Aren't we all doing that anyway? I have two young kids in the public system and the older one is in 2nd grade. He goes in at 7:45 and gets out at 1:45 and every night we spend half an hour doing paperwork math assignments and another half an hour reading. Incidentally, where I live in the State of Washington, in a small town of just 20,000, average teacher pay is over $90,000. Now as far as I can tell, the school puts a lot of effort into making sure no kid is left behind, and I've been in a number of meetings with teachers, other staff, and the Principal, and there's just a huge amount of administrative nonsense that has to be performed at all times. There are very specific thresholds for any kind of extra help; a teacher can't just make a judgment call. Both my wife and I work because we're not making teacher salaries, so we don't have good alternatives, but man, the bureaucracy is absurd.
My kids were in school in the 90's, & I was mad then about the homework given in the early grades. For crying out loud, the kids are in school most of the day, & they had these stupid make-work worksheets every damn night! It was ridiculous.
My Mother-in-law (who passed in 2013 at 99) taught in country schools b4 marriage. She always said young elementary children did NOT need homework - they needed to learn how to play and work with each other. She was a gem!
I'm hoping that more parents are able to network in communities to organize and share resources. They are out there and I know parents who are interested but have no idea how to proceed when the parents are working.
There are working moms homeschool FB groups that help figure it all out. I work at least 2 days a week. Occasionally 3. I work when they’re at their co op 1day/week, and their dad does school with them other days I’m working. Sometimes we do school on Saturday…we don’t do it 5days/week and still get through a years curriculum without issues.
We are on our 5th year and I actually really enjoy it. My mantra is that my job is to teach them HOW to learn and teach themselves and to think critically…not just tell them the answers.
My kids to their friends: my mom won’t tell us who she voted for because she wants us to judge on the issues and not the party.
My kids DO NOT want to go to traditional school (I threaten them with it when the attitudes get bad😂) Sort of nervous though to start with my littlest dude next year because he is soooo obstinate…
THAT IS usually how it works. Homeschooling is usually packed with life learning, hands on and phys education and interactive activities, and more than "curriculum". Because there is way more to education than books. I homeschooled when we were pioneers in the homeschool movement. It was wonderful
Thank you. My grandson is a journeyman electrician and his wife is a stay-at-home mom. A big draw for them would be that they could travel (huge learning opportunities).
We don’t follow a state curriculum but use a mix of other curriculums (that are set for 180 days like the state). 3rd grade and below we probably didn’t ever do more than 2-3 hours of school a day (3-4days/week), my oldest is in 5th grade and probably spends 3-4hrs/day now…depending on how immune to distractions she is….she tested at 92%+ in her grade for math and reading so something is working.
Hoping to be able to travel more as they get older. Taking my 7/10 year old girls to El Salvador in a week to surf and learn Spanish. (And unfortunately for them, their probably going to have to do some math too 😂)
"My mantra is that my job is to teach them HOW to learn"
I had a professor in Engineering schools that said the same thing.
Oddly, 30+ years later, I still remember his words, as well as many topics I thought at the time to be useless.
I also specialized on one field of engineering and soon after school entered a completely different discipline. I learned how to learn and have never looked back.
PhD in EE here. I have been asked how often I used what I studied--I have made my living designing stuff for 50+ years. Answer--never. For the first few years I tried mightily to apply some of the things I did in my dissertation, came close a couple times, but no cigar.
The discipline as to how to approach a problem? Daily.
I design electronics. The tools and devices we have today would have been incomprehensible in 1965. Most of my formal electronics was tube circuitry. I looked at the circuit of a consumer radio of the '50's. Unbelievably primitive but very clever.
Learning how to learn is what it is all about. (I still am)
Something that has been true for myself after college. A professor of mine told our class that "you're only going to ever use 30% of what you learned in college but the question is always what 30%?" Classes I thought that I would use a lot not so much sometimes and other classes all the time. Hated technical writing but so glad I learned this because I use it all the time. And, of course, the ability to learn new things which happens to me everyday!!
I have an MS in physics but abandoned my PhD studies in favor of a career in computer programming, which I started doing in 1962 (!). Although retired since 2009 I still program as a hobby.
Your comment reminds me that my dad, who was a social worker but had an interest in electronics and audio, used to build Heathkits back in the vacuum tube era. I vaguely recall him putting together things like "push-pull amplifiers".
I passed the test for my Novice Ham license on my 12th birthday. 1956. I am absolutely certain that there was a thumb on the scales. The Novice ticket was pretty easy, but there was a lot I could not have known.
I had built a Heathkit transmitter. DX-20, I think. Picked up a S-38E at a radio shop in town.
I view Heathkit going out of business as one of the modern tragedies. Built a number of their kits through the years.
I love this!! I have to pull the phrase out when things are hard and the tears come…trying to get them to understand that if they can teach themselves things there are zero things they can’t accomplish in life.
I think student motivation is of crucial importance in education. As an example, consider the life of the escaped slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, He became quite literate, mostly through his own efforts. As the Wikipedia article about him says: "Douglass continued, secretly, to teach himself to read and write. He later often said, 'knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.'". He overcame much bigger obstacles to his education than those faced by today's students, despite having been provided with far fewer resources outside of his own will and desire to learn.
I love Gatto. I originally encountered his work back in the nineties through an old magazine called The Threefold Review, during a brief period in which he was working with some people adjacent to the Waldorf Schools movement. His Underground History blew my mind!
I quite enjoyed John Taylor Gatto's 2008 book "Weapons of Mass Instruction - A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling", which I thought was a scathing, humorous, and slightly loony critique of U.S. public schools.
Never homeschooled but my late Mom and late Dad helped me out so much to learn so many things out of school. Mom and Dad always were readers so we always had books and magazines around. Graduated H.S. in 1972 so a little bit before the Internet. Glad I learned how to read!!
Mine, too. My parents taught my sister and I to read using dinosaur books and newspaper comics, so we could read before we got to school. Neither parent were college graduates (the “uneducated”) but taught us to research everything. Of course, now I’m a book addict and, if it weren’t for the library, I would be broke. Graduated high school in 1977 before the internet (and cell phones with cameras, thank God) so can do actual research using books, not sources Google limits me to.
Yes! I homeschooled for 25 years. I'm also a former classroom teacher. Homeschooling was a way of life for us. In my role as a college consultant, I work with a lot of families who move into homeschooling, leaving public schools for many reasons.
I’m not a teacher but, come from a long line of teachers and university professors, and can assure you that it’s a wonderful idea. Mfers can’t read but they have multi million dollar facilities with multimillion dollar sports facilities… shits so out of wack and waste billions and billions of dollars to make children stupid, passive, insecure, and ignorant. I’ve had a front row seat to the fall of education and getting rid of the DOE or radically reforming it is urgently needed. I’m really looking forward to this piece.
Surrounded by public school teachers in my family -- all are advising home schooling now. One comment: I love teaching, but I only spend about 20% of my time teaching and 80% of my time on discipline issues.
I can corroborate that ratio. Student discipline was the number one issue my members wanted us to focus on during contract negotiations last year. We now have elementary and secondary discipline committees determined to figure out what we do for the chair-throwing, kicking, vulgar-spewing Kindergarteners and the truant, defiant Juniors. We also need to help parents and families know better ways to put their children on better socialization paths.
