Much has been made lately on this forum about the state of public schools and how dysfunctional they are. I hear arguments about public schools and education a lot because I am an educator; and, people for whatever reason feel the need to tell me what is wrong with the industry that has been my career for over 20 years. I have been a classroom teacher, bus driver, and administrator in both large districts in cities, and small rural ones as well.
When you consider stereotypes, I am somewhat of an anomaly from what most consider an educator to be…I tend to be conservative when it comes to most issues: finances, social issues, gun control, state’s rights versus federal rights, capital punishment, and abortion. So, it is with this background that I feel the need to address some of the current topics about public education in Texas.
Much criticism has been leveled in the media about a curriculum known as cscope. One of the greatest untruths being perpetuated about cscope is that it aligns to the common core standards. Texas did not adopt the common core standards and cscope DOES NOT align to the common core standards. Cscope aligns to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills that were developed under the authority of the State Board of Education and adopted by our elected officials in the Texas legislature. These standards or TEKS can be found in links at the bottom of this webpage
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=6148
When you consider most arguments leveled against cscope they usually involve TEKS from social studies courses. There are those who would have you believe that cscope is proselytizing for Islam and is a back door way of indoctrinating our kids to become Muslim. Recently a teacher at Lumberton ISD had students who voluntarily dressed in burqas as part of a world geography class. There are those who would have you believe that cscope was behind this. Wrong! Here’s the statement from Lumberton ISD
http://www.lumberton.k12.tx.us/educatio ... il&id=1500
Even Texas Education Commissioner Williams acknowledged that the lesson had nothing to do with cscope.
Why might people believe that cscope is promoting Islam? Well look no further than the TEKS…you know, the standards put together at the direction of the SBOE and passed into law by the Texas legislature? Here’s a sampling from World Geography…
Culture. The student understands how the components of culture affect the way people live and shape the characteristics of regions. The student is expected to:
(A) describe distinctive cultural patterns and landscapes associated with different places in Texas, the United States, and other regions of the world and how these patterns influenced the processes of innovation and diffusion;
(B) describe elements of culture, including language, religion, beliefs and customs, institutions, and technologies;
(C) explain ways various groups of people perceive the characteristics of their own and other cultures, places, and regions differently; and
(17) Culture. The student understands the distribution, patterns, and characteristics of different cultures. The student is expected to:
(A) describe and compare patterns of culture such as language, religion, land use, education, and customs that make specific regions of the world distinctive;
(B) describe major world religions, including animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism, and their spatial distribution;
Could students wearing burqas be part of a learning activity in meeting the above listed standards? Yes. Was it wise on the part of the teacher to allow such a thing given the post 911 climate? No. Would I have done this in my classroom? No, no more that I would smear ashes on a Muslim kid on Ash Wednesday. Do I actually believe that this incident is proof that cscope is promoting Islam and indoctrinating kids? Ridiculous. But there are many who read, listen and watch it sensationalized on such media outlets as The Blaze, Word Net Daily, Alex Jones Info Wars and others and will believe the black helicopters are on the way. And there are those who tout charter schools as the way to guard against our kids being indoctrinated by the claimed Muslim agenda of cscope and public schools in general. Well, those same folks might find it surprising that there are over 30 charter schools in the state of Texas that are backed or sponsored by a common group of Turkish Muslims with many more sponsored across the United States.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-5 ... kish-imam/
Much the same argument can be made about the claims that cscope promotes socialism and communism over free enterprise capitalism. A close examination of a sampling of TEKS in social studies reveals standards that address various economic systems.
(9) Economics. The student understands the various ways in which people organize economic systems. The student is expected to:
(A) compare ways in which various societies organize the production and distribution of goods and services;
(B) compare and contrast free enterprise, socialist, and communist economies in various contemporary societies, including the benefits of the U.S. free enterprise system;
(C) understand the importance of morality and ethics in maintaining a functional free enterprise system; and
(D) examine the record of collective, non-free market economic systems in contemporary world societies.
