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The Nightmare We Call Our Schools
Guest Column | By Alan Caruba | May 19, 2008
A
friend of mine recently wrote to me saying, "My wife is retiring in
June after 30 years of teaching. A high school degree means nothing. No
Child Left Behind is an even bigger joke. It is a scary situation that
could lead us to third world status, but we are prepared for that since
we already teach English as a second language."
I remember my
father, the son of Italian immigrants, telling me how, when he entered
kindergarten in the early years of the last century, the teacher paired
him with a boy who spoke both English and Italian. That was how
he learned to speak English. He was not considered special, the school
was full of immigrants' children and they were expected to pick up
English as best they could and as fast as they could. Later, my Father
worked his way through New York University and became the youngest
person at the time to pass the exam to become a Certified Public
Account.
The difference between my Father's era - and mine at
mid-century - and the children in today's schools is that there were
subjects we were expected to master and grades reflected actual achievement.
Today's
schools reflect the opening quote from a friend of mine, a fellow with
a master's degree in education who tried his hand at teaching and
discovered that his school was a jungle of incompetent teachers,
indifferent administrators, and a majority of students for whom the
expectation of good behavior and a dedication to learning was
laughable. And his school was every public school.
That
explains why Dr. Renato C. Nicolai, Ed.D, with forty years of teaching
elementary and middle school as well as being an administrator in
California schools, sat down and wrote "The Nightmare That is Public
Education: An Expose of What Really Happens in Public Schools" ($17.95,
iUniverse). I recommend this book to parents so that the blinders can
fall from their eyes and especially to teachers who still have a desire
to actually teach.
"I believe teachers and principals work in
school systems throughout the United States that are ineffective,
poorly administered, and broken," says Dr. Nicholai. He cited six
"myths" the public is spoon-fed to keep them in the dark.
- The Money Myth - "Schools perform poorly because they need more money."
- The Special Ed Myth - "Special education programs burden public schools, hindering their academic performance."
- The Myth of Helplessness - "Social problems like poverty cause students to fail; schools are helpless to prevent it."
- The Class Size Myth - "Schools should reduce class sizes; small classes would produce big improvements."
- The Certification Myth - "Certified or more experienced teachers are substantially more effective."
- The Teacher Pay Myth - "Teachers are badly underpaid."
Politically
conservative parents have an even greater problem with today's schools
that are totally in the grip of unions with a demonstrative leftist
agenda. "The terms multiculturalism, modernism, diversity, secular humanism, individual self-expression, moral relativism, and political correctness identify the secular-progressive," writes Dr. Nicholai.
"When
these terms are discussed with praise and commitment, you know you're
on the trail of persons who believe that traditional values, rights,
and responsibilities are old-fashioned and out of step with modern
thought."
"Public schools are havens for liberal thought and
practice. Secondary teachers are generally far left, left, or
left-leaning." The greatest complaint of parents with children in
today's school is that they are factories for indoctrination of values
that run contrary to their own "old-fashioned" views.
It is
doubtful still that parents have any idea how bad the situation is in
their local schools, even if their children attend those in prosperous
suburbs. Dr. Nicholai simply says they have been hoodwinked. Everyone
participates from the students to the teachers to the administrators.
"Actually,
at most public high schools, chaos is just under the surface of the
daily routine, with cops on campus and administrators supervising
before and after school, during passing periods, and at lunches and
recesses, with walkie-talkies and cell phones."
Not exactly the description of a serene, safe environment in which to learn or teach anything.
We
as a nation have known about this as far back as 1983 when the National
Commission on Excellence in Education issued its report, "A Nation at
Risk." Here we are, 25 years later, and the situation is infinitely
worse. At a current average cost of $9,200 per student, an increase of
69% over 1980 per-pupil spending, taxpayers are spending more and
getting worse results.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs”, posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center. His book, “Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy”, is published by Merrill Press.
Guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media or its staff.
16 Comments | Post a Comment
As a teacher of many years I’m really weary of hearing comments like this how we’re OVERPAID. Compaired with the average professional with our amount of self-paid education and requirements to continue to go back to formal schooling (paid by us again) throughout our career we are paid about half or less the average. Many Math and Science teachers are lured by offers in others fields for beginning salaries 3-4 times what they are making as teachers. Also, class sizes DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE as to discipline (no, corporal punishment is long gone, by order of state legislatures) and how much you can accomplish. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you. No one likes to pay taxes or fees. Teachers understand that. But we also have bills to pay, believe it or not! What’s more, federal and state paperwork has vastly added to the workload, and teacher salaries after inflation are less than they were 20 years ago. No wonder the average teacher stays in the profession less than 4 years!
