The Treasure Hunter

Although bullying among young people has been frequently noted in news articles recently, I have not seen anything about how schools are dealing successfully with the problem. Today I will report on my own experience with bullying as a parent and a principal.

 When two of our elementary age children told us about being bullied by classmates, my husband and I did our best to help them solve those problems. We talked to them about ways they could avoid certain situations and people, and also talked to some parents of kids who had bullied them. In a couple of serious situations, we reported what had happened to school officials. But as far as we could tell nothing was done about them. So, we just warned our children to stay away from those kids on the playground or when traveling to or from school, and try to walk with a friend and not linger anywhere.

Later, when I became a principal I saw bullying first hand, but I was able to do some things to stop it or at least minimize it.

At both of my elementary schools I was aware of some bullying right from the start, able to identify the bullies and to discipline them by taking away privileges. A couple of times I suspended students for physically harming their classmates. But, I was far from pleased with the situations.  I remembered having good relationships with almost all my students as a high school English teacher and wanted to create good relationships in these schools, too.

As time went by, I began to understand what makes bullies out of ordinary kids and to figure out how to change them. What I saw most of the time was someone who was not a good student and was often publically called out or punished for errors. At the same time I noticed that a bully usually had some friends in the class; kids who were also poor students or physically unattractive. They catered to the bully because they wanted protection, so they  gathered around him or her in the playground and when going to and from school.

What I tried to do for the bullies I identified was to give them opportunities for positive actions and encourage teachers to do the same. Often that recognition was just being asked to move some heavy things in the classroom or take some material to the school office. I smiled when they did something positive and thanked them, and asked teachers to do the same.

If a bully became difficult in class at any time, I told teachers to send them to me, not in a punishing way, but under the umbrella that I needed their help.  When they came I would not castigate them for any misdoing, but instead ask them to help me in some small task.  If they told me about their problems, I tried to help them find solutions.

As for classroom activities, I encouraged teachers to mix up various groups of students to work together. Although it was not a good idea to put a struggling reader into the top reading group, there were many other situations when they could contribute positively to group activities.

Essentially, what bullies need are chances to show themselves in positive roles in the classroom, the lunchroom and the playground. In short, everyone has some good qualities, and it is the job of teachers and principals to find them, make them visible to everyone else, give them credit publicly for good work and behavior, and deal with misbehavior or poor work privately and humanely.

I won’t pretend that all bullying stopped immediately and permanently in my schools, but much of it did, and bullying became far less popular. At such a young age, students can and will find it more beneficial to be a hero or a heroine than a troublemaker. My teachers and I also found that it made our jobs easier and more rewarding.

In ending this story of  success I must admit that it is not so easy everywhere.  My schools were small and family poverty was rare.  All I wish to claim is that young people would rather be thought of heroes than demons.  Teachers and principals should give them that opportunity

Trying to get back into the groove this week I did a lot of reading, but much of it was the same old bad news about failing schools and stagnant test scores. Fortunately, yesterday I came across a piece of good news in “The News Journal” written by Jessica Bies. So I will try to explain it below.

Over the past several years our east coast businesses have been moving to other states or closing altogether. In 2009, for instance, the last two automobile plants in the Northeast, a Chrysler plant in Newark and a General Motors plant near Wilmington Delaware, shut down, wiping out thousands of jobs and showing no intent to return. In addition, DuPont merged with Dow Chemical, resulting in the loss of nearly 1,700 jobs.

 All that is left in the state of Delaware at present is a slew of “middle-skill” jobs that do not require workers with college degrees. Fortunately sixty percent of those jobs are projected to be seeking trained workers.

 In 2014 a program titled “Delaware Pathways” was created in order to train young people for the existing jobs. At that time only 27 students enrolled in the program, but this year enrollment is projected to be 9,000. Today Delaware is considered a national leader in career and technical education, and it certainly looks like public education, young people, and businesses are ready to  make “Pathways” a permanent part of the state’s operations.

The Pathways plan to enlist and train high school students for jobs covers a wide range of industries, including finance, healthcare, hospitality management, computer science, manufacturing, biomedical science and engineering.

The program begins by preparing high school students with instruction and training in selected fields and later provides the opportunity for them to earn industry-recognized credentials, some college credits, and high school internships. For example, students interested in becoming teachers can get certified as preschool teachers or instructional aides upon high school graduation, giving them the chance to work in their field while earning more credits. Ultimately, they will have enough credits to be certified as elementary or high school teachers.

