It is the method of this blog to be brief and to pair thoughts with images. I have seldom been able to write about what I know best, public education, under these self imposed strictures. But I can not ignore what is happening in my former school district, Los Angeles Unified, where thousands of teachers have been laid off and the school year has been shortened.
I retired seven weeks ago, in part, to open a slot for a younger teacher. In my role as a mentor, I saw many of my charges continue to teach conscientiously while awaiting pink slips. But my frustration over their plight is exceeded by the abysmal stewardship of officials and administrators.
For my tenth grade classes, six of my last eight weeks at Huntington Park High School were consumed by preparation and administration of three sets of standardized exams. When students return to school in May, they will have two more batteries of exams with three fewer school days in which to complete them. (It is a multi-track school with an arcane schedule). Reading long-form fiction, or working on thematic units, is no longer possible.
Most standardized tests are expensive because they are printed and graded by publishers. Furthermore, most exams have no educational value because students do not get to see which questions they missed. Finally, the data generated is unreliable as many students burn out in the testing hall and stop making an effort. The responses on bubble sheets often display happy faces or graffiti tags.
I suggest that money for standardized exams would be better spent to retain young teachers, and the time wasted on taking them could instead help mitigate the damage from forced furlough days.
In brief, as teachers often say, weighing the calves doesn't make them any fatter.
Golden Calf, by Damien Hirst, the world's richest artist. The sculpture is the carcass of a calf, festooned with gold, and preserved in formaldehyde. The artist auctioned off this symbol of our contemporary worship of lucre for over twelve million dollars. He bypasses galleries in order to cut out the middleman. Click on the picture for a closer look.
5 comments:
I love this post and your perspective.
I wouldn't worry too much about the young teachers. Being young they could go look for other work possibilities, as teaching, nowadays, is a hard, demanding and not so rewarding profession.
The big problem lies not in tests, money, teachers , but in - pupils. Not all of them, of course, but most of the pupils lack discipline and quality. Under these circumstances, schools cost too much, and give back to society too little.
"The Golden Calf", by the way, is also the name of the award of the Netherlands Film Festival held annually in Utrect. Cattle is common in the Netherlands and symbolic of the place; however the Dutch say that the name of the award also refers (with a wink) to the biblical concept of worshipping the false God.
Thank you for the comment, Dragonfly.
Duta, I'll write about students one of these days. I think young teachers are a precious national resource and I hate to see them shut out of their chosen profession when we need them so much. Thank you for the aside about the Netherlands. You are about the most worldly person I know.
Way too much emphasis is placed on testing these days. I think teachers are a valuable resource. Unfortunately their talents are being wasted on teaching for testing and not utilized to promote a love for learning. Future generations are being short changed with this mindset.
Way too much emphasis is placed on testing these days. I think teachers are a valuable resource. Unfortunately their talents are being wasted on teaching for testing and not utilized to promote a love for learning. Future generations are being short changed with this mindset.
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