RE: Our school "system"[s]

[Robert Probasco <rcprobas@email.com>]

------Original Message------
From: "William K. Medlin" <dev-plan@moscow.com>
>Your generalizations relate to the total system and can't be
taken that seriously since you don't document anything
...[snip]

I only cited a couple sources, because the 1983 _A Nation at
Risk_ still defines the dominant problems.  Its famous phrase
(page 5) remains true two decades later:

"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on
America the mediocre educational performance that exists
today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.  As it
stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves."

Did you notice Jill Labbe's editorial in last Friday's
Spokesman Review?  She deplores the continuing absurdity of
science texts which perpetuate numerous inaccuracies.  The
editorial is titled: They've written the book on stupidity.

My own experience on a MSD history text selection committee
was quite eye-opening.  I perused the offerings of several
publishers and recommended none be adopted, as they were all
pathetically poor, in my opinion.  Of course, the committee
chairwoman (5th grade teacher at Russell) ramrodded her
preference through the committee, with the help of her
cohorts.  A few months later, the California State Board
decreed none of the history texts being offered would be
considered, as none met California standards.  I could hardly
feel vindicated, as the MSD had already dumped a wad of money
on some tripe.

Even more revealing was a conversation with one of my son's
teachers.  I asked how she felt about textbook committees, and
she recounted a sobering story.  During her first year of
teaching, she spent considerable time reviewing the texts
being offered, and she ranked them 1-6.  Her last choice was
adopted.  She has not bothered to spend time reviewing texts
since that experience.

Are we to consider these practices the mark of a working
system?

>Agreed: Grade sequences make little sense in view of the many
variables that account for children's development. But
financial
"constraints" (really these are social and political) over the
past
200 years prevent effective individualization of instruction.

So, we are stuck with a non-functional system?

>"Mickey mouse" courses in colleges of education? Yes, there
are too many. Pointing the finger, which many do, doesn't
change
anything.

Have you a suggestion, or shall we continue to accept baby
courses?

>What evidence is there that vouchers would solve such
practices?

The evidence is current public school practices prevent ANY
solutions.  A couple decades of tweaking around the edges has
not shifted the educational establishment into a let's-fix-it
posture.

>Constitutional issues remain formidable obstacles to a full
voucher system and I'll defend my Bill of Rights.

Name one.  Neither the US Constitution nor the Bill of Rights
says word one about education.  We citizens are constrained by
numerous recent laws and edicts spewed out of Washington, but
those laws can be changed.

>How many communities have the skills to create a charter
school?

Probably as many communities as managed to construct one-room
schoolhouses during the first dozen decades this country
existed: all of them.

>Our future labor force will have to draw on ALL youth, not
just some.
Whose responsibility? Tradition and state laws say it is a
public
trust. Should we now destroy that?

Yes, it is a public trust, and we should restore it to the
public.  The education professionals have provided plenty of
reasons why they can no longer be allowed to demean our most
important obligation to our children.

I think part of the problem is the wrong question is being
asked.
Instead of "How can we improve our schools?" we should ask
"How can we improve each child's education?"  The perspective
is important.


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