Various Thoughts on Education in America.

I find that I have a wealth of thoughts and issues regarding public education.  I must note that my opinions are mostly from my own experience in the public school system of Roanoke, VA… but I have also observed and mentally noted the thoughts and comments of friends from all over the country.

The American Education system is in terrible shape.  Sometimes, I wonder how much of the school’s sub-par results are some kind of way for the government (made mostly of upper 10% white men, with private school backgrounds) to keep the masses from becoming too smart to be controlled.  If the masses were better educated they may be demanding more or better aid from the federal government.  But luckily, we receive poor educations, unless we take the initiative to pursue knowledge on our own.  This means the government can make decisions to Cut Health Care Benefits for our Veterans at the same time they decided to ship out more soldiers to the middle east.  They can do these things all at once, and more without hearing from the American’s in large enough numbers to matter because the public is too busy watching endless news coverage about the death of some half-assed celebrity or the birth of babies by two famous film actors.  Films, Music and Televsision shows on one hand can be so incredibly moving and informative… but sometimes they’re created with the intention of entertaining and distracting the masses.  Look at the release of every Larry the Cable Guy film, I gurantee you that day in the news the government passed something screwing the lower class workers.  Look at the impact and marketing push of Reality TV.  Everyone claims to hate it, but most find themselves sucked into finding out what former waitress from middle America will when a record deal.  This gives hope, but its a false hope, because 90% of the country will never move from the class they found themselves born into.  Its hard to move up, education helps, but then again its a rigged game.  Rural areas don’t offer a lot of advanced learning or arts courses.  Instead, they have a basic diploma, a focus on sports, and offer vocational programs.  Its like from 9th grade on, students are told, if you are from here… this is what is expected of you… become a mechanic, construction worker or factory line drone.  I luckily went to a school, surrounded by rural schools, but I was in a city.  My high school offered many different programs that allowed students who desired it to receive a very nice education.  The school was linked to a nearby Governoor’s School (Specializing in Math and Science– here, students would take classes each day for half the day, by graduation pretty much they would have credit for most college level Mathematics and Science courses.  Hell, some students have a patent filed or a math publication by graduation from the program), The IB program was there (Advanced learning program, specializing in producing students educated at advance levels in all areas… by 11th & 12th grade, the classes are quite difficult but after completing a test with a high score the student receives college credit for it), A.P. courses (taught college level courses, received college credit with high test score), Dual-Enrollment Courses (Classes that qualify as both high school and college classes.  Students receive credit from The Community College in the city as long as they made a C or higher), then there were the 3 different Magnet Programs the school held (Magnet Programs were special topic programs in VA that allowed for students to get fully developed education and exposure to various fields.  The State funding was pulled after the 2004-2005 school year… School of Global Studies–means we offered a lot of intersting history, social science classes. School of… shit, don’t remember name– basically could take mechanic, shop, computer tech, flight liscencing type classes.  and finally the area I found myself… The School of the Arts– 7 theatre courses, 7 visual arts courses, 4 dance courses, 2 TV/Video Lab Courses, 2 Photograhpy courses, 2 Choir courses, 5 Band courses…) all available to any student when beginning their 9th grade year…if they wanted to try their hand at something more than the basic courses required for graduation.  True, a large portion of the students in the programs above were part of several at once, and about 3/4 the students at the school were only partially involved in any of the programs at all… but, looking at some of my friends and where their lives are going it worked for us.  Shivan went to Stanford & now works for RAND Corporation. Morgan went to Amherst & is now an Economic Consultant. Jared went to JMU, is an award winning performance poet and works in New York for an opera house as a sound tech. Candice went to Radford and is now teaching Elementary School students.  Ben went to Roanoke College and is a successful Sculptor. Samantha is a revolutionairy independent filmmaker is the Ohio area.  Season went to Hollins and worked in both dance & medical areas. Matt is finishing severals degrees at High Point with intentions to teach College Arts courses.  Kyle went to ETSU, he works with Digital Media.  I bounced around colleges, then moved to Los Angeles where I have become an independent film writer/director.  Hell… even a professional football player came through the school, former Browns, then Dolphins player Lee Suggs went through our programs.  He now coaches college football.  There are more.  Point is, now that I have rambled forever about the school… MY HIGHSCHOOL WAS IN ONE OF THE 5 LARGEST CITIES IN THE STATE. It offered lots of choices for classes and many students graduated with high test scores, moving on to excell later.  A HIGH SCHOOL 10 MILES AWAY IN A FARMING TOWN, with several factories and a large quarry. This is where my cousin went, basic classes for the most part.  One art class.  Sports were bulk of extracuricular.  Half of students went into vocational school programs by 11th grade.  The other half couldn’t get into college, so if they wanted to leave the area Military was the only option.  The school’s in our country, seem to stereotype slightly in regards to what courses and options the school makes available to its students.  The only reasons the “inner-city” minority heavy William Fleming High School, my school, had all those programs and the city didn’t desperse them between the two schools, or put them all at the predominately white other school, was due to some sort of stereotyping the school boards had.  In the late 90s Standards of Learning Tests became a required examination for students each year.  In high school, a student has to pass a certain number of tests in particular courses to graduate.  The results of the tests each year determined the school’s accredidation status which affects the money school’s receive from the state, so Roanoke placed all the advanced programs at Fleming or simply allowed students to travel to and from the program’s building in the city back to the school.  They felt this would give Fleming high test scores.  The school board had no concerns about the other schools scores. Just Flemings.

