Whats Wrong at School?
What's wrong at school? We all know schools that seem to work well.
The kids graduate from middle school, high school and college to find themselves in the job market applying some of what they learned along the way.
If that is our ultimate criteria than the majority of schools keep feeding into the job pool with some success.
I believe/hope a larger "we" are beginning to ask for more- The statistics are frightening, particularly for the kids I reach out to who have little or no chance of looping into the dwindling "American Dream.
" In Washington State the completion rate in high school is 68%.
Native Americans are at 40%, African Americans 50% and Hispanics at 55%.
They are sold a promise of marginal success if they go along with the weak curriculum that delivers irrelevant information to them.
They are not necessarily offered the opportunity to mull over challenge/solutions and the applicability of choices to relevant circumstances in their lives.
The interviews I just completed with three homeless people will dramatically show the reader how the foundations in education may have crumbled for some.
The interviews can be viewed by linking to our blog through our website.
Our HIV/AIDS outreach brought us into three Seattle High Schools a year or so ago.
Fully a third of the 600 or so students who attended our program thought mosquitoes could infect them with HIV.
Science and health teachers were sitting in the room showing no reaction...
There are terrific exceptional schools offering young people a true path to success.
I am not writing about those jewels but the ones most kids travel through during the best learning times of their life.
Why aren't we? • Considering a radical paradigm shift-why do we never have those conversations? • Why the actual physical structure of our schools? Do they work anymore? • Why the pattern of 8 years = 4 years = 4 years = job/career, what's the rush? What do we want at the end of that path? • Invite in young people giving them a real seat at the table.
(I visited a Superintendent in Alabama who has students as her board-only students) How many kids have a real voice in education in the Seattle schools? • Should there be serious responsibility/accountability to administrators for developing young people who are challenged by critical thinking? There are consequences for manufacturing faulty products but none for academic trespass.
• Where are the parents in the path, administrators, and neighbors? Change the relationship and the contracted responsibilities? • Stop the detachment that takes place at every graduation.
Link in educators to a development path.
Create a relationship that follows a child as they move from one level to another.
Radically change the 0800-300 paradigms as well as daily/weekly scheduling.
• Competitive salaries and head hunting of educators similar to how businesses operate.
The policy that one needs a degree in a particular subject regardless of actual experience is not in the best interests of the kids.
I oversaw the largest swath of earth for an International Bank but I cannot teach high school bonehead business, marketing, sales, and strategy in a 'public' school.
• Teaching by theme linking all subjects into a developed path linking all subjects into that theme.
I taught for years in a private middle school incorporating the theme of "tolerance" linking in every discipline to support that with the kids, neighbors, businesses, and non - profits etc- I recently spent two years working with students attending a private school in a Seattle suburb.
The general consensus is that private schools deliver a better education as well as offering the ability to instill faith, religious training, morals and lessons that may be prohibited in a public school.
The school, where I was helping out, could be considered as a "failure" for a number of reasons.
These "failures" may illuminate why so many schools "in house systems" don't deliver what we claim we want- The school is historically under financed.
The public tends to believe a religious school receives support from the parish or Archdiocese.
This school receives minimal financial support in the face of parish expenditures that are unwarranted i.
e.
shipping a seven-foot statue to Italy for repair when there is zero money for ESL tutors for non-English speaking students.
In spite of the school needs the parish priest raised funds so he could visit his non-profit organization in Peru.
You would hope that type of decision-making would be cause for administrative review or outrage from the parents when there is little or no money for the kids.
Silence! Silence because the parents are undereducated and ill informed hoping the church and principal will give their kids what they didn't have in their home of origin.
All understandable until you see how the product is broken delivering only an empty promise to many.
In 2009 eleven eighth graders took the private school exam for high school placement/evaluation.
Nine of the eleven scored in single digits.
Usually a low score is in the 200's.
They were graduated and accepted at a high school that offers another set of promises that may or may not be realized.
The balance of graduates included functionally illiterate students, non-English speaking and severally challenged students who move on to the next level to face more failure and negative self imaging until they ultimately give up or luck out- Last years 7th graders took the Washington Assessment test mandatory for all public schools.
Many private schools also take the test as they frequently score higher than the published scores for public schools, thereby allowing a pitch for their school's excellence.
The results were dismal-11/24 passed the reading, 10/24 passed the writing and 15/24 passed the math.
Scores worse than the scores so often printed in the papers about the failure of our public schools.
Would you buy wheels for your car from a manufacturer who had similar failure statistics in their core-manufacturing principals and practices? The school has no librarian, no Title 1 aid for middle school, no bi lingual teachers, no language support, no qualified tutors, no relevant and challenging curricula in history/social studies, no language classes, no science lab or the opportunity for students to have a real voice in their destiny.
