To quote a candidate who stands far to the left of my own personal political viewpoint:

“One of the things that I have always believed is that, in terms of education, we have to break our dependency on the property tax, because what happens is the wealthiest suburbs can in fact have great schools but poor, inner-city schools cannot. So I think we need equality in terms of how we fund education, and to make sure the federal government plays an active role to make sure that those schools we need it the most get the funds that they deserve.”

Eduhonesty: After No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, I hesitate to let the federal government run anything, even state rest areas along the highway. I also know that equalizing funding would be a huge loser for households were I live. One year, my local district actually asked the middle school PTO to stop fundraising because the district was having trouble figuring out what to do with the money. They did not need extra funds. Seventeen miles north, where I worked, we would have loved that money. Paper? Paper for the copy machine? Art supplies? Books for the kids? Winter clothing for the kids? We could have found so many uses for that money.

Bernie’s right on this one.

The financial inequities between school districts mattered much less 25 years ago. In the past, those differences meant that financially-disadvantaged students had battered books, uglier cafeterias, and fewer enrichment opportunities. But shabbier materials in uglier buildings could still prepare a student for college.

Now, funding differences mean the difference between learning keyboarding in the third grade or the seventh or even ninth grade. Children in wealthy districts prepare PowerPoints and learn Google Docs in elementary school, sometimes years ahead of less financially-fortunate counterparts. Coding may be an elective in financially comfortable districts. In poor districts, computer-based electives are frequently nonexistent, and even the woodworking and French electives are sometimes cut due to lack of funds.

As much as I shudder at the thought of handing the federal government increased responsibility, I do believe that school funding is inherently inequitable as it stands — something we have all known forever — and that those inequities impact our students far more than they did before technology exploded across the U.S. landscape.

Let’s back Bernie on this one.

“Well, maybe it will work.” That’s what I expect counselors and teachers are thinking when they advise marginal students to go to college. “If he just works hard enough…” or “If she gets enough tutoring…” We hope for the best. For one thing, teachers and counselors want the world to offer equality of opportunity to their students, and discrimination screams from between the lines of any college application.

These posts I have been writing? They don’t apply to my own children. Both are debt-light. We paid for those undergraduate college educations. We are not paying for graduate school, but the younger one has a teaching assistantship and tuition waiver, while the older one will end up owing maybe $20,000 for a Harvard Master’s degree. Because she had been on her own and working as a teacher in a low-income district for a few years, the university blessedly looked at her income, not ours, in calculating financial aid. My daughters’ friends have mostly all gone to college on the family dime and those kids are starting adult life free and clear.

So we look at some of our challenges, our kids who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, kids with dreams but limited academic prowess, and we say, “Here are materials for the college fair.” We talk to kids with frighteningly poor study skills, kids with bloodshot eyes who are squeaking by on the basis of adequate test scores that might have been excellent if they could or would have read their textbook, and we say, “I expect to see you at the college fair next week.” We push. We push because we want to rescue these kids, to somehow set them on the track to the middle-class life we want for them.

If college were free, that attitude would work fine. But college costs buckets of money. More importantly, college calls for a commitment of time and energy, and many high school graduates are  unready for college. Those students who love to listen to Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa may not be ready to sign on too many dotted lines. The Young, Wild & Free should not be going into debt until they have lived on their own for awhile and tried to survive on minimum wage or a few dollars more. Their odds of success will skyrocket once they have been rescued from losing their apartment by a refund check, lost a job because the car died, or simply realized that the money they are earning will never buy the lifestyle they desire.

Let’s think about what this eminently listenable song means for a kid’s college prospects: “Young, Wild & Free” (with Wiz Khalifa) (feat. Bruno Mars)

“So what we get drunk? So what we smoke weed? We’re just having fun. We don’t care who sees. So what we go out? That’s how its supposed to be. Living young and wild and free.”