My aunts are school teachers and have always been fierce advocates of the public system because of access for all. Admittedly, it’s an imperfect system. You sound like the union rep? My aunt is semi retired but subs at a system in a large metro. This was a kindergarten class. The teacher warned her about two students that they throw chairs and she’s afraid of them. My aunt advised her to speak to union rep and used “hostile work environment” to describe the conditions. The HR dept at this system attempted a silent discipline of my aunt and she wasn’t having it. It was an attempt at circumventing employment law and absolutely floored my aunt that they would try that.
My mom subs for administrative staff. She said a system of 100 students per grade is in about 10-15 concurrent lawsuits annually and their main focus is to stay out of the court room.
You concur you’re seeing the violence, are you seeing the litigation?
This to me is similar to policing. Police officers are in danger and have their hands tied by administrative staff and elected officials. Teachers are in a similar situation. Incidentally, both teachers and police are taking the brunt of the accusations for why the institutions are failing. Something has got to give here.
I still have some teachers I know that say the same thing or left because of that. The power dynamic is completely messed up. The school administrators run cover for the misbehavior and won’t enforce consequences. They are ALLOWED to use phones in class too… shits wild. We need consequences back in society and this whole socialist experiment that up roots traditional power dynamics needs to end.
I'd been following the work of Jonathan Haidt for years and once The Anxious Generation came out, I bought a copy for all my school board directors and my superintendent. Then in the summer, I negotiated an agreement that at least got cell phones "off and away all school day." It's not optimal, but it is a start. And most students, staff and families have been very pleased with the results so far this school year.
Here is a bit of info:”There are cellphone bans in countries around the world, most of them implemented regionally. The list of countries with bans and regions within them is constantly growing and changing. For instance, over the summer, Cyprus and the Netherlands announced a ban in schools, as did several Canadian provinces and a handful of U.S. states and districts.
In 2023, UNESCO called for schools around the world to ban cellphone use in classrooms. The United Nations education agency cited research linking their use with distraction and poorer academic performance. At the time, it noted that about one in four countries across the globe banned cellphones in classrooms and that bans are more common in Asia.
It also suggested that in schools where cellphones are prohibited, students are significantly less likely to be distracted during lessons.
Some of the countries with bans include France, which has blocked cellphones in classrooms since 2018; Italy, where an original ban was announced in 2007 and extended last winter; Spain, where the types of bans vary by region; and Australia, where cellphones are prohibited in all state schools, but how the ban is enforced varies by state, territory and grade.
In 2021, children in China were banned from bringing cellphones to school without written parental consent. In Cyprus, the new ban will stop students from turning their phones on but not from bringing them to school. The new Dutch ban, like many others, leaves schools to come up with their own plans to enforce the rules.
Last February, England announced its own ban and distributed guidance on prohibiting phone use to schools around the country to create consistency, although it noted that the guidance was "non-statutory." Many schools already had policies in place for years, but they varied.“
True, if they have no Self control, they will have no Mind Control for learning. In America you can Think the way you want AFTER you learn how to use your brains. The Feds are too worried about the children's sex lives to teach anything useful.
That's a joke. I taught periodically over the decades since the '70s. There is little accountability. My last position was in the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program which was the last stop before Juvie Hall. It is shocking how much disrespect and outright aggression children are able to get away with. One of our problems is we keep violent out-of control children in school and try to mainstream them because parents do not know how to discipline and schools are afraid to discipline. Everyone loses.
Agree! DoE was started in the 70s and it has been downhill ever since. Long line of teachers in this family. If you asked a teacher today what the absolute basics are, would they know? Reading? Politics. Writing? Politics. Arithmetic? Racist. Science? Politics. History? Politics. Sports? Politics. That was our kid’s experience in CA 2013-2020.
If any Racket readers have found an article that fairly describes Trump's DOE proposal (sans legacy media scare/shock tactics), post a link here? (While we're waiting for Matt's piece.) Thanks.
Mostly reduce the Federal role and shift power to the states, assuming they actually eliminate the Department of Ed. In practice many of its functions would transfer to other agencies for example student loans would have still have to be done, FASA and such. Title 9 would have to be interpreted and enforced although the DOJ has a role in that. In practice the Department of Ed plays a lot smaller role in public schools then people think although the FED does play a large role in special education issues . Of course there is some Trumpian contradictions , he wants a civic 1776 curriculum nationwide which would seem to centralize stuff. I'd be surprised of they actually pull it off and the only time the Fed came close to getting rid of the ed department was the early 80's .
A lot of Republicans use to think that, but then No Child Left Behind and such it became a tool to increase standards by central direction, it didn't work.
We have pumped 25 M kids of Foreign Born into the US educational system. Some have never attended school and have no skill sets and can't speak English. A plan for failure because all the education can not up grade Guatemala's 79 IQ.
No Child Left Behind in 2001 was an updated version of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. It had been updated multiple times since 1965, but the reason NCLB is villainized is because it tied federal funding to test scores and increased the amount of money to Title 1 schools. Those increases were dependent on many hoops that had to be jumped through. So, you don't need the Dept of Ed to distribute funds to help students. Most teachers would agree that the Dept of Ed is not helpful on the local level.
In most cases it is, curriculums are state with local areas having some latitude. Civil Service protections are all state and local and contracts are usually local as well. It's in areas of special education, Civil Rights and Title IX the Fed takes a big role.
I was sloppy with my language as I meant state and local. But I think the feds exhibit a great deal of additional influence with grants and other funding. As is true of a great many areas of our lives.
The government needs to GET OUT OF THE LENDING BUSINESS. It's actually become the "Give Away Money Business". Bringing back standards for College Acceptance will help the US more than all the subsidy we are giving to the uneducable student.
College dropout rates indicate that 39% of first-time, full-time bachelor's degree seeking students do not complete their degree program within 8 years. Aug 16 2024
Jun 11, 2019 — A team of researchers published a paper documenting a decline in college completion rates between 1970 and 1990. Mother Jones. (Reagan Amnesty - Now)
Bringing Back College Entrance Exams and SATs will save a lot of individuals and the Government a lot of wasted Money. Increase Vocational Education.
everyone forgets a weird hybrid system where private lenders backed by the Fed would run the programs was what we used to have , as a sop to Bernie Sanders ditching socialist health care Obama agreed to nationalize the whole operation and here we are with more debt then every and college prohibitively expensive.
Actually, what we used to have is a college system where students could actually work and pay their way through school without loans. Professors and administrators did not make that much money. It was the pursuit of being in academia that drew people into teaching. Professors taught rather than TAs. College has become a big money system, just like the medical field. Lenders and administrators get rich off the system, but students leave college with a lot of debt, whether or not they have a degree, just as the medical field enriches insurance companies and hospital investors, while the sick get sicker. The systems are set up to suck wealth out of the middle and lower classrs.
As much as I want it to happen, it probs won't but I am on board fully with making the federal government smaller....too many 3 letter agencies that unaccountable.
I guess the first question that comes up for me is: what about primary and secondary education in states or local areas where there is hardly enough funding, e.g. little property taxes or low tax base in general)? Aren't they subsidized federally? (Sorry if this is an obvious answer - just asking the questions.
most k-12 funding is state and local except during covid when the Fed dropped money from helicopters on everyone , that has ceased. The Fed does kick in 5-10 percent for local schools but most is state taxes and local taxes.