Joint venturing with other schools and bringing in support teams from Universities, City Year, Rotary etc.
to shore up the school were all rejected by inexperienced administrators- The admission policy at the school has been to allow in any student regardless of academic standing or behavioral challenges.
Unnecessary problems due to that policy, including physical threats against other students occurred during the last two years.
Unsupportive polices such as this lower expectations rather than raising them for the kids.
There is strong resistance on the administrators' part to stepping out of the mold to create a new vibrant school different than what other schools are doing in the neighborhood.
This particular school is on life support and will not miraculously morph into becoming a stellar school.
It will take negotiations with parents, investors, local businesses, high schools and colleges, librarians, non-profits in the arts, science and environmental fields to bolster the academics.
In conjunction with academic possibilities from the larger community the school has the opportunity to be the lead in social justice campaigns targeting local and regional issues.
When people see kids actively making a difference their interest tends to follow with donations and referral possibilities; which may lead to a growing student body rather than a shrinking student body.
Combine these efforts with a strong outreach program by the faculty and staff.
With a proper schedule they can rotate their time as active members of society versus time in the classroom monitoring study halls etc.
, where a volunteer can oversee the room.
People begin to take notice of the seriousness of the school in the community when they see everyone playing a consequential role in the kid's development - anything can happen.
This particular school has an administrator who came to the school with no expertise with lower/middle school students greater than that experienced with his own children.
In a school that needs the best on every level this decision was not the best one for the kids.
A superintendent of schools ultimately oversees this school.
He has shared that he was not going to be directly responsible for the school or interfere in any way - stating the parish priest is responsible.
The Parish priest announced he will not play an active role! You see the pattern- So, who loses? The kids of course! Repeatedly- Where are the parents? Working to keep food on the table.
Hoping everything will be all right...
Where are the rest of us? Yes, where are the rest of us? Often those who speak up for change and support for kids are targeted, moved, fired and discounted.
Recently there was a story in the Seattle papers about a teacher and his two-year battle to have himself exonerated after being fired for speaking up for the kids and blowing the whistle on the principal's improprieties.
Part of the news story focused on the traditional way he was treated for speaking up.
He was fired! These destructive policies of retaliation and misdirection of blame detract from the mission of offering the best to our young people.
That "benefit to kids" we so often like to talk about, but so rarely really fight for in our actions, financial commitments or willingness to reach out and demand change.
If we are really serious about the future of our kids we have to speak up loudly when they are being underserved by the status quo.
Don't be afraid.
Stand up for our kids everyday in every way!
The kids graduate from middle school, high school and college to find themselves in the job market applying some of what they learned along the way.
If that is our ultimate criteria than the majority of schools keep feeding into the job pool with some success.
I believe/hope a larger "we" are beginning to ask for more- The statistics are frightening, particularly for the kids I reach out to who have little or no chance of looping into the dwindling "American Dream.
" In Washington State the completion rate in high school is 68%.
Native Americans are at 40%, African Americans 50% and Hispanics at 55%.
They are sold a promise of marginal success if they go along with the weak curriculum that delivers irrelevant information to them.
They are not necessarily offered the opportunity to mull over challenge/solutions and the applicability of choices to relevant circumstances in their lives.
The interviews I just completed with three homeless people will dramatically show the reader how the foundations in education may have crumbled for some.
The interviews can be viewed by linking to our blog through our website.
Our HIV/AIDS outreach brought us into three Seattle High Schools a year or so ago.
Fully a third of the 600 or so students who attended our program thought mosquitoes could infect them with HIV.
Science and health teachers were sitting in the room showing no reaction...
There are terrific exceptional schools offering young people a true path to success.
I am not writing about those jewels but the ones most kids travel through during the best learning times of their life.
Why aren't we? • Considering a radical paradigm shift-why do we never have those conversations? • Why the actual physical structure of our schools? Do they work anymore? • Why the pattern of 8 years = 4 years = 4 years = job/career, what's the rush? What do we want at the end of that path? • Invite in young people giving them a real seat at the table.
(I visited a Superintendent in Alabama who has students as her board-only students) How many kids have a real voice in education in the Seattle schools? • Should there be serious responsibility/accountability to administrators for developing young people who are challenged by critical thinking? There are consequences for manufacturing faulty products but none for academic trespass.
• Where are the parents in the path, administrators, and neighbors? Change the relationship and the contracted responsibilities? • Stop the detachment that takes place at every graduation.
Link in educators to a development path.
Create a relationship that follows a child as they move from one level to another.
Radically change the 0800-300 paradigms as well as daily/weekly scheduling.
• Competitive salaries and head hunting of educators similar to how businesses operate.
The policy that one needs a degree in a particular subject regardless of actual experience is not in the best interests of the kids.
I oversaw the largest swath of earth for an International Bank but I cannot teach high school bonehead business, marketing, sales, and strategy in a 'public' school.
