Things To Worry About
Education

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"None of the world's problems will have a solution until
the world's individuals become thoroughly self-educated."
— R. Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983]

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind are convinced
that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth."
— Aristotle [384-322 BCE]

"True liberal education requires that the student's whole life is radically changed by it."
— Allan Bloom

Selected Books on the Subject of Education

"National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent"
[U.S. Department of Education Report October 1993]
online text version at Dept. of Education

Working Minds 'WMail' ezine essay #6: "How We Learn" [Jan 2001]

U.S. English, Inc. [est. 1983]
American Library Assn. [est. 1876]
The National Mobilization for Great Public Schools
National Education Association
PBS/Merrow Report "First To Worst" TV program [now on DVD]
National P.T.A. {Parents & Teachers Assn.} [est. 1897]
National Assn. of Gifted Children
Teach for America [est. 1990]
A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students
Chris Davison's Intellectual Capitalism website
Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation
School Success Info website
Teachers Count: Learn a thing or two
National Science Teachers Assn. [est. 1944]
National Center For Family Literacy [est. 1989]
Standard Deviants educational products: on DVD or on VHS
evangelical brain-washing exposed in the movie "Jesus Camp" [2006]
Forum on Educational Accountability

Los Angeles Times Saturday 29 May 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-23]        Widespread scientific illiteracy has left most Americans defenseless against pseudoscientific babble. The real problem is that many of these people vote. For fun, ask the next college-educated professional you meet to explain where liquid hydrogen, a proposed auto fuel, comes from and why it is not a "source" of energy. While most high school students in the 1950s could easily explain this, we have dumbed down our educational standards in math and science so far that public policy is now at risk. A population that believes in telepathy, fat-burning diet pills and a 10,000-year-old planet Earth is unable to evaluate anything objectively.        Paul S. Dwan        Pacific Palisades

Los Angeles Times Wednesday 24 September 2003 California Section / Letters to the Editor [page B-12] Bad Behavior in Schools        Re "The Real Learning Barrier," editorial, Sept. 19 [see below]: I wish every school board member, administrator, teacher and parent could see the results of the Public Agenda poll that determined disruptive classroom behavior is the greatest impediment to a learning environment in schools. After 17 years in elementary and middle school classrooms, I know this to be true. I've concluded that teachers are afraid of administrators, administrators are afraid of parents, and parents are afraid of their kids.        Suzanne Harris        Los Angeles, California * *         * *         * *         * * Los Angeles Times Friday 19 September 2003 California Section / Editorials The Real Learning Barrier        Opponents of the school accountability movement complain about the time that standardized testing takes away from instruction. But a new nationwide survey shows that teachers are far more vexed by the time and effort they spend trying to tame unruly classrooms than they are by tests. How can they hope to meet improvement goals when some students' behavior makes it hard for everyone else to learn?        Even more interesting, the survey by the nonprofit Public Agenda found that students were almost as bothered as their teachers by rude classmates. And more than 40% of both groups said teachers spent less time teaching than trying to quell disruptive behavior ranging from threats of violence to rudeness and classroom clowning.        School reform can't take root in an out-of-control classroom. Yet policymakers and administrators have all but ignored that old classroom basic, discipline. Administrators blame teachers, according to the survey, saying that kids act up because the lessons aren't interesting enough. That's a weak excuse for inaction. Everyone wants students to feel engaged, but a boring lecture is no excuse for disruptive behavior. In the adult world, everyone sits through meetings he or she would rather skip.        Even college professors report increasing behavior problems, with students showing up late and carrying on cellphone conversations during lectures. The University of Arizona has started showing classroom behavior videos to its freshmen. Employers report that the boorish behavior has extended into the workplace.        Research shows that orderly, well-disciplined schools prevent unruly behavior rather than just react to it. They have principals who walk the campus regularly, rather than holing up in an office. They train teachers in classroom management. They set clear rules and ask students for ideas about what these should be. They treat students and parents warmly.        Principals and top officials at these well-run schools give teachers the authority to discipline kids and support them when they do it, the studies find. They don't give in to complaining or threatening parents without good reason.        New York City schools this fall are making a fresh attempt at restoring classroom discipline. A new discipline code in the district is both flexible and clear. The district has set up learning centers, in partnership with community groups, for chronically ill- behaved students. The idea is to keep them from wrecking things for the kids who want to learn, while addressing whatever is causing the bad behavior. Time will tell whether this works, but at least officials at high levels are no longer just placing blame.