Would student loans be possible if the country is bankrupt? As soon as the feds got involved suddenly universities and professors had piles of money. Funny how that works. Get the feds out of loans.
Same thoughts here. I'm not down with mandated prayer. I would be OK with a Moment of Silence for each to do as they will (as their parents guide). I did notice that the written policy proposal says merely to allow kids to pray on their own time (recess, etc), whereas Trump's video (Trump being Trump) stated, "We'll bring prayer back into schools," leading the listener into thinking it will be mandated.
Erin, I just tried to find a Trump statement (since November5) on his plans. All I was able to locate were MSM "what Trump's education proposals mean" crap. I like the idea of Matt talking to real teachers, but I hope he questions teachers on Trump's real plans, not whatever the MSM say are his plans.
i was a substitute teacher in brevard florida for 10 years, a school bus driver for two years and a high school math teacher (algebra & geometry) for two years ...the kids behavior, ultra-low level of ability, lack of discipline/accountability and the fact that we are in at least the third generation of kids, raising kids, made it akin to being a babysitter, that doubled as a punching bag, while trying to disseminate instruction, in an airport terminal! ...
I used to substitute till I found they Government does not pay into FICA. You only get retirement money if you are Hired full time and work over 3 years. You lost 10 years of SS.
"The substitute will be responsible for reporting their earnings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and paying the income and FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes owed. Aug 30, 2019
You were supposed to report self-employment income and pay FICA yourself, which includes social security. You just underreported your income for 10 years and screwed yourself out of SSA!
Matt, as you interview and investigate, please ask the questions, “How does the Dept of Education improve the education system? In which ways will it be missed?” My dad was a school superintendent many years ago, and a staunch academic democrat, but even he often complained at the time that the education department only adds “f-n federal mandates.” All too often, academic insiders can only see through the lens of institutions.
It's notable that educational outcomes have only gone downhill in this country since the creation of the Department of Education. That alone is reason enough to dissolve it.
Not necessarily a fan of the Fed DOE but I urge caution about attributing causation to what may be correlation. There is a large number of other changes that have happened in the US over the 45 or so years that may have contributed to K-12 educations failures.
I think many of the problems are a result of DOE mandates. If you eliminate the mandates along with the department, I think states and local school districts will be able to figure out what's actually best for their students.
Pumping 25 Million children of Foreign Born into the US English Teaching Schools required Translaters and with some students having 79 IQs and listed as "Special Education" students needing Didability cost is Twice as much to educate. 19.2% in California.
Tony, a real question (not rhetorical) for you: My understanding is that newthink K-12 educational policies emanate from university teacher and administrator certification programs. These programs need to be accredited. The accrediting agencies must by "recognized" by the US DOE, which issues cultural and curricular requirements.
1) If these requirements have done harm to the national educational system, should the US DOE then be used to make a correction?
2) If the universities that are pushing anti-discipline, equity based (for example) ideologies, and if that needs to be corrected, what mechanism would remain for doing so if there's no DOE?
Your dad knows more about this than me. I'm just a parent. From where I sit, here on the couch, this could be the one way in which the US DOE might be missed. Not necessarily because it was originally useful, but because it has pushed or enabled national level harms that need to be corrected, also on a national level. (It's still just a question.)
I’m not sure the answer, (and my dad passed this past year).
Standards can practically be managed by state governments. States that feel their standards are “better” will surely advertise and attract students to their state.
Funding can easily be block-granted to states by congress, with one person in Washington managing the distribution of funds.
Personally, I no longer respect or follow DoE-based program rankings. I’m more interested in rankings produced by FIRE and US news organizations, rankings that show how prepared students are by a school’s course offerings, how many students find work after graduating.
Nor am I interested by DOE program rankings. I didn't even know they existed. I don't know much about the DOE.
But it does seem that it has or can have an indirect but powerful influence on teacher certification standards. This is the potentially interesting thing. A "systemic corrective" could be administered all at once. Theoretically. :)
Thanks for the notes. Condolences to you, and I'm sorry that we don't get to hear from your Dad.
Not a teacher but speaking on behalf of my nephew who is having to re-teach his 16 year old step son HOW TO READ with comprehension (the kid is NOT dumb is in the robotics club FFS) all I can say is THANK GOD!!!
Among English teachers, there are 97 Democrats for every three Republicans, with the proportion being even more one-sided among health teachers, with 99 Democrats for every one Republican.
While there are slightly more Republicans among math and science teachers, among high school teachers overall, there are 87 Democrats for every 13 Republicans.
I dreamed of being an English professor when I went back to college in 1999. It wasn't until I was in grad school that I saw the writing on the wall: the chances of getting a university position--let alone a tenured one--were infinitesimal for anyone who was unwilling to eagerly parrot far-Left ideology. And despite entering grad school as a moderate (I was treated as if I were no better than a hideous conservative, but subjected to constant attempts to 'convert' me to Leftist ideology), I could not do that. I left with my M.A., a ton of student loan debt, and an abiding hatred for Leftism.
Liberals love to teach lit and social studies, where they can share their views without getting “off topic.” Plus, even in bright red Oklahoma, there is an LGBT takeover of schools. My grandchildren’s grade school hallways are replete with rainbows of every variety.
I considered going back for my PhD in English Literature. Lucky to live in a location where there are many universities within driving distance (TWO Ivy League schools). Looked up the grad programs and unless I wanted to concentrate in either gender or race in lit there were no options.
I've always wanted to be a teacher, but I had other things to do, and I did them. With 20 good working years left in me, I thought, "Ok, and now for teaching!" I was so happy to enter into this time of life.
But when I examined curricula for teacher certification programs, I said, "Oh. Oh no, I'll certainly not be going along with any of that!" And so began my long process of discovering this unhappy truth of which you speak. From what I've gathered from a great many young teachers--smart, energetic young teachers who submitted themselves to the profession as to a calling; they've been so gaslit by these university certification programs, and then also by their similarly gaslit administrators, that they pass years
--implementing the new orthodoxy,
--failing miserably to educate kids or establish discipline, and
Matt-I was indoctrinated in the "art" of teaching in Boston area (BS in Ed. degree from Tufts.) I was a public school teacher in NYS, K-12 for a few years, then became an adjunct prof. at both private and publicly funded colleges (upstate NY and NYC)for 13 + years. Got out just as things were headed towards DEI insanity. I have close family who currently work in NYC public schools. Glad to answer questions/give input.
Former teacher, coach, principal, district office hack.
Title One is a racket and has provided a cottage industry into existence for those smart enough to read the “ tea leaves.” There are a few other federal programs (school nutrition programs, etc) but that is the biggie. (There has always been an untold story about Title One programs. ) I have personally observed how the Title One cabal of consultants thrived in my small state of SC.
Fought the OCR enough to know that you can’t beat a side with unlimited resources like the US government.
Redirect the monies to the states to make their own decisions absent another layer of bureaucracy.
(I have been retired over 10 years so my experience with the Department of Education may be different than what is happening currently but I don’t think things have changed too much since.)
Retired USN in 2009 and received a math certification and substituted for two years in the public schools. There were a few good schools and classrooms, but many were chaos, and the bloated admins had zero interest in changing things, one even going out of his way to stymie my attempt to set any boundaries. There were a few very good teachers but there were too many I believed were only there for the pension. Then there's the Holy Grail that is off limits to discussion, the mainstreaming and lumping together of vastly different abilities in one classroom, an early form of DEI that drags everyone down. Dismantle the DOE and send the $ saved to hire teachers with actual degrees in their subject areas, along with part-time tutors majoring in math, science, English, etc.