And, so what we have is hysteria fueled by the media and social media when parents find out that their kids are learning about socialism and communism in school today.
Then there is the recent story from Flour Bluff ISD in Corpus Christi about test items which paint the U.S. as bringing 911 on itself. This too was falsely reported as being from cscope. The test items used and video shown had nothing to do with cscope. They were part of a program called Safari Montage that has never been affiliated with or endorsed by cscope. Oh, but mom got over 5,000 hits on a facebook post telling the story and used the word cscope so it must be true.
And let’s not forget the Boston Tea Party debacle. Terrorism or Patriot stand? The truth is perspective plays a role in interpreting history and understanding different cultures. In this much misunderstood lesson from cscope, students were given a mock press release about the incident written from the perspective of the British. It was a way to illustrate the role perspective plays interpreting history as Old Gringo and others have pointed out in previous discussions. Does that mean that cscope believes and is promoting that the Boston Tea Party was a terrorist act? Well, I think the answer lies in the fact that we’re not British. But understanding other cultures and perspectives helps us to understand why today some refer to us as a nation of infidels. Does understanding that perspective mean that it’s true or we should sympathize to them? No. But understanding the perspective of radical ideology is telling of their actions toward those they perceive as infidels. Remember Daniel Pearl?
All of this recent discussion brings up another criticism of public schools…that we’re somehow not educating kids to be independent thinkers who will become the innovators of tomorrow. Well how can we encourage kids to be independent thinkers if we only allow certain perspectives, certain religions, and certain economic systems to be taught in school? Are we trying to over protect kids by denying such things exist in our world? There are those who say public school is dumbing down education. Well it seems to me the restriction of information stifling free thinking is what is dumbing down education.
There are those conservatives who think public schools do a horrible job of educating kids and should be replaced by vouchers, and charters. Well, let me open a charter school with enrollment criteria, less oversight and I should be able to outperform public schools too, but research has shown that most do not over a sustained period of time. Make no mistake about it there are vendors and special interest groups that are chomping at the bit for public school reform to happen and charters to become the norm because it represents an untapped market.
Critics of public schools often cite that schools should be run like a business and poor performing schools should be shut down. But these same critics seem not to comprehend that we are charged with educating everyone who comes through our doors: white, black, Asian, Hispanic, straight, gay, children of illegal’s, Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, special needs, and the severe and profound, etc. Unlike businesses, we don’t have the luxury of throwing away or sending back raw material that we find unappealing. Our raw material is human capital. We play every card we are dealt, good or bad. And, our performance is assessed on how well we do in educating each of the groups no matter how diverse; all courtesy of sweeping legislation which federalized education at an unprecedented level. That legislation was called No Child Left Behind brought to you by none other than George Bush. You know, a conservative…wait I thought conservatives valued less intervention of government in what has traditionally been a state issue? Here’s an idea, let’s enact legislation that measures the performance of politicians based on performance factors in the districts they represent; factors such as unemployment, their districts’ portions of the gross domestic product, crime rates, welfare rates, and rates of un-wed mothers to name a few. If they don’t measure up, we will just sanction them into doing a better job or get rid of them. Essentially, this is what has been done to public schools. Local control is slowly eroding away at the hands of politicians.
No Child Left Behind ushered in an unprecedented emphasis on standardized testing in schools which has trickled down to the states. In Texas with the transition from the TAKS assessment system to STAAR, there are 45 assessment days required for standardized testing. This represents 25% of the instructional days in a typical 180 day school year. This does not include local assessments given by teachers for the sake of calculating grades! Luckily, there is a movement in the Texas legislature to do away with some of the testing requirements but that is yet to be determined.
The truth is, Texas public schools do struggle, but do a remarkable job for what they have been burdened with. But the real question is who is to blame? I promise you the answer to the question is not as simple as what the media would have you believe about the issues. But don’t take my word for it. I encourage you to research a little deeper before you paint with the wide brush. So there you have it, a different conservative perspective on public schools. Flame away...