With regard to these Standardize Tests, I am led to a point I feel quite strongly about.  I’ve mentioned in a one liner post on this blog already.  These standardized tests, first implemented during Clinton’s final years, but made a madatory graduation requirement bother something inside my mind.  These tests are compiled by people working for the government.  There is a specific test for most basic High School classes, then there’s required tests the students take almost every other year-Math, Science, History, Reading, Writing.  7th/8th: 5 tests, divided.  5th, 3rd and 1st.  1st Graders are now required to pass 5 government made tests, as well as pass their class,  to move on to the next grade.  Beyond the issue I have with some guys who work for the Secretary of Education, sitting around each year deciding what they think students should be learning.  Yes, that’s right, these tests are the government tellings us what we should learn, and because of the pressure for high scores placed on schools and teachers… students are being taught basically what the test demands, and having these items repeated nonstop until the tests happen in early May.  That’s it.  Students are taught what the test wants, and that’s pretty much it, and sometimes… the test has wrong or incomplete answers.  For instance, according to the 3rd Grade History SOL, the cause of the civil war was slavery. That was the right answer. In 5th grade the same question’s answer was the Southern States desire to become a seperate nation.  That’s closer to right, but missing something, and could be simpler… 7th/8th grade: Same question’s answer has become The Southern States Secceding from the Union. Correct, finally.  We teach students the wrong thing until they are 12, 13, 14ish then make them relearn it the right way.  Why not teach it to the correctly to begin with and move on to other topics.  I am so glad I only experienced these tests from 7th grade on… not from the beginning.  The program was just beginning as I went through school, meaning the teacher’s still taught what they felt was needed… but I worry about what will become of future generations.  Lets cut art program fundings, funding for advanced social science studies, funding for technical studies, funding for foreign language… all of which lost most of their funding between 2005 and 2008, and the school’s focus turns from teaching the courses as they’d been taught for so many years, to suddenly the classes are focused on teaching students answers to government approved questions on things.  The reading one scares me a lot, multiple choice with one right answer and yet there asking questions about themes, imagery and lesson of writings the state chose, with a specific right or wrong answer… yet many of these questions are interpretive.  The SOL tests discourage students from thinking for themselves and encourge them all think one way.  This slow breakdown of individuality concerns me.

The SOL Tests when fully pushed and supported by George W. Bush came through with his “No Child Left Behind” Program.  The idea is that every child in America will be able to graduate with a high school diploma, and feel as though they have received the education needed to survive in college or the workforce.  Basically, the standardized tests were to make sure that students were getting the same level of education, also, that they were being taught uniform ideas.  I once put out a quote on my feelings about this program, one sentence released in print with two different but ultimately correct meanings behind the words, depending on inflection… “Less intelligent students will be able to get ahead.” “Less intelligent students will be able to get ahead.”  Both versions are equally correct and equally of a concern.  Due to the emphasis placed on a students Test Scores in the SOL Test first, then their GPA & SAT/ACT scores… the realm of scores in SOL tests is much narrower… between 0 (nearly impossible, unless student doesn’t fill out own name) and 300, if I remember correctly.  Over 200 was an advanced score.  This limited range of points, plus the narrow-minded view of the subject matter allows students who are not as smart, or even actively invested in their education to memorize certain extremely specific information in a subject and look just as good as a student who has been working incredibly hard at school and displays high intelligence.  There is something wrong here.  If a student tries harder, makes better grades, takes more advanced courses and participates actively in groups through the school, this student deserves to stand out to potential colleges or employers.  They’ve put forth the effort required to do something great.  If students don’t try, put forth limited effort, never participate in extracurriculars except school dances, then the student should get a second tier chance.  They should not be awarded or viewed the same as the students who try.  Thanks to SOL tests, the US governments sees the two students as the same based solely on SOL scores. This is troubling.

