Where is Thoreau when you need him? Probably taking a test

First off, let's understand that I know the little red school house is gone. I know we live in a technologically advanced society... I own an Ipod. And I am now fully aware that most houses have flush toilets. But what I don't understand is why education decided it needed all those tests?

I now live in the state that ranks 48th in education out of all US states. I moved from a state that was 36th. I have one question... Who cares about rankings? Most coaches will tell you that they mean nothing when it comes to ranking teams, the same holds true when deciding about how well your kids are educated.

The whole testing thing is a plot by the government to make states accountable for the money spent that is allotted to them. I found this out in the mid 1980s when I was a student at the University of Illinois School of Education. They tried to brain wash me then. I fooled them, I had mine dry cleaned and left the program.

Think about when education really started going down the tubes and getting bad marks...late 1980s early 1990s. We had just won the space race, our economy was booming. Students were learning and America was number one. What changed?

Somebody convinced the federal government that our workers were not being trained well enough and that our kids were not stacking up to those from Europe and Southeast Asia. We had to do a better job. And how do we know if we are doing a better job unless we test EVERYBODY~ that includes children who are not up to par along with those that are way above it. We had to give tests over the same material. If little John is reading at a third grade level and is doing third grade work while chroniclogically being 15-16, shouldn't he be tested at that level? Why should he be given a calculus test when he can barely say it, let alone do it?

When NCLB came into being it was supposed to be the magic cure for the virus that was killing education. It started in Texas (Where the teachers say it is holding them back) and spread across the US under the Bush administration. And is being perpetuated by the Obama administration.

To put it bluntly, it stinks and it does not work. So, what does, you ask?

Get rid of all the constraints on teachers and education. Don't let the people in the ivory towers who have never been in a classroom, or have limited knowledge about teaching decide what should and should not be taught and how it should be taught. Get rid of standardized testing. Teachers are being forced to teach only material that is on the test.

Case in point... In my last years of teaching in Paxton, IL, the administration decided to go out and spend a bunch of money on "curriculum mapping". In other words, they were going to lay out the program that would be taught from k-12. Not a bad idea on the outside. Then it was decided that teachers had to teach a certain way, and they had to cover only material that was pertinent to the tests. Handwriting? Not on the test... forget it! And we were to spend no more than 5 minutes on any topic that was off the plan for the day. Now, any teacher worth his or her salt knows that real teaching moments are sometimes brought up by student questions, not by the script. What was the result? Scores have steadily declined.

The State of Illinois is way behind on payments to schools. So is Arizona. I say, that if they are not going to give schools the money, then schools should not worry about scores. If, like in Illinois' case, the state is not living up to the state constitution and funding the schools properly, then schools should be free to do work their magic in their own way. Test scores be damned.
Teachers should not pay taxes until the state gives schools the money they owe. Sound dumb? We are supposed to pay our bills as are they, but do they? Who holds the government accountable? We should!

This whole testing thing will be the end of public education. Look around and see how much "Charter Schools" are being pushed. How vouchers are being given to private schools because public schools are not doing the job. The Leona School Group, The Ball Foundation, and Edison Learning are just three of the companies that run schools and receive public money, but are not bound by public law. According to the US Charter Schools Homepage these schools, "...provide choices for families and greater accountablity for results." They are run on a business model, not an education model. Some of the schools out here in AZ are in store fronts and in old factories. Does that say something? One school that I know of personally, the administrators are not educators at all, but rather former investment bankers...how did they do in their last career?

We need to stand up and tell Arne Duncan and President Obama to put a stop to this madness and return education to the professionals and the people who know your children best. Have the well of money dry up and start opening your voices. Civil Disobedience, my friends. That is what it is going to take. Thoreau wrote that back in 1849. Students just getting out of high school would not know that, though.

It's not in the state descriptors for learning.

Doughnut