Elitism in the Public School

Last night I went to a party.  There were teachers and former teachers there.  One person was a substitute working currently in a public middle school in an economically struggling area.

All of these people were white, middle class and educated. 

The topic of conversation turned to the subject of how the public schools in the urban district where we live (and where their children all go to school) is getting ready to make elite public schools where the children have to test to get in. 

I couldn't help myself,  I had to say, "This is too elitist for me."

Their argument was that gifted children who really try hard in school deserve someplace to go, someplace better. 

I have no real complaint with that statement but I do have a major problem with the public school thinking that it can decide which children deserve the best in education and which children do not. 

Ever since I was a child there has been a public school weed-out process for the "children who didn't matter". 

When I was in school the weed out into better/worst classes and expectations was around who was on the college track (because their parents cared enough to make sure everyone knew that their child was going to college).  Parents who were not savvy enough to realize this was the game probably never even knew that their child was in one of the "classes that didn't matter as much". 

Nowadays the way I understand it there are elite "gifted" classes where the children are not subject to the same teaching methods.  The "gifted" children (who must test as gifted in one area) are given over to a teacher not subject to the same guidelines as others.  The classes are smaller and more hands-on.  According to this website  http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=656  minorities and children of less economic means are barely represented in these sort of classes.

Why is it all these "gifted" children are mostly white, from two parents families? Why are they mostly from the middle class?

Why are minorities not represented in the "gifted" classes in a much stronger way?  Certainly one doesn't need to be white with 2 married parents in order to be gifted.  To think so is to continue to perpetuate racism and isn't it about time that as a society we stopped perpetuating both racism and classism? 

So now that school district has the go-ahead to make an entire school building into "kids who matter" while other buildings and their teachers are (based on the standardized test scores) going to have to defend their existence. 

Does any of this bode well for children with special needs or learning differences?  No,  I don't think so. 

Are many impoverished children who deal with who-knows-what sort of challenges each day are going to be getting into these "gifted and talented and oh-so-special and deserving of more attention children?"  I doubt it. 

It's not set up to work that way.

I have a real problem with elite public schools and any of this weed-out type action. 

Taxpayer money needs to be used to educate equally.  Public funding demands that doors be open to all children,  not only children that some God-playing school staff determine to be worthy. 

Do private schools track some children into worthy or not categories?  No, of course not.  They already know that every child walking in the door is cared about and that parents are willing to pay extra to make sure their child has the teacher's attention. 

Do Catholic schools lump children into worthy or not worthy categories with privileges for some but not for all?  No, I have never seen this in my Catholic school experience.

If a child is a ghetto child then the teacher needs to have some idea of what that sub-culture is about in order to meet that child where they are.  White middle class teachers need to be educated about the population they are teaching. 

Last night so much of the conversation was blaming the parents for not caring, or not teaching the child how they should behave in school. 

This sort of talk raises my warning flags. 

What control do children actually have over the environment they came from?  They do not.  Teachers need to understand the children and what they will respond to, not the other way around.  And certainly public school staff do not need to be deciding which children matter and which do not.

Progress I'm making

Things have been happening for the better (at least most of them).

Our Catholic school is going to host a presentation of the film The Big Picture by James Redford.  Our local branch of the IDA is going to present it and there is a panel afterward to answer questions.  I sure hope some parents will attend.  It's all being backed by the local Diocese (which is a big deal) and I think with some good PR we will be able to hopefully help some parents get to a place of better understanding about their children and about dyslexia.

As for the dismantling of public schools and standardized testing (which I am against) things are going quite slow.  I've had no takers on a request to form a group which looks at ways to legally and proactively start to push back against these ridiculous laws. 

But...............

just when one might think that all hope is gone I went to the grocery store today and found myself talking to someone way more in touch with the public school parents than myself.

How's that for a God moment? 

Also I've been asked to be on a panel as a parent representing families with special needs. (In the face of standardized testing).   I LOVE this.  I hope I can be a help.

Is my parent group at the Catholic school still tiny?  Yes.  We did get our shelf though and I'm ready to work on putting more on it to provide any tool I can to help "struggling readers".   I want at least 100 tips in a binder. 

I've already put 2 copies of The Good School by Peg Tyre on the shelf- if one reads the reading chapter alone it's worth the time and effort since this is such a good book.

So there.  Am I having a direct impact.  Well probably not but who's to say these aren't gains and steps in the right direction. 

Humbling moments for a know-it-all

I'm sometimes annoying because in certain subjects I can seem like a know-it-all.  I learn something about an area of interest and it sticks in my head. 