Delaware is heavily invested in talent development, and the state education department recently announced more than $400,000 in public grants to support new Pathway programs that will begin in the fall. While the program’s various partners have been successful in securing federal funding and millions of dollars in private grants, they fear that without a steady stream of state funding, the program could stagnate. 

According to Secretary of Education Susan Bunting “ Delaware will hire or replace 30 percent of its workforce in the next eight years. Such shifts require employers and schools to take a more active role in shaping Delaware’s talent pipeline.” It certainly looks like several new industries will be successful and provide high quality, well-paying jobs for the state’s population.

In reading this article I was very much heartened by the Pathways program plans, funding, and it’s success so far. In my opinion it is unquestionable that industry in the United States is changing drastically and will not return to its past. Almost every state should be following the lead of Delaware.

My only complaint about the article is that the training programs were not described. I’d like to know if they are accessible in all high schools, what students must do in order to be accepted into a program, and how much time or how many courses are required for them to be  fully certified for a position. Perhaps that information is available elsewhere, and I just didn’t stumble upon it. I will keep looking.

Although my husband and I returned home last Saturday evening, It took some time to get my head on straight after ten days living out of a suitcases and then spending 13 hours in air ports and planes in order to get home. On top of that the newspapers I read while away were of poor quality and gave me nothing on education I could write about. But, since I’m now slowly returning to reality, I do have an article to review today. It was waiting for me on my computer among 157 other messages. The article was written by Janet Meckstroth Alessi, a long time high school teacher, and published in the Palm Beach Post on November 6, 2017. Since she plans to retire soon she felt free to publically express her views on many of the situations at her school that she believes are destroying quality education.

Janet Meckstroth Alessi has taught English successfully and with pleasure at the same Florida high school for 34 years.  But now she finds her situation-–and that of many of her fellow teachers—intolerable. She believes that the major problem for both teachers and students today is the over-emphasis on testing; not only preparing students for year-end tests, but also constant “teaching to the tests” and having students make up tests they missed. In addition, she thinks it is wrong when the school gymnasium and media center are closed to regular classes without warning because some unscheduled testing must take place there.

From Alessi’s perspective testing is not only unending, it is the heart of today’s concept of education. One thing that has changed drastically at her school is the use of high quality literature as the main focus of classroom study in English classes. More than once she and other teachers have been told to cut back drastically on their use of novels and plays in order to spend more time on the skills and information that will be tested.

Another thing that irritates her deeply is what she sees as coddling of students. More specifically, she feels that students are being spared any strong discipline or expectation of hard work. When a student is suspended, he or she is now allowed to make up missed work assignments. Also, students who are expected to pass the FSA test (Florida Standards Assessment) in order to graduate, may satisfy the school requirements by earning a high enough score on the SAT or ACT, and thus  graduate on time. Because of this possibility teachers are expected to spend a large amount of class time trying to improve students’ SAT, ACT and FSA test scores.

In reading Alessi’s full article it seemed to me that a part of her anger and pain were the results of changes in public education over time. Because teaching, grading, testing, and disciplining students are now so different from what they were twenty years ago, she blames school leaders, students, and parents for destroying education when there is actually another stronger body  actually in control. For the past several years a school’s effectiveness, and perhaps its continuing existence, have been determined by public officials’ judgments on students’ test scores and graduation rates.

Although I agree with Alessi that most of the school changes are not in the best interest of students or public education as a whole, I think she is exaggerating their frequency and intensity. I must admit that I, as a former English teacher, would not be pleased with being told how and what to teach or with the amount of test preparation I would be expected to carry out, but I think she is blaming the wrong people when she attacks students and parents, and to some extent, the school administration. The foolishness, cruelty and destruction of school learning are the work of our federal and state governments and the so-called experts who have been given the power to determine what should be taught, when, and how.

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Today’s post gives information from an article written by Linda Jacobson and posted in Education Dive on 11/6/2017.

P.S. Because I will be attending the NCTE Convention later this week and visiting family for Thanksgiving I will not post anything more until December 1st.

