I have a career that I love. I love to educate children. I feel truly lucky to be one of the few people waking up on Monday morning saying "Not this again!" This career most certainly did not just fall into my lap. I worked my ass off to get where I am today and I have the grades and the debt to prove it because of the fact that I am required to have my masters degree to hold a teaching position in a public school. I see no problem with having high standards for teachers, but when we are getting associates degree pay for a masters level job, something is wrong. Do I feel entitled to more pay? No. I would not say entitled, but I would say deserving.
To clarify why I am against No Child Left Behind, I am a special education teacher in a fairly underprivileged area. Enough said for some, but I will embellish for those that do not work in a school setting. In a nutshell (and this is simplifying the process) NCLB placed undue pressure on schools by more or less saying that high percentages of students (including learning disabled, economically disadvantaged, and English Language Learners) will pass standardized testing at the end of each school year. If they meet their standards, they are said to make AYP (adequate yearly progress) and the target percentage goes up for the next year. If they do not make AYP they could stand to lose funding from the government. This places pressure on teachers to veer away from teaching to understanding, and emphasizes teaching to pass the test. This may work perfectly fine in schools where the three populations that I mentioned above are virtually non-existent. But, in public schools where those populations are dominant, AYP becomes a serious problem. I have a moral dilemma prioritizing social studies instruction over basic reading instruction or basic math instruction for a 5th grade student who is operating, essentially, on a kindergarten level in those areas. But, that is what I have been asked to do for the last 5 years. Tell me that there is nothing wrong with that completely fucked scenario. I am going to place math and reading over memorizing all of the important events of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars (plus other important events totaling over 198 facts that fifth graders could be tested on in fifth grade) every time because what is going to help the student more in real life?
Is it any wonder, again besides the fact that I am a liberal minded person, that I am placing all of my proverbial chips behind Obama? Obama addresses all of my concerns in his plan while McCain's plan says exactly dick about the above concerns. As a matter of fact, reading through McCain's bullshit education plan on his website and hearing the VP republican candidate's (whose name shall not be uttered) solution, it sounds to me like the standards will continue to rise without any concern for my target students.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
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1 comment:
Hi Greg! This is yer Uncle Ralph! I don't agree with your position on things but I love your blogs and the fact you are passionate about them. I am curious about the NCLB act. Are you saying there shoudln't be standards or are you saying you can't fail kids that should be left back in school? I understand learning disabled having difficulties but I fail to see how kids from economically challenged families have learning problems or how a non english speaking child is pushed through grades if they can't understand the curriculum. There has been a democratic congress in place for a couple of years now that have done nothing to improve the situation you have described. I don't teach in a school but I went to one and back in my day, if you were too stupid to learn the first time around, you did it a second time while your friends moved on. Fail the dumb ones, we will always need convenient store clerks! ( that is a joke people..... :P )
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