Equality of opportunity is imperative to the success of a capitalist society like the United States. -Normandin

Parts of this blog will be related to the State of the Union Address from last Tuesday. If you haven’t watched it here’s a link: 

Notice this is the “enhanced version” the White House released afterwards. The enhanced version has facts and figures that bolster the speech (now you can read those figures instead of spending so much time staring at politicians).

Also, here is a transcript of the Address. 

Education took the national stage last week when it was a topic in President Obama’s State of the Union Address. Approximately twenty minutes into the address, key educational topics were discussed including tuition prices, community college training programs, and the need for improvement in our public education system. The President said, “Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.” From our class discussions it is obvious that this is easier said than done, especially with teacher’s unions in control of so many aspects of public education.

Just as we discussed in class last week, evaluating teachers is essential to improving learning in our public education system. The idea of creating a teacher evaluation process that includes both peer evaluation as well as the test scores made by their students seems like a workable solution. If teachers are going to continue to be evaluated by standardized tests, it seems they would still be required to teach (at least partially) to the test. 

The topic of standardized tests was a topic we touched on briefly during Professor Kaplan’s tutoring training. Different states have different tests they require students to take at the end of an academic year. For students who move to different states during the school year it can be difficult to transition because the classes may be covering different topics at different times than their previous school. This problem, in my mind, can be remedied by a national standardized test. If we desire to have highly educated students, doesn’t it make sense to have a national set of education standards for our students?

Luckily I have found an article that articulates many of the problems I see with education in America here. Ryan Normandin writes for MIT’s newspaper with his complains in the public education system. In this article Normandin comments on the confusing curriculum of public high schools and the need for a national standardized test. Another comment is made with regards to teaching methods:  

lectures give a 5 percent retention rate of information, while reading gives 10 percent on average. On the other hand, group discussions offer 50 percent, practice by doing 75 percent, and teaching others 90 percent. 

Doesn’t it make sense how so many of our classes at UNCA (especially honors courses) are discussion based?

Another interesting moment during the State of the Union is when the President said, “I call on every State to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.” While I watched it I remember being a bit taken back. If we require students to stay in high school, shouldn’t we give them a reason to stay? Waiting for “Superman” showed us that many students who drop out are either discouraged from learning or have too many things outside of school (problems at home, for instance) keeping them from coming back. In Normandin’s article he emphasizes the magnet school as the solution to the increasing drop out rate. By having schools with different themes (science and math, arts, etc) it would be easier for students to dive into a specific subject they find interesting and explore its complexities while still receiving the general education required by the state. As this cartoon illustrates, magnet schools allow students to specialized in a subject of their own choosing.

 

This brings me to Normandin’s quote that started off this entry. I believe this equality of opportunity ties in directly with Nussbaum’s list of Central Capabilities in our week’s reading. It is interesting to see how this list can be implemented within the modern education system to provide a new level of respect for the dignity of students and teachers. Many aspects are already included in primary education; play is an integral aspect of elementary school for many children. Affiliation and the ability to have concern for other humans and interact well with others is another goal of childhood education. I feel that one of the most important things on the list is promoting sense, imagination, and thought. Children should feel supported in their learning, especially because studies have shown how different people learn in different ways. If Professor Kaplan’s tutoring training has taught us anything it was that it can take students a long time to learn information, but the time it takes them is crucial in understanding. Our human dignity requires equal opportunity to learn and in some cases there is a huge disparity between children in the educational system today. As this article from the New York Times describes, some private schools charge up to $40,000 annually in tuition. While public schools are forced to cut programs due to funding, private schools continue to build new facilities. How is this an even playing field for students in the New York public school system? 

Learning Process

My first tutoring session at I Have A Dream was very exciting. While I wasn’t completely sure what was going on, I really enjoyed working with the students and seeing how bright they are. I was surprised to find the students ready and willing to learn the new material. As a math major, it is very exciting to watch young students learn how to solve simple algebraic expressions. I expected my student to go through the process using the designated steps assigned by most teachers to solve for x, y, or z, but they did not use these steps. Instead, they went about the problem in a more intuitive way, actually considering what the expression represented and then solving. People think about numbers and math in extremely different ways, and I have always found the methods people use to be interesting. A huge concern of mine, however, is the negative attitude people have towards mathematics.

