is the fact that NCLB, well-intentioned as it may be, is entirely unfunded, meaning that to meet its stringent testing requirements, school districts take money away from established programs. This very morning it was announced that all district librarians here in the Sacramento City Unified School District are being pink-slipped (not fired, just notified that they could be) for budgetary reasons.

Third, although Navarette obliquely mentions "the racism that exists in the educational system" and quotes a principal who points out the unnamed "groups who are not scoring appropriately," he fails entirely to note the many other obstacles these groups encounter in attempting to receive their education. And I may be crucified for saying so, as implicating parents for being at all responsible for their kids' academic failure (it's a different story when you replace the word "failure" with "success") is the ultimate sin in this field, but many of the lowest performing students face challenges that come directly from their parents. The students must work to support their families; they take care of younger siblings; they spend part of the school year in Mexico; they are allowed, even encouraged, to stay home when the parent or other family member is ill; they have transportation problems and the parents don't make other arrangements; the parents simply don't put any value on school or apply any pressure to their kids to do well; the list goes on. And although we in the education business work our butts off to change the culture (and it is changing from within on some fronts), it is still true that it is often seen as unacceptable to be brainy or to work hard in those same "groups." Finally, and I don't know how to change this, there are significantly fewer African-American and Hispanic teachers than white ones. Students do not see themselves reflected in their educators, and that's sad. But where are those groups working instead, and if they think it's a problem (as I do), why aren't they here in the classroom? It's not blame or implication -- it's a question.

Next, an exit exam may or may not accurately reflect a student's learning. I've seen some of the tests that pass for assessments of standards around here, and they are utter crap. Also, I wish my readers could have stood in the gym, as I did, during a recent administration of the CAHSEE. The din was unbearable. Students were crammed into the room back to back at long, paper-covered tables. The gym is normally an echo chamber; under exam conditions every noise was magnified. Even my best and brightest students came back later that day worried that they had not done well because the atmosphere was so discombobulating.

With all that said, I am not against an exit exam. Sound crazy? As a teacher, I agree that we should be responsible for teaching our kids the basics. Otherwise, a high school diploma will quickly lose its value. If a young adult applies for a job and it is discovered that he or she cannot read but has somehow earned a diploma, any employer would stop accepting a diploma as an indication of merit. I don't want that. A diploma should mean something. I just think that, given the circumstances, we have a lot more talking to do.

When Navarette says that teachers "will talk your ear off about the shortcomings of students -- particularly Hispanics and African Americans -- but they're in no mood to confront their shortcomings as educators," I think he is mistaken. There are those of us who look at the assessments and are scared. I am one of them. It is terrifying to think that I might not be properly educating these students in preparation for college, the world, and the responsibilities of being a citizen. But for me, that fear is a motivator to step up my game. And if that same fear forces teachers who really don't do their job, dislike their students, and are only in it for the summer vacation to leave the field, all the better! I think good teachers, like good parents, worry constantly that they're not doing a good enough job, and I don't think that fear is a bad thing. Yes, we should have standards, yes, we should be held accountable, yes, the students need to learn. I am simply not convinced that this test at this time applied in this way is the right answer.

And, because this is not an editorial or any kind of professional publication, what's up with the fact that this guy has such a low opinion of teachers? We're racists who hate our students? For reals? We win the prize for having "the thinnest skins on the planet." "All they care about is whether you agree with them." We're "hostile" towards hearing other points of view? "...Many of them hate their jobs, disrespect their students and resent their supervisors." Teachers "always make the worst students." Wowsers! Nothing like making generalizations, huh? Well, I feel a little intimidated about disagreeing with him now, since I'm sure that makes me "hostile," but does anyone else smell some bias here? I suspect that there are people in every profession who have similar complaints, and people in every profession who would fire off a critical letter that might piss someone off, but that doesn't speak to the profession as a whole.

And a little more on the parent issue. It's practically an unwritten rule of political correctness that you cannot say that the parents are responsible for their kids' failures. But why? If a kid is a success, the first thing people say is what a great job the parents did of raising him or her. They must be so proud... And later on, much later in the conversation, maybe someone will give a shoutout to the 3rd grade teacher who inspired and encouraged the kid. Well if a kid can't graduate from high school, no one says to the parents "Wow, you did a shitty job, you must be so ashamed!" No, THEN it's all about the school and the school system letting them down. I'm not saying that anyone SHOULD say that to parents, but I think we should be able to say out loud that there are myriad factors that contribute to any student's success or failure, and those include the student, the parents, and the teachers. All three.

Okay, enough for one night. Bye all.