Obama's Big Test on Education

Alice, What are you reading? Virtually everyone here said the Obamas SHOULD be able to send their children to whatever school they want!

I'm a sped teacher. I agree with 90% of your comments (yes, read them all). I do want to clarify one thing. The NEA is the National Education Association, the teachers' union at the state & national levels. There are many, many of us who despise them. They exist for policy, politics, & lobbying only. But, we need our local unions, the ones at the district levels. Part of our union dues are taken to pay for the NEA. We have ZERO choice about that. We can shape & control what our local unions do & do not do. We have no power with the NEA.

Some of you are just plain hateful. The person who wrote the last comment was right. Most of you who are suggesting that Obama should send his children to public school are sending your children to private shools. May I remind you that the Obamas went to the best schools and their children were in private shcool before he was nominated so why he has to send them to public school to prove a point to you when most of you do not like him, his name or what he stands for. He did not name himself. .All of a sudden, everyone wants to tell Obama what to do even with his children.
It seen to me that some of you will never be satisfied with the decisions he makes. I think he has a right to drop his middle name or keep it. I dropped my middle name years ago because I did not like it. Obama is not a muslim and according to Mr Powell what if he was?
The man has worn the election with a mandate and you all just cannot stand it. Please if you cannot say anything good about the Guy be honest to yourself and leave him alone. He is a honarable honest and kind person with a lot of regards to people who are suffering and cannot afford to stay in their homes or afford health care. He is our President, that is he will be in 30 days.

Mara:

Thank you. Yes, kids need to be kids, to daydream and run and play. And I agree with both you and Kat, I'm afraid for the kids and what these "necessary medications" are doing to their brains. But there won't be any studies made public, because the ones who run the studies are the ones who are, even now, developing more meds to control normal child behavior. And who are pushing bipolar meds on 2-year-olds. Toddlers are all ABOUT mood swings!

People wonder why I get cranky... and no, I don't need an antidepressant! LOL

It would have been good to have had a longitudinal study to track the kids who were given psychotropic drugs to better function in schools. I wonder what happened to all those medicated kids. I would be concerned that many of them assumed like the adults that the medication was necessary, and subsequently, had a vulnerability to drug use.

Laughing Cynic - People I know from both sides of the political spectrum home school their kids - and they are great. They are bright, inquisitive, kind, confident, and understand things at a basic, common sense level. I think public schools could learn something by looking at the way homeschooled kids are taught.

And I agree about the use of drugs in public school. Use as increased 3000% since 1995. That is not a typo. I wonder what the long term impact is going to be on these kids - who have effectively been taking speed every year for years as their brains develop. I also wonder what they will be able to retain. Instead of paying billions of dollars for experts with PhDs to run evaluations, they could have assembled a forum of mothers and grandmothers and regular teachers - who would have told them the obvious. Kids needs to run. Kids need to play. Kids need to get outside. A lot.

sugar - i couldn't agree with you more. the media people don't just send their kids to private prep schools and private colleges - they send them to the right pre-schools so they can get into the right prep schools. look it up folks. they didn't go to wasilla elementary.

kat - what a great comment. i would love to know how much money has been sent on evaluation for NCLB - that could have been spent on books and decent wages (in the state i live in, some teachers are eligible for welfare, based on their wages) and who made all that money. no child left behind has left a generation of kids fat (no time for recess) medicated (no time for recess or phys ed and plus - more speed means better scores) and clueless (no time for writing, thought, or analysis).

as for sidwell - as someone who comes from a huge family of public-school kids, all with college degrees - i have no problem with the obamas sending their kids to a friend's school. they deserve safety and privacy. and i can't imagine why the press corps would complain - most of them went to private prep schools like the barrack academy and ivy league schools themselves. find me a prominent reporter under 50 who went to public school. good luck.

The No Child Left Behind Act was originally conceived by Ted Kennedy as a means to narrow the achievement gap between schools in rich and poor property districts and also between the white and minorities. Unfortunately, proponents of the business model of education, which was spearheaded by individuals without an education background like Ross Perot and William Bennett, became involved in implementing the act. Business and education fundamentals don't mix well. I tend to think the greatest profiters from NCLB have been testing and educational publishing, certainly not the teachers or students.

George Bush who pushed for the bipartisan act once asked " Is our children learning?" To which I'd respond as an educator, "Sir, they is learning how to take a test." I don't advocate doing away with standardized testing, but I don't in good conscience recommend educational testing as a tool for evaluating teachers and schools. In principle and in logic, educational testing was never meant to do that, but only to determine individual student progress. I guarantee you that testing is strongly influenced by socioeconomic factors and a very limited range of abilities.

