24 – The Bottomless Pit of Education ‘08 Platforms

Tom commented:

Ms. Friendly – what do you make of Obama’s ideas on education? I think they are interesting – though i was annoyed when he mentioned that his daughters go to the private Chicago Lab school because it was ‘convenient’ Maybe more people would like the choice to send their children to thug-free schools.

Tom – Well, one thing I can say is that I am disappointed that his campaign seems to include room for more of the NCLB madness! A lot of the items listed on his educational platform are things that already exist in the world of education…I’m not sure if his intention is to tweak these things and improve them, or just to list them so that the unsuspecting public will think he’s really hot shit. I perused Obama’s Educational platform site, and I’m not quite sure HOW he plans to pull off all of the expansions that he has mentioned.

McCain’s educational platform is based on parent and student choice…he mentions nothing of reform (save for the dreaded for letters of NCLB). I found the following quote to be quite entertaining:

John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek and find solutions to the dismal facts before us.

There is no “honest reporting!” The age I live and teach in is one of C.Y.A. (cover your ass) and manipulate the data so it says what it’s supposed to say…ESPECIALLY in environments were underprivileged students are being served because those students are STILL INVISIBLE! So now what?

I know one thing is for sure…America doesn’t have many choices when it comes to Election 2008! So it’s either him or the other guy!…Coke or Pepsi…Coke or Pepsi…OMG! They’re BOTH colas!!! I don’t know…I’m a cynic who only has patience for children and animals!!!

Education is one of those platforms that never reaches the forefront because the people who REALLY “matter” in the world (i.e. the Obamas, Clintons, McCains, Bushes, etc.) send their children to private schools! The “little” people like you and me just blindly follow along with what’s given to us because we’re either too tired or misinformed.

I am in full agreement with you. I whole-heartedly believe that there are more people out there who would like to send their children to thug-free schools!

Perhaps the answer is not to continue to remove the working student from Any High School USA…remove the thug!!! If he/she doesn’t want to be there, then send them to a trade school.

Oh…but wait… we can’t because we have No Child Left Behind!!!!!!

 

23 – What’s the Point?

People want to argue with me lately…which is fine! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I can only say this, and I say it with every bit of integrity within my being…I am reporting the daily occurrences as they happen!!! I am not peppering my reality with any of that stuff so many of you like…what’s that called…DELUSION!!! Yeah…THAT! I don’t use that spice when I cook. Makes me sick. I’m allergic to bullshit.

I have been an educator for seven years. I am one of those REAL teachers…the kind who actually teaches! I don’t sit behind a desk and assign paperwork. I like to get my hands dirty alongside my students. I like to talk to my students…get to know who they are as people!

I do not like it when I have that process interrupted with bullshit political things like incompetent administrators, permissive central office rules directed towards students, and the infamous No Child Left Behind…why do I pick on that…well, let’s see…where should I begin…

w Criminals with records sitting next to YOUR child in my classroom…did you know that?

w SEX OFFENDERS sitting next to YOUR child in my classroom…did you know that?

w Serve a 70% ratio of Emotionally and Behaviorally Disturbed students in my classroom, who sit next to YOUR child…who also disrupt class so much that I am only able to teach 50% of content IF that…did you know that?

w Special Education teachers are assigned PART-TIME to classrooms because there are not enough of them to go around…so the regular education teacher struggles with ALL of those children by himself…parents are under the impression that their child is being served for an ENTIRE class period, but they are not…did you know that?

w Test students until their eyes pop out of their head, but they are not one but smarter than they were before they started…did you know that?

w Creative teaching…the kind that kids REALLY pay attention to and absorb is scoffed at. Teachers now adhere to the Stepford Teaching Method of One Size Fits All…did you know that?

…All compliments of NCLB and Boy “W”onder!!!

The point here…the POINT of this blog is to get you ANGRY!!!! But don’t waste your anger on me! Take that anger down to your local school board and make sure those policies are the right ones for your student. Don’t send me comments telling me how disappointed you are about how I blahblahblah OR comments about “they’re just children.” I am not the focus here…the focus is the atrocity of what is being allowed to continue in your/our backdoor! The policy makers have the power and they continue to turn blind eyes to the true state of crapola inner-city schools have become.

How does that affect you?

Those inner-city neighborhoods are being shut-down and those same kids are moving to more rural locations…thereby altering the culture of rural schools…this should be of some importance to you! The policy makers are only powerful because “we,” as citizens, have chosen to place them in that position of importance. Realize your power as a stakeholder in the community! Do not take no for an answer because as parents/community members, your voice is golden…it means more than mine! As a teacher, my voice doesn’t mean jackshit unless I’m using it to tell students to make to class before the bell rings!

There are so many things that the public does not know about the educational system…and your child suffers because of it.

Don’t get angry with me…get proactive with your student’s future!