Los Angeles Times Sunday 26 August 2001 Main News Section [page A-34] Diploma Statistics Indicate U.S. Education Is Passing and Failing Census: A record number of people have completed high school, but only 75% of young adults have.

Los Angeles Times Tuesday 14 August 2001 California Section / Letters [page B-12] Private-School Behavior Fostered by Parents        Re "Private Schools Lose Ground in Hiring, Keeping Teachers," Aug. 8: I would like to share why I left the private school arena to teach in the public schools. It had nothing to do with money, although now that you mention it, I am going to earn $15,000 more this coming year. It had everything to do with private-school parents and their conviction of entitlement.        When I joined the teaching force, I entered with enthusiasm, creativity and a drive to communicate with children. Little did I know that when parents pay $12,000 to $25,000 a year for their elementary student's education, I would be taught many lessons. A Westside mother spat in my face because her "brilliant" (her word) son was doing multiplication drills in class. She felt he was beyond them. His test scores proved he was not. I was asked by the parent of a fourth-grader if I felt her daughter was Ivy League worthy. I was told to "grade creatively" by a weak-kneed headmaster bowing to the pressure of a particularly affluent member of the parent body. At times, parents pay so much for a child's education that they feel it is not necessary to be a parent who teaches. The best teacher cannot help a child to read if the lessons end at the afternoon bell. And the worst teacher cannot stop a child from learning and loving the act of learning when that love is cultivated at home. It makes me weep to see bright children having such spoiled behavior modeled for them. You cannot buy an A. The private sector did not lose me because I needed more money. It lost me because the parents need a timeout.        Heather M. Wolpert        Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles Times Sunday 13 May 2001 Main News Section [page A-13] Crumbling Rural Schools One Step From 'Disaster' [small excerpt]        Nationwide, at least 25,000 schools need major repairs or outright replacement, the General Accounting Office found in 1995. The National Education Assn. estimates that it would take $322 billion to adequately repair, build and wire schools across the country – with an estimated backlog of $23 billion in California alone.        But in few places is the shortfall as keenly felt as in rural America, where economic decline and a population shift into the cities have left small towns with little money to support their schools – and the fear that they may become ghost towns if they allow the schools to close.