I would support pay raises for teachers, provided they were subject to the same kinds of errors and omissions (malpractice) liability as licensed professional engineers, plumbers, real estate salespeople, physicians, electricians. Quite a number of the occupations licensed by the governments require continuing education.
Would you be willing to accept a doubling of your pay in return for being liable for malpractice? I doubt it.
I also believe that you would see a number of early retirees entering the teaching profession, with the idea of sharing the knowledge they’ve gained in the real world, at modest salaries. Except that the teachers’ unions insist on “certification,” which as I understand it is based upon how many courses on pedagogy you’ve completed, not how much a person knows about the field of knowledge he or she is teaching.
As far as the paperwork burden is concerned, every occupation has it. Blame yourself if you vote for big-government politicians, regardless of their party affiliations.
Example: I have volunteered to play music one hour a week in the nursing-care ward of a local hospital. Never mind the fact I’ve been entertaining people musically for over fifty years, a lot of it in just such places as this one. I have just finished filling out a folder full of paperwork, being photographed for an ID badge, TB tests (two), and am awaiting the results of a credit check and criminal background investigation. This was more crap than I went through 25 years ago to get a military security clearance! I’m just surprised that nobody has requested fingerprints, a polygraph test, and a urine sample. Yet.
Ron, just another thought.
Instead of insisting upon higher pay, why do we never hear teachers attempting to negotiate away the continuing-education requirements?
The public may actually be more in sympathy with that approach.
Blogger 1947,
Teachers have always been and are legally liable for every thing they do. Most pay large monthly legal fees just in case they get caught in a legal web. Touching a student on the shoulder, for instance, is often enough to start a suit, and teacher unions forcefully warn their members against it. Even if the suit is won by the teacher, often the teacher is stigmatized by doubt cast by lawyers (speculation) about “what really happened in that classroom” and the resulting loss of goodwill often causes a teacher to resign. The public seems to want to believe bad news even if it’s only a distortion or speculation. I am wholeheartedly against big government as much as you and I’ve always voted for the candidate who promised to reduce it. Unfortunately, in the last 50 years the only one to keep his promise here was President Reagan.
As to your second comment, this has been tried. But those who have tried it have been branded as lazy and anti-education because the higher education establishment makes a lot of money resisting such moves. They have far more clout and money with state legislatures than we have! Often their officers have very cozy ties with the state departments of education.
Ron,
Is one liable only for misbehavior, or for bad teaching?
I believe someone ought to bear responsibility for the lousy curricula that seem to give political indoctrination priority over the teaching of thinking skills. That, of course, would be the various boards of education.
Here in Maryland, the county boards of education are not elected as they are in other states. They are appointed, and by the Governor! There is a process that requires the county’s people to submit multiple nominees for each seat, but that same process reserves board seats for various political pressure groups, e.g. the League of Women Voters and the NAACP. There is virtually no chance of becoming a member-at-large; you must have some political clout.
As to salaries, I would like to see an experiment done in which the teachers’ work load is reduced to a level more appropriate to the salary paid. This might just demonstrate how much of the administrative stuff is pointless.
We obviously agree more than we disagree, which I am happy to have learned.
All of this back and forth over what teachers are liable for...I’m sorry but I have to speak up. Unfortunately they are not liable for their bad teaching habits or how bad they actually reat the children in the class, as ong as the school boar backs them. Case and point, I had a child in special education and the para pros and others were telling my sister I needed to check in and see what was going on; when I finally did, I was privy to hear this teacher call a child (fortunate for her-not mine) stupid. When I spoke to the principal about it he made excuses for her. So I went to the school board who also made excuses for her. I had already started making phone calls to the state board and lining up numbers to put a stop to this woman, because these children are unable to speak for themselves when my husband and I decided to move to another county. The new school has been awful for my child in regular classes, but a Godsend for for my special needs child.
Mom,
That’s my point: it all hinges upon the school board and its makeup.
In a state like Maryland, where all the board members are political appointees, you can bet they will support the status quo, no matter what.
My impression is that things are different in states whose school boards are publicly elected.
What’s the system of staffing the school board in the counties where you’ve lived? I’m curious whether your experience bears out this theory of mine.
Stan M
Blogger1947,
Teachers are liable for EVERYTHING that goes on in a classroom, behavior, teaching methods, and curricula. Because teachers are human, have different personal strengths and weaknesses, the synergistic mix of how this works out is always different in every classroom, AND it always will be. I have found that formal educational preparation has relatively little to do with how good the teacher actually will be. Good teachers have an either have innate sense of how to teach or they are self-taught and collaborate with others. Many parents would make excellent educators, even without formal education. Formal education just adds to what is already there (or isn’t).
