The state of the school system.

I just sat through a meeting where it was decided that we are going to stop teaching novels to freshmen and sophmores because they need to spend more time focusing on multiple choice questions for the monsterous standardized tests they have to take throughout high school.

They are still debating whether it is worthwhile to teach novels to juniors and seniors. If you have children, I would like you to stop and think for a moment about how you want them taught. Do you really want your kids to only learn how to regurgitate someone elses opinion?

26 thoughts on “The state of the school system.

    1. Krissy Gibbs Post author

      Primarily 11th, but I have been thinking about teaching a multi-focus class with a dual English/Muti-Media approach which means I would get to teach all sorts of neat things like children’s lit and stuff about advertising. 🙂

      Reply
  1. evilcyber

    Dear. God.

    It’s bad enough that our educational system is going to hell in a hand basket, but do they have to set fire to the hand basket as well?

    I’m very saddened that this is even a debate.

    Reply
    1. Krissy Gibbs Post author

      Part of the problem with, “Who do I write to” is this is all technically decided school by school or district by disctrict, so it is harder than hell to influence anything other than the exact school you are in.

      My school is in a district that is viewed as “in trouble” though my precise school is not. Regardless of the fact that our specific school is not underperforming, we still have to jack up our test scores to help balance out the extremely low performing schools in our district or every school will be turned over to be state run and that is *bad*. Then teachers would lose any and all autonomy and would be teaching by rote on a daily basis exactly what they were told to say that day and to describe this system as “uncreative” is incredibly generous and kind.

      Reply
  2. ihotpockets

    That’s just unfortunate. It’s thinking that just by measuring something, you can change it. Soon, they’re just going to be measuring the whole time without any time left to actually make any progress.

    Here’s to hoping I can finance private school.

    Reply
        1. Krissy Gibbs Post author

          I’m not sure exactly how you mean that. I am *not* teaching straight out of textbook. I refuse. I spend a lot of time and effort creating my lesson plans so that I can provide stimulating instruction to a wide variety of kids who are often fucked over by the system. I don’t see how that is being hypocritical, which seems to be what you are implying.q

          Reply
          1. ihotpockets

            No no! I didn’t mean it that you were going to teach how to take tests: I know you spend a lot of time preparing classes and getting them to excel in their own way.

            I was more referring to homeschooling when you’re a public-school teacher yourself.

          2. Krissy Gibbs Post author

            Oh, that. Sorry. 🙂

            At this point it would do me very little to be standing behind my principles as a homeschooling advocate when I have no one to homeschool. 🙂

            Ok, I don’t want to work in corporate America, I want to teach. I really don’t want to teach at the college level. This means I need to be a teacher of some kind. Private schools are a mixed bag–there are some that are really great but most aren’t much better than public from a teacher’s perspective. There is significantly more micromanagement and there is often/usually noticeably lower pay. I also wouldn’t handle parents getting in my face if they were pissed that junior earned a B+ and not an A which is frightfully common in the private school sector.

            And what I do really like about public school is that I get to help kids who are more like I was. I am helping the kids with emotional problems and tough home lives; I’m helping kids who are incredibly rebellious and anti-authority. I have kids passing English who have never passed an English class in high school. (I don’t understand how they have gotten so far… but that is another issue.) They like me and know that I am a lot like them so when I explain “Alright, this is how you manipulate the system to get what you want” they listen. I feel good about doing it. I would not be able to do this if I were required to teach out of a textbook with exerpts and stupid questions at the exact same pace as every other teacher who taught my exact subject.

    1. Krissy Gibbs Post author

      It is, but it is complicated. Ok, every school has to be at a certain level of performance or the school gets in trouble first with the state and then with the federal level. But how to measure that “performance” is up to each state to decide so it is kind of a fuzzy thing when you assign blame for this. Our state has the CHSEE (California High School Exit Exam) to satisfy the NCLB standards. It’s a patheticly basic test and it is very sad that kids aren’t passing it in higher numbers, but I don’t think that teaching multiple choice question thinking is the way to solve the problem.