Scaling down to my personal high school and some actions I do not understand. I do not agree with some of the changes my High School made during my final year and they continued to add in the years that followed.  They removed sodas from the vending machines first, insisting the soda makes students fat.  Okay, that’s fine, whatever.  My problem is that the soda was replaced by bottles of Fruitopia.  This is not a juice drink at all, which I think the school believed the drinks to be, no, no, no.  Not at all, these drinks had to same ingredients of the Kool-Aid I drank as a child. Water, artificial fruit flavoring–but not enough, too watery in flavor, and the final ingredient was sugar. A lot of sugar.  Sugar, Water with food coloring/flavor mix added in…  The result: A boost of energy in the students just after drinking it, followed 10 minutes later by a plummiting crash.  After that, the result is… per bottle… 4 trips to the bathroom in a 2 hour period to pee out an unbelievable amount of fluid.  So the students, will be wired then want to fall asleep, and if they stay awake the student will have to be excused to the bathroom several times during a class.  On top of this, the student’s drink this faster than a bottle of soda, since it is mostly water.  This means the students buy a great deal more.  Oh wait! Maybe that was the real intention.  At school only certain students would by soda multiple times a day.  Students like… well, me (3 bottles of Mello Yello each day).  By switiching to something else, that went down much easier, the students would buy more drinks.  This means the school will make more profit from it’s 15% cut of the $1.25 cost per bottle.

Another change the school made, not until after I left… the addition of a fence that completely elminates traffic through, what was in my time at the school an extremely busy pathway.  To understand, the school is campus style, with several building spread out on the property and a large number of sidewalks that link everything.  The passageway blocked was near the student parking lot.  It was used mostly by students who drove to get to the main area of campus.  Also, the passageway was used to reach the Theatre, Art, Choir, Dance, Photography and TV/Video classes with ease.  By blocking the passage, the student’s walk these classes would require an additional 5 minutes, so the student could walk the long way around the other buildings.  This seems to be stupid.  The fence’s placement along the path makes its stupidity worse. It squeezes between two buildings, blocking the walkway between  them.  The problem is one of the buildings is the gym.  Here’s the issue, the entrance to the men’s lockerroom is on one side of the fence. Easy to reach from most of the campus.  The women’s lockerroom is on the other side, only easy to reach from the arts classes.  This is just a poorly planned idea on the part of the school I once attended.  I found out just how bad this decision why when a teacher I now call a friend explained to me why it was put up. “They put it up to break up that group of smokers that huddled there in front of the trainer’s room (the last room of the building opposite the passageway from the gym).  I laughed and shook my head. The fences doesn’t block off the area the smoker’s used, or even come close to make it difficult for them to reach. The fence is 5 feet away from where the group met, and still meets.  In fact, this fence makes it easier for them to hangout there and smoke without getting into trouble. There’s a fence stopping security or faculty from reaching them quickly from one direction.  That means less area for them to be watching.

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This has been quite a long blog and I doubt anyone but myself will actually read through this enitre thing.  I have a lot of issues with the Education system, but here’s proof I shouldn’t work in politics… I have no solution, no brilliant idea about how to make everything better.  Nothing.  Now, that I think of it a lack of originial thought/ideas sounds like what the governments wants in the youth… and what they require of their congressmen, whom we the thoughtless then turn to elect… usually based on how many times they’ve been there (that makes us recognize their name) or how nice, trusting or handsome the elected is… we use our Voting Power wisely, indeed, and should brag proudly about the men and women we the people decide to put in control, who spend most of their time arguing over nothing, meaning nothing ever really gets done…

Shit, another tangent… anyway, I don’t have some grand plan… but I do offer this–>  In my life outside of schools, well, college fits this too… so, In my life in personal situations, career situations and college situations (but academic and campus-life) there have been 5 skills that have proved unbelievably useful to me.  An awareness, knowledge and understanding of these items allowed me to make decisions with speed, yet intelligent consideration.  To understand how people gernally operate and therby now how to approach to meet someone.  To know how to survive and live on my own with out starving.  To know how to make decisions before too much thought it put into it to make any choice seem worthwhile.  Many many more experiences have been successfully navigated thanks to these 5 skills and each experience improves the application of the skill. The skills are: Logic, Reason, Common Sense, The Thickened Skin and Patience.