Obviously, getting drunk and high does not prevent students from going to college. I’ve been down in Champaign-Urbana during Unofficial Day, listening to the beer bottles shattering on the sidewalk throughout the night. But a modicum of maturity is needed to get through college. Students who cannot balance the party lifestyle with academics tend to flunk out, regardless of who is paying their tuition. Students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds usually have to work harder and longer to stay afloat, and may struggle more to balance fun and work once they are on their own.

A modicum of reality should be offered up to our students before we get them to fill out their application papers and loan forms. We need to tell our students the truth. Counselors and teachers share fun stories about college and statistics about the financial advantages of a college education. But too often, we only share the upside. Too few of us risk discouraging students, even when those students should be discouraged. No one wants to rain on a dream.

At the very least, though, we should sketch out a realistic picture of costs and benefits for students so that they understand what they are getting themselves into. A kid can only live so young and wild and free and still manage to graduate. Financially, that first, big adult adventure can carry a long shadow. Student loan debt represents years of financial indentured servitude. The graduation numbers are truly daunting, too.

Sometimes grown-ups have to take the helm. “Well, maybe it will work,” should not lead to a pep talk or another offer to help with applications. Instead, that doubt should begin a serious discussion about the future, one filled with details, cautionary notes and mathematics. A quick internet trip to the Sallie Mae loan debt calculator might be a good place to start.

What we want to be true should not be confused with the truth. The truth is that our middle class and upper class students go off to college with academic advantages, and often with the possibility of graduating debt-free. Middle class and upper class students are more likely to get their degrees. These financially-advantaged students with fewer or no loan dollars to pay back are more likely to get the benefits that come with college graduation. They are also more likely to be ready to tackle the majors that pay big money, such as engineering or computer science. (That’s another post. Lack of STEM teachers and computers in poorer districts create part of this inequity.)

Eduhonesty: I offer free tutoring to students who try to make the college leap, extra hours of math or English remediation and support. If we want to help, I think tutoring students who find themselves in over their heads may give these kids their best chance of succeeding at higher education. If we are going to push marginal students to sign on those Perkins dotted-lines, we should be prepared to stay in touch and help them as they navigate the unfamiliar waters of college.

I’m sick out here. I’m missing potlucks, scrabble games and banquets as I try to protect other people. My husband is beginning to sound concerned for his own health, and he’s no worrier. I’ll see the doctor this morning.

I have had a couple of posts that hit the blog before they were done due to optimistic  scheduling. My sincere apologies for that.

Taken from an article at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/debt-collectors-went-student-loan-113015195.html.
“Debt Collectors Went After a Student Loan Debt… 50 Years Later” by Christine DiGangi.

Young people aren’t the only ones plagued with student loan debt problems. Recently, an Arizona man found a debt collection notice in his mailbox, which said he owed more than $1,900 on student loans he took out in the 1960s, reports 3TV in Phoenix.

About 50 years ago, after serving in the Navy, Ralph Caswell borrowed three loans totaling about $2,500. Caswell told 3TV he repaid the student loans decades ago, and while the collection agency shows his principal balance as zero, it claims Caswell owes about $1,400 in interest, $87 for a penalty and $362 in fees. Caswell said the agency asked him to provide proof he paid off the loans, but he doesn’t have those records. That’s not too surprising, considering how long ago he said he paid off the debt.

This situation suggests you should keep that type of documentation forever: alongside your birth certificate, Social Security card and passport, there’s your student loan statement. While that may sound a little overboard, it’s important to note that student loan debt is treated differently than other debts in many respects. These loans can generally not be written off in bankruptcy, and the consequences of failing to repay student loan debt can follow you for years. If you don’t repay federal student loans, the government can take some of your wages, seize your tax refunds or garnish Social Security payments.

Eduhonesty: I suspect many of my readers have outstanding student loans. This is a public courtesy post. We have had to deal with my daughter’s student loans in the last few years and I cannot think how many times we had to send duplicate copies of the same forms to the same fax number because no one could locate the previous fax.

KEEP ALL THOSE FORMS! This post was inspired by the nice young woman at the dermatologist who spent over 10 minutes trying to find me an appointment time. Given the current state of technology, the world ought to work more seamlessly than it does. I strongly recommend putting your proof of student loan payments in a safe-deposit box or similar place.