You really don’t need to talk to anyone. You just need to ask yourself this question: Has the education system as it has been run these last decades worked to educate kids? You know the answer. And you know the answer to the definition of insanity - doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result.
I was a high school honors history teacher (history/art history double major - not education major) who refused to join the union. When the reps would come to me, I’d tell them if they’d do two things, I’d consider it. The first was to get teachers who couldn’t teach help or get them out of the classrooms. And second was not to send 95% support to the Democrat Party. Needless to say, I never joined.
Competition always works to bring the best of everything. School choice with Trump’s “money following the student” is exactly what should happen. And let the 10th Amendment work. The states can handle this. (Please, NY and others, the South’s educational standards will be just fine, thank you very much. When we first moved to the Boston area 20 years ago, people seemed shocked that even with a Southern accent, I could actually read. There are tons of us. We returned to the free state of Florida during covid because of the authoritarianism of MA!) The Dept of Education can be tossed into the dustbin of history.)
My youngest has been receiving an excellent public school education. His dad lives in a wealthier town than I do and that is where my son goes to school. My town has had schools fail to meet basic standards. My oldest went to a charter school 6-12 and flourished. My second child was special needs and I spent 3 years fighting/suing the school district for appropriate out-of-district placement.
I belong to a teachers union and am disgusted with money spent on political candidates and DEI issues. I always say their job is to get the best pay and working conditions—end of story. Don’t get me started on administrative bloat…
You clearly don’t live in or know anyone from the South. We will start teaching Young Earth Creationism and “slaves were actually really happy until Outside Agitators arrived.”
Your ignorance astounds me - and I’m trying to be nice here. (You do understand that the word ignorance doesn’t mean stupid, it simply means lack of knowledge or information?)
Did you read what I wrote or were you so hot to trot to give your angry reply that you didn’t notice I said we RETURNED to Florida. Yes, I grew up in the South.
You may live in Texas now but you sure don’t sound anything like my Texas relatives and friends. Rudeness doesn’t sell well and rational discussion always trumps (heh) hysteria. I suspect you didn’t grow up in Texas. And by the way, Karen is a good name for you. Just sayin’.
And the previous three generations were petty, mean-spirited, bigoted, nasty, churlish, angry, closed-minded, un-neighborly, and un-Texan? Or did something happen to you that made you decide to break the cycle? Help us out here, we're trying to understand
There's a word for a person who shows prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against a people on the basis of their membership in a particular group....but I can't think of what it is....it's on the tip of my tongue...bassist? Faceist? Placeist?
I LIVE IN TEXAS YOU IDIOT. I know these people in a way that assholes like Taibbi and Kirn will never in a million years get. I grew up here. I know what they’ll do because they’ve done it a million times before.
We lived in TX 4 years and then moved up north. My kid was ahead of the kids here by a semester. TX also had hot breakfast and lunch, neither available here. Had 2 other Texas citizen babies, but they never attended school in Texas.
Not really sure, but there is still a couple roads out of Texas, you could always move?
A city could be a detriment, actually. Just thinking of my nephew’s daughter who was home schooled by her mom - interesting that when she went to public high school, she was put into all honors/AP classes. Again, that “ignorance” thing is rearing its ugly head, “Karen.”
I know scores of Southerners. Each and every one of them would vehemently reject such curricula for their or any other children. Do you have any actual factual statistics or statements by school officials or parents on this point, or is your poor bitter, bigoted brain simply generating fever dreams?
another fun experiment. Google letters to the editor for newspapers from the 1950's. Then read stuff written in today's papers to the editor... seriously, its sad. And remember that in the 1950's very few people had any "education" beyond HS. Also read speeches by presidents Eisenhower and JFK that were made to public. Night and day from even the people not named trump of last 15 years.
BA in English/French, alternatively certified to become a high school teacher. We were told to join a teacher’s union because if you were sued by a parent they would represent you. The school wouldn’t.
As in all government, smaller is better. The longer I taught, the more regulations and mandates there were. There were countless forms to fill out and meetings to make sure the curriculum fit the requirements. All this bureaucracy took up time that could be spent on the students. Every school is different and has different needs. More attention needs to be paid to local needs. One size does not fit all.
The teachers in my community abhor the standardized testing. They HAVE to give it three times. What happens is they end up “ teaching to the test” they have to get good numbers in order to get funding. I haven’t seen any info on what Trumps saying. Where could I find?
Perhaps sources like Education Week and Chalkbeat might be useful. Once President Trumps puts out a list of nominees, we should be able to find their stances by googling their names🤞
Eliminating College Entrance Exams and SATs alowed a lot of kids to go to college and an inordenate amount to Drop, or FLUNK OUT! It contributed to the "Student Loan Bailout"
3 times year is too much. But their should be a way to gague progress.
My sister taught AP Psychology and History and for 3 years all her students passed the AP test. She had an MA is Criticle and Creative thinking. The school system called it, Unprecented. She died 3 years later and he lesson plans should have been used by subsequent teachers.
The best thing the government can do is to explore the Teaching plans of the most successful students and making them available to ALL.
The DOE and teachers unions are all inclusive and diverse. Unless, as Clifton Duncan says:
“For who gets to be included?
Are Pro-Lifers included? Are blacks who deplore DEI included? Gays who oppose political "Queerness?" Women who reject feminism? Latinos against mass immigration?
They are/we are, but it is extremely rare that we are actively invited to a table to speak. In my local, diverse viewpoints get more airtime than at the state level. I am the local president and am not (or no longer) ideologically captured by far-left aims, so normal liberal, center, and conservative members know they can speak their minds. It took the past 5 years to get there, though. The state level is completely ideological! Their mission includes, among a hodge-podge of silliness, to be an Anti-racist organization. At the national level, NEA's annual meeting is much less a monoculture, in my opinion. I think because 50 states send delegations, predominantly red states have delegates that push back on the insanity and blue state delegation largely promote the insanity. NEA's mission statement, maybe not looked at much or consulted before establishing action plans is still far more ideologically benign than the mission statement(s) of my state union - the Washington Education Association.
Former PS teacher: it's been a long time but I could see the writing on the wall and got out as soon as I knew it would break me. I taught 8th grade English and then as an adjunct at a community college.
I remember reading years ago that FDR thought that public service employee unions should not be allowed to engage in collective bargaining. He, I think, has been prescient given degree of influence these unions have on the political process to the detriment of students and taxpayers.
Assess the number of non teaching positions vs teachers over the last 20 years. The administrative state is what has destroyed education. When you add a non functioning position to any organization all you’ve added are road blocks. Human nature dictates that a person MUST show some level accomplishment when hired into a position. What they do is create policies, mandates, reporting requirements and forms to display fictional worthiness. People confuse activity with results and fatigue with accomplishment.
The "Parade of Bleeding Stumps" as the Brits call it.
"This unsavory phrase originates in British government bureaucracy and darkly refers to the Civil Service's clever response to the threat of spending cuts. The idea is that whenever cuts in a department are demanded by elected ministers, civil service bureaucrats respond by ignoring the many cases of waste, inefficiency, or general uselessness in the department, and instead tell the minister that the only way to cut spending is to axe necessary or politically important services and initiatives. So for example, when a government minister demands cuts to a hospital, the bureaucrats hide the two hundred administrators in a back room and haul out the battered and bruised hospital patients (aka the "bleeding stumps") to show the minister "who will be hurt most by spending cuts." The hope is that the minister will then back down, realizing that cutting funding would be politically unfeasible."