I like statistics (as if you didn't already know that). 

I like siting my sources ("don't believe me check here:__insert name of book or web page___").

Putting all that aside, this year my daughter has a harder teacher for language.  This guy is not going to take it easy on anyone, her report card showed evidence of that.

He said he has dyslexia and he also has a child with dyslexia.  He's not feeling sorry for anyone.  He is pushing. 

This attitude is in keeping with my brother (who also has dyslexia) who said, 
"Don't feel sorry for her,  make her work."   

My brother also admitted to riding the wave of lower expectations as a young person and he told me not to let her get away with that.

This guy may be the best teacher she's had yet.  I'm not sure but as I paint this picture for you I'm thinking this could be the case.

He explained to my husband and I the nuances of Orton Gillingham.  Wow,  there is a lot to know.  There is a lot to be broken down into manageable pieces, and geesh, this doesn't exactly look like it's easy to teach or to learn.

I told my mom later that I know if my brother hadn't gone to the school my daughter now attends he would have been completely illiterate.  He probably would have been a high school dropout.  She agreed.  It is hard to imagine what his life would have been like if had stayed on the course and my parents hadn't made the sacrifices they did to insist he learn to read.   Instead of that life, he has a good job,  is well regarded by his peers and is a hard worker.  He is a great husband and father and I really love talking to him. 

Back to my old theory about literacy in the U.S.

So I have this theory about the decline of literacy in the U.S. based on what I know about Whole Language and a lack of knowledge about teaching the 40% of the population who need the additional help and time to learn to read (and basically mostly don't get what they need currently). 

I'm always looking out for clues that I might be right on this one. 

So it's interesting to me that if you read this article signed by 132 Catholic educational professionals one of the main points of criticism for the Common Core mandates are that they are dismissive of literature.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/02/catholic-scholars-blast-common-core-in-letter-to-u-s-bishops/

Well,  one has to be able to read to enjoy literature in all it's glory.  And if a significant portion of the population doesn't or cant read well I can see how some people might think it's okay to push literature to the wayside.

So literature is seen by some as expendable.  As not necessary for the future manual laborers of the world. Of course I completely disagree.

One of the things that most saddened me about my children having dyslexia was the thought that all the wonderful books that helped me cope with my childhood were not going to be as easily shared with my children.  I'm not sure that this is true but for the moment no one is reading at that level in my house.  It is my hope that one day they will be.

I'll never forget finding Anne of Green Gables for the first time when I was 10 or 11.  A friend of mine had it on her shelf.  She was not particularly interested in the series and was willing to let me borrow them  (I had never seen them before in my school library).  The world of Anne took me away from the neighborhood where I lived and the drudgery that I considered my life.  It opened new doors for me and set a new example for how to be as a young girl. 

I have waited and waited to introduce my own daughter to Anne.   Thank goodness for the cartoon series (she loves that).  I did try reading it aloud to her but found it very wordy (I hadn't really remembered that part). 

So Common Core throws literature out (for the most part) and the Catholic educators have an issue with it.  Good. 

I still don't believe the federal government or the state government need to be dictating what teachers do in the classroom.  We aren't all going to be suddenly better off because some elected officials with larger than life egos all decide to tell the rest of us what is important for our children.  No thanks.  I doubt very much that my many Greats Grandfather who fought in the Revolutionary War ever thought things would one day appear this way.  I don't think freedom is about laws micromanaging teachers. 

Common Core and private school, Common Core and Catholic school

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/11/09/how-many-children-will-we-sacrifice-before-we-wake-up/

This article is so timely.  I just had a conference for my son in Catholic school and they were asking what the private school my daughter attends does with Common Core.

I was asking them why my kindergarten child is bringing home sometimes 6 pages of work to be done.  I know that this is not even close to age appropriate. I also knew some of this was new this year and they said yes.  The answer: Common Core.

They asked me what my daughter's private school does with Common Core mandates.  As far as I know right now, they don't use it.  It's a private school.  It doesn't take federal funds and therefore is not subjected to the mandates of the federal government.

They insisted that theirs also was a private school but I have a hunch that Catholic schools do take federal funds in some capacity and this fact, therefore makes them subject to Common Core.  I'm going to figure this out for sure.  Otherwise, I believe Common Core,  just like No Child Left Behind,  belongs in the scrap heap.  The federal government has no business micromanaging our already well educated and knowledgeable teachers around the country.