In Waiting for “Superman” Davis Guggenheim cites a student’s aptitude for math and science as an indicator of their future success in academia and in their career. This is certainly something echoed in our government and the media when discussing the success and failure of our public school system. If this is the case, why do I STILL hear students, even those in my classes RIGHT NOW, say it’s not important to know basic algebra? And why do I quietly listen to these individuals say how math is something you’ll never use in college? Is it really that humorous to not remember how to graph a line on the Cartesian coordinate plane? How can we teach students that math and science is important if we do not believe it ourselves? I know this is often said, but a person would never brag about poor reading skills, while bragging about poor math skills is commonplace. I was thrilled to see a number of the students at IHAD proudly say that their favorite subject in school was math or science. I hope their enthusiasm lasts through high school.

After finishing the algebra homework with a student at IHAD we began the reading portion of tutoring. This is when the student either reads out loud to me or we read together. The books they read to me was a biography of Malcom X. I found this to be a fascinating choice for the child, making me feel like I was in exactly the right place at the right moment. I couldn’t quite place the feeling I had as I helped the student read this biography, mostly listening to them and occasionally helping to pronounce a word. I am sure that to the student it was simply another reading check on their nametag, but for me it was something much more meaningful.

While The Shame of the Nation brought to light the segregation polluting our public schools, Waiting for “Superman” demonstrated how the very system that creates our public schools is failing. It bothered me how Guggenheim seemed to believe that charter schools were the only solution to the problems of the families he highlighted during the documentary. Shouldn’t there be a focus on how to help fix the public schools rather than simply abandon them? According to the film, a main reason for the problems within our schools is the process of tenuring teachers. Something I noticed was the lack of any perspective from a teacher on this topic. The film made unions seem completely evil institutions committed to keeping lousy teachers in the classroom despite the obvious harm. It would be helpful to list some of the benefits of the unions for teachers along with how they are helpful for the schools.

Here’s an interesting clip of Michelle Rhee on CNN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB_WKmPyIpQ

My friend, a Teaching Fellow, said that the film was “touted as this great inspirational movie, but it didn’t offer any information … there was no educational philosophy or solution to fix the problems” and to a certain extent I agree. While it is important to raise concerns around our public school system and its need for improvement, Waiting for “Superman” does a poor job giving realistic solutions.

I truly think that the past economic success of this country was a result of the well education generations before mine that pushed for change and development within the United States. The future of our country will quickly be in the hands of my generation and generations after mine. If Americans are not well educated then I can’t imagine much economic and social progress will be made, especially if the United States wants to stay a world power. A book review by Bill Gates points to the need for educated adults, “This is especially worrisome because more than half of jobs today require a college education, and that trend will continue. By 2018, the demand for workers with college degrees will exceed the supply of college graduates by an estimated 3 million. Meanwhile, dropouts and workers with only a high school diploma will have an ever harder time finding fulfilling work.” There is a problem with our public school system if students cannot get the required education to gain admission to a four-year university.

What we are doing with I Have A Dream is important because it helps to give these students a leg up on their education and hopefully help them progress into high education, but there needs to be more work like this in communities. Waiting for “Superman” shows us that something is broken in our educational system and we need to take action to change it. This could be within a community or on a local, state, or national level. 

Importance of Perspective

For the better part of the last year I have made it an issue to remind myself of the truth that I, along with everyone I know, will eventually die. I think it is an effort to attain an acceptance of death rather than live in fear of it. On our first day of class Professor Hobby mentioned someone (I forgot to write it down) who said that if we considered the death of ourselves and the people around us then we would react with care to others, rather than hostility, when altercations arose. I think this shows an important lesson on the necessity of having perspective. By gaining a better perspective on the world and our cultural and sociological surroundings we can become dignified human beings. 

