Current Education Issues

                There’s been a lot of talk lately about “pay for performance,” especially when people like a certain presidential candidate mentions revising No Child Left Behind.

                As mentioned in “About” here on Current Education Issues, I have a business background.  So you can understand why I welcome it…under certain conditions.

                The reason I throw in this disclaimer is that the current idea of “pay for performance” is invalid. 

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                Hallelujah and pass the plate!

                I’ve been leaning toward John McCain, but Barack Obama said something that just might get me to vote for him:  “Only parents can instill values in their children.”

                If he really means this, then I see a wonderful change of direction in this country in its attitude toward education and parenting.  In the status quo, teachers and schools seem to be the ones responsible for not only educating a child’s mind, but instilling values in children, as well.

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                The unemployment rate is up.  The stock market is down.  Foreclosures are up.  Personal income is down.  Gas prices are up.  This is not news; it’s everyday news.

                Is your child affected by this most current education issue?  That all depends on her parents and teachers.

                This is the first recession I’ve taught school in, and it’s an eye-opener.  In the past, I’ve helped my students deal with such things as divorces and family death.  These events are usually sudden, and the kids eventually learn to adjust. 

So what’s wrong with children lately?  Like Bill Clinton used to say, “It’s the economy, stupid. “

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                There are two more months before school is back in session, and you may feel like you should do something to help him be successful when he gets back in school.  If you have a child who hasn’t been struggling, you definitely don’t want him to backslide on his long vacation.  If your child has been in the C-D-F categories, you may feel an urgent need to do something now. 

                There are simple things that you can do as a parent this summer to make sure your child stays in the groove, improves his academic skills, and makes your life easier, too.  I’ve compiled a list of things that I’ve either tried, or seen work with many other students, to get a kid ready during the summer for the first day of school.

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I hope you know that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence with the help of John Adams.  I also hope you know that they both died exactly 50 years to the day that the Declaration was published:  July 4, 1826.

                The reason I say that I hope you know this is because few people do, and that’s a shame. 

                I don’t watch Jay Leno a lot, but I know he used to randomly ask questions to people on the street about things like American history, and they’d give totally idiotic answers.  This, by the way, is a teacher’s worst fear:  Seeing your former student on TV one night giving a thoroughly stupid response to a question they should know; that every American should know.

                At what point did we decide that teaching vital aspects of American history was unimportant?  I understand that not everybody is a history buff like me, but there ought to be a list of standards in history that we take seriously; that everyone should be required to know. 

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                There I was, the fourth grade “general education teacher,” sitting amongst a group of 15 people at an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting for a special education student. 

The child in question was not mine, but was of the fourth grade level, and since I was a friend of the child’s actual teacher, I was asked to join simply because it was required by federal law that a general education teacher be there.  My friend teaches the “severe disabilities” class, which is actually run by both the district and the county, and was located in my school next door to my classroom. 

For those who are unfamiliar with IEP meetings, one must be held on a regular basis for any student with disabilities (sometimes they’re annual, bi-annual, or tri-annual depending on the disability in question).

                Anyway, back to the scene.  According to the psychologist, the little girl was at pre-school level mentally, despite being the age of 10.  We were there to discuss what her goals would be for the upcoming year. 

Included were such things as her being able to cut a six-inch dotted line. 

Also included in this meeting was an extreme sense of tension.   The parents are currently suing our principal and the district, not to mention they want to get my friend fired.

                Since I have a background in business and have actually come to like math over the years, and I really love those Mastercard commercials, I’d like to illustrate for Joe and Joanne Taxpayer just what was going on here:

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