There are other components to learning, like creative thinking and the ability to form an opinion independently. To subject young minds to a barrage of testing requirements runs counter to producing informed citizens capable of of using critical thought. It's actually not hard to teach testing content and preparation, and consequently, produce good test scores. Anyone can. Educational publishing has certainly capitalized on that.

Accountability procedures for schools beyond test scores need to be developed and big business needs to stand aside.

Hay Sabniz,
Which standard, yours, mine, or George Bush's? What does your educational community need? Do you think the feds know, and they know how to reward the right people to get there? What is your standard for artistic achievement? Should we just eliminate art from education? How about if we at least let this rest in the hands of the locals?

I am trying to discover what Obama has ever actually done to reform education, in addition to simply talking?
So in 2002 he said he was open-minded to vouchers, but never did anything to promote them in the last six years? Is that change we can believe in?

The problem with Obama's position is that many families "opt out" of Public Schools based on affordability...I would not expect the President's daughters to attend public school but I CAN question an Illinois State Senator who made the private school choice...I understand the concerns and challenges but vouchers should be part of educational choices in urban centers like DC.

unless teachers in public schools can be fired if they're not up to the standard, free from the union, public schools cannot compete with private schools. so, if Obama really is for public school and public educational system, then he has to confront with current teacher's union, which however backed his election. i would guess that special interest groups influence will dismiss all the promises he made in his campaign.

Common Sense,
That's quite a backhanded compliment. You may have done well in art but you no doubt skipped the classes on diplomacy. In fact, my spouse teaches me something virtually every day. We can only hope that a loved one somewhere teaches you how to tone down your skewed far left views back closer to an achievable reality.

Where was michelle Rhee during the eight years of Bush? Where was this kind of article written by this author? P-E Obama will place his children in a place that he and his wife feels is safe and offers educational excellence. They have always attended private schools. The Obama's have always privately paid for them to do so. P-E Obama wants to greatly improve the quality of our educational system. Want to know how? Stop readind articles by this self-serving clown and log on to P-E Obamas website to get the information for the horse's mouth. read and think for yourself. Stop relying on the MSM.

Question - Sorry for the delayed response. Nuclear yes. Radar yes. Renewable energy yes. I work in a place where all sort of cutting edge stuff takes place. The average age is around 48 years of age, and most if not all applicants need advanced degrees. It is hard now to find people coming out of school that have US citizenship, advanced science and engineering degrees, and competence. Looking around the national lab where I am at, you realize that so much of the capabilities will be lost when the majority of these folks retire. When I went to graduate school about 70% of the students were foreign nations. I like to think that Americans are not going into engineering and science because the compensation is so much less than law or medicine, but I am afraid that it is because American students lack advanced math skills among other things.

Question,

I like your common sense! 10% when 100% elsewhere. Even an orphan should be able to succeed if teachers put the children first. Yes. I can latch onto those sensible policies.

Thank you!

One person's education, or a lack thereof, affects everyone! So your particular antipathy towards minorities provides no positive input to the AMERICAN education system. As I keep on saying, educating 10% of the population does the country no good when 90% is left illiterate. And especially when other countries are focusing on educating ALL their citizens.

tina,
please don't assume going to private schools means one becomes uninterested in improving schools.

Danny,
I realize you have first hand experience as a teacher so I am a bit reluctant to challenge your opinion but i can't help it: i don't think teachers need to focus on delivering the curriculum in interesting ways. I worry that students these days may be getting baby-ed a little too much. Nobody in the real world will bother to deliver things to them in interesting ways. So they need to be prepared for the real world. My concern is mostly that the curriculum itself is just not strong enough... I believe schools need to get a standard, RIGID curriculum that teachers absolutely have to stick to. I really think schools have just become too soft even since the time I went to school (which was less than a decade ago).

Yes, I recognize parents have a role in education but I also have the opinion that we should have a curriculum that even orphans can benefit from.

My kids are through school, but in comparing their schools with the schools I went too in the sixties. I have to say the schools now seem to care less about the kids. There seems to be conflicts between parents and teachers just as much as conflicts between the kids. The attitudes have changed. Everyone is fighting everyone else and pointing the finger of blame at each other as to why the kids are not doing as well as the parents and teachers think they should be... Personally I think the schools have gotten too big.. There needs to be smaller schools and smaller classes and more caring teachers..The charter schools are this but they cost way too much for the average person to afford. When one has to pay for their children to attend school the poor childern are left out.. I think smaller neighborhood schools with teachers and volunteers from the neighborhoods are what is needed so people can once again have pride in their schools and contribute to it with their time and cooperation.. The city schools now have closed meetings or limit how many can attend (there just isn't enough room for everyone). The topics are predetermined by the board. Instead of including all parents and everyone's voice. Is it any wonder there are conflicts?