In watching Examined Life there was one particular interview that stood out. Peter Singer’s discourse on ethics in the modern world, especially in his imagined scenario in which you come across a child drowning in a small pool, made me question the role of morality in daily life. Luckily, one of my favorite radio shows, Radiolab (if you've never listened to it, please do, it's awesome), had an entire episode dedicated to the issue of morality and its biological background. Here is a preview for the podcast:

According to Dr. Frans de Waal (professor at Emory University specializing in chimpanzee behavior), empathy is the single most important trait that evolution has created in humans that allows for morality to even exist. So if this morality inherently exists, how is it that we have come to a situation where we can accept that children are dying around the world (even in our own country) and still spend unnecessary amounts on luxuries on a daily basis?

Kwame Anthony Appiah’s discussion surrounding world citizenship and our evolution follows Singer’s questions directly. We evolved to deal with problems directly facing us, but now we live in a global economy where decisions made in the first world directly influence the lives of those in the third world. Instead of viewing our responsibilities as an American citizen, we need to view ourselves as a citizen of the world. Singer believes it is our duty to aid those in need, as shown in this BBC article where he says “If you are living comfortable while others are hungry or dying from easily preventable diseases, and you are doing nothing about it, there is something wrong with your behavior.” I think that even the simple act of becoming AWARE that these beliefs exist places you in a different perspective that most of contemporary society is lacking. 

Side note: This is something I truly treasure about my education at UNCA. There is such a huge emphasis in many of my classes to become an aware and informed individual. While an obvious priority at UNCA is academics, there is also a focus on awakening students intellectually that I think is equally important.

Peter Singer’s idea that by reducing unnecessary suffering and pain for others you can create meaning for yourself is an important one. When I ask myself what is meaningful in my life my conscious replies, “being a good person” and “having a positive impact in the lives of others.” But what do I mean by this? What choices can I make in my life to “be a good person” as I see it? This is when my internal, emotional self comes into conflict with the current cultural understandings of what choices contribute to a successful life.

As I see it, the capitalistic society we live in today defines a successful life as one where an individual makes a lot of money and is able to provide for his or her family in a comfortable way. While this may work for some individuals, I do not believe this encourages behavior that benefits humanity. I feel there needs to be a complete shift in the moral values of our society. As it is now, there is hardly any value placed upon jobs that directly benefit citizens of our country and the world. Teachers and social workers, for example, have extremely demanding jobs with high societal implications, and yet they are receive some of the lowest salaries for requiring college degrees (and in some instances graduate degrees). I realize that this is a highly idealistic view of the world, but I truly believe that if the majority of people even considered this with an open mind there would be a huge change in the politics of America. 

With regards to Kozol’s The Shame of the Nation here is an Oprah clip where she had students from an urban high school in Chicago switch places with students from a wealthy suburban school.

While I usually find Oprah’s show to be overly self-indulgent, I think the idea behind this clip is important to revealing the educational inequality Kozol describes to Oprah’s huge audience. Simply reading his descriptions of the injustices faced by Black and Hispanic youth makes me personally want to go to Harlem and become a public school teacher. “But would I make any money?” I ask myself. This reveals one of my biggest concerns about my life and about our culture. If our society placed the same amount of concern on social welfare and justice as it does on money I believe a lot of suffering would be eradicated from the world.

I hope this blog does not portray me as a raving idealist or as a person disappointed in humans. On the contrary, I have such high hopes for the future and to see how my generation influences society. I am greatly looking forward to my last semester at UNCA, and this class will certainly be a high point during my weeks. I am extremely excited to tutor for the I Have A Dream Foundation. I really enjoy working with children and I hope to become a good mentor for the Dreamers. I am positive that I’ll learn more from them about humanity than I can teach them about math or English. 

First Post

Checking to see that my blog works with a fun fact!

Minke whales are the second smallest baleen whale.