Back to the question of liability: 1) Teachers are human and may bad judgment errors, especially when they are tired and under a lot of stress at home or work or both 2) If teachers make intentional disrespectful comments, they should be warned of consequences and if it continues be removed from the situation and get personal help to rectify it or leave. I suspect that the reason principals and boards don’t more often get rid of special ed teachers who are disrespectful is that because it requires a lot of extra higher education hours (two years full time, paid by the teacher, or 5-8 years summmers, evenings, and weekends) and because it is a very highly stressed position, dealing with kids who have very diverse and chronic needs in the same room, hour after hour, so that it is often very difficult to replace a special ed teacher who leaves. I have seen the job opening announcements, and special ed openings are well represented. A teacher needs to make thousands of decisions every day involving the lives of precious children, and error can creep in, especially under great stess.
To Stan, About boards who are elected vs. appointed and which is more accountable: I lived and taught in a state for most of my adult life, where both local boards and the State Board of Education was elected by the citizens at large. Yes, it did help them become more accountable. However, the “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine” or board member comments to teachers: “my son MUST be on the starting five in football” comments still occurred.
Ron, thanks for your comments.
I have no doubt there are different kinds of abuses among elected school boards, but all told I think they MUST be better, by definition. A governor is not likely to appoint anyone who does not toe the official line. In this county, where I’ve lived my entire life except for military service, people have occasionally suggested that I run for office. A school board seat would be the only thing I would ever remotely consider, because our county council is so corrupt that I would not want to be associated with them.
I have to agree that special ed is a difficult matter. My sister worked as an instructional aide in special ed for about 25 years, and it took quite a toll on her health. Some of the children in those classes are violent and unpredictable, and the teacher or aide are most often in the line of fire for that violence. The education establishment owes these people some kind of stress-relief program, whether it’s extra time off, group therapy, or some other form of respite. They are care-givers, just like people caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s, where the need for “respite care” has been recognized.
Much of what is needed in the broad spectrum of special-education is one-to-one interaction. My next-door neighbor taught herself to do this work when her first grandson turned out to have autisim. The child is now about six and doing splendidly in the mainstream. He’s outright brilliant at some things, and it’s thanks to grandma. She developed the courage to present herself to the school system, and makes a decent part-time income working with these children individually. This woman comes from an extremely dysfunctional family--alcoholism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia--and has overcompensated wonderfully, to the benefit of us all. But under most circumstances, she’d be denied employment because of her lack of credentials. That would be true whether we’re talking about public schools or about all these for-profit tutoring businesses that have cropped up.
Somehow, the education establishment needs to be forced to loosen its grip on the system, and to recognize the many people among us who are self-taught and naturally talented.
Stan M.
Blogger 1947,
Our board members are elected, however, our superintendent is chosen by them...unfortunately. And that seems to be half our battle.
Not only that, but most of the board members are related to someone at one of the schools ( ie,spouse, parent, sibling, inlaw,...), so I’m not sure if we are really voting or if we are just casting our votes to make it look that way… but then it’s a small town and almost every one seems to have tie somewhere…
Ron,
Just FYI, the kids in my child’s class AND my child are REALLY handicapped… NOT THIS NEW MADE UP RULE OF SPECIAL NEEDS THEY NOW HAVE.....
I too have worked I these classrooms, and I am appalled that the school systems would allow the teachers to be subjected to that kind of abuse from 6 year olds on a daily basis!!! So I do see your point.
However, I am speaking of children who are special needs in a true special needs sense, NONE of these kids act out, most of them can hardly talk, half of them have mobility needs… this teacher’s abusive ways have been brought to their attention by the school resource officer, other teachers around her classroom, and lunchrroom staff, but it has all been brushed aside.
The year before we moved, I went in and complained to the teacher’s immediate boss and I did win a bit of a battle… they brought in a teacher theat was going to retire and ask him to be in charge of mine, the other teacher was to have nothing else to do with her. I also heard he was there to report to them on how this teacher was behind closd doors ( but I"m not sure if that ws true or not as we moved on).
This teacher even took my child to the dr for a physical that I had already had done (she said because I signed the form) I told her I signed it because I had already had the physical done. THe next time I went to the dr. the nurse told me she was prying into their medical history, stuff that was none of her business...That was the last straw for me… and that’s when they moved the other teacher in the room.
Now, do you see my point? At least maybe??? BTW, every teacher that has ever taught my child has said they love her to death and don’t know what they will do with out her. She has been as this High School for 4 years and the teascher dreads her leaving as she is very helpful and always wants to help. Even the othr teachers tell me how much she means to them.
Mom,
Among other things, I think elected school boards ought to contain at least some members who do not have children in the school system, or any financial interest in it.
I would guess that how much power the “super” has is a matter of law, and thus could be changed.