I don’t want to see the student debt crisis turn into the next version of The Big Short. But if we do nothing, I don’t see how these gargantuan, trillion dollar numbers do not eventually bite us. What can we do?

I’d like to see the inspiring film where we establish rational vocational and technical options for kids, along with tutoring centers to help kids who discover late that perhaps they should have been listening all along. I am available to help with casting.

Brad Pitt can have any role he likes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-debt-state-of-the-union-2016-1 is one of a number of sources on this fact, first spied on Yahoo.

Despite trying to degloomify the blog a bit, I can’t let this factoid slip past us. Forbes reported we were at $1.2 billion awhile back. I do trust Forbes. Whether we are talking $1.1 trillion or $1.296 trillion, though, we are talking real money. My husband has an MBA from the University of Chicago and he thinks student loan debt is the next whammy that’s going to hit the economy up the side of the head.

I suspect he may be right. Debt per se will not be the problem. We are a nation in debt and as long as we can pay our debts, or at least our interest, the economy will not be on the ropes simply because we keep using other people’s money. But many households operating with this philosophy have finally hit the day when disposable income no longer covers minimum payments. Student loan debt is particularly tricky because you cannot discharge this debt in bankruptcy.

Loans are not evil. Loans make it possible to own homes. They allow students to attend colleges and universities that would otherwise be outside of their reach. When loans are assumed with understanding and purpose, loan debt opens up opportunities.

That said, student loans can also be the boggart hiding in the closet. College is not some magic spell we can cast to create buckets of gold galleons. A fair number of anthropology, sociology and art history graduates now living in their parents’ basements and attics can attest to this fact. A greater number of non-graduates can back up those would-be anthropologists, sociologists and art historians.

Our non-graduates are the real victims here. Anthropology and gender studies graduates can go to law school or pursue other advanced degrees. I know an anthropology grad who is currently studying for an advanced degree in publishing at Oxford College in England. How exciting is that?! Doors open for college graduates. Those same doors remain closed to the student who never quite got that sheepskin, however.

We push and push college at kids. We tell them they all have to attend a college or university. I have watched as high school counselors commandeered my bilingual, high school social studies classes to tell students about the necessity of college. Everyone got the message, but not everyone should have gotten that message. A number of those kids were destined to succeed, such as one mathematically gifted new arrival from Eastern Europe. But others were years from ready for college. I knew that. Anyone who read their papers should have known that. I am not saying these students will not eventually succeed, but they are not ready to take on any boggarts yet.

The downside of fluffy, pie-in-the-sky dreams? Let’s look at a real, concrete example, a friend of a former student who came to me for help I could not provide. That young, Hispanic man had taken out $26,000 in loans to study criminal justice, but he was unable to handle the work. He did not finish. He’s not a cop. But he still owes that loan. Assuming a 10 year term and 3.9% interest, he owes around $262 each month.

According to the Huff Post Business section of January 13, 2016 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/24/minimum-wage-increase-numbers_n_5868848.html), the “weekly take-home pay for a 40-hour-a-week minimum-wage employee, after Social Security and Medicare taxes, amounts to $267.80. That adds up to $13,926.38 per year, or just over $1,150 per month. The commonly cited minimum wage annual salary for a 40-hour-a-week worker is $15,080 — before taxes.”

At minimum wage, that man is working one week each month just to pay off student loan debt.

I recognize I just quantified the dilemma that leads high school counselors to wander the halls of their schools, saying, “College? College? Can I help you get into college. Would you like help with that application? Would you like to learn more about colleges? How can I get you into college? Can I help you with your loan form?” I support increasing the minimum wage because I’m damned if I can figure out how people live on $1,150 per month — especially since they rarely get that full amount unless they have two jobs. Employers don’t customarily give 40-hour weeks to minimum wage employees because at forty hours employers are often obliged to provide benefits.

