RE: Why I’m quitting teaching part 11/11: Five ways in which mainstream education doesn't 'fit' society
I like your point about the testing being helpful for showing how behind some schools are - it's not a point I'd thought about before. However, it also leads to certain schools "teaching the test" and skewing the results badly.
It would be wise for economically-disadvantaged schools to acknowledge this fact and then tackle it from a different point of view, i.e. the point of view of helping students achieve what they can rather than trying to conform the whole school to the same standards of more advantaged areas.
I graduated from a poor, rural high school in Oregon. We had enough students to get most of the activities we wanted to do. Because it was a small school, students had more flexibility to do what they wanted to do. You didn't have to be a perfect cheerleader or and NBA-quality basketball player in order to get onto the Varsity squad. The "talented and gifted" had programs too though most frequently, those students simply participated in more things and flourished in their own ways.
However, no school can do everything, and that's even more true for the poor, rural school. I was not pushed enough in high school - not in the right way, anyway, and despite being a gifted student myself, I wasn't prepared to have to work for my grades and struggled immensely in college - it was a shock to the system.
What hurt my school the most?
There was a tax reform measure that was passed about the time I graduated which diverted our property taxes to the central government who then decided where the money would go. Guess what? It wasn't to the rural schools. Although my school's sports program has done exceedingly well in the past decade or so (the community places huge value in it, after all) - I went to school with the guy who is currently one of the winningest baseball coaches in Oregon history - the arts programs have pretty much died. It's very sad.
I don't know if it's as bad in other states, but that's what happened in Oregon - it's hard to recover from that kind of blow.
I live near Philadelphia, and teach at Community College of Philadelphia, where I work with a lot of students from the city's school district. They have lost most athletic and arts programs. It's a terrible situation right now, and by the look of the mass walkouts happening around the country, I would guess it has happened everywhere.
So sad, and so short-sighted. :-(
Yes, the one-size-fits-all formula doesn't work for many.
My husband and I often talk about the fact that "the system" tends to fail both ends of the spectrum at the same time. We were both at the bright end of the spectrum. While I was better at not rocking the boat, he was bored stiff and branded a trouble-maker. It was years down the road before someone decided to give him an IQ test. (Actually, there's a charming scene in the Icelandic film "Noi Albinoi" which focuses on that problem.)
My opinion is that a Montesorri-ish system is the only way that one can deal with all levels at the same time - but even that has its serious drawbacks. (Not to mention the fact that it requires a lower student-to-teacher ratio.)
My ex-husband attended a school of that style in Minneapolis. He had very high opinions of the school, but my observations was that the school simply magnified the parental attitudes. Hence, the children of parents who cared about their education did extremely well in that school. The ones whose parents did not care failed miserably.
This seems to support homeschooling again - it's the parents that matter most!
Still, for many, the system is their only option and it's so sad to see the system failing those who need it most.
That sounds scandalous, and I had no idea there was a rural-urban divide in Oregon. Is that all those 'socialists' in Portland?
Yes, the rural-urban divide is actually quite strong - though the coast is being gradually taken over by city-slickers wishing to retire nearer the beaches - locals are having trouble trying to afford to live there. I grew up on the north Oregon coast, and I have to realize now that barring some financial miracle, we will not be able to afford to retire there ourselves - despite the fact that I have deeper roots there than any other place.
I won't place labels on the people who make the decision (I hate politics) - but the main urban (and very liberal) area is down the Willamette (will-AM-ette) Valley - Portland down to Salem and on to Eugene, primarily (Corvallis, is more conservative as the ag and tech college.)
East of the Cascades, with the notable exception of Bend and Prineville (Facebook HQ now), is all very agricultural wherever it's possible to farm, anyway, it's also one of the most severe rain shadows in the world. A lot of ranching country over there - and therefore quite conservative as well. They even have a different accent than those west of the Cascades!