“I came to
the conclusion that NCLB has turned into a timetable for the destruction of
American public education. I had never
imagined that the test would someday be turned into a blunt instrument to close
schools – or to say whether teachers are good teachers or not – because I
always knew children’s test scores are far more complicated than the way
they’re being received today.” - Diane
Ravitch ( http://www.npr.org/2011/04/28/135142895/ravitch-standardized-testing-undermines-teaching)
Keeping Them in the
Box (or “love you just the way
you are”)
Idiom: In Pulitzer Prize winning author Tony Morrison’s
The
Big Box, several “unruly” children from various backgrounds find
themselves placed (incarcerated) into a Big Box complete with toys, articles of
clothing, food, furniture – all of it to remind them what would be best for
them if they were to conform to what society expects of them. In fact, although not directly stated, they
have been placed in the box for behaving/thinking outside of the societal norms
by which they should be constrained. If
you’re a teacher or nurse or public servant, it’s worth a read. Pull up a chair at your local Barnes and Noble’s and give it a good look. You’ll find it in the children’s section.
Rules of Conduct for
Teachers – 1915
You will not marry during the term of your
contract.
You are not to keep company with men.
You must be home between the hours of 8 PM
and 6 AM unless at a school function.
You may not loiter downtown in any of the
ice cream stores.
You may not travel beyond the city limits
unless you have permission of the chairman of the school board.
You may not ride in carriages or automobiles
with any man except your father or brother.
You may not smoke cigarettes.
You may not dress in bright colors.
You may under no circumstances dye your
hair.
You must wear at least two petticoats.
Your dresses may not be any shorter than 2
inches above the ankles.
To keep the classroom neat and clean you
must sweep the floor once a day, scrub the floor with hot soapy water once a week,
clean the blackboards once a day and start the fire at 7 AM to have the school
warm by 8 AM when the scholars arrive.
Given these historical circumstances, we’d hardly expect a
governess/educator to demand anything - much less a living wage. Pity the Ichabod Crane, Mary Poppins, Miss
Crabtree, Anna [The King and I] – were they to shed their timidity for a sudden
temerity and request deserved respect and compensation. That would be out of character and totally
unacceptable. They might even lose their
heads?
Teachers, nurses, police, firefighters, and public servants
are taught through hammering stereotypes and reiterated imagery that their
professions’ nobility is derived from the following: practiced compassion over personal reward,
good works over self-interest, and graciously granted respect for the sacrifices
each profession makes. We illuminate our
minds with these strobe images of the dignity of penury through
self-sacrifice.
But those once admirable stereotypes have changed recently,
haven’t they, my educator friend?
Anyone familiar with the print media (in Chicago especially)
is aware of the persistent vilification of the teaching profession, the new emphasis
on privatization of the schools, the demand for testing as a measurement of
teachers, not students. And with those
angry new caricatures we have at times come to doubt ourselves and our work –
and I might emphasize – our value.
For decades, any real threats by public servants demanding
respect, seeking appropriate compensation, or calling for a voice in their
respective professions have been countered with the media’s cynical rejoinder
that they are coldly willing to hurt kids, or patients, or crime victims, or the
populace. The economy, destroyed by
speculators; retirement savings, drained to less than half their value; foreclosures,
still rising unabated – we look at our pension and feel – of all things –
guilty.
“Honestly,” one teacher whispered to me at a recent
gathering, “I feel scared when people ask what I do for a living. They’ll either hate me or feel envy. So I make up things.” It won’t get better.
In the new world or the “new reality,” our discomfort will
be enhanced with the media’s consistent call to simplify the process – teach
measureable skills only, reduce the scope of class choices, or just add more
time. And be paid accordingly.
In academics, they (public servants) are often reminded to
remain in their domesticated positions as governess, tutor, nanny, baby-sitter,
or hired help “in a feudal system of corporate masters and serfs” (Chris
Hedges). Our job is simple: teach to the
test. Replacing real teachers – the ones
who educate children to think critically or inspire them to reach for their
potential – the privateers now seek those who design curriculum that can
objectify and assess basic skills at the expense of insights, gifts, or
desire.
“Passing bubble tests celebrates and
rewards a peculiar form of analytical intelligence. This kind of intelligence is prized by money
managers and corporations. They don’t
want employees to ask uncomfortable questions or examine existing structures
and assumptions. They want them to serve
the system…They reward those who obey the rules, memorize the formulas and pay
deference to authority. Rebels, artists,
independent thinkers, eccentrics and iconoclasts – those who march to the beat
of their own drum – are weeded out” (
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_united_states_is_destroying_her_education_system_20110410/).
Here’s a peek into the corporatist’s future educational
model.
And No – this is NOT from The Onion.
Bill and Melinda Gates’ Foundation has been throwing more
than $1.4 million into a scientific plan to create a biometric wrist band
(called a pedometer) that will measure the emotional engagement of students in
a classroom. In other words, the
student’s response – excitement or ennui – could be demonstrably identified and
graphed for a class period and thereby allows a charting of student-to-teacher
response. Voila, we have a way to
measure a student’s interest/learning – or – do we have a measure of how a
teacher is doing in exciting a student or all the students for that matter? It doesn’t take much to realize the
ridiculousness of this attempt to reduce and codify instruction like we would
review an electro-cardiogram. But the
Gates Foundation is serious enough to drop a ton of money on this project. In fact, additional money will be spent this
year to begin testing the device in middle schools this fall (
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-06-12/news/sns-rt-us-usa-education-gatesbre85c018-20120612_1_gates-foundation-veteran-english-teacher-teachers-feedback
)
The company spearheading this project, Affectiva Inc.,
states in all seriousness that such data could be used, for example, after
watching a film in order to ask students questions about scenes in the film
that aroused them. That’s just one
example. Forget theme, symbol, holistic
response, personal response – just what aroused you. I personally spent most of 8th
grade sitting next to the Susie Wettergren and would have been in a constant
state of excitement, so I guess I would have been identified a great student –
or my teacher would have been considered exceptional.
One persistent problem with asking the educated to educate
is that those who deliver the academic experience are not mindlessly obedient
like the drones that function at basic levels of existence in third world labor
shops. And in fact, their greatest
danger is in educating those in their charge to think independently, or outside
of the box, if you will. Despite the
historical costume of subservience, real teachers provide or nurture a
student’s further passion for learning, most especially in the intangible areas
of art, music, dance, acting, etc. Like
real teaching, these qualities are not measureable test outcomes. They are not subject to a single curve of
improvement of failure; they grow in spurts of discovery and momentary drops of
frustration, failure or confusion.
On the other hand, corporate entrepreneurs and business-model-minded
people like Bill and Melinda Gates, Arnie Duncan, Ty Fahner, Michael Noble,
Rahm Emanuel, Penny Pritzker, etc. are trying to shift that timeless paradigm
of education to a measureable, data-driven curriculum concept, one that
tabulates basic improvement in a student’s achievement as easily as a good or
bad business quarter, an electrocardiogram, a simple test score. That’s
placing both students and teachers in the box.
That’s wrong-headed.
Respect yourself. Respect your
good work. Fight back.