But that non-cop has not profited from college — quite the opposite so far. And lots of people are failing out of college. Here’s a little-known and definitely scary statistic from CNN Money: “More than half of middle class kids who start college fail to earn a bachelor’s degree within six to eight years.” The graduation rate for lower-income students is only 20%. If we throw in associate’s degrees earned along the way, those graduation rates rise, and some students will finish later, but we are still left with many students who simply do not or cannot finish their degrees.

Eduhonesty: The do-nots I will leave alone. I want to talk about the cannots. Many of these failures are predictable! The ACT has estimated the ACT test score that indicates college readiness to be around 21 points. A kid who has attended U.S. schools for his or her entire life who gets a 16 on the ACT has no business going to college — and we have zero business encouraging this kid to go. Frankly, that advice constitutes educational malpractice.

We should provide realistic advice. I tell students who are academically unready for college or the university to start at a community college part-time and add on more classes when they see what they can manage on top of other life responsibilities. I try to steer them away from for-profits and some trade schools, in favor of more-affordable, community colleges.

We need to have honest conversations with our students. A dream is a wish your heart makes, but loans last long after the dreams are gone.

I have my choice of shows at the moment. Various versions of murder are everywhere, only some committed by zombies, ghosts and other supernatural creatures. In the mundane world, I can watch CSI fighting off the Russian mafia. On another channel, some poor fellow is embarrassed about how badly he performed in bed, but never fear. He and his disappointed lady are going to try again. Dear Abby would be challenged to help that Trojan prince who stole another man’s wife, setting off a famous war of epic proportions. I am sure the prince would have behaved better if he could have seen the future, but Trojan princes had no time machines. I happen to know how this one ends, but I might surf by; Brad Pitt never looked better than he did in the Trojan War. Moving down the crawl, a mobster is demanding a retired car thief get him 50 cars or else he will kill the guy’s brother, a man who failed 50-Car-Theft 101 apparently.

I could try pseudo-reality TV, of course, flipping on WWW Monday Night Raw, two hours of fighting that stems from some Royal Rumble Match, or perhaps Cops. I always enjoy hearing “Bad Boys.” I keep stumbling on a show titled, Losing your Memory. It comes after a show touting the Amazing Shark Vacuum and before, How to Avoid a Facelift. If I stay up until ten, Losing Your Memory plays again. The producers must figure they need to keep rerunning the same show every few hours to help out the viewers who forgot what they saw last time. At eleven, Losing Your Memory is followed by Sexy Adult Toy Shopping. I guarantee America that adolescent kids of today know exponentially more about sex than my peers and I did when we were the same age, despite the fact that I had a friend who worked at Elmo’s Book Store. We’ve come a long way since the prickly, plastic objects on Elmo’s shelves, strange shapes probably designed by extraterrestrial creatures who obviously, to quote a favorite Star Trek line, had “never seen a human before.” I am not sure I even want to know the plot of Bulging Brides.

I like the idea of the medical student with the special blood who is embroiled in a battle between vampires and werewolves. The unlucky daughter of a mob boss who had her decapitated head mailed to a publisher does not appeal to me, but I am stopped briefly by a detective’s observation that cross-dressing goes hand in hand with masochism. Where is his evidence? America believes these fictions, so I hope someone did not just make up that surprising tidbit. On Family Guy, Meg convinced Brian to take her SATs for her, but he did not do well. Peter then decided to share the pleasures of being stupid, whatever those are. The second Family Guy episode in the crawl has Meg getting a modeling job in the foot-fetish industry while Stewie and Brian hit the open road. And that’s just a slice of cable. I haven’t checked “On Demand” yet. If I put Netflix on, I can watch a comedy called Danger 5, where Adolph Hitler regularly … (does something, but I don’t want to print a spoiler). I recommend Danger 5, an Australian action comedy television series. If you like tasteless, absurdist comedies set in implausible, alternative universes, I suggest you check this show out.