Let me know when you get to the point of wanting to talk to the moms who homeschool…
Aren't we all doing that anyway? I have two young kids in the public system and the older one is in 2nd grade. He goes in at 7:45 and gets out at 1:45 and every night we spend half an hour doing paperwork math assignments and another half an hour reading. Incidentally, where I live in the State of Washington, in a small town of just 20,000, average teacher pay is over $90,000. Now as far as I can tell, the school puts a lot of effort into making sure no kid is left behind, and I've been in a number of meetings with teachers, other staff, and the Principal, and there's just a huge amount of administrative nonsense that has to be performed at all times. There are very specific thresholds for any kind of extra help; a teacher can't just make a judgment call. Both my wife and I work because we're not making teacher salaries, so we don't have good alternatives, but man, the bureaucracy is absurd.
My kids were in school in the 90's, & I was mad then about the homework given in the early grades. For crying out loud, the kids are in school most of the day, & they had these stupid make-work worksheets every damn night! It was ridiculous.
My Mother-in-law (who passed in 2013 at 99) taught in country schools b4 marriage. She always said young elementary children did NOT need homework - they needed to learn how to play and work with each other. She was a gem!
I'm hoping that more parents are able to network in communities to organize and share resources. They are out there and I know parents who are interested but have no idea how to proceed when the parents are working.
There are working moms homeschool FB groups that help figure it all out. I work at least 2 days a week. Occasionally 3. I work when they’re at their co op 1day/week, and their dad does school with them other days I’m working. Sometimes we do school on Saturday…we don’t do it 5days/week and still get through a years curriculum without issues.
This is the way to go! I just posted earlier about John Taylor Gatto and he influenced me towards the homeschooling route as well:
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/origins-of-modern-education
We are on our 5th year and I actually really enjoy it. My mantra is that my job is to teach them HOW to learn and teach themselves and to think critically…not just tell them the answers.
My kids to their friends: my mom won’t tell us who she voted for because she wants us to judge on the issues and not the party.
My kids DO NOT want to go to traditional school (I threaten them with it when the attitudes get bad😂) Sort of nervous though to start with my littlest dude next year because he is soooo obstinate…
My homeschooling friends say they finish the state curriculum by December, just going half days. True?
THAT IS usually how it works. Homeschooling is usually packed with life learning, hands on and phys education and interactive activities, and more than "curriculum". Because there is way more to education than books. I homeschooled when we were pioneers in the homeschool movement. It was wonderful
Thank you. My grandson is a journeyman electrician and his wife is a stay-at-home mom. A big draw for them would be that they could travel (huge learning opportunities).
We don’t follow a state curriculum but use a mix of other curriculums (that are set for 180 days like the state). 3rd grade and below we probably didn’t ever do more than 2-3 hours of school a day (3-4days/week), my oldest is in 5th grade and probably spends 3-4hrs/day now…depending on how immune to distractions she is….she tested at 92%+ in her grade for math and reading so something is working.
Hoping to be able to travel more as they get older. Taking my 7/10 year old girls to El Salvador in a week to surf and learn Spanish. (And unfortunately for them, their probably going to have to do some math too 😂)
"My mantra is that my job is to teach them HOW to learn"
I had a professor in Engineering schools that said the same thing.
Oddly, 30+ years later, I still remember his words, as well as many topics I thought at the time to be useless.
I also specialized on one field of engineering and soon after school entered a completely different discipline. I learned how to learn and have never looked back.
PhD in EE here. I have been asked how often I used what I studied--I have made my living designing stuff for 50+ years. Answer--never. For the first few years I tried mightily to apply some of the things I did in my dissertation, came close a couple times, but no cigar.
The discipline as to how to approach a problem? Daily.
I design electronics. The tools and devices we have today would have been incomprehensible in 1965. Most of my formal electronics was tube circuitry. I looked at the circuit of a consumer radio of the '50's. Unbelievably primitive but very clever.
Learning how to learn is what it is all about. (I still am)
Something that has been true for myself after college. A professor of mine told our class that "you're only going to ever use 30% of what you learned in college but the question is always what 30%?" Classes I thought that I would use a lot not so much sometimes and other classes all the time. Hated technical writing but so glad I learned this because I use it all the time. And, of course, the ability to learn new things which happens to me everyday!!
I have an MS in physics but abandoned my PhD studies in favor of a career in computer programming, which I started doing in 1962 (!). Although retired since 2009 I still program as a hobby.
Your comment reminds me that my dad, who was a social worker but had an interest in electronics and audio, used to build Heathkits back in the vacuum tube era. I vaguely recall him putting together things like "push-pull amplifiers".
I passed the test for my Novice Ham license on my 12th birthday. 1956. I am absolutely certain that there was a thumb on the scales. The Novice ticket was pretty easy, but there was a lot I could not have known.
I had built a Heathkit transmitter. DX-20, I think. Picked up a S-38E at a radio shop in town.
I view Heathkit going out of business as one of the modern tragedies. Built a number of their kits through the years.
I love this!! I have to pull the phrase out when things are hard and the tears come…trying to get them to understand that if they can teach themselves things there are zero things they can’t accomplish in life.
I think student motivation is of crucial importance in education. As an example, consider the life of the escaped slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, He became quite literate, mostly through his own efforts. As the Wikipedia article about him says: "Douglass continued, secretly, to teach himself to read and write. He later often said, 'knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.'". He overcame much bigger obstacles to his education than those faced by today's students, despite having been provided with far fewer resources outside of his own will and desire to learn.
A fantastic post. I've been following JTG and his work for many, many years. He changed my teaching style and philosophy forever.
I love Gatto. I originally encountered his work back in the nineties through an old magazine called The Threefold Review, during a brief period in which he was working with some people adjacent to the Waldorf Schools movement. His Underground History blew my mind!
“Dumbing US down.”
I quite enjoyed John Taylor Gatto's 2008 book "Weapons of Mass Instruction - A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling", which I thought was a scathing, humorous, and slightly loony critique of U.S. public schools.
I agree...I homeschooled in the 80s WAY before it was "the thing".
Never homeschooled but my late Mom and late Dad helped me out so much to learn so many things out of school. Mom and Dad always were readers so we always had books and magazines around. Graduated H.S. in 1972 so a little bit before the Internet. Glad I learned how to read!!
Mine, too. My parents taught my sister and I to read using dinosaur books and newspaper comics, so we could read before we got to school. Neither parent were college graduates (the “uneducated”) but taught us to research everything. Of course, now I’m a book addict and, if it weren’t for the library, I would be broke. Graduated high school in 1977 before the internet (and cell phones with cameras, thank God) so can do actual research using books, not sources Google limits me to.
🙋homeschooled two, both in college right now
Yes! I homeschooled for 25 years. I'm also a former classroom teacher. Homeschooling was a way of life for us. In my role as a college consultant, I work with a lot of families who move into homeschooling, leaving public schools for many reasons.
11/11/24: Excellent point. The forgotten heroes...
A wonderful old book was The Peanut Butter Family Home School by Bill Butterworth. It follows a family who was homeschooling with their ups and downs.
