Rhee's wrong about what's best for kids.

Is Richard Whitmire, who wrote a book about the former Chancellor of District of Columbia public schools, worried he may not sell enough books? In "What Is Behind the Discrediting of Michelle Rhee?" in Education Week he writes:

"While researching my book, The Bee Eater, I often shook my head in amazement after reading some of the online comments posted after a Washington Post story about Rhee. Wow, I would say to myself, some people really, really dislike her.

It’s not that Rhee didn’t, and still does, have many supporters. You don’t launch a new organization like StudentsFirst and declare a one-year goal of enlisting one million members and raising $1 billion without having more than a few backers.

Rhee’s track record in Washington is ripe with data, both local and national. Why not judge her on that and her actual reforms, or her lengthy record building the New Teacher Project?"

My comment:

As my daughter says, even if you put a child in a box he or she will learn something. The issue is that test scores do not say much about any student's true ability or potential. If you teach kids with a narrowed, basic skills curriculum they will learn basic skills, but not much beyond.
If you teach kids reading by means of a rigid script or in a lock-step curriculum, the kids will not be able to stretch their minds beyond the script or the facts taught.

If you do not allow children in kindergarten to play and socialize, those kids will not function well enough in 21st Century jobs because they'll lack imagination (needed to come up with innovations), and the skills to work in teams.

As long as powerful corporations and billionaires have influence over education as is now the case, we can never have quality education. Business is about "the bottom line", about turning schools around for profit, about selling ever "new" curriculum to districts.

Corporations base decisions on reducing costs which often leads to throw-away, shoddy products. In education it will lead to schools that teach basic "skills" and "knowledge", content that can be measured on the high-stakes tests,instead of a rich, quality curriculum that stretches student potential and develops interest in life-long learning.

As Edward Luttwak remarks in his book, "Turbo-Capitalism; Winners and Losers in the Global Economy"

"Corporations are not moral entities. They exist to make a profit"

Textbook and test manufacturing profits for McGraw-Hill soared from 50 million dollars in 2002 when NCLB was just enacted, to 300 million dollars by 2009. I'm sure it is more now.

Read this article by Joanne Barkan to understand the far reaching consequences of business involvement, Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools.

Well-paying jobs will be few!

If only people, especially those in business, including students majoring in business, would read books like “Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy” by Edward Luttwak, they would realize that only a small number of all the envisioned “proficient” students” will ultimately find a slot away from the base of the pyramid that is capitalism!

Well-paying high-tech jobs requiring advanced math and science will be few. Yet, Bill Gates and others believe it necessary that kids are pushed in that direction whether it is their area of strength, or love, or not!
Why do we even believe this hype, when according to BBC World News corporate America is already investing money in research and development labs in China, therewith supporting the graduates over there instead of here? See China's Drive to Promote Invention.

"..multinational firms are now betting that the long-term future of innovation may lie in China. Hundreds of companies have opened research centres in Beijing and Shanghai.

Intel has its own compound in a skyscraper in Beijing, where dozens of young researchers doodle on notepads or write incomprehensible programmes onto their computer screens.

Intel's strategy is simple - sign up the best young brains in China and then get them to have a go at some mind-bending problems, such as face processing imaging, machinery application on video retrieval and ultra-mobile devices."

It’s not because there are no smart graduates here as we are supposed to believe. It’s because investing in Chinese graduates and labs is cheaper! Having more science and math majors here is not going to change that. 

Luttwak writes “Corporations are not moral entities. They exist to earn profits.” Indeed! They are opportunists, lacking allegiance to their own country, fellow citizens and even their own employees which they easily lay off under the guise of “restructuring.” At a later time they rehire, but at lower wages and offering fewer benefits!

Clearly corporations will employ any strategy that promises profit, including outsourcing which has nothing to do with the talent pool stateside, but with savings.

Writes Luttwak: “ ... even at the height of the boom in 1997, there was still an oversupply of software engineers in general, so much so that employers could pick and choose among job applicants, specifically picking the young who cost less, while rejecting mid-career applicants - not something they could afford to do if there were a shortage.”

As an example, since 1997 Microsoft has only hired 2% of all software writing applicants! The other dozen or so smaller software companies hire even fewer which leaves more than 70% of qualified people without a job of their choice! That’s what “business” hopes No Child Left Behind will “produce” — an oversupply of qualified human resources for any field in which large profits can be made to drive down wages and generate more profit. And profit for whom? For the CEOs and the stockholders!

Grading Parents?

Florida state Rep. Kelli Stargel, a mother of five and a Republican who sits on several education committees, came up with the idea of grading parents on their involvement in their children's education. These are the three criteria:

»A child should be at school on time, should be prepared to learn after a good night's sleep and should have eaten a meal.

»A child should have the homework done and be prepared for tests.

»There should be regular communication between the parent and teacher.

I have no issue with the third one, except it should be the teacher who initiates most of the contact. Unfortunately teachers are short on time, especially these days with the focus on numerous assessments they do on students.

I totally disagree with the second one. Studies show that homework in elementary grades have no noticeable positive effect on learning, so why make a child's life miserable with forcing him/her to do homework?

Alfie Kohn says:

"More homework is being piled on children despite the absence of its value. Over the last quarter-century the burden has increased most for the youngest children, for whom the evidence of positive effects isn’t just dubious; it’s nonexistent." - See Rethinking Homework

Worse is to prepare him/her in or out of school for the tests! At a CSAP presentation at a local school a teacher advised parents to time their children when they do their homework or chores, so as to prepare them for the timed standardized tests. Why is there a time limit at all on tests for such young children? Do they know less if they take a bit more time to show what they know?

And what about the first one? How can that be demanded of parents who are under the stress of living in poverty, who perhaps are dealing with domestic violence, and substance addiction?

Most parents who have the capability (read: financial security, and savviness about optimum child development and how to nurture that) to care about their children's education, are already involved in their children's education.

And, being an involved parent is still no guarantee that the child will be successful in school as the legislator believes. School has to be willing to make adaptations for a child's learning needs and that is not happening under the demands of No Child Left Behind, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which will soon get another catchy, sound good name when it is reauthorized sometime this spring or summer.

Let's put a stop to its focus on standardized testing and common, national standards. Let's help stretch students' minds and talents instead.

Take a stand. Stay informed. Join Uniting 4 Kids, the national organization founded in Denver and which will officially launch on February 19.


And remember:

"Activism doesn't give up, activism doesn't fall silent. Activism doesn't rely on the opiate of hope" ~ John Pilger