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Education Reform

February 18, 2013 By 21 Comments

There is no debate over the fact that the Education System is broken.  In fact, even the best schools operate within this broken system.   As an educator myself, and as a dad with two kids (one of which is in kindergarten right now), I understand that they will go through this system before any real change happens.  Education Reform is something that I hear on a weekly basis, but it is becoming more and more of a politicized topic.  In order for real Ed Reform to take place, educators need to take the lead.

 So what can we do?  How do we become a support for our school?  The buildings and the technology in those buildings is falling farther and farther behind as we continue to expect more and more from our kids and students.  Bonds and Levies are being denied and kids are bringing mobile devices that have more computing power than district desktops.  I have never been one to believe that just pumping more money into a system will make it better, but if we can’t put our money where our mouth is, what can we do to begin to fix the education system?

 How do we help our kids succeed in a generally lacking and out-of-touch education system?
Why do we want so much more from education, but are unwilling to sacrifice for it?

 

 We WILL be doing our live Chat on Twitter this Wednesday at 6pst/9est using the hashtag #DadsRT.  We will see you there.

-JB

Filed Under: Round Table Discussions
About ManvDadhood

I am a man, and by my wife’s standards that makes me flawed. My challenge to parents, and to myself, is not to teach my kids about the kind of person I hope them to become one day, but to become that person today.

  • http://www.readbradthedad.com Brad the Dad

    I’m a bit scared to kick this one off because my mind immediately goes to the culture shift in schools, rather than the nuts and bolts you are probably talking about above.

    Meaning that the loss of the mindset that the “teacher is always right” is a disturbing trend. For me, this never meant that your teacher was always right, but rather that you are going into someone else’s “house” with someone else’s rules, so shut up, keep your nose clean, do the work, and get your butt home without incident. Comes back to this entitlement society we are now living in, with parents questioning everything and anything the teacher does if a situation arises, yet never looking at their son/daughter as the potential problem.

    Parents emailing teachers with completely inappropriate requests and/or remarks. I say email on purpose as these same parents would seemingly die before they pick up the phone and/or schedule a face to face meeting to handle the situation like adults.

    As with many of our Round Table topics, the trump card answer falls back on us as parents. I don’t mean this as a conversation ender, but simply as my answer to this problem. It’s on my wife and I to read to our children every night, it’s up to us to make sure they respect their teachers and fellow students, it’s up to us to make sure their homework gets done, and it’s up to us to make sure our children get the most out of whatever state the school system is in at the time they pass through.

    • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

      Thanks for kicking us off, but I’m going to disagree on a technicality. I don’t think we can say this issue is left up to the parents, because that doesn’t answer the problem for a LOT of kids in the school system. Students of single parents, working parents, ELL, and Special Education students need even more support than their parents can give.

      Now, I do believe that as parents we can do LOTS to make up for the education system, but the system needs help, and I believe that the culture change you spoke of, needs to come from within the schools.

  • http://fatherlystuff.blogspot.com Kyle

    This is a very loaded question. I mean one of the many issues has to do with the widening acheivement gap (disparity between the wealthiest and poorest public schools). I dont think the quality of free education should be based on your parent’s circumstances.

    Another issue is the treatment of our educators. All over the news, you see stories of teachers going on strike for the most basic of benefits. The quality of education our kids receive is directly connected to the happiness of our teachers, so why are they being treated so poorly?

    Another issue is the lack of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) programs in our schools. These fields have a growing demand, yet our education system is not tailored to meet these needs, which leads to outsourcing of positions that could/should be going to people in the US (FYI I’m not anti-immigration or anything, I’m just making a point).
    And the list goes on….
    I think as parents, we have the power to change alot of things via the ballot. If parents mobilize with a common goal, they can vote in officials that will usher in change.

    • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

      It is a loaded question, but not for the sake of polarizing, alienating, or showing biases, we want to start a healthy discussion and discourse. You brought up some great points with regards to the disparity of wealth across states, and even within the same districts. I think many of Os are aware of the many issues involved, especially regarding the money going into the schools and the circumstances many teachers work in. So where does the change begin? Do we need to change politically through elected officials making changes, through piloting some charter schools, or do we make small changes in our own districts/schools?

      • http://fatherlystuff.blogspot.com Kyle

        I would say “All of the above”. Not sure where you live, but here (CT) we have a few successful charter schools, but since enrollment to them are limited (lottery based), they can only take our communities but so far. On the federal level, I love what they are doing (scaling back of “no child left behind”, implementation of “race to the top”, etc), but funds for that are limited. I think the bulk of our change will have to come from the concerned parents of these communities coming together and developing a clear message. Then, taking that message to our local gov’t and boards of education in order to affect real change in our school systems. We tend to forget that government works for us and it is our job to hold them accountable for the promises that they make. Thank you for creating the space for us to have this much needed discussion.

        • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

          A discussion that is not polarizing or divisive is what we need. Also, I agree that the change we want has to begin at a local level on a district-by-district basis.