I’m not a teacher but, come from a long line of teachers and university professors, and can assure you that it’s a wonderful idea. Mfers can’t read but they have multi million dollar facilities with multimillion dollar sports facilities… shits so out of wack and waste billions and billions of dollars to make children stupid, passive, insecure, and ignorant. I’ve had a front row seat to the fall of education and getting rid of the DOE or radically reforming it is urgently needed. I’m really looking forward to this piece.
Surrounded by public school teachers in my family -- all are advising home schooling now. One comment: I love teaching, but I only spend about 20% of my time teaching and 80% of my time on discipline issues.
I can corroborate that ratio. Student discipline was the number one issue my members wanted us to focus on during contract negotiations last year. We now have elementary and secondary discipline committees determined to figure out what we do for the chair-throwing, kicking, vulgar-spewing Kindergarteners and the truant, defiant Juniors. We also need to help parents and families know better ways to put their children on better socialization paths.
Parents have been conditioned to be afraid of their children and just acquiesce to every demand.
My aunts are school teachers and have always been fierce advocates of the public system because of access for all. Admittedly, it’s an imperfect system. You sound like the union rep? My aunt is semi retired but subs at a system in a large metro. This was a kindergarten class. The teacher warned her about two students that they throw chairs and she’s afraid of them. My aunt advised her to speak to union rep and used “hostile work environment” to describe the conditions. The HR dept at this system attempted a silent discipline of my aunt and she wasn’t having it. It was an attempt at circumventing employment law and absolutely floored my aunt that they would try that.
My mom subs for administrative staff. She said a system of 100 students per grade is in about 10-15 concurrent lawsuits annually and their main focus is to stay out of the court room.
You concur you’re seeing the violence, are you seeing the litigation?
This to me is similar to policing. Police officers are in danger and have their hands tied by administrative staff and elected officials. Teachers are in a similar situation. Incidentally, both teachers and police are taking the brunt of the accusations for why the institutions are failing. Something has got to give here.
I still have some teachers I know that say the same thing or left because of that. The power dynamic is completely messed up. The school administrators run cover for the misbehavior and won’t enforce consequences. They are ALLOWED to use phones in class too… shits wild. We need consequences back in society and this whole socialist experiment that up roots traditional power dynamics needs to end.
I'd been following the work of Jonathan Haidt for years and once The Anxious Generation came out, I bought a copy for all my school board directors and my superintendent. Then in the summer, I negotiated an agreement that at least got cell phones "off and away all school day." It's not optimal, but it is a start. And most students, staff and families have been very pleased with the results so far this school year.
Here is a bit of info:”There are cellphone bans in countries around the world, most of them implemented regionally. The list of countries with bans and regions within them is constantly growing and changing. For instance, over the summer, Cyprus and the Netherlands announced a ban in schools, as did several Canadian provinces and a handful of U.S. states and districts.
In 2023, UNESCO called for schools around the world to ban cellphone use in classrooms. The United Nations education agency cited research linking their use with distraction and poorer academic performance. At the time, it noted that about one in four countries across the globe banned cellphones in classrooms and that bans are more common in Asia.
It also suggested that in schools where cellphones are prohibited, students are significantly less likely to be distracted during lessons.
Some of the countries with bans include France, which has blocked cellphones in classrooms since 2018; Italy, where an original ban was announced in 2007 and extended last winter; Spain, where the types of bans vary by region; and Australia, where cellphones are prohibited in all state schools, but how the ban is enforced varies by state, territory and grade.
In 2021, children in China were banned from bringing cellphones to school without written parental consent. In Cyprus, the new ban will stop students from turning their phones on but not from bringing them to school. The new Dutch ban, like many others, leaves schools to come up with their own plans to enforce the rules.
Last February, England announced its own ban and distributed guidance on prohibiting phone use to schools around the country to create consistency, although it noted that the guidance was "non-statutory." Many schools already had policies in place for years, but they varied.“
Yeah that’s a huge win honestly. Love to see that kinda thing! Great work!
Coming from an Admiral, I'm honored by your compliment. :)
True, if they have no Self control, they will have no Mind Control for learning. In America you can Think the way you want AFTER you learn how to use your brains. The Feds are too worried about the children's sex lives to teach anything useful.
Dark reality.
At least you DO discipline them. Personal accountability is apparently a lost art these days.
That's a joke. I taught periodically over the decades since the '70s. There is little accountability. My last position was in the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program which was the last stop before Juvie Hall. It is shocking how much disrespect and outright aggression children are able to get away with. One of our problems is we keep violent out-of control children in school and try to mainstream them because parents do not know how to discipline and schools are afraid to discipline. Everyone loses.
Word.
Agree! DoE was started in the 70s and it has been downhill ever since. Long line of teachers in this family. If you asked a teacher today what the absolute basics are, would they know? Reading? Politics. Writing? Politics. Arithmetic? Racist. Science? Politics. History? Politics. Sports? Politics. That was our kid’s experience in CA 2013-2020.
It’s such a crock of shit honestly. We just need to get rid of it.
If any Racket readers have found an article that fairly describes Trump's DOE proposal (sans legacy media scare/shock tactics), post a link here? (While we're waiting for Matt's piece.) Thanks.
Mostly reduce the Federal role and shift power to the states, assuming they actually eliminate the Department of Ed. In practice many of its functions would transfer to other agencies for example student loans would have still have to be done, FASA and such. Title 9 would have to be interpreted and enforced although the DOJ has a role in that. In practice the Department of Ed plays a lot smaller role in public schools then people think although the FED does play a large role in special education issues . Of course there is some Trumpian contradictions , he wants a civic 1776 curriculum nationwide which would seem to centralize stuff. I'd be surprised of they actually pull it off and the only time the Fed came close to getting rid of the ed department was the early 80's .
The Department of Education was not established until.1979. And to my way of thinking if anything ought to be local it is education.
A lot of Republicans use to think that, but then No Child Left Behind and such it became a tool to increase standards by central direction, it didn't work.
We have pumped 25 M kids of Foreign Born into the US educational system. Some have never attended school and have no skill sets and can't speak English. A plan for failure because all the education can not up grade Guatemala's 79 IQ.
Did you just actually say a nation's IQ is retard level? Really?
Simply google IQ by nation. US IQ took a dive from 100 to 97 and dropping.
No Child Left Behind in 2001 was an updated version of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. It had been updated multiple times since 1965, but the reason NCLB is villainized is because it tied federal funding to test scores and increased the amount of money to Title 1 schools. Those increases were dependent on many hoops that had to be jumped through. So, you don't need the Dept of Ed to distribute funds to help students. Most teachers would agree that the Dept of Ed is not helpful on the local level.
Genuine conservatives still think that way.
In most cases it is, curriculums are state with local areas having some latitude. Civil Service protections are all state and local and contracts are usually local as well. It's in areas of special education, Civil Rights and Title IX the Fed takes a big role.
I was sloppy with my language as I meant state and local. But I think the feds exhibit a great deal of additional influence with grants and other funding. As is true of a great many areas of our lives.
The government needs to GET OUT OF THE LENDING BUSINESS. It's actually become the "Give Away Money Business". Bringing back standards for College Acceptance will help the US more than all the subsidy we are giving to the uneducable student.