As far as class instruction goes, I think you are spot-on with your observation that many of these newly defined special needs are bogus. I would prefer to see things redefined to the point where the special-ed population was reduced to a number that would permit one-on-one education.
I can’t imagine anything more destructive for a teacher or students than a classroom in which you have one child who has mobility problems, another who cannot speak or hear, someone who is incontinent, someone with Tourette’s, several students with different varieties of autism, another who is pathologically agressive, all thrown together and mixed with a couple of brats who are there just because they are getting no discipline in the home and are too disruptive to the “mainstream” teaching process.
Under a school-voucher system, parents like you might be more free to choose what is best for the individual child.
I’m sure it’s trite to say this, but I think you are a hero for being your daughter’s strongest advocate, as you have described what you’ve done.
Blogger 1947,
You are very right, and it upsets me to no end also. However, when I made this move my child was place in a class where the children were more or less the same as her as far as learning. Yes, two wer in wheelchairs and one could speak when she wanted to,(and my child speaks a little, but uses sign more) but her classmates are all about on the same learning level and they have a wonderful teacher that I would not trade for the world!
However, that said, I have subbed and have been in classes where the teachers tend to ignore the students because they know these student can not go home and tell on them and that too gets my goat! Then there are teachers that are thrown onto the position and do not want to be there so they treat the kids as such, by being very rude to them, making comments about how they can’t learn anything…
Then we have the teachers that are allowed to be abused by children who are classified as special needs because they never had any discipline at home and parents don’t want them disciplined at school… I say forget the “No child left behind” and let these parents home school them. GIve them the computers and the resources and tell them to do it themselves because we are NOT going to subject our teachers to such abuse with no way to discipline them for the abuse.
I have thought aboutbeing an advocate for parents that are afraid to speak out for fear of what will happen to their child if they do say something, but I am not sure how to get started, also am not sure many parents care as much as I do. Some send them to school to get rid of them and dread them coming home. So it’s a toss up when it comes to these children sometimes.
One more FYI, I have a very close friend that drove a special ed bus for 26 years, some of the children on the bus told her that they wern’t really stupid but their mom told them to act that way and not pass the tests so they could get a “check”...we know who these are because they are too embarrased to participate in Special Olypmics, To REAL Special Needs People, this highlight of there year… EVERY YEAR.. GO FIGURE
AND WE WONDER WHERE OUR GOVERNMENT MONEY GOES?!?!?!?!
mom,
One clarification, if you don’t mind. I don’t think “Stupid” is a fair term to apply to people with developmental disabilities, even if some of them apply it to themselves. Stupidity is behavior, not genetic makeup, lack of mental development or weak character. Some of the most STUPID people (judging by their behavior) that I have known in my life have PhDs.
Moreover, I have known people who are considered “mentally retarded” who are capable of genuinely profound insights, because the education system did not succeed in making them stupid. Years ago I worked in a garage, and one of our customers was a moderately retarded man who was able to read well enough to get a driving license. We always looked forward to a visit from Eddie, because we knew we’d hear about the latest movie he had seen. And his views of what went on in those films was almost always different from what the film makers intended, yet uncannily accurate.
On the other hand, I worked with a man who had a doctorate in electrical engineering, but could not change the battery in his pocket calculator.
Which of those two would YOU call stupid? 
BTW, I may have mentioned my next-door neighbor, who has become a self-taught aide and advocate for children with autism. When I read what you wrote about wanting to become an advocate for these children, I dropped her an email inviting her to join this discussion. Let’s hope she does.
Stan M
momof3kidz,
My neighbor told me she would be happy to advise you on becoming a child-advocate. Rather than give out anyone’s email here, let me suggest that you go to my blog site (click on my name in the header of any message here), and contact me by making a comment on any blog entry, making certain to include you email address. I’ll pass that along to my neighbor. That’s about as close to maintaining confidentiality as we can achieve.
May 20 at 10:27 am | #1 | Link
Another one of Hitler’s plans.In the fifties , the education I had, was good. I could have passed the college tests when I was in fifth grade.Now the kids can’t read. I took mine out over four years ago.Am thankful I did my homework. PC means don’t teach . your right, the schools are worthless, unless you want your child to be G-dless, have no morals, and hey, take a look at this generation..to say nothing of gov and state. PC to me means ass backwards. and that is the truth. Homeschooling is not so hard, Having one grandson who passed it all by doing school so called work and having mom teach at home too brought him over the top grades..over 4.0 and up. Then you have my three. same thing...My 14 yr old could probably pass college tests..no big hting huh,,teach them yourselves parents..if not after they get thru middle school and up,,,they are ruined...and take back your parental rights and kick gov out of your shcols. Or keep your children at home..