My daughter's school meets the children where they are.  Oftentimes children do not even come to her school until they are at more advanced age and almost completely illiterate because of the mediocre method of teaching children called Whole Language (and it doesn't matter if you sprinkle in some phonics, it's still whole language).  This doesn't work for a significant number of children (say 40%). 

Only the most diligent parents who have done a lot of research and had their child tested and have the economic means are able to take their children to her school. 

It's heartbreaking to me to think of the astonishing amount of children in the world who are struggling with this and do not have the many factors in place that my own child does.

Still,  I believe "to those whom much has been given much is required".  To me this translates into a real need to go out and tell people our story and let them share theirs.  To answer questions when they are asked of me and to be available to any parent who reaches out to me. 

Right now I'm trying to get The Big Picture shown at our Catholic school.  It's a long shot.  Really right this moment I'm thinking the answer will be no, but at least I asked.  Right?

I'm not giving up.  I don't care if people don't like me.  I must do this job and I must do it to the best of my ability.  I must push this envelope,  even if only one parent listens,  even if only 1 child is helped.

Levies defeated now back to dyslexia

While I have still been working on implementing changes at the Catholic school we are in (slowly, carefully,  gently although none of that comes naturally to me), I have been putting a certain amount of time into fighting off the privatization of education movement.

I can now breathe a sigh of relief that the levies which were due to take a huge amount of tax money and put it toward charter schools has failed.

Back to a full focus on dyslexia.

Thank you God.

Not that privatization or edu-business is taking this as anything more than a minor setback,  it's just that there are so many good people already in that fight.  So many caring parents.

In the game of chess a part that's really important is called the end game.  In the game of anything else the end game is also really important.  I believe that this will ultimately work out the right way in the end game because of this one simple thought:

Never mess with a parent's love for their child.  

Politicians should have known better but so often they are clueless, self serving and self absorbed.  In this case it's obvious how much that is true.   So many of them lost credibility on this issue that it's hard to name the ones who didn't.  Not doing their job of actually representing the public good,  not a wise move either.  Combine that right on in there with the one simple fact above. 

I'm expecting we will be seeing some change.  I'm certain of it.  It's in the air.

Hatchets and those who wield them

So again I'm going to digress into politics. 

I know, I know, again! Please stay with me.

One of the things I've noticed since the time of the Karl Rove antics is that the 1% love to make voters form previously nonexistent monitoring groups with their laws. 

A few years back they did it to the farmers in Ohio and got the majority to vote it in (using all sorts of shady manipulations).  It wasn't necessary and it wasn't in the general farmers best interest by any means.

Now the same thing is here again in my face and it's called issue 51 on our upcoming levy.  It's being lumped in with issue 50 which is questionable on it's own.

There is no need for taxpayers to pay for it (either one but I'm talking about 51 today).  It could conceivably override school board decisions (in the future that might not be such a good thing) and well,  the DOE and FBI already do a fine job of internally monitoring the school situation (the FBI only when things go wrong which they certainly have).

Why do we need another set of middlemen?  Or should I say set of Internal Auditors. We don't.

Yet,  this is a strategic tactic being used constantly by the 1%.  Invent a new group and give it power.  Make sure they are people who been "appointed" to be in the position. 

Sort of looks like a familiar business tactic I've seen.  You may know the one where things seem to be running along smoothly and suddenly the company hires this new guy (or woman) and they are polished, slick but strangely don't have the background in the industry that one might expect them to have. And you didn't realize that there was such a need for a new position in the first place.

At first nothing much happens.  Not too many folks ask,  what's going on.  Certainly no one asks the new slickster why they are suddenly working for the company.  That would be rude.  Shouldn't it be obvious.

Then the firings or layoffs start and the reapplying for your job.  That's when the normal folks around the office start to "get it".  A hatchet man (or woman).  That's what the slickster is.  Who knew?

That's what the internal auditors are also. 

Let's not kid ourselves,  although the 1% doesn't see it this way their greed is a bottomless pit and they aren't going to stop until they've exhausted every possibility of making more money and making the laws to facilitate making more money.  I know, astonishing,  I think so too.

Really I'd rather be sitting with some tea and a Jane Austen book yet I'm writing about this sort of corruption. A lot. My husband would rather I be doing housework and sometimes I do but the whole time I'm thinking about what the heck is going on in the world.  Was it always like this?  I have to say I think not but it's like this now.

To me it's like there is a parasite or a plague of parasites in this country and they are coming after every last thing they can get.  Right now their focus is on education but what's next paying to go to a formerly public park?  It could happen.

Parasites don't realize that eventually they kill their host.  They just don't get that fact and the 1% is no different.  No different at all.