Sunday Evening Chat - Teaching

Living and growing up in or around DC, the capital of what is still the most powerful and influential nation in the world, certainly has its perks. We're just a stone's throw away from some of the most beautiful monuments in the world, a series of museums hosting world class exhibits for the price of "free-99" (thank you Smithsonian), and the literal heart of our nation's government. But for all things ying, their must be yang. DC has exceptionally and consistently high crime and poverty rates. We've allowed a new brand of cynicism to creep into our politics. The juxtaposition between extreme affluence and bottom-of-the-barrel poverty is seen on display daily. And perhaps what's worst of all, the public school systems are failing.

Politicians in Washington have been doing plenty of talking in the last few years. When things are really tanking, everyone's got a solution. Amidst all of the bailout arguments, the health care reform debates, squabbling over our position in the Middle East, it seems that we may have lost focus on arguably our most valuable asset: the future leaders of this country.

Public school failure anywhere in this country is unacceptable; public schools failing in our nation's capitol, though, is abhorrent. How can we say that America has regained its position as a respected world leader when under the noses of the men and women who run our country our school system is crumbling? However, before continuing on the mindless rant it seems I'm headed toward, let me first pose a question: what does it mean for a public school to fail? How do we quantify failure in public schools? The most obvious answer, which is yet another talking point on the Hill, is standardized testing. If a predetermined percentage of students "fail" the standardized test, my understanding is that the "failing" school "fails" to receive the funding necessary for improving their deficiencies, and this begins a violent shit-storm of "failing" that eventually spirals out of control. This I don't blame on the students. I blame the state, and those incapable of realizing that this system can not and will not EVER work.

Why not? Glad you asked. First of all, standardizing (for all I know) means that their is a city-wide pass/fail rate for public schools. If you fall below the bar, you don't receive full funding. Well we know that like most cities, different demographics tend to be concentrated in different areas. For those of us with intimate knowledge of DC, we could hardly expect public schools in Anacostia or the neighborhood of Trinidad in S.E. to stack up with public schools, say, in Georgetown. This creates a multitude of problems - the schools that most likely need the most funding to aid a demographic of students that are behind the curve from the outset of their student lives don't get their funding. The schools situated in more "well-off" areas continue to widen the gap because year after year they score higher and receive the publicly allotted funds. Furthermore, understanding the stakes of these tests, public school teachers are driven by administrators to do all that they can to prepare their students to do well. They realize that funding and perhaps their jobs depend on their student's outcome. This seems absolutely counterproductive to learning and traditional classroom education. Placing so much emphasis on one test is unfair to both teachers and students.

In fear that your vision is rapidly blurring, I will try to conclude with all the brevity I can muster.

1. If the students must take standardized tests, so must the teachers. On a yearly basis. If you fail, you face pay decrease, remedial subject teaching, or termination. I don't mean to sound cold-hearted, but clearly faulty teachers play a role in public school failure. If we are going to hold our students to a standard, we must hold those teaching our students to a standard. Aren't they supposed to be professionals?

2. Let's try to rethink budgeting. I can appreciate all of the arguments for standardized testing. But to place at risk the fiscal security of those schools who consistently underperform seems unfair, and backwards. If it is a teacher failure, number one should take care of it. If it is a demographic failure (and therefore a parent failure), well then the schools will probably need extra funding to get some brilliant staff to meet the challenge of bringing less-fortunate students up to speed with their peers.

3. I haven't done enough research to diagnose the problem completely, but the above is what I understand to be the case. Let's stop disgracing our nation and start taking our youth seriously. Solving the blunders of global warming and our troubled economy today won't mean anything tomorrow if we find our nation laden with a generation of ignorance. Stay in school. And don't do* drugs.

* (too many)