[Cincinatus' Wife]

A cry in the black education wilderness

[Cincinatus' Wife]

No excuses***"Excellent schools deliver a clear message to their students: No Excuses. No excuses for failing to do your homework, failing to work hard in general; no excuses for fighting with other students, running in the hallways, dressing inappropriately and so forth."

That's part of the prescription for ending educational mediocrity discussed in Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom's new book, No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning (Simon & Schuster, 2003).

It's no secret that, as the Thernstroms point out, the education achieved by white students is nothing to write home about. In civics, math, reading, writing and geography, nearly a quarter of all students leave high school with academic skills that are "Below Basic." In science, 47 percent leave high school with skills Below Basic, and in American history it's 57 percent. Below Basic is the category the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) uses for students unable to display even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level.

As dismal as these figures are, for black students it is magnitudes worse. According to NAEP findings, only in writing are less than 40 percent of black high school students Below Basic. In math, it's 70 percent, and science 75 percent. Blacks completing high school perform a little worse than white eighth-graders in both reading and U.S. history, and a lot worse in math and geography.

The Thernstroms report, "In math and geography, indeed, they know no more than whites in the seventh grade." From these facts, the Thernstroms conclude, "The employer hiring the typical black high school graduate (or the college that admits the average black student) is, in effect choosing a youngster who has made it only through the eighth grade."***

[goldstategop]

But its liberals like Bob Herbert who oppose school choice for our poorest children. Without accountability, their future is being short-changed. Makes you wonder why Democrats are mortgaging their constituents' future just to stay on the good side of the teachers' unions.

[Pete]

Education," said John Dewey, "is the fundamental method of social progress and reform."

That is a problem right there. The Left decided to use the schools to forward their agenda instead of teach.

The worst of the problems - the true extent of school violence, the utter chaos in some of the classrooms, the fraudulent grading and promotion practices, the widespread contempt heaped upon the students, and the scandalous lack of parental involvement - have not yet been fully and honestly revealed.

Real progress and real reform won't happen without an understanding of the real truth.

These are symptoms. The real problem is discipline and respect for authority. These have been eroded as relativism has taken over. This is a worldview issue. The Left have spent the last 100 years or so propogating a secular worldview and then sit back in dismay at what they have wrought. It has taken a long time to get to where we are and will take a long time to get back. That is, if we are willing to turn.

[Leisler]

In most things the government is the high cost, low quality provider. However it does do high cost, low quality well, and can do it on a large scale.

[netmilsmom]

And yet people are amazed that black parents are choosing to homeschool!

[xzins]

Modern American Secondary Education has made the "High School" into the social life of the teenage class. Kids who have no interest in education will keep coming back to school just because they get a place to hang out with others, a stage for their cuteness, and all kinds of supporting entertainment.

One thing I noticed in Germany was that kids were in and out of school very quickly. They'd be on their way about 7:30 and they'd be coming home about 1 PM. In that time they'd pack in all the classes. There was no lunchroom, no buses, no sports teams. It was an educational institution. Those other things were provided by their communities, in the context of the community.

There's wisdom in going to a straight education model. For one thing, it forces parents to deal with their own kids' free time. It forces them to get involved in those lives.

Let's make the educational institution strictly for education. Get rid of all the trappings to include the lunchroom. You get about a 30-40 minute information dump, you go to the next class, etc., and then you go home and let your parents deal with your hormones and your social entertainment needs.

[yoswif]

As long as most parents refuse to take direct responsibility for the education of their children, little will change. Teachers need to be able to look a parent in the eye and say "I refuse to take your money to educate your child because you refuse to teach this child to behave like someone who wants to learn".

If a parent/guardian paid $500/month per child, regardless of source, for a local board certified teacher and either party had the right to end the arrangement at the end of the month, parents might figure out they're going to have to teach their kids some discipline or they're going to be stuck with the kid 24/7. Teacher license fees could pay for a board certified teacher evaluation service to test teachers, do background checks, and provide some sort of quality control verification. The licensing and quality control scheme is similar to that used by the electrical industry, which has done very well at improving electrical service and safety without direct federal or state control. I think the free market principles which have been so effective for improving electrical service and safety would also be very effective in improving education.

Unless and until good teachers and responsible parents insist on applying free market principles to solve big government problems, big government problems will just keep getting worse.

[yoswif]

As long as most parents refuse to take direct responsibility for the education of their children, little will change. Teachers need to be able to look a parent in the eye and say "I refuse to take your money to educate your child because you refuse to teach this child to behave like someone who wants to learn".

If a parent/guardian paid $500/month per child, regardless of source, for a local board certified teacher and either party had the right to end the arrangement at the end of the month, parents might figure out they're going to have to teach their kids some discipline or they're going to be stuck with the kid 24/7. Teacher license fees could pay for a board certified teacher evaluation service to test teachers, do background checks, and provide some sort of quality control verification. The licensing and quality control scheme is similar to that used by the electrical industry, which has done very well at improving electrical service and safety without direct federal or state control. I think the free market principles which have been so effective for improving electrical service and safety would also be very effective in improving education.

Unless and until good teachers and responsible parents insist on applying free market principles to solve big government problems, big government problems will just keep getting worse.

[AD from SpringBay]

If a kid doesn't want to, "...deal with the classroom." then that kid should have to leave and spend a court-ordered month at mom or dad's side (work, the house, wherever). The little darlings are losing their own future but they should not be allowed to steal the futures of the kids that want to learn. Or lower the drop-out age to 14 and then drop them out.

[boris]

Boris' plan to "fix" education:

(1) No more mandatory schooling. School's out. Hit the beach; play Nintendo, go shopping. We don't care.

(2) At age 18, everyone takes the SAT tests (no exceptions). Kids who score less than [pick a number] will be marched outside and shot. The executions will be televised.

(3) For 'voluntary' schools, no more teaching certificates. Indeed, no more "Ed Schools". If you can teach, you get a job. Your salary is based on the average score of the kids in your class on a standardized test. The test is changed each year.

(4) Parents' tax refund is proportional to the same number. In the case of more than one offspring, use the average.

(5) The maximum teachers' salary is to equal the lowest salary paid to any NBA player in a given year.

========================

The lil' bastids will LEARN, I guar-un-tee.

Now, I am not really serious about the execution part. But what I am proposing is just a souped-up version of the (very successful) asian model, complete with "cram schools" and the occasional student suicide [can't take the pressure]. Learn or die; or at least 'learn or suffer'.

--Boris

[Theodore R.]

Some of the teachers are in survival mode. They would teach if the students would let them. But administrators won't back up teachers when they refer multiple unruly students to administrators. Administrators say it is the teachers' responsibilities to control such "disciplinary" situation. So, while there are "dud" teachers, yes, the lawless environment discourages many.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - DEWEY "EDUCATION REFORM" ALERT!

[Aegedius]

But there are many, many others [teachers] who are not remotely interested in these kids.

The administrators know these teachers are in there, but they can't fire them because of the unions. It costs $200,000 to fire a teacher in NY, no matter how bad he/she may be. And, it goes without saying that Bob Herbert adores unions.

This problem won't be solved until all union bosses are put on a boat and pushed out to sea.