Los Angeles Times Saturday 5 May 2001 Metro Section / Voices [page B-9] Youth Essay: This Is Why We Can't Read The following open letter was signed by the Los Angeles High School seniors in teacher Kevin Glynn's advanced placement government and economics class.        We are tired. So tired.        Many of us are up before dawn, rubbing sleepy eyes as we trudge toward buses that, if they do not first pass us by, carry us to distant destinations long before most of you are awake. Once at school, some of us wolf down a tasteless cafeteria meal before classes begin; others head to the vending machines to buy junk food before the bell rings at 7:35 a.m.; most of us listen to our stomachs growl until 11:15 a.m. when we burst through classroom doors to forage what we can in the half-hour break we have before we grab heavy backpacks (as there are not enough lockers) and are herded back to classrooms by security personnel barking orders through bullhorns. Maybe there was time to go to the bathroom (remembering to bring our own toilet paper), maybe there was time to play (probably not).        Three more classes until the last bell rings our redemption at 3:05 p.m. We surge past the gates, past the guards, heedless of traffic, some toward home, some toward work, some to be swallowed up by the vast city that surrounds us.        Education seems to be the issue in America this year. President Bush has declared it his No. 1 priority. Every educational expert, professor, psychologist, politician and pundit seems to have something to offer why we, the benighted objects of such wisdom, can't read, write, calculate or assimilate. Despite all the scratching of so many wise heads, nobody seems to be able to figure out what the problem is. Low expectations? Bilingual education? Standardized testing? Lack of accountability?        You, the adults out there, remain clueless. The real problem is that you have not asked us. As far as we are concerned, the reasons are simple and the solutions are clear. If only you would listen.        School begins too early. Most of us start the school day tired. We need our sleep. How can we be expected to learn anything when many of us are working when most of you are shuffling around in your pajamas? Start school at a reasonable hour.        We need a decent breakfast. We also need guidance and encouragement. This cannot be done in the dark rushing out the door.        How can you blame us for doing poorly as students when you are doing poorly as parents? You should insist on the right to be good parents. If your employers complain when you have to go to a parent-teacher conference, tell them that most juvenile crime and delinquency would disappear if only the adults would take charge of their children.        Build more schools. It is hard to learn when you have no desk to sit in much less no text-book to read. If you say that education is important, then prove it. We don't need more strip malls, video arcades, food courts, or movie theaters for our future. There are already more than enough of those. Instead, we need room to grow physically, mentally and spiritually.        Not only do we need more schools but we need schools we can be proud of. We do not like the current model of industrial-style education, where schools are kept open year-round, day and night, to "optimize and maximize" the facilities for a "better return on investment."        As a result the buildings are exhausted and falling apart from constant use. The custodians can never keep up. Give us a school in good shape, with trees and grass instead of concrete and broken glass and most of us will try to take care of it, to make it a place that we will want to come back to and support rather than try to get away from as soon as we can.        Building more schools to meet the increase in student population coupled with a return to the traditional calendar would give everyone a chance to relax, talk things out over the summer and get ready for September together.        Set a good example. How can you tell us that education is important when you spend most of your time in front of the television? How can we do our homework when you want us to do chores instead and then get mad at us for poor grades? Why do you want us to try harder when you have given up on yourselves? Let's see you reading a book once in a while. Let's hear you talk about current events at the dinner table rather than rushing off to watch television. Take us to a museum instead of a movie. Call our teachers, go to conferences, bug the principal. We can't do it alone.        Do the right thing. We'll trust you to do your job, and if you do, then you can trust us to do ours. After all, you're the adults in this situation. You're the ones who got us into this mess. It's up to you to get us out.

Los Angeles Times Sunday 4 February 2001 SoCal Living Section / Letters [page E-3] Politicians Ignoring the Real Problems With Our Schools        As a college professor who has worked with high school teachers (most of whom have left the profession) for 30 years, I can say unequivocally that "A Witness to the Decline in Teaching" by Mary McNamara (Jan. 29) and Robert Knox's letter (Metro Letters, "Bush School Proposal: Teach Basics and Text," Jan. 29) demonstrate more insight into what needs to be done in our nation's schools than anything that has ever come out of the mouths of politicians, including President Bush.        Knox's point that parents need to reevaluate their own responsibilities to their children's education is one ]that] the politicians have largely ignored. Why? The answer is simple: Parents are also voters. It's much easier to demagogue against the public schools to gain votes than to address the real educational problems, which are largely centered in attitudes developed in the home. Holding teachers accountable for what happens in students' homes is analogous to holding physicians accountable for their patients who eat excessively, refuse to exercise and ruin their health in various other ways. If physicians' salaries were based on how healthy or unhealthy our entire population is, we would soon see a widespread exodus from the medical profession.        Something very similar to this is happening in our schools. Midwestern rural communities already cannot staff their classrooms with qualified teachers, and other parts of the country are facing similar shortages. (Nationwide, we will soon need close to 3 million new teachers.) If McNamara and Knox were in charge of educational reform, we would see real progress because their proposals would immediately address the most serious problem in K-12 education: the exodus of qualified teachers from our nation's classrooms.        Bush's program, which myopically limits accountability to teacher-school accountability, will only drive more teachers out of the profession, make it impossible to recruit new teachers, and eventually close our public schools because there will be no one willing to work in them.        Dennis M. Clausen        Escondido, California

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