  • happiestdaddy

    Bottom line for me — parents have to play a crucial role in their child’s education. As a kid, before I turned in any book report or project I had to show it to my father before I handed it to my teacher. My dad was often a much tougher “grader” than my teacher was. That is the kind of daily commitment parents need to commit to for the sake of our children. He taught me how to write and demanded that I practice what eventually would become my livelihood.

    As far as money goes, as a single person I would’ve screamed, “Don’t raise my taxes.” But now that I have 2 kids — and school age is creeping closer — I am more amenable to an increase in taxes to pay for education. Computers, ipads, bricks and mortar — not to mention quality educators — cost money. And if you want to attract top teachers we must sacrifice to pay them as such.

    • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

      You mentioned paying “top teachers”, which brings up the idea of merit-based pay. This is a whole other discussion, because there is NO WAY to evaluate a teacher… Except for possibly basing it off of… You know what? Nevermind. I actually have no idea how you would evaluate teachers. However, great educators do NOT remain teachers; they go on to corporate training, in-home tutoring, college professors, etc… Since teacher pay is based off of seniority an unions, this is a difficult discussion to have.

      • http://anordinarydad.wordpress.com AnOrdinaryDad

        The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation did some research on how to evaluate teachers. Their paper on the topic can be found here:
        http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/MET-Announcment.aspx

        • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

          Thanks for sharing that… My district is currently adopting a new teacher evaluation model that uses several of these tools. It’s been a long process.

  • James Hudyma

    From an administrative point of view, especially in short-term, education is a liability. It costs money to educate kids and that money comes from tax dollars. I don’t agree with this, but it is a reality and as soon as the issue comes up those in power simply say it is the teacher’s fault because of the “high” salaries.

    • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

      I love that thought… I wish I could feel over-paid. As a new teacher, I am full of zeal and gaining experience by the day. I am not yet stuck in my ways, or jaded to the system yet. However, I have seen how money CAN help a district, at least for operational and some extra uses. Once you get to a certain point, it is just lavish extras for the sake of parental bragging-rights. K-12 education is something, like roads and public safety, that the public cannot easily provide for itself. It is one of the few things I do believe the government should provide, which it does. The problem is that the government is a convoluted system, and often times, a lot of that money gets lost before it reaches the student.

  • http://Daddysincharge.com Daddy’s in Charge?

    Somehow you need to take politics out of education. Does the government do a good job of running anything? I don’t know how much more money we can pump into the school system. I would love to pay “high” salaries to teachers and buy all the necessary new technology, but to be honest I am taxed out. I don’t think enough of a priority is focused on early education. My school district still has half day kindergarten and I do believe children’s learning habits are formed at a young age. I ramble, but there is a lot to talk about with education.

    • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

      Bingo. Government needs to be out of something we actually need the government to provide. How do we get it to support education and still take a back seat to it?

      • http://Daddysincharge.com Daddy’s in Charge?

        I don’t know. The government like to control the money that they take in.

        • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

          The government may like to control it, but they don’t do a good job of utilizing it correctly. He many layers of administrators does any tax dollar filter through before it reaches a student in the classroom? I can think of 5 without adding in any political figures.

          I know that public schools cannot be privately funded… That’s why there’s private and charter schools, so how can we BEGIN to make the changes necessary now for long-term success?

  • http://www.therookiedad.com The Rookie Dad

    It isn’t so much that the schools are failing us, but that parents are failing their kids. Parents can/should help their children with their learning. Be involved in school but not the point where your child’s teacher wants to punch you.

    You can’t ask the government to stay out of education since they are “funding” (i say that in a loose term if you knew what was going on in the state of Kansas you would understand) education. They will always want to have a say.

    I will sacrifice my evenings to help my son with homework.

    • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

      Your sacrifices are welcomed and necessary. I have complete confidence that your kids will be fine, but there are kids whose parents just don’t have the ability (they HAVE the will) to be that kind of a support to their kids, and they are then at a disadvantage.

  • jpompella

    The system is not broken. I work in a small school where our expectations for academics are high. We have won several school of distinction awards. The students that do well for the most part come from families with high expectations but not always. I have seen many students that in spite of their lack of a strong family base see the school as a safe place and recognize that they don’t want to stay forever in the situation that their family imposes on them. Being a small school allows us to track every student. We have a high success rate. Our technology is good but that’s not the only answer. What happened to pencil and paper? Few of the big schools can match us. But I do have to admit some years are better than others and that’s just the way it goes. Throwing money at the problem will not fix it. Raising expectations helps along with making sure the kids understand the expectations. One other thing that can help greatly is seeing that no student goes to class hungry. Great things can be accomplished by a student that’s had their hunger addressed first.

    • http://Manvdadhood.com ManvDadhood

      Thank you for your comment, I really mean it. However, regardless of how well your school is doing (mine too has won the distinction award), we are succeeding in a broken system. You can call it flawed, or whatever, but it is a system that has not adapted to cultural, technological, or societal changes.

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