I would love to find someone with the right combinations of degrees/education behind them (probably experience in the fields of Education, Philosophy, Sociology, Pscyhology, Real-World Mathematics, and Debate would work).  Then get this extremely well-educated person to figure out a way to teach these 5 skills in a course to students. Personally, I believe that far too few people out there possess these skills, or they do not understand how to apply them constructively.  In the business world, the entertainment world, the field of athletics, the military, politics and much more, these skills give individuals the ability to move up and survive their jobs despite tremendous odds.

Logic would allows the individual to look at a abstract situation and quickly apply a solution that would yield positive results.  Logic is thinking about some object in one’s way, some physical task required as though it were a Mathematical problem and deducing the desired solution and from the from best possible path from Point A to Point B.  Applying Logic would ellimate a person from making rash decisions that would late come back to harm him/her.

Reason is similar to Logic, but much more specific, narrowed and incredibly analytical.  Reason focuses on mental obstacles, tasks and needs; whereas Logic focuses on solving the needed course of a physical action.  Reason involves an understanding of the human mind, the emotions that cloud the mind and the uncontrolled movements people make that reveal everything.  Usuing reason to take notes on a person’s personality, behavior and thoughts, one can reasonably make a guess about how the person would react or respond to particular stimulus.  A useful skill in aquiring a job or selling youself or your product to a group.  Reason would allow you to look at a group and figure out with the first five minutes speaking to them just who doesn’t care, who’s mind is elsewhere, who’s interested, who’s the hard ass/stubborn, and which of them is the one who hold’s money.  A very beneficial skill, indeed.

Common Sense, would be the first of these taught.  Its something people bring up frequently, but seldom the actions of people fit what common sense is used to describe.  Common Sense would allow one to make decisions on an instictive level, that would be helpful but generally are avoided.  If one wake’s up see’s fog outside, grey clouds in the sky.  One wouldn’t have to check with the weather channel, no, Common Sense would allow them to instinctively know to take the umbrella on the way out.  It may not be raining, but common sense says that the sky looks like rain is likely.  Common Sense would allow for less traffic collisions or even near collisions.  Drivers with the skill training would be much more tuned into the road surrounding their vehicle and what the vehicle is doing. Common Sense is a skill everyone uses to some extent, but not nearly enough. Before I move on, imagine… someone approaches to voting polls for an election and applies all 3 of the above skills to their answers… how would he vote?  Then what if an extremely large number of voters did the same.  Furthermore, Combined use of these 3 similar but different skills (Logic, Reason and Common Sense) over the years, and after several generations of education, would possibly see the disappearance of prejudices, harmly stereotypes, racism, sexism, etc.  We wouldn’t be left with basic assuptions.  We look, grab the assumption and continue our observation.  Soon we’d have more than enough subtle information to know what the person is like, and whether or not one should converse with the person.  If there was a problem with a person, logic would tell us all people are different and not allow us to judge everyone that way.

The Thickened Skin, should be the second topic introduce in an education, but the final one mastered.  It takes time to develop a think skin, but its also different for every person.  The quality of life, the social relationships, the mental health and the type of temper all are factors in how a thickskin is developed.  The student pursuing a thickskin that’d be useful in the workforce, college, or even high school, would have to be willing to put themselves out there, take chances.  To develop a thickskin a person most open themselves up to opportunities of rejection, mockery, failure, embarassment.  Everytime the person tries to do something and passes, hooray and congratulations, do something else next week.  Eachtime the person tries and the response is negative, the skin gets a little thicker.  The more negativity offered at one time the greater the thickness developed.  For it to be most affect, the student should to physically and emotionally react to the negativity as little as possiblem.  One should just listen and take in what the bad review says.  Again, everybody requires a different base thickness to be able to survive post-highschool without having a breakdown.  There’s no precise way to measure skin thickness.  However, the final exam before graduation could be a large group of people the person respects are in audience.  The person stands before them and tries to pitch something.  The crowd treats him as horribly as they feel necessarry.  By this time, not should the person have a pretty thickskin, but also will have been through the other 4 skills.  The person has to make it through the pitch, without staggering, without questioning themselves, without a doubt in mind, while standing up to endless abuse from people they care about.  This must continue until the person convinces the crowd to calm down.  Could last for hours, or only minutes.  If the person cannot convince the crowd, and either gives up or the members of the crowd grow bored and leave–then the test must be retaken, but a failure in this could add significant thickness to the skin.