I don’t even want to start with Netflix, On Demand and YouTube. It’s not yet 8:00 PM. All across America, kids who are not gaming are hitting the OK button as they pick their favorites. If I were a mom of young kids today, I’d push cooking and fashion shows. Bring on the Kids Baking Championship, Chopped and Cupcake Wars, along with Project Junior Runway. I’d rather my kids were watching Bar Rescue or even the Amazing Shark Vacuum than abductions of young children, murdered women, and high school shooting reunions. One of my old infomercial favs was that liquid nitrogen freezing device, the one where the guy climbed a ladder and dropped a frozen roast that shattered into jagged pieces all over the floor. I haven’t seen that one in awhile, maybe because liquid nitrogen can explode violently in the right (or wrong) circumstances. Like Puffer Fish sushi, I avoid liquid nitrogen devices. I recommend readers do the same.

Having studied the crawl, I recommend Dr. Who and Star Trek, along with METV. Science fiction and golden oldies provide a kinder, gentler universe — once we manage to avoid the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones anyway. Ummm… and a bunch of other apocalypse shows, I guess. Nobody ever had happier dreams because they watched 12 Monkeys or The Colony, that’s for sure.

Eduhonesty: No comment, I suppose. I’ve watched and read too much apocalyptic fiction to be self-righteous. I have Chiller on my favorites list.

Maybe I have one comment. Educators and parents need to keep in mind the media stew that our children live in today. With media-streaming devices everywhere today, kids can always find another viewing outlet. Parents and teachers should be having conversations about media content with kids.

We can at least try to ride the bull.

BTW: I am glad so many readers seem to have enjoyed the post following this one.

If I knew where this photo originated, I’d give credit.

I can’t even guess how many times I have looked at rosy-cheeked kids in a classroom, put my hand on their foreheads and thought or even said, “Whoaa!” I’d promptly send those kids to the nurse, but by that time much of a morning or day might have gone by. If a kid sits quietly and the only obvious sign of the flu is rosy cheeks, possibly attributable to gym, teachers can miss the tell-tale signs.

Now I do support sending some “sick” kids to school. If we let all of the “I”m just not feeling very good” crowd stay home, a small, but persistent, group of kids would miss weeks of instruction while playing on their PlayStations. After a few days of “just not feeling well,” a kid should be at the doctor’s office or at school.

But real symptoms? Those kids should be kept home from school. I am home sick today and should be, although I wanted to go to a potluck this weekend. While I was making up my mind, though, the thought of an old man who appears to suffer from severe emphysema or another form of COPD came to mind. I’ve never intruded so far as to ask his medical history, but I know he struggles to breathe. He often goes to potlucks. I stayed home.

That bit on the bottom of the cartoon about the medically fragile? We have many fragile students. A few years ago, one boy in our hallways had to drag an oxygen tank with him everywhere. Students may have compromised immune systems or weak hearts. Inhalers are common. These kids need to be protected from communicable illnesses.

Eduhonesty: I fully understand that keeping kids home can be challenging. Many service workers lose wages if they stay home and risk getting in trouble at work for missing shifts. Those workers frequently don’t get paid for work they miss. (That’s one reason why so many of us get sick during this season, I believe. That rosy-cheeked girl at the McDonald’s drive thru or the drycleaners? She may be popping Advil and the odds are that she would love to be in bed, but she has to pay for Christmas somehow.) Communicable, sick kids should not be in school.

I recommend preventative strikes. If Danny seems to be getting sick, you might call home to tell his mom to watch him, and then remind her that feverish kids will be sent home from school. If Maria has been complaining about her ear, contacting mom to suggest a possible doctor appointment can save time and misery for Maria and others. When you are stuck for the day with that sick student who has no fever, I’d put the hand sanitizer near that kid and encourage good hygiene. Depending on the weather and situation, I also recommend opening the windows if you can do so without freezing your classroom.

P.S. For parents, I should add that some of the happiest days in a kid’s childhood may be sick days. Laying on the couch, watching TV with mom or dad, and eating cookies while some adult takes your temperature every so often and makes you special cocoa to go with your soup … days like that create lifetime memories of love.

