Profaning Amy

(Back to elusive allusive post titles.)

The other night Mike and I watched Hard Times at Douglass High, an HBO documentary. I don't know if I should start talking about it, because I think I'll just be vexed.

The short version (update: ha ha ha, so much for that, skip everything below if you don't want an ed rant) is that we were both riveted and had to pause the broadcast frequently for discussion. It was a huge affirmation that the underlying problem in our schools is student work ethic and attitude. (Where the problems with that begin is the subject of a billion M.Ed. dissertations.)

Teachers and admins don't always handle these two issues well, of course, but the crush of 40 people who don't want to be in your class and are doing everything they can to mentally (if not physically) leave or alter the classroom environment to their liking begins with the student. Unless they bring whipping back. (Hey, can we?)

By the way, it was SO CUTE the way the teachers in this movie kept griping about having 25 students in each class. I think I peed myself laughing. Sorry. There goes the microsuede. I know having 25 poorly prepared and disinterested students is what the l33t-speakers call "teh suck," but these days I don't dare whine about class size unless someone is sitting on the floor. (Someone other than me - I'm used to grabbing some carpet on test days when desks can't be shared.)

Because my biases had me pointing and "me too!"ing at every episode of disrespect and disinterest, I felt betrayed at these two points of the program:

The basketball team loses. They think the ref was unfair in his calls. Instead of displaying good sportsmanship (even if disappointed), the coach gives an f-bomb-laden speech to his team after the game, eventually telling them that they all know this (the ref's decisions) was prejudice and that's how history continues to repeat itself, and, as usual, they (the school? blacks? poor people? not sure) are the sad sacks who have to suck it up.

This part was offered without commentary, but at the time I thought it was because the director wanted an example of "victim culture" and how it holds people back (along with anti-academic cultures of low expectations, etc.). But then...

In the final minutes of the movie, the narrator talks about how this historically all-black school is  suffering under No Child Left Behind, how the minorities are the losers here, and other (pardon me) WHAT THE FUCKage. Yes, the kids are losing out, but the film spends almost the entire time showing how said kids don't care, don't want to be reached, and the parting thought is that, huh?, NCLB is screwing over the black man?

Don't get me wrong: I hate NCLB. I hate it because I want to leave non-performers behind. There's a bit in the program where an administrator tells the teachers that no one is getting a positive review if the majority of their students are failing. They say something to the effect of, "If most of your students are failing, then what does that say about you?" You can bet-your-lucky-TiVo we paused at this point and started yelling at the screen.

Um, it says that if you're given monkeys, you make monkeyade? Okay, that's a little nonsensical, but so is judging teachers on how their roster improves/performs. Don't get me wrong, I don't immediately dismiss the idea of judging teachers on how their STUDENTS perform. But there's a huge gap between "names on the roster matching bodies in the seats" and "students."

We have to (and to an extent should continue to) jump through the hoops to be teachers. Even subs here have to pass THREE Praxis teaching exams, the US and Nevada constitution exams, a Nevada School Law exam, plus have either a college degree or 60 hours in education-related courses. (Granted, they have three years to do all but the last part.)

So, let's start certifying kids to be students. Do you know how to raise your hand? Arrive punctually? Care for a book? Set aside time outside of class for study? Prioritize work before socialization? Direct your polite attention to the person speaking? Speak without profanity or disrespect?

And are you willing to do these things? (Hey, I know all about ab crunches, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to do them.) Then you can be my student, and yes, if almost all of my class is made up of people who are actual students like you, I'll take the fall if your reading, writing, and thinking skills don't appreciably improve by the end of the year.

ANYway. The admins get fired in the postscript of the movie, so yay. Serves them right for making the teachers let kids make up entire semesters in one day. (I'm glad that doesn't happen at my school. Yet.) It was pretty depressing to see one of the department chairs parroting that admin's point of view that no one should get a good eval if their kids are failing. I know a couple of teachers like that, people who pass the kids to make their stats look good. (Let someone else deal with it next year.) I'd like to be shocked and shake my head, but if you tell me my job is in danger unless grades go up, well, it's a good thing you (clearly) are not a rocket scientist. Because then I might be caught out when I make 40% the new A.

And my ironclad "you can't BUY your grade by bringing in Kleenex for extra credit, people" policy? So much dust in the pan. I bet I'd have really well-behaved kids, too, if I suddenly flipped it so that 90% of their grade came from participation. (We aren't allowed to make participation more than 10% of the grade now. I understand that - the grade should show aptitude, not deportment - but sometimes the grade is the only weapon at hand.)

See, now look at all this blather, and in JUNE. Maybe it's because yesterday I stayed up hours past bedtime outlining my new procedures for the first quarter of next year. (We're talking military school-levels of regimen. Marching and saluting has not been ruled out.) Oh well, might as well keep going, get it all out.

So now I don't know the point of the movie. Was it "NCLB isn't working"? Because I agree with that. Was it "NCLB isn't working in schools where most kids aren't raised in a culture of success?" I agree with that, too, but NCLB's failure to solve the problem in those schools doesn't cancel out the responsibility of these "students" to stop bringing the problem to these schools. Was it "Some people do well despite overwhelming odds?"

I agree with that, too. You have to be so impressed with these kids that do hang in there, take some initiative, and make it. They get a raw deal in their squeaky-wheel classmates. They have to overcome a world where learning is for losers, and I notice they aren't the ones telling the teachers (on film) to "just pass them" so that no one has to fuss anymore.

I just hated that final part of the film so much. I need to watch it again to make sure I took it the right way.

No, NCLB is not the solution, and it has created its own flustercluckity, but NCLB didn't create the problem that it was supposed to fix.

