•Culpability in the current state of education Culpability in the current state of education I have spent the last two years as a math and science teacher on this island in the public and private spheres. Granted, two years is
•Culpability in the current state of education
Culpability in the current state of education
I have spent the last two years as a math and science teacher on this island in the public and private spheres. Granted, two years is not long at all given that some people have spent decades in the profession. My hat is off to and my respect is high for those individuals.
I have nonetheless come away with some very clear impressions about the state of education. In the last 20 of my short 42 years, in addition to teaching, I have worked for three major corporations as well as one of our National Laboratories, and pursued an advanced degree. Without a doubt, teaching is the most difficult thing I have ever done.
They say it gets better after the second or third year, but I will never know, because I simply can’t afford to be in this profession on this island. The pay is not commensurate with the amount of work one has to do and the amount of time one has to put in to really make an impact in the lives of all of these children. That issue of time and energy input is what I want to discuss here.
“Time is the currency of teaching.” In other words, it is “what teachers have to spend to buy learning.” This is a quote from Madeline Hunter’s “Mastery Teaching: Increasing Instructional Effectiveness in Elementary and Secondary Schools.” It should be self-evident, even without the quote, that anything which serves to waste time, taking precious time away from instruction and diverting it into other areas, is not aligned with the ultimate goal of our education system. Herein lies the fundamental problem.
Despite what some people want to believe, Kaua‘i is blessed to have some incredible teaching talent at all levels. Recently, the father of a graduating senior told me that he thought the faculty of the school from which his son was graduating was on a par with many college and university faculty. If that is the case, as I believe it to be, then why does the educational system seem to be so stretched, and at times, dysfunctional?
Common complaints include No Child Left Behind and teachers unions. On Kaua‘i, some people will even make the ridiculous claim that it is marijuana use among teachers, and they’ll gladly ask that money be spent on drug testing everyone. This is all diversion — a smoke-and-mirrors campaign to not deal with the painful truth.
The real problem is a “time and energy drain” caused by people, and if you doubt what I am saying, I encourage you to volunteer your time and energy at any school. The teachers will likely appreciate having you and you will get an eye-opening experience into what teachers do on a daily basis.
Many of you will not want to hear or accept what the primary source of that drain is, but you need to hear it anyway — certain students are sent to school by their parents or guardians completely unprepared to learn. Those students (and it takes only one in a classroom to have an effect) then drain time and energy out of the limited pool of it that could be used for solid instruction.
A term that was used at the school I just left to describe this phenomenon was “academic theft.” That child, because they do not come to school in a proper state for learning, and by way of their behavior in the classroom and elsewhere on campus, proceed to rob themselves, other students, and the teachers of time and energy that could be better spent in high-quality educational pursuits. The effect of this can be devastating.
Students who might be “on the fence” can often get pulled over “to the dark side” and start engaging in the same thievery, compounding the problem. If these elements go unchecked, they can adversely affect the general atmosphere of an entire campus. It also adversely affects teacher stress levels, which further compromises instructional efficacy. The current methods for trying to maintain some level of control over the problem are themselves examples of this time and energy drain. These are all the “classroom management” strategies which can easily occupy more of a teacher’s time than instruction does.
You might ask, “Why not just send that student to the office and have their parents contacted?” It seems so simple, but is nothing more than a nice little Catch-22. It is likely because of the parents that the child is in this state in the first place. The parents may have never taught this child how to be respectful of others or themselves, or to respect learning. The parents may refuse to have the child evaluated for learning disabilities or other conditions that might make that child eligible for extra services or accommodations.
The parents may be fully aware of learning disabilities and never inform the school (out of fear of “labeling” the child) such that proper steps can be taken to get that child help. The parents may make excuses for their child’s behavior or blame the situation on the school or the teacher. The parents may be looking at the school simply as free or convenient daycare while they are at work, or worse, as surrogate parents. The parents may be completely out of the picture in any meaningful way due to drug and alcohol abuse. You name the dysfunctional relationship parents could have with their child’s school, and it likely exists.
In response to these many manifestations of parental negligence — let’s just call it what it is — schools have adopted a “we can do this ourselves” approach. They spend inordinate amounts of time and energy engaged in activities to “pick up the slack.” Unfortunately, the premise for such is wrong. Schools can not do it themselves. They can not pick up the slack of bad parenting without compromising their mission. In fact, it takes the school, the students and the parent working in concert and not at cross purposes to make a functional education system.
Adopting such “go it alone” strategies perpetuates the idea that schools don’t need proper parental involvement to function efficiently. I blame schools for that, but I blame parents for creating the conditions that lead the schools to believe they should do that. The students, not knowing any better, then become the instruments for the collapse of the education system.
If you want to improve the state of our education system, you can and must start at home. Take responsibility for your children — they are ultimately your kuleana. Make your children interested in learning before you send them to school, and make sure that they remain interested in learning the entire time. Teach your kids the value of following rules and not trying to constantly test the limits to see what they can get away with.
Stop filling your children’s heads with the idea that there is no hope for them because others have taken everything that is rightfully theirs — help them to care about themselves, their future, the role they play in shaping that future. Teach your keiki to be respectful of others — all others. Work with your children’s teachers in a positive way, rather than trying to undermine them. Don’t expect the schools to raise your children — they are not equipped to do that and it isn’t their purpose. Don’t allow your children to become academic thieves. It isn’t fair to them, to their fellow students, or to the teachers who are trying to prepare them for some greater purpose in life. If you help to eliminate the time and energy drain, and the occurrence of academic theft in our schools, everyone will benefit because the education system will function more properly.
Michael Mann, Lihu‘e