Only one day after writing about how bleak the public education world looks to me, I stumbled on an article about what is happening in some states, school districts and individual schools. It gave me hope that those actions will increase and spread to schools around the country

To be specific, the article reported on the activities of certain school districts and schools in various states that were reaching out to students to get their opinions and give them the power to change things they disapproved of in their school.

I was deeply impressed by what some schools are doing to give students a voice in decision making, creating new courses and changing unpopular school practices. Unfortunately, however, there was too much information in the article for me to cram into my post.  What I have done instead is list the areas that were covered and mention the names of a few schools and students that stood out. I urge readers who want to know more to go to the original article and get a full picture of school executives’ actions and students’ participation in determining what should be included in a schools’ program.

School Districts and Schools Responding to Students Concerns and Seeking Student Voices

Greece Central School District near Rochester, NY, has removed requirements for uniforms in physical education classes

Arcadia High School has given 13 minutes to all classrooms at beginning of school day for students to hold discussions

Alcott College Prep in Chicago is one of 60 high schools to add student voice committees as part of the Chicago Public Schools’ civic

Lawrenceville School in N.J. seeks student participation in decision-making; polls students on school practices

Thirty Chicago elementary schools have committees that meet after school to discuss student leadership and make proposals for change to administrators

Helpful Organizations

“Joe Foss Institute” campaigns to get states to make civic education a more prominent part of the curriculum.

“Sound Out”  works with schools to increase student voice

“Youth Truth” does student surveys in  schools that reveal students’ positions on many issues, such as bullying and academic rigor. It also uses surveys in developing Local Control Accountability Plans, which include parents

Students’ Actions

Students at Arcadia High school organized a National African-American Read-in one year, and afterword designed a 12^th grade English course that would focus on interests of marginalized populations. Three other high schools in the district also adopted such a course.

James Wellemeyer, a senior at Lawrenceville School created a 150- page e-text book on youth involvement in politics. He also reported that “My school polled students about workload and reduced weekend homework as a result.”

Anthony McCall, a 12th grader at Arcadia High School says, “Activities so far this year have included a field trip to a public market to learn about the history and the cultures represented, as well as discussions over issues such as not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.”

Over the past year I’ve regretted naming my blog The Treasure Hunter. I should have called it The Disappointed Educator or, better yet, The Sad Sack. As I read about what is happening in our public schools, and what the plutocrats are demanding of students and teachers, I find almost nothing that I am happy with. These are sad, sad times for our schools, our children and, consequently, our nation

Although I am not visiting schools any more to see first hand what is happening, I read enough in several news sources to be convinced that today’s classrooms are more like torture chambers than places for students to mature, learn some stuff, feel good about themselves, and become successful adults.

Over the past several years, even before I had a blog, I publically criticized “No Child Left Behind” and “The Common Core State Standards” for asking the wrong things of students of all ages. I have also complained about the time and money wasted on high stakes testing and the judgments made about the significance of test scores.

Another thing that has bothered me is the ubiquitous worship of data. I cannot understand how the experts can pass judgment on the competence of teachers and the quality of schools on numbers alone, without ever visiting them to see what is really going on and why.

To be honest, I admit that an article I read this week pushed me over the edge of tolerance and civility about what is happening in our schools. It was about a high school in Ohio that has started a program to help students avoid thoughts of suicide. Because three students have killed themselves recently, the school decided that a program was needed to discourage further suicidal urges. I was outraged. Maybe the school leaders should have looked at themselves, the school rules, the current curriculum, and their student expectations,

After that I thought about some of the other programs being used in many schools today: Mindfulness, Social and Emotional Learning, and Grit. Why are they needed? Such beliefs and behaviors are learned naturally by children who are treated well at home and in school. Rather than providing programs to fit the interests, needs, and growth patterns of young people, schools are trying to re-shape them to fit the pipe dreams of the “experts,” and decision makers, all in the interest of making our international test scores look as good as those of some other countries.

Is there really something wrong with American children? I don’t think so. They are the products of our culture, and over the past centuries most of them have displayed the qualities needed to function well in our world. The only serious problems we have are poverty and too many guns.

Unfortunately, I am not empowered to change our country’s politics or re-educate our school decision makers. All I can do is suggest to readers that the most important things we can do is opt-out our children from high stakes tests, pay attention to what our school board is doing, and vote wisely.

Oh, and get off the data train!