College dropout rates indicate that 39% of first-time, full-time bachelor's degree seeking students do not complete their degree program within 8 years. Aug 16 2024
Jun 11, 2019 — A team of researchers published a paper documenting a decline in college completion rates between 1970 and 1990. Mother Jones. (Reagan Amnesty - Now)
Bringing Back College Entrance Exams and SATs will save a lot of individuals and the Government a lot of wasted Money. Increase Vocational Education.
everyone forgets a weird hybrid system where private lenders backed by the Fed would run the programs was what we used to have , as a sop to Bernie Sanders ditching socialist health care Obama agreed to nationalize the whole operation and here we are with more debt then every and college prohibitively expensive.
Actually, what we used to have is a college system where students could actually work and pay their way through school without loans. Professors and administrators did not make that much money. It was the pursuit of being in academia that drew people into teaching. Professors taught rather than TAs. College has become a big money system, just like the medical field. Lenders and administrators get rich off the system, but students leave college with a lot of debt, whether or not they have a degree, just as the medical field enriches insurance companies and hospital investors, while the sick get sicker. The systems are set up to suck wealth out of the middle and lower classrs.
As much as I want it to happen, it probs won't but I am on board fully with making the federal government smaller....too many 3 letter agencies that unaccountable.
450 according to Elon-when interviewed by Tucker in marilago
I guess the first question that comes up for me is: what about primary and secondary education in states or local areas where there is hardly enough funding, e.g. little property taxes or low tax base in general)? Aren't they subsidized federally? (Sorry if this is an obvious answer - just asking the questions.
Right. I don’t have an answer but I’ve always thought property taxes were a terrible way to fund education.
I can't speak for every state but where I am we have a formula that certain districts based on financial need would receive a greater amount.
most k-12 funding is state and local except during covid when the Fed dropped money from helicopters on everyone , that has ceased. The Fed does kick in 5-10 percent for local schools but most is state taxes and local taxes.
Would student loans be possible if the country is bankrupt? As soon as the feds got involved suddenly universities and professors had piles of money. Funny how that works. Get the feds out of loans.
Would hearing things straight from the horse's mouth suffice? Trump's website has a 4 minute video of his Education plans.....https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-trumps-ten-principles-for-great-schools-leading-to-great-jobs
Thanks, too, Matt. The bring back prayer gives me pause (years of legal wrangling), but otherwise nothing earth-shattering, just common sense.
Same thoughts here. I'm not down with mandated prayer. I would be OK with a Moment of Silence for each to do as they will (as their parents guide). I did notice that the written policy proposal says merely to allow kids to pray on their own time (recess, etc), whereas Trump's video (Trump being Trump) stated, "We'll bring prayer back into schools," leading the listener into thinking it will be mandated.
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-trumps-ten-principles-for-great-schools-leading-to-great-jobs
I'm old enough to have experienced the moment of silence that replaced the prayer. I'd rather fight for the rest. Thank you for this link.
No reason why prayer can't be on school if non denominational. Ie. Quiet meditation etc. I remember that morning meditation before it was kicked out.
Thanks, Matt.
Erin, I just tried to find a Trump statement (since November5) on his plans. All I was able to locate were MSM "what Trump's education proposals mean" crap. I like the idea of Matt talking to real teachers, but I hope he questions teachers on Trump's real plans, not whatever the MSM say are his plans.
The big tech search engine algorithms hide anything which contradicts the MSM narrative.
I talked about it here - regarding the first go around in 2016:
https://educationforensics.substack.com/p/trump-and-the-federal-dept-of-education
i was a substitute teacher in brevard florida for 10 years, a school bus driver for two years and a high school math teacher (algebra & geometry) for two years ...the kids behavior, ultra-low level of ability, lack of discipline/accountability and the fact that we are in at least the third generation of kids, raising kids, made it akin to being a babysitter, that doubled as a punching bag, while trying to disseminate instruction, in an airport terminal! ...
Great description Ocean.
I used to substitute till I found they Government does not pay into FICA. You only get retirement money if you are Hired full time and work over 3 years. You lost 10 years of SS.
"The substitute will be responsible for reporting their earnings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and paying the income and FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes owed. Aug 30, 2019
You were supposed to report self-employment income and pay FICA yourself, which includes social security. You just underreported your income for 10 years and screwed yourself out of SSA!
Matt, as you interview and investigate, please ask the questions, “How does the Dept of Education improve the education system? In which ways will it be missed?” My dad was a school superintendent many years ago, and a staunch academic democrat, but even he often complained at the time that the education department only adds “f-n federal mandates.” All too often, academic insiders can only see through the lens of institutions.
It's notable that educational outcomes have only gone downhill in this country since the creation of the Department of Education. That alone is reason enough to dissolve it.
Not necessarily a fan of the Fed DOE but I urge caution about attributing causation to what may be correlation. There is a large number of other changes that have happened in the US over the 45 or so years that may have contributed to K-12 educations failures.
I’m sure you’re right. But the point is that the DOE didn’t do anything prevent those failures. And indeed may have caused some of them.
I can agree with that, Celia.
I'm wondering whether DOE caused problems need to be fixed at a DOE level. (A real question, not the beginning of a speech.)
I think many of the problems are a result of DOE mandates. If you eliminate the mandates along with the department, I think states and local school districts will be able to figure out what's actually best for their students.
Pumping 25 Million children of Foreign Born into the US English Teaching Schools required Translaters and with some students having 79 IQs and listed as "Special Education" students needing Didability cost is Twice as much to educate. 19.2% in California.
Tony, a real question (not rhetorical) for you: My understanding is that newthink K-12 educational policies emanate from university teacher and administrator certification programs. These programs need to be accredited. The accrediting agencies must by "recognized" by the US DOE, which issues cultural and curricular requirements.
1) If these requirements have done harm to the national educational system, should the US DOE then be used to make a correction?
2) If the universities that are pushing anti-discipline, equity based (for example) ideologies, and if that needs to be corrected, what mechanism would remain for doing so if there's no DOE?
Your dad knows more about this than me. I'm just a parent. From where I sit, here on the couch, this could be the one way in which the US DOE might be missed. Not necessarily because it was originally useful, but because it has pushed or enabled national level harms that need to be corrected, also on a national level. (It's still just a question.)
I’m not sure the answer, (and my dad passed this past year).
Standards can practically be managed by state governments. States that feel their standards are “better” will surely advertise and attract students to their state.
Funding can easily be block-granted to states by congress, with one person in Washington managing the distribution of funds.
Personally, I no longer respect or follow DoE-based program rankings. I’m more interested in rankings produced by FIRE and US news organizations, rankings that show how prepared students are by a school’s course offerings, how many students find work after graduating.
Nor am I interested by DOE program rankings. I didn't even know they existed. I don't know much about the DOE.
But it does seem that it has or can have an indirect but powerful influence on teacher certification standards. This is the potentially interesting thing. A "systemic corrective" could be administered all at once. Theoretically. :)
Thanks for the notes. Condolences to you, and I'm sorry that we don't get to hear from your Dad.
DoE “rankings” don’t exist. I meant certifications. States can administer certification standards, as they do now.
Not a teacher but speaking on behalf of my nephew who is having to re-teach his 16 year old step son HOW TO READ with comprehension (the kid is NOT dumb is in the robotics club FFS) all I can say is THANK GOD!!!
Good luck Matt.