• Teaching by theme linking all subjects into a developed path linking all subjects into that theme.
I taught for years in a private middle school incorporating the theme of "tolerance" linking in every discipline to support that with the kids, neighbors, businesses, and non - profits etc- I recently spent two years working with students attending a private school in a Seattle suburb.
The general consensus is that private schools deliver a better education as well as offering the ability to instill faith, religious training, morals and lessons that may be prohibited in a public school.
The school, where I was helping out, could be considered as a "failure" for a number of reasons.
These "failures" may illuminate why so many schools "in house systems" don't deliver what we claim we want- The school is historically under financed.
The public tends to believe a religious school receives support from the parish or Archdiocese.
This school receives minimal financial support in the face of parish expenditures that are unwarranted i.
e.
shipping a seven-foot statue to Italy for repair when there is zero money for ESL tutors for non-English speaking students.
In spite of the school needs the parish priest raised funds so he could visit his non-profit organization in Peru.
You would hope that type of decision-making would be cause for administrative review or outrage from the parents when there is little or no money for the kids.
Silence! Silence because the parents are undereducated and ill informed hoping the church and principal will give their kids what they didn't have in their home of origin.
All understandable until you see how the product is broken delivering only an empty promise to many.
In 2009 eleven eighth graders took the private school exam for high school placement/evaluation.
Nine of the eleven scored in single digits.
Usually a low score is in the 200's.
They were graduated and accepted at a high school that offers another set of promises that may or may not be realized.
The balance of graduates included functionally illiterate students, non-English speaking and severally challenged students who move on to the next level to face more failure and negative self imaging until they ultimately give up or luck out- Last years 7th graders took the Washington Assessment test mandatory for all public schools.
Many private schools also take the test as they frequently score higher than the published scores for public schools, thereby allowing a pitch for their school's excellence.
The results were dismal-11/24 passed the reading, 10/24 passed the writing and 15/24 passed the math.
Scores worse than the scores so often printed in the papers about the failure of our public schools.
Would you buy wheels for your car from a manufacturer who had similar failure statistics in their core-manufacturing principals and practices? The school has no librarian, no Title 1 aid for middle school, no bi lingual teachers, no language support, no qualified tutors, no relevant and challenging curricula in history/social studies, no language classes, no science lab or the opportunity for students to have a real voice in their destiny.
Joint venturing with other schools and bringing in support teams from Universities, City Year, Rotary etc.
to shore up the school were all rejected by inexperienced administrators- The admission policy at the school has been to allow in any student regardless of academic standing or behavioral challenges.
Unnecessary problems due to that policy, including physical threats against other students occurred during the last two years.
Unsupportive polices such as this lower expectations rather than raising them for the kids.
There is strong resistance on the administrators' part to stepping out of the mold to create a new vibrant school different than what other schools are doing in the neighborhood.
This particular school is on life support and will not miraculously morph into becoming a stellar school.
It will take negotiations with parents, investors, local businesses, high schools and colleges, librarians, non-profits in the arts, science and environmental fields to bolster the academics.
In conjunction with academic possibilities from the larger community the school has the opportunity to be the lead in social justice campaigns targeting local and regional issues.
When people see kids actively making a difference their interest tends to follow with donations and referral possibilities; which may lead to a growing student body rather than a shrinking student body.
Combine these efforts with a strong outreach program by the faculty and staff.
With a proper schedule they can rotate their time as active members of society versus time in the classroom monitoring study halls etc.
, where a volunteer can oversee the room.
People begin to take notice of the seriousness of the school in the community when they see everyone playing a consequential role in the kid's development - anything can happen.
This particular school has an administrator who came to the school with no expertise with lower/middle school students greater than that experienced with his own children.
In a school that needs the best on every level this decision was not the best one for the kids.
A superintendent of schools ultimately oversees this school.
He has shared that he was not going to be directly responsible for the school or interfere in any way - stating the parish priest is responsible.
The Parish priest announced he will not play an active role! You see the pattern- So, who loses? The kids of course! Repeatedly- Where are the parents? Working to keep food on the table.
Hoping everything will be all right...
Where are the rest of us? Yes, where are the rest of us? Often those who speak up for change and support for kids are targeted, moved, fired and discounted.
Recently there was a story in the Seattle papers about a teacher and his two-year battle to have himself exonerated after being fired for speaking up for the kids and blowing the whistle on the principal's improprieties.
Part of the news story focused on the traditional way he was treated for speaking up.
He was fired! These destructive policies of retaliation and misdirection of blame detract from the mission of offering the best to our young people.
That "benefit to kids" we so often like to talk about, but so rarely really fight for in our actions, financial commitments or willingness to reach out and demand change.
If we are really serious about the future of our kids we have to speak up loudly when they are being underserved by the status quo.
Don't be afraid.
Stand up for our kids everyday in every way!