      Reply
      1. i_am_dsh

        one point

        I received very little strategy instruction about multiple choice tests, but I had state-wide tests that affected my school every year from grades 1 – 12.

        Some students would benefit from the kind of test taking strategy education that Kaplan et al provide to students preparing for college entrance exams. Since standardized tests are becoming more important to public elementary and secondary schools, perhaps they could teach how to handle tests of that type as one way of improving test scores.

        Reply
        1. Krissy Gibbs Post author

          Re: one point

          It isn’t that I think that they shouldn’t ever be shown these skills. But as you allow this type of teaching strategy to dominate the majority of a year long class students stop paying attention and many of mine just don’t bother showing up.

          Reply
          1. i_am_dsh

            Re: one point

            You’re right. Kaplan works because it’s brief, has a tight focus, and the students there care about the content (they want good college entrance scores)

  3. i_am_dsh

    That *is* crazy

    Luckily, school isn’t the only place to learn.

    You’re not going to like this, but…
    I *hated* studying literature in middle school and high school. The teacher only seemed interested in the interpretations in the teacher’s guide, not in what we actually picked up from reading the material. (Recursive regurgitation – ewww.) I always wanted to spend more time on writing, less time on literature.

    I did a lot more thinking and reading on my own than I did in any class, and I’m glad I did.

    (Counter-argument – I did learn things about literature in school that I sometimes think of as an adult: the basic conflict types – man vs man, man vs nature, man vs self; symbolism and looking deeper than the plot/content, etc.)

    Until I learned that school was about playing the game rather than (just) learning the academic subjects, I was frustrated. Learning to play the game is useful for students’ future endeavours (many corporate tasks seem rather pointless but must be done anyway; sometimes following the directions/requirements is more valued than delivering something brilliant…) Now I have a switch in my head that gets a lot of exercise: is this a “play the game” moment or a “what do I really think/know” moment?

    Reply
    1. Krissy Gibbs Post author

      Re: That *is* crazy

      Well, I don’t own a teacher’s guide on any novel and I often tell the kids, “This is just my opinion and if you disagree your opinions is probably just as valid as mine.”

      We write one day a week for basically a full period on any topic that the kids want. I grade exactly one of those a semester that the kid has gone through the editing process on so they can turn it into a “final” draft that they feel proud of. Other than that they use the time to explore the craft of writing on their own.

      I’m well aware that there are pieces of playing the game that are necessary, I’ve had to jump through those hoops too. That doesn’t mean that all of your education should be spent telling you that all you need to know is how to jump through those hoops.

      Reply
  4. shadowsintime

    Sad… very sad. Horrifying really.

    I spend so much time being angry at Oregon, I forget this wave is sweeping the nation. Kiddo does, however, still have novels in her life. To Kill a Mockingbird at the moment… not bad for 7th grade.

    Reply
    1. Krissy Gibbs Post author

      Mockingbird (at least has been) is a required text for our 9th graders. I knew your kiddo was brilliant. 🙂 She’s like her mom.

      Reply
      1. shadowsintime

        Yeah well, brilliant one is failing math – I found out today, because she isn’t getting the stupid worksheets turned in. Most frustrating of all, she frequently has these things crumpled in the bottom of her bag but she’s so busy hating me that we can barely talk at all, let alone problem solve together.

        *insert scream*

        but thanks, for the brilliance that is. 😉

        Reply
  5. blacksheep_lj

    Stomping feet, howling, cursing, and being all around appalled.

    As someone who has administered those stupid tests for several years, they are the bane of a teachers existance. While I think it is valuable to teach testing skills, the point of education is NOT to pass those idiotic tests. It’s to learn to think and be useful in the real world. To stop teaching novels is to stop teaching.

    GRRRRRR!

    Reply

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