Conversation with Shasta at the Science Fiction Convention

(Shasta and Mommy are having breakfast at Saranellos, an Italian restaurant at the Westin Hotel in Wheeling. Mommy has gone there for Capricon, a science fiction convention she regularly attends. Shasta is tagging along as usual, invisible to other diners, but resplendent in her bright purple cape and gold-sequined top-hat. Her sheepdog-sized slug body is slouched over the square wooden table as she rests and talks. Mommy has finished her oatmeal and is sipping Brahmin tea as she types. Mommy is up early and has gone to breakfast with Shasta while her girlfriend sleeps.)

M: Good morning, Shasta!

S: Good morning, mommy. Is Splenda good for you, mommy? (Shasta looks doubtfully at a yellow packet.)

M: Nobody knows. Right now, they have been investigating for half a century and they still aren’t sure if bacon is bad for you. Carbs are hurtling up to the top of the food pyramid. Who cares? I don’t eat much anyway.

S: You should eat leaves. Leaves are great.

M: Well, no one is debating that leaves are healthy. Except for the poisonous ones of course. Shasta, I did a lab this week. They were supposed to take apart lilies and identify the plant parts. Can you imagine that I felt I had to tell both classes not to eat the flowers? But they were doing such weird things as they tore up the flowers. Minions. Crazy-making. If flower abuse was a crime, maybe I could have a peaceful week while some of them worked their way through the criminal justice system.

S: You were murdering flowers anyway, mommy.

M: They were already dead. Those were autopsies.

S: You can’t abuse the dead.

M: Point taken. I wonder if necrophilia is even a crime. Necrophilia per se, that is. I see all sorts of possible infractions that might be committed while obtaining dead bodies.

S: The minions were a little crazy this week.

M: They are just kids. It’s easy to forget because twelve to thirteen is a twixt age. They can go from little kid to pregnant in a heartbeat if you don’t watch all the signs. I love this age. I get this age. But they can drive you just about batshit. Jackie took off into the twilight, wearing a thin, worn, gray hoodie in windy, nineteen degree weather, before her mom arrived. Custodians and I ended up wandering around, looking at cameras, and calling for Jackie. At first, none of us could believe she had taken off walking. But she had. Mom called me while I was driving home to tell me she was safe.

I have so much whole-child education to do on Monday.

S: Patience, mommy.

M: Don’t let me start planning next year. I have to let go. I’m too old for this madness.

S: I know. I keep trying to remind you.

M: I never was the best listener. Too ADHD, way too ADHD, although I have slowed down. Too unaware of my surroundings too. I ought to talk to Sam (another teacher) about that. I don’t think she is a dreamer. Non-dreamers can manage surroundings much better than their counterparts, even the attention-challenged ones, but she is working in a dangerous place. I worry about Sam. Maybe she is more aware of her surroundings than I am, though.

S: Maybe. But she is a phone loser.

M: Exactly.

(Pause. Mommy takes another sip of her Brahmin black tea.)

M: I need to quit. I get tempted by those job listings. I like teaching. I like kids. That feels like a truth. But I am losing my patience for bureaucratic bullshit. I like Joel but some of that interview was just goofy. I loved the part where he suggested I should not call the students minions because the dictionary definition of the word was not what we wanted our students to aspire to become. Do you think the minions have ever looked up the definition of minion? Not a chance. They know that minions are cute, little yellow creatures who bumble around having fun while working at mysterious tasks for an autocratic, but essentially lovable, adult. That definition fits my minions like a surgical glove.

S: Time to leave, mommy.

M: I know, Shasta. My patience is going. When Alex asked about the quiz yesterday, I had to laugh. I couldn’t cry. But it was one line – ONE LINE—of short, simple directions. I understand asking someone to clarify the meaning of a line. But they are supposed to read the line first, just read the line first. I can’t keep reading everything to everybody. And I can’t save anybody who won’t read. I would be so happy to buy books for readers, but as far as I can tell, I don’t have a single reader this year. How long am I supposed to wait for the next reader to arrive from Mexico? This has been a long, dry spell. At least the new girl from Mexico works.

The oatmeal was good. The tea, too. We could go to the con suite.

