Anyone want to consider a current issue today?

[LWolf]

How about public education? Here is a piece by Jay Matthews on the recent publication of "Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce."

The propaganda machine has been busy decrying American education for more than a generation now, and NCLB, the latest atrocity visited on our schools enabled by such propaganda, is up for renewal in '07. Will anyone pay enough attention to make sure it is not renewed? I don't know. I do know, though, that every time one of these "commissions" issues a report, we undergo more "reforms" that often are more harm than help. Here is a snip from Matthews on this latest report:

<snip>

The staff of the new (their italics) commission (hmm -- why do you suppose we don't remember much about the OLD commission's 1990 report) did splendid work studying school reform in other developed and developing countries. Then they went too far. They decided the best course was for the United States to copy methods they thought worked well overseas. They justified this with the usual scare treatment -- threats that the rise of the Indian and Chinese economies will ruin us if we don't do something quick.

I am not an international economist, to say the least. I had to struggle to get through Ec 1 my sophomore year of college. But I am a careful reader of the business and economic reporting of my newspaper, so I think I am qualified to ask two questions -- neither of which are answered in this report -- about those scary folk in south and east Asia.

Question one: Isn't the freedom and flexibility of American culture and politics, not the quality of our educational system, what has given us such power in the world? India appears to have adopted many of those freedoms and its people have a chance to be just as creative as we are. But I have spent much of my life studying China and I don't see any way that country is going to set its great culture free any time soon. The China brain drain will be in our favor until Beijing adopts democracy and human rights, and that will take a long time.

Question two: Even if both India and China do attain that potent blend of liberty and creativity, how exactly is that going to hurt Americans? Their economies are thriving because world commerce is losing its dependence on borders and tariffs, and the old way of thinking (accepted without question in this report) that if some poor countries get rich, then some rich countries, like us, are going to become poor. The experts on these issues that I find most persuasive point out that only countries cut off from the world economy, like North Korea, are declining, and that is because they are not globalized. Everyone else is discovering that the better off India and China and El Salvador and Tanzania become, the better off we all are. The more middle-class people overseas, the more customers there will be for the newest gizmos that our large and innovative middle-class country keeps coming up with.

more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/26/AR2006122600451.html?referrer=emailarticle

[necso]

1. I have no idea what the current vote count is.

(It might be helpful if some interested organization could find out who is voting yes/no, who is undecided, whatever. Indeed, maybe this should be somebody's 1st step in the new year.)

My guess is that it'll pass (possibly with some modifications), as education is a hot topic, and the politicians will want to be seen "doing something" about it.

(I'm opposed; I think that it should be eliminated.)

Delaying/diverting tactics (these can be imposed at many points in the process, both by actual delays and by things like amendments) may be the best bet to stop renewal, especially if a few well-placed legislators are opposed to renewal. (However, seeking modifications is probably a safer bet than elimination.) But it's tied up with funding (according to the education department website, some 20+ billion dollars* goes for NCLB), and this complicates things.

Moreover, there are deeper problems: our country just doesn't really prize learning (which is different than formal education); and our model of learning is much-too-much single-track (one way to do something; one way to look at a problem; one way to think; etc** -- and society prefers those puppies who play this (their) game well, not those who think differently; that is, society "nurtures" more of what it already what is (as opposed to producing something better), with all the inherent limitations of said) and about memorizing useless, contextless trivia as opposed to achieving a useful understanding of the world around us.

And then there is the issue of funding. Government endeavors pretty-much across the board (where services are rendered to the public) are underfunded. Part of this is a deliberate political-strategy that various scum have been pushing for decades. But part of this is that the dollar is worth much less than official inflation figures indicate. And this hidden inflation means that while "inflation-adjusted" dollars might go up in various categories of spending, there is a real net-loss in buying power.

But hey, the elite are doing well -- and well-enough to beat this hidden inflation, so we should all be happy.

In short, I figure we're screwed.

