Well, Professor J, you are a pretty good one man show! Our readers are sure to lament my return. Thank you for doing such a brilliant job while I was away, and then ill. Pneumonia wasn't exactly what I had intended to pick up in Greece. I still don't know what I did to anger Zeus enough to have him hit me with that unfortunate thunderbolt. ;)
Where to start? I mean, since you were so laconic in my absence. :)
Let's start with education. I thought your proposed solutions to be spot on. The tying of everything to test scores only leads to, as you pointed out, the abysmal result of "teaching to the test" which hardly resembles what I think of when I think of education. Excellent idea about pairing up new teachers with experienced ones, and peer reviews as opposed to leaving all the power for those decisions with the administration. In our own paper on Sunday were these comments in a lengthy article on the challenging logistics of of job-evaluation for teachers:
"For the first time, 50 percent of teacher's job reviews will be tied to student achievement. The other half will be based on how principals view their work, taking into account both professionalism and content knowledge."
A local Spanish teacher voiced the obvious problem with connecting everything to a test score, " It scares me because I am being judged on a student's one time shot at a test."
A more rational and holistic approach is advanced by the coordinator of our city schools' Office of Teacher Effectiveness Measurement: "...it's possible that the team of approved observers will stretch to include teacher peers, students and parents. We are still working to identify appropriate measures for stakeholders."
It's too much to ask of parents, whose children get one shot at an education to ask them to put up with bad schools while the bureaucrats waste time deciding what to do, a sentiment espoused by Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of the D.C. public schools, and shared over the weekend on C-Span's Book TV. She's correct when she says (I'm paraphrasing.) that if I have a second grader I'm not going to want to hear that the schools will be better in 5 years.
Parents and students (the stakeholders) would at least feel empowered and encouraged by being made part of the process. It should be made a requirement for school board members, teachers, and administrators to have their children enrolled in the very schools that they are involved in making decisions for. I'd add to that every elected official up and down the line. I have a feeling that real change would come a bit quicker if that were the case.
Teachers aren't given all the credit they deserve for how hard they work. When home schooling and shopping at stores for educational resources it was very common to see teachers agonizing over things they wanted to purchase for students to enrich their experiences, but it was clear many of them were buying these items with their own money, it simply wasn't possible for them to do all they wanted. Yes, they get a break on the sales tax and get to claim a deduction at the end of the year, but they are paying out of pocket up front.
Recently our church, had a luncheon for all the public school teachers who wished to attend, an effort to lift them up, pray for, and encourage them. A thousand or so showed up. The church provided bags of school supplies along with lunch to them as a gift and show of love and support for all their hard work and dedication. Many broke down in tears. Over paper and erasers and markers. Well that, and the fact that someone was recognizing their efforts and letting them know their hard work was not going unnoticed and unappreciated.
I found Obama's mother's attitudes on faith intriguing as well. And those church ladies (and men), well, we've all seen them haven't we? Where is, not only our grace (OUR only hope) toward others, but our graciousness? Christians haven't done a good job here. All too often we say we "hate the sin but love the sinner" only to often behave in ways that reveal quite the opposite is true. One of my favorite authors, Phillip Yancey does an excellent job of dealing with these issues in his book, Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church. We have little tolerance for the faults and weaknesses of others, (as you say "There but for the grace of God...") but make exceptions and excuses for our own. We love our rules above relationships. We seek comfort at the risk of compassion.
In his book The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning tells the story (which I'm paraphrasing) of New York's Mayor LaGuardia showing up at night court in the city's poorest ward, releasing the judge for the evening and taking the bench himself. After a while a woman came before him who was accused of stealing bread to feed her grandchildren. The victim refused to drop the charges. She was in tatters the daughter's husband had left and the children were destitute and sick. LaGuardia told the woman he must uphold the law and it was to be ten days in jail or a ten dollar fine. While he was saying this he was reaching into his own pocket. He fined himself and everyone in the room for "living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat." He then ordered the bailiff to collect the fines and hand them over to the woman. So everyone in the room from policemen to petty criminals paid the fine and gave the mayor a standing ovation.
A lesson in grace...and wisdom.
In Continuous Barrage you outlined beautifully the combination of stresses on modern American families. I couldn't help feeling fortunate as I read your words for a number of reasons. Living in a community that my husband grew up in means that my children were likely to hear. "Is your daddy______?" around town. Little reminders to behave. It means too that I have a plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc. that are longtime friends and not strangers. People to who, if the work isn't finished and I have to leave, I can simply say "Lock up when you're finished." The polar opposite of what many resort to now, using something like Angie's List where we use the opinions of strangers to locate still more strangers to come work in our homes hoping they are honest and reliable. An added yet common layer of insecurity.
Grandparents nearby meant I never had to fret over the quality of the sitter. (If anything my sitters thought I was unqualified to care for their darlings! ;)) The love and support of friends of 30 years and more. We move from place to place in our society, often for no other reason than that there will be more money. We get more of what we think we need and seldom recognize the full and complex costs.
So glad to be back! :)
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