The Elephants in the Classroom ...

During the past week, Bill Bennett and Bill Gates gave their illuminating thoughts on the state of education and America's teachers.  Pundits both. Everyone has an opinion.

The saying ... "you can never pay good teacher enough and all the rest are overpaid" continues to apply.  Whatever the argument about pay and teacher tenure (any teacher can be removed if incompetent and the administrator wants to take the time to document the incompetency ... or, perceived incompetence ... my cousin needs a job, aka KY), teaching is now much more than regurgitating of facts and concepts ... or it should be!

Many children come to high school hungry.  A few students do not have electricity or choose not to use it. Teenage pregnancies are numerous and in some weird way acceptable and desired.  A few students have more than one child.  There are drugs both prescribed and other.  Students now have many labels to identify their problems and perceived problems which, ends up defining them.  Many high school students are not readers or read poorly.  Many have jobs to help support their car, car insurance and gasoline (now going to $4) habit.  Computer games, facebook, texting, cable TV with 1000 channels and on and on ...

All elephants dancing around the room of education but, rarely if ever mentioned.  We instead spin our wheels tweeking the curriculum, learning goals, standards and then the NEW standards and every gimmick some retired administrator, curriculum expert or medicine man (person) comes up with ... of course for $$$.

A teacher now has to ... in some way ... convince students that education and the content they are being taught is important in some way either now or later  ...  THE BUY IN!   Sometimes this only takes the first day and sometimes it never happens because of one or more elephants above.

Then there is THE SHOW!  If you can't compete at the level of a great TV show or video or song ... then you get tuned out ... this means you better have some great labs and learning events to keep their attention and it all better be relevant in some way ... still an elephant might not make that student available on any given day or week ... THE SHOW is very important and it can't be a long running show ...  you must have a repertoire of shows!  Learning for a grade?  That is history!

Then as testing begins you arrive at THE SELL!  This is convincing students that in some way it is in their, their families', their children's or the communities' best interest to try on the test (that's what politicians and many pundits consider evidence of learning ... if they can test  ...  ACT, CATS, TBA or ???)

THE BUY, THE SHOW, THE SELL ...  that is teaching!

I really like teaching ... there is something to fix each day, just like when I use to be a farmer.  Providing opportunities for young people is a worthy use of my life and an honorable way to make a living. I am from a farm family and making an honorable living is important to me.

I cannot figure out what to do about the elephants in the classroom.  You talk with kids and hope a good education and pointing them in a direction to continue their education or find a profession can help them rise above the herd.  It takes generations to fix some problems.

rr