*: They also have such useful tidbits as: "In a budget season marked by the President's determination to support what works and cut the Federal budget deficit in half by 2009..."

Ours has become a culture of bullshit -- not vision, understanding and wisdom.

**: Sometimes there is one (known) way (to do something; to look at something; etc) that is much more useful than the other (known) ways. But that's exactly my point: one should be able to look at a thing in different ways, and to choose the one (or ones) that works best. Moreover, we should hold a point of view because it works, not because we are told to do so, or because it's pleasing, flattering, etc, to us -- or whatever; but rather just because it works (not that we shouldn't seek ideals -- but we must do so in a manner that works). And this utility of perspective (knowledge, understanding, etc) is something that must be constantly, dispassionately re-evaluated, in light of the feedback (from the world around us) that we receive about how well our models are working.

[LWolf]

2. Insightful.

There are more people who support "one-size-fits-all" methodology than not. Another example of the tyranny of the majority. When we know that there is no "one" correct way to learn, and that some ways work better for some, others for others, to insist on a single way to do things is to deliberately deny some equal opportunity to learn.

Those denied, unfortunately, are not a minority. They just aren't the elite, who continue to thrive on "their way."

There is organized opposition to NCLB; there are many notable educators among them. They don't get the public hearing, the press, that the NCLB supporters and apologists get, though.

Like any other issue, it's a matter of being visible and being heard. TPTB have a pretty good handle on how to muffle dissent.

[necso]

3. "Those denied, unfortunately, are not a minority."

Truly. In my working-class circles, I have met many people of surprising gifts that just didn't get anything much out of the educational system -- and ended up in some menial job (where they can even get such).

And I have known many people with a lot of formal education who were unknowledgeable, ungifted -- and basically useless in a work environment.

We don't do a very good job of getting the best out of our people. The model seems to be that people should do it (get the best out of themselves) by themselves, instead of recognizing that the talents of our citizens are a resource that we must use the best we can (this sounds crass, but of course I mean this in the sense of providing opportunities for people to use their gifts). However, even if we stick with this model, people need to have the opportunity and resources to have any chance at all.

And in many cases, it's hard to make this claim.

I don't know how to stop NCLB. And, if I remember correctly, we're headed towards the years where there will be real consequences.

Grim all around.

[LWolf]

4. Real consequences:

Some have already kicked into gear around the country. When one or two schools in a district fail to make AYP a couple of years in a row, the whole district is bound into a mandated "plan" to improve. The plan ALWAYS, in my experience, includes narrowing of curriculum, mandated methodologies and programs, and much more, continual testing.

Every time a school does not make "AYP," it is ALWAYS, in my experience, a sub-group that didn't make enough "improvement" in scores. Note I said, "enough improvement." Improvement by itself is not enough.

Those sub-groups are those that we know, without any standardized testing at all, are the most likely to "fail." The poor, as quantified by those receiving "free and reduced lunch." "English language learners;" those not fluent in the language of instruction. And some ethnic groups, often African-American or hispanic. See "poor" and "not fluent in english." Not a coincidence. We know that the lower down on the social class ladder people are, the less successful they are when they begin school. The less educated and literate the family they come from, the less prepared they are for learning. Kindergarteners do not all start at the same "starting line," and without changes in the communities they come from, and the system they enter, the statistics don't change. In other words, all districts are set up to eventually fail, because no efforts or resources are directed at changes that would really make a difference for those communities, those social classes left behind before a new generation of school children are ever born to them. Once they've "failed," the government can step in with mandated "reforms" that further narrow opportunity, or, failing that, simply take over and disband the local districts themselves.

The mandates always include "one-size-fits-all" instructional methodology, couched in orwellian-like buzzwords that indicate otherwise, and "programs" published by corporate donors, and "training" provided by same. What, in this mix, seems likely to help those learners the system "leaves behind?"

[necso]

5. Plus the effects on teachers,

unions, administration, etc.

It's bs.