ONE COUNTRY LEFT BEHIND

I’ve sat back and tried to not be too hard on Obama for this stimulus joke because I will admit at 18 years old I’m not the most knowledge person regarding the economy; however, education is an area I pride myself in being knowledgeable. I’m not the average student.. I taught an English as a Second Language Class and a 7^th grade World History Class. I was on the Principal’s Advisory Board, where I worked with my High School to develop a High School English as a Second Language Program for foreign students so they would not be set up for failure. I was President of Teachers of Tomorrow for 2 years. I also lobbied the school sometime regarding problems among teachers. I even worked with the school board at times. It was not rare to see me in the Superintendent’s office. Saying all of this, I believe I have a very current and up to date opinion on how schools are run, at least in the state of Arkansas. This, in my opinion, makes my points somewhat more knowledgeable than legislatures who attended school quite a few years ago, under a drastically different education system.

Parts of Obama’s education system are stupid. Yes, flat out stupid. The main reason education in America is failing is due to the fact that schools are forced by the government (i.e. national, state, local, school boards, etc. . . ) to make standardized testing the most important, and sometimes only mark of success.

Under my understanding this started under Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, which encouraged a socialistic level of success in education. My favorite analogy, which I’ve heard many conservative teachers use, is linking No Child Left Behind to a football team. As posted below:

For all educators in and out of the education system:

1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time, even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!

3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don't like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th game. This will create a New Age of Sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private schools that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to go to school with bad football players.

Bush had good intentions, but a stupid plan and idea.

I believe this contributed to the nation, as well as state boards of education and school boards to believe that standardized testing have the ability to measure success.

STANDARDIZED TESTING IS AN INACCURATE MEASURE OF SUCCESS

Standardized testing, whether it is statewide or national, now begins in Kindergarten. The purpose of Kindergarten is to get used to school. You learn your colors, abc’s, and how to count by 2’s. It isn’t quiz bowl.

Now let’s move to elementary school (1^st grade – 4^th grade), I’ve personally shadowed classrooms in the past few years. These young students were forced to take tests. Not only the national and statewide tests, but also the school districts own version – chunk tests. They make chunk tests worth 14% of student’s grade. That’s a letter grade and ½. Since most teachers upset by the test they tell their students it is a joke. They are annoyed that they have to spend valuable time teaching students how to take a test, rather than teach them valuable skills that they can apply to life, like reading and vocabulary.

Most cheat, that’s right cheat. I’ve watched multiple teachers tell students the chunk test is stupid and give the students answers, or not monitor students and allow them to take the class together as a test. Instead of teaching student’s the scientific method, they are teaching students the method to take scientific tests. How is this measuring a student’s success if the testing conditions differ classroom to classroom in the same school?

In high school they are establishing state standardized tests for every subject. When I started High School in 2005, standardized tests only existed for math and English, which meant we had to take reg. state tests, as well as chuck tests. Within one year the state had a science standardized test, which had a chunk test to go along with it. They are developing a history/social studies test. I took the actual English/literacy and math test and the pilot history and social studies test. When they do the pilot tests they have kids who are at the top of their class, like myself, take the test to set impossibly high standards.

During my last few years in high school I started working first with the Democratic Party and then with Campaigns. I had absolutely NO job skills. Even though I had taken Word Processing, which supposedly teaches Microsoft Word skills, I could barely do any of the tasks required because the teacher had to teach so we could pass the state standardized marketing test. Surprise, Surprise. Microsoft Excel? I initially looked like a joke. I was lucky enough to have an old version at home, and several helpful people in the office, who helped me develop skills with the program. I was in Advanced Placement classes and learned nothing that would contribute to a career.

Because we as America are only teaching students how to take tests in schools, they, surprise, only know how to take tests. They have no skills for the workforce, which they need, in order to be completive on a national level. Funny, I thought that was the point of doing these standardized tests, to develop students who were competitive on a national level. Even if American students learn to take tests just as well as those in Asia or Europe , doesn’t make them competitive when it comes to jobs. The difference, from what I can gather, is that students in other countries are actually learning. First of all, school is the most important thing in life. It is taken very seriously. They don’t have all the little cliques. People who are intelligent are not worshiped and praised, they are thought of as stupid. Second of all, students in foreign countries do their homework.. I have a good friend from Russia . She doesn’t even know what the punishment is in Russian public school for not doing your homework because that doesn’t happen. Third, parents consider education important. In Arkansas only 18.2% of the population has a college degree, which makes us ranked number 50 in the nation. That is pitiful

This starts to rub off on teachers. Our next generation of teachers, any teachers who have been influenced/taught by the current method, will believe as they’ve been taught, that tests are the only way to measure a student’s knowledge.

OBAMA’S BADPLAN

Obama’s plan:

- $5 billion incentive fund to reward states for high standardized test scores

“Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom,"

- Reduce student drop out rates.

"Don't even think about dropping out of school."

- Wants everyone to have one year or more of high education/career training

After reading my above argument it should be well known why his first point is set up for failure and how if we let something like that happen, we will continue to fail.

As for dropout rates, that is partly to blame on the education system. If students are not learning anything they can apply to life or basic life skills, why should they stay in school? What are they getting out of school? In school students should learn how to do their taxes, how to register to vote, appropriate ways to act and dress for work, how to interview, how to make a resume, what to do when they are pulled over, etc. . . Obama said, “The challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." He is wrong. I highly disagree with that time. The classroom is NOT the real world. Students shouldn’t be confined to a classroom; they should be a part of the community. If students felt like part of a community, they would have a greater interest in improving it. For example, they are several schools, public high schools, centered around public service. For science class, they volunteer at a local hospital, not only learning valuable skill, but also helping people. Health classes work in a grocery store and hospital. Other than class projects, students could also be allowed to do individual projects. For example, a student could use geometry skills to design a playground and English/Writing skills to write a grant to build a new community playground based off of their design! Projects like this provide students with a sense of success. It also allows them to explore different career field. The more successful a student feels, the more likely they will want to continue this success. Best of all it would help the community and the lives of everyone involved. Students must know how to apply what they learn. Rather than doing math application problems, do real projects! Each curriculum would be designed around a community’s resources.

Not everyone wants to go to college, but that is partially because so many don’t see it as a reality. They think that only really smart students can get into college; however, that is not true. I graduated number one in my class out of 472 students. I do not have a college fund or rich parents. As of right now, I do not have ANY scholarships and can’t get any state scholarships because I took college Spanish instead of high school Spanish, which is obviously more advanced.. If Obama will help create measures to provide financial aid, students, those who are intelligent and those who are not as bright, will be more likely to go to college or a career school. In Arkansas our Lt. Governor, Bill Halter, was able to successfully campaign for a State Lottery that would be for college scholarships. He wants anyone who has a 2.5 GPA and who is going to a state school, to get $5,000 and anyone who is going to a community college to receive $2,500. This plan is great, but nothing is ever what it seems. Several evil legislatures want to hire 35 people to tell students about the scholarship. It would cost $1 million a year to pay them. All they need is a website. A domain name costs $10 per year. After convincing conservatives to allow a lottery in the state of Arkansas , some adults get to steal $1 million per year of the money that voters, and those playing the lottery, meant to go to students. Simplification: Get money directly to the students. Don’t allow legislatures to play any more games.  It is time to call them out on this!