With the exception of skin colour demographics, Douglass could be my school. (So, I say again: "It's not a Black Thing, stupid.") Oh, and the tiny class sizes. (25! Still laughing!) Otherwise, it's all the same-old-so-old.

The trailer is, as Mike puts it, crap:

He says, "It makes it look like it's just the system." Exactly. I mean, the system needs an overhaul, absolutely (by the way, our governor cut the textbook budget in half yesterday - none of my students know what it's like to take a textbook home), but step one is to keep out the poison. Garbage in, garbage out.

I want an educated public, yes, but if some significant percentage of your public is going to drag down everyone around them as they fight to avoid the opportunity of education (or life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), then we need another solution. Let's stop designing the system around the element that wants to demolish it.

Overall, I think it's an important documentary. Another part of the film that got a strong reaction from me was when a freshman English teacher, Mr. McDermott, left in the middle of the year. (He posts some thoughts on the film here.)

He speaks of not getting enough teachgasms (my word) to keep going. I wish the non-ed professionals out there could just see how little it takes to keep us soldiering on.

I got one teacher appreciation card this year (and my heart soars for a second, just thinking of it), and I probably already mentioned in a previous post what the student said. (Basically, "You're not like the other teachers. You make us think for ourselves.")

When I left school that day, having worked a few hours past contract time, the wind blew the card out of my hand and across the empty parking lot. It was very windy that day. I chased that card all over the place for minutes. I'm old and fat and wear stupid clogs, and I was probably quite the sight, desperately trying to pounce on that slip of paper. And boy was I relieved when I recovered it. That card was food for a month, if you know what I mean.

It doesn't take much.

The only criticism I've found of the movie so far is from the (retired) science teacher shown in this newscast:

I understand her desire to want to hear solutions, but I think she's wrong that "everyone knows about the problems in urban schools." Discussing solutions in this film would have divided the viewers and distracted from exposing the problem. And also? I don't think "everyone" knows. The parents of my students don't seem to know, and some are living full-on in the ghetto. When my team meets with a parent, we seem to spend the first part of the meeting disabusing them of their notions of how our classes really run.

That science teacher resents that the kids are shown as animals, but she doesn't say that's not how the kids are.

I know a lot of Vegas locals, and probably people all over the country, are frustrated with the thought of throwing more money at the schools and still not getting results. I understand. There isn't any point in pouring more money in if we're also pouring in, as I continue to lovingly call it, poison, in the form of faux-students.

Right now, and granted I have my obvious slants on the issue, money is needed just to keep things from getting worse. We have a slew of teachers leaving this year due to changes in retirement/insurance plans. However, because of the state budget fiasco, we also have a hiring freeze. I can't do much with 40 teens in my room who want me to sell them the idea of education, but I can do even less with 50, you know? More money for more teachers and more rooms would help.

I apologize for not saying anything new here. The documentary was just on my mind and, well, this is my venting space. If you want to see how it is where I work, watch the documentary.

You know what really got my mind going on all of this? It was the last post I made, with all the YouTube links. I was going to come on here and say, gee, isn't it too bad YouTube is blocked at our school? Wouldn't it be a cool writing assignment if I had the kids link to their fave online videos and analyze it for this and that? Wouldn't that give the kids a personal connection to writing plus really grab their interest?

Except now I'm thinking, screw that. All of this student-centered learning? Screw it. Here's your noun, here's your verb, let's put them together in meaningful ways. Now do it 30 more times for homework.

But admins don't want to see that. They want inventive grouping doing creative activities that capture the interests of students. Maybe my reaction to the threat of a bad evaluation isn't so different from that of those teachers who pass anyone with a pulse. Teachers get depressed. Students don't learn.

If I have to be as dull as paint to stomp out this idea students have that the teacher is a salesperson and auditioning entertainer, so be it. Oh, I do believe that students need to find personal meaning in the instruction to succeed, but I no longer believe that the onus is on me to provide all of these connections.

Grow some imagination, kids. It's what separates us from the animals.

Comments

[Ms. Friendly]

"Um, it says that if you're given monkeys, you make monkeyade?"

Oh my! That's just too funny! I believe that the above statement sums up how I feel about the education system...as a whole!!! I am going to be laughing for DAYS with that one.

You say so much in this post...in fact, I wonder why more community members aren't stark raving pissed by now! People really do play the dumber-than-a-bag-of-hair role very well. I just want all the grown-up folks out there in internet land and TV world to recognize that their children need them...I (their teacher) am not going to be responsible for their child's redemption no matter how much NCLB thinks I ought to be.

40 students in a class? That's half PAST crazy!!! The sad thing is...parents will complain if you take away their child's cell phone for the entire semester, but they won't use that same voice to make their child's learning environment a better place.

I really enjoyed reading your post! Thank you for your insight...and you are already staying up half the night to plan units for next school year? IMPRESSIVE!

[Jamie]

And this post is one of the many reasons I love you!

[shari]

well my name is shari as well i just typed it on and wallaa soo hi i live in aussie bye :)

[heather in pa]

amen, sister.
A-freakin-men.

Some days I really wish education was a PRIVILEGE instead of a RIGHT. If kids don't want to be in school, I say, let 'em leave. And let them come back ANY TIME they want when they are ready to be STUDENTS. Even if they're 28. Seriously.

And while we're on rights, I firmly believe that kids have the RIGHT to fail. Sadly, it's not really a right that's exercised often enough in our public schools. Yes, educators need accountability (how that is to be measured is the big question).... however, KIDS and PARENTS need to be held accountable too.

*sigh*