S: (Doubtfully) More food? Why don’t we go back to the room? We might try to pick up a program book.

M: I kind of like wandering around in a lost haze. It’s restful. I don’t feel like planning. The world’s waking up, though. We ought to relinquish this table, see what the world looks like.

S: It looks big. It always looks big. And it’s filled with details. Plus way too much salt. We could go back to bed.

M: That’s silly. Let’s go find a program book. Don’t worry about the salt. It can’t pass over into your dimension.

S: I know. I just object to it on principal.

M: Gotcha. There’s a lot to be said for objecting to inanimate objects. Salt hardly ever slips off the chain. We have it neatly trapped in this round, silver container and I guarantee you, Shasta, that salt is going nowhere while I’m here. I’ve got this. I can handle salt.

Waiters are more complicated. I am going to have to do the whole eye-contact thing to get that check.

S: I like the guy in the Star Trek uniform behind us.

M: Me, too. Why not costume before breakfast? I spy gang colors and signs all over this room. Nothing shouts out a gang affiliation like that Star Trek red security shirt with its spiffy Starfleet emblem. Puts my Batman t-shirt to shame.

S: Well, you’re tasteful, mommy.

M: Thanks, sweetie. Waiterman is looking somewhat harried. Buffet or no buffet, the surging crowd is clobbering him.

S: We weren’t in a hurry.

M: True enough.

Eduhonesty: Written in a comfy hotel slightly less than a year ago. I did retire. But no one should ever take seriously the ravings of a teacher in February.

I have been known to call this the Secret Blog of Gloom and Doom. I promise a fun post like my Christmas letter soon. Because I do want people to keep reading and if I keep writing, “Well, this is another way that the whole thing has gone to hell in a handbasket!” perhaps people will reach for their Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels instead. I also should stick some fun pictures in recent posts. But I have to add one more nail to education’s coffin this morning, because I don’t want a scary speculation to slip past us.

The following is from a post a few days ago:

From a government document titled “NAEP 2012 Trends in Academic Progress, Reading 1971–2012 | Mathematics 1973–2012″ at https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2013456:

“Results from the 2012 NAEP (a test that has been given to America’s students since 1973 as part of government tracking of educational trends) long-term trend assessment show improvement in the mathematics knowledge and skills demonstrated by 9- and 13-year-olds in comparison to students their age in 1973, but no significant change in the overall performance of 17-year-olds.”

Sadly, the news is even worse when we look at reading scores. According to the same publication, seventeen-year olds in twelfth grade scored 12 points lower in 2012 than in 1971.

Eduhonesty: For all our attempts to create student-centered learning, it would appear that our mathematics remain relatively stagnant and reading has declined. I don’t want to oversimplify. If you read the report, you will find that some disadvantaged groups have shown improvement in math. Reading has been impacted by the lack of recreational reading outside the schools.

What I do want to observe is that in the 1970s and, indeed, until No Child Left Behind (NCLB), few districts were teaching specifically to the state standardized test. This phenomenon where the whole year’s curriculum is scripted to prepare for a huge governmental whammy in the spring began fairly recently, an offshoot of Draconian penalties in NCLB for schools that failed to improve test scores. In contrast, students back in the seventies were taught by teachers who were not focused on the annual state test, teachers who were designing their own materials. Those past teachers were frequently standing at the front of the room, lecturing to classes who were quietly taking notes and answering questions toward the end of the hour. Many of those questions were simple questions of fact: What does the Secretary of State do? They were mixed with critical thinking questions: Why did Alexander Hamilton favor a strong, central government? What are the strengths and weaknesses of a strong central government?

If teaching to the test actually works, then today’s test results are not stagnant or gently falling. They may even be plummeting. Without having been taught the content of the test in a laser-like focus, those kids in the seventies nonetheless did as well or better than kids today.

P.S. A small note on the fierce push away from questions of fact toward critical thinking questions: I love critical thinking questions. Nothing is more fun than watching students make connections and draw conclusions based on data. But we might benefit from more people knowing what the Secretary of State actually does.