Among English teachers, there are 97 Democrats for every three Republicans, with the proportion being even more one-sided among health teachers, with 99 Democrats for every one Republican.
While there are slightly more Republicans among math and science teachers, among high school teachers overall, there are 87 Democrats for every 13 Republicans.
I dreamed of being an English professor when I went back to college in 1999. It wasn't until I was in grad school that I saw the writing on the wall: the chances of getting a university position--let alone a tenured one--were infinitesimal for anyone who was unwilling to eagerly parrot far-Left ideology. And despite entering grad school as a moderate (I was treated as if I were no better than a hideous conservative, but subjected to constant attempts to 'convert' me to Leftist ideology), I could not do that. I left with my M.A., a ton of student loan debt, and an abiding hatred for Leftism.
Liberals love to teach lit and social studies, where they can share their views without getting “off topic.” Plus, even in bright red Oklahoma, there is an LGBT takeover of schools. My grandchildren’s grade school hallways are replete with rainbows of every variety.
I considered going back for my PhD in English Literature. Lucky to live in a location where there are many universities within driving distance (TWO Ivy League schools). Looked up the grad programs and unless I wanted to concentrate in either gender or race in lit there were no options.
I've always wanted to be a teacher, but I had other things to do, and I did them. With 20 good working years left in me, I thought, "Ok, and now for teaching!" I was so happy to enter into this time of life.
But when I examined curricula for teacher certification programs, I said, "Oh. Oh no, I'll certainly not be going along with any of that!" And so began my long process of discovering this unhappy truth of which you speak. From what I've gathered from a great many young teachers--smart, energetic young teachers who submitted themselves to the profession as to a calling; they've been so gaslit by these university certification programs, and then also by their similarly gaslit administrators, that they pass years
--implementing the new orthodoxy,
--failing miserably to educate kids or establish discipline, and
--thinking that it's all their fault!
Retired teacher here — I’d say this varies from red states to blue states . In small towns in Texas they vote red; big cities, blue.
Matt-I was indoctrinated in the "art" of teaching in Boston area (BS in Ed. degree from Tufts.) I was a public school teacher in NYS, K-12 for a few years, then became an adjunct prof. at both private and publicly funded colleges (upstate NY and NYC)for 13 + years. Got out just as things were headed towards DEI insanity. I have close family who currently work in NYC public schools. Glad to answer questions/give input.
Did you also dm Matt as he requested?
Former teacher, coach, principal, district office hack.
Title One is a racket and has provided a cottage industry into existence for those smart enough to read the “ tea leaves.” There are a few other federal programs (school nutrition programs, etc) but that is the biggie. (There has always been an untold story about Title One programs. ) I have personally observed how the Title One cabal of consultants thrived in my small state of SC.
Fought the OCR enough to know that you can’t beat a side with unlimited resources like the US government.
Redirect the monies to the states to make their own decisions absent another layer of bureaucracy.
(I have been retired over 10 years so my experience with the Department of Education may be different than what is happening currently but I don’t think things have changed too much since.)
Retired USN in 2009 and received a math certification and substituted for two years in the public schools. There were a few good schools and classrooms, but many were chaos, and the bloated admins had zero interest in changing things, one even going out of his way to stymie my attempt to set any boundaries. There were a few very good teachers but there were too many I believed were only there for the pension. Then there's the Holy Grail that is off limits to discussion, the mainstreaming and lumping together of vastly different abilities in one classroom, an early form of DEI that drags everyone down. Dismantle the DOE and send the $ saved to hire teachers with actual degrees in their subject areas, along with part-time tutors majoring in math, science, English, etc.
You really don’t need to talk to anyone. You just need to ask yourself this question: Has the education system as it has been run these last decades worked to educate kids? You know the answer. And you know the answer to the definition of insanity - doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result.
I was a high school honors history teacher (history/art history double major - not education major) who refused to join the union. When the reps would come to me, I’d tell them if they’d do two things, I’d consider it. The first was to get teachers who couldn’t teach help or get them out of the classrooms. And second was not to send 95% support to the Democrat Party. Needless to say, I never joined.
Competition always works to bring the best of everything. School choice with Trump’s “money following the student” is exactly what should happen. And let the 10th Amendment work. The states can handle this. (Please, NY and others, the South’s educational standards will be just fine, thank you very much. When we first moved to the Boston area 20 years ago, people seemed shocked that even with a Southern accent, I could actually read. There are tons of us. We returned to the free state of Florida during covid because of the authoritarianism of MA!) The Dept of Education can be tossed into the dustbin of history.)
My youngest has been receiving an excellent public school education. His dad lives in a wealthier town than I do and that is where my son goes to school. My town has had schools fail to meet basic standards. My oldest went to a charter school 6-12 and flourished. My second child was special needs and I spent 3 years fighting/suing the school district for appropriate out-of-district placement.
I belong to a teachers union and am disgusted with money spent on political candidates and DEI issues. I always say their job is to get the best pay and working conditions—end of story. Don’t get me started on administrative bloat…
You clearly don’t live in or know anyone from the South. We will start teaching Young Earth Creationism and “slaves were actually really happy until Outside Agitators arrived.”
Your ignorance astounds me - and I’m trying to be nice here. (You do understand that the word ignorance doesn’t mean stupid, it simply means lack of knowledge or information?)
Did you read what I wrote or were you so hot to trot to give your angry reply that you didn’t notice I said we RETURNED to Florida. Yes, I grew up in the South.
You may live in Texas now but you sure don’t sound anything like my Texas relatives and friends. Rudeness doesn’t sell well and rational discussion always trumps (heh) hysteria. I suspect you didn’t grow up in Texas. And by the way, Karen is a good name for you. Just sayin’.
Still unhinged yet!
4th generation.
And the previous three generations were petty, mean-spirited, bigoted, nasty, churlish, angry, closed-minded, un-neighborly, and un-Texan? Or did something happen to you that made you decide to break the cycle? Help us out here, we're trying to understand
Oh, Karen.
There's a word for a person who shows prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against a people on the basis of their membership in a particular group....but I can't think of what it is....it's on the tip of my tongue...bassist? Faceist? Placeist?
I LIVE IN TEXAS YOU IDIOT. I know these people in a way that assholes like Taibbi and Kirn will never in a million years get. I grew up here. I know what they’ll do because they’ve done it a million times before.
We lived in TX 4 years and then moved up north. My kid was ahead of the kids here by a semester. TX also had hot breakfast and lunch, neither available here. Had 2 other Texas citizen babies, but they never attended school in Texas.
Not really sure, but there is still a couple roads out of Texas, you could always move?
You lived in a city.
A city could be a detriment, actually. Just thinking of my nephew’s daughter who was home schooled by her mom - interesting that when she went to public high school, she was put into all honors/AP classes. Again, that “ignorance” thing is rearing its ugly head, “Karen.”
And where do you live? Don't have to tell us the name of the town, just the county
Texas isn't the South. I lived there for 8 years. Maybe you should move somewhere that's better for your mental and emotional health.
You’re full of it.
-Another Texan
I know scores of Southerners. Each and every one of them would vehemently reject such curricula for their or any other children. Do you have any actual factual statistics or statements by school officials or parents on this point, or is your poor bitter, bigoted brain simply generating fever dreams?
another fun experiment. Google letters to the editor for newspapers from the 1950's. Then read stuff written in today's papers to the editor... seriously, its sad. And remember that in