Patience is a rather important skill, probably the skill the average person has the most experience and use with.  The DMV and Hospital Emergency Rooms seemed to be designed to test this skill within people.  Even entertainment events, like concerts, plays, movies, amusement parks require waiting in lines, then waiting for the entertainment to begin.  Patience is necessary and is applied almost unknowingly to moments in life.  Sometimes its only needed long enough to keep out attention in the right place while waiting for a website to load.  Other times is requires sitting through an entire awards ceremony where you know the you’re honored for is one of the last.  Patience is found in birth, as the father pases frantically waiting for the infants arrival–a struggle of patience and impatience.  Patience can be found in dead, as the soon to be departed loved one patiently watches and listens to all the crying words of those he or she knows.  Patience can be use to help in physical applications of creative skills.  The painting of specific details requires a great deal of patience if it is to look like some print, rather than a hand applied pattern.

Patience, combined with a thickskin, can allow you keep to pushing and pushing towards a goal, no matter how specific, with unwavering determination.  You could get rejected from a requested meeting with some executive,  time and time again, but pursuit continues until you one day are given a date and time for the meeting.  Now, you have better while made sure of what you intend to say in the meeting.  No matter what you don’t leave until you are finished; use logic, reason, and patience.  Patience will help to not interrupt the executive when he/she speaks (despite the executive’s constant interruption of your words), you’ll need to logic and common sense to be able to maintain the words you came to say in your mind, but also have the ability to answer the executives specific questions on the spot.  Doing this without mixing up anything, requires maintaining your ground, keeping relaxed and calm, which you will need a thickskin for.

These skills will also allow a person to find themselves less likely to be tricked, manipulated or talked into scam investments, pyramid scheme business deals, religious conversion, or cult brainwashing.  In fact, if approach, successful use of the three could allow one to turn the conversation around, making it possible to sway the missionairies religious view, or free the cult members mind from the fold to which they are subject.  It should be noted: The application of the 5 skills, may lead a person down a spiritual journey that destines them to no religion technically, but an idea of some element, spiritual perhaps, lurking within us.  But without enough information or facts then Logic, Reason and Common Sense will not reach a specific solution, Thickskin also for the one to question the specific religious openly, with intelligent argument and flourish because they will not be broken.  And the use of Patience, will allow one know to just wait for solution when things are unclear.  Common Sense saws not all solutions appear instantly, or are easy to reach.  Some take more time and endless exploration.

There are countless examples that could be given, showing the way that a person’s careful application of the 5 skills would be beneficial in an innumberal amount of situations.  There’d be more peace, as actions would always be dictated by clear thought… even impulsive actions, thanks to Common Sense.  Tolerance would be outdated, not that we would all however, actually acceptance would be so normal, the separations and differences in people are not considered a reason to dislike a person unless give some reason behind it.  Most religion would be found to not be logical, but faith and spiritualism could not be proven nor disproven, leaving the two elements to continue to mystify the human mind.

It would be nearly to impossible to teach someone these skills, most people in life who have them developed them over many years and many specific experiences.  Furthermore, if the skills could be taught, and somehow became a requirement scholasticaly… there would be a significant decrease in the number of graduates each year.  But I think that’s just what is needed.  The opposite of the current plan.  Don’t make it so more students are graduating, and doing so more easily.  Instead, you make requirements for gradaution much more difficult, and specific.  When first implemented many students will have to repeat senior year.  And the number of students who fail rise for a fews years, then it would see a sudden boom in the number of graduates each year.  The number of students who do move on each year would slowly increase a little more, yearly, until an ultimate plateau around the 95% mark.  You have to make it harder, to make them work for it.  If they can graduate with out trying, they’ll do it that way.  Make them have to do the effort.  Make a rule, you graduate by 20 or you have to enlist in military & pass G.E.D.

And with that, I bring to conclusion my extremely long and highly opinionate discourse of the failures of our Schools and what people need to learn… enjoy.

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