Mediocrity



The boy is smart,super smart, but he doesn't realize it.   His school has been catering to the bottom kids and he has been able to well by breathing in the classroom.  Studying and homework has never been something he needed to do to shine in most classes as his teachers considered 80's good grades

Note that I said most of his classes.  While he catches on quickly in math, and grasps even the most difficult concepts, he needs to spend some extra time studying to get the 90's he is capable of.  He doesn't see the need for this and fluffs through.  He says math is not his subject.  This is far from the truth.  It is obvious to anyone watching him that he enjoys doing the math, he just doesn't enjoy it (or any school subject) enough to take time away from Facebook to practice.

There has been a lot in the media about the shortage of engineers and math and science people.  Low standards and poor instruction are the cause.  We've got to stop trying to make everyone the same.  There are countless students like this one who have been lost due to the mediocrity of education today.

Not A Rocket Scientist But Who Cares?



The little boy is a sweetie.  He never gives his teachers any trouble. His teachers all have reputations for being outstanding educators.  He pays attention, does all they ask and complete all required assignments.  He goes home and studies.  Both his mom and dad help him daily.  They limit his television and Internet time and make sure he has a quiet place to work.  His room is full of books.  Vacations and weekends are often spent in museums.

With all this, the little boy has difficulties in reading and math.  It is hard for him to decipher new words and remember his multiplication tables.  He has a hard time staying at one activity for any length of time (even fun activities).  He has some (undiagnosed) learning problems.

His teacher's statistics will be lowered when he takes standardized exams.  His scores are not her fault.  His parents will be blamed but they have done everything humanly possible (except providing smarter DNA) to help him succeed.  He will be called down for his scores but he has worked to capacity.

Some people are not academics.  It doesn't mean he is not smart.  With time, he will discover what he is good at and continue in that field unless of course the system destroys him first by insisting every child is a rocket scientist if they just work harder and have better teachers.

Refreshing



On Thursday, I heard:

"We know the kids in your classes are a mixed bag.  Remember, math is sequential and they won't do well in the next course if they don't know the course they are taking now.  We don't judge you on passing statistics so don't pass them unless they deserve to pass."

RTTB

I covered a friend's remedial math class in the local community college this week.  This class consists of September's freshman who did not pass the math entrance exam.  The school offers them a five-week FREE opportunity to take this non credit course, a course which would cost the equivalent of a 5 credit course, so they can start working on their degree immediately.  Some of them realize what a gift they have been given and are diligently working to master the material they did not learn in high school.  (Thank-you Bloomberg for the education you have provided.)   Unfortunately, there are others that are just going along their merry way, following the path they were on in high school, assuming that things will still be given to them and they will be passed along no matter what. One boy arrived an hour late for a three-hour class and then had the audacity to sneak out early.  Several turned a 15 minute break into a 35 minute break and were annoyed that I began teaching while they were out.  Most expected me to hand them graph paper.  When I explained the homework assignment on the back of the curriculum they had received, many said they never got it.  One girl spilled her juice and then disappeared for 40 minutes.  I thought she had gone for paper towels (which would have taken less than five minutes to find) but returned with empty hands.



My buddy Chaz just posted about a young man, a recent high school graduate who never learned a thing about responsibility and was fired from a job he needed to support his son. The RTTT and NCLB has created a nation not even fit to pour coffee.  Something must be done quick or America will find itself enslaved to the rest of the world. 

WALCOTT--SHOW YOUR STUFF AND DO SOMETHING TO CHANGE THIS TREND IN EDUCATION.  YOU ARE A NYC HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE.  YOUR CHILDREN WENT TO NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS.  STOP BLINDLY FOLLOWING BLOOMBERG.  HELP SAVE THIS CITY'S FUTURE..

Baseball Rules Should Be Applied



I"m not  much of a baseball fan, but I watch games occasionally.  I recently went to a Packemin game and watched one of my students get two strikes, followed by a bunch of balls, which walked him to first base.   He eventually made it home and won the game for his team.  I'm glad baseball has that three strike rule.  If he didn't get a chance to try again after his first mistake, the game would have been lost and he wouldn't have gone home a hero.

Math at Packemin doesn't follow baseball rules.  Here kids get one strike and they are out of the game.  Friday, I happened to be talking to the business math teacher and she told me how great her class was this year.  The majority of the kids are kids who either failed geometry or trigonometry and were then dropped from these classes.  Their chance of getting the winning hit, an advanced regents diploma or just a little more math education is gone forever.

There are many factors that lead to failing grades.  It could be the teacher, the chemistry between the teacher and the student, lack of maturity, lack of interest, outside influences making it hard or impossible to study, the need to hear things more than once before the concept sets in or it could be the student just does not have the intellectual capacity to grasp the material.  But, in this day and age of No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top, shouldn't these children be given the opportunity to keep on competing?

No one expects baseball players to have .90 or even a .65 batting average to be considered good.  They are allowed to mess up and then improve.  Why can't kids get this same opportunity in math?

And The Big Companies Get Richer All The Time



I heard the tutoring companies are getting $4800 per kid for Title I programs!!!!  I really hope this is not true.  Please, someone, anyone, write and tell me I heard wrong.

For that kind of money each kid could be provided with a private teacher in their own homes.

What a crock of crap!!!

Hey Obama, if this is true, your Race To The Top stuff really stinks!!

Thanks Obama, For Nothing!

Many of the better colleges require their students to come from high school with four years of math. Not an unreasonable request, right? Well, in the quest to save money, the majority of kids at Packemin are not getting that option. Courses like Discrete Math, pre-calculus for seniors and non-AP calculus are no longer in the budget. The courses the local junior college offers on our campus are not available to them either as they have been filled with juniors needing an extra class. The kids are upset and so are their parents.

A young woman came to me with her mom today, begging for admission to my college class. Since the class is capped at 25 (college rules) and there are 25 attending, I had to stay firm and say no! She didn't want to hear that and kept repeating her need for a fourth year of math. She also gave me quite a story as to how we could let her take her class, but that is a story for another time on the other blog.

All I've got to say now is thanks Obama, thanks for your RTTT money, money to use to collect data and to evaluate teachers. Money not to be used to actually help our students reach the top, money to be used for credit recovery and test prep, things that help our stats, but not our students. How can you say everyone should go to college when money you have given to the schools is not being used to help kids get into college? How can you be such a hypocrite? How would you feel if this girl was your child?

Race To The Bottom

He was an ATR in Staten Island, his home borough. He became an ATR because the school he was in closed down. He wanted to teach. He wanted to do the right thing so he accepted a job in Queens. He worked hard and found a wonderful mentor as his previous experience had been in elementary school and now he was in a middle school. (Overlapping license) The principal came to him his first week and had him sign a letter stating that he was a provisional hire and that after the year he could go back to Staten Island.

Well, the year is up and he just got his new assignment. It is a high school in Queens. He is upset. His license is for grades 4 - 6. He has no experience and no credentials to teach high school. He is worried the school will find a way to U-rate him. Supposedly the UFT is working on the problem, but he is so afraid they will not be able to help. He is also tired of the long, expensive commute to Queens every day. To quote him, "If the gods will not have it any other way, I will do my best. I don't know how they can rate me since I'm out of license, but I will try."

School starts Tuesday. Things are a mess. This ATR is not the only one in this awful situation. We might have won Race To The Top money but the way this city is handling education, we will soon win the race to the bottom.

Thank You Mr. President

The top kids in my geometry class, a recent immigrant from South America, wants to double up in math next year. He has the brains and the ability and the desire to take pre-calculus before he graduates. He can't do it, and would you like to know why?

THE CLASSES ARE FILLED. THERE IS NO MONEY TO CREATE ADDITIONAL ONES!

So much for this Race To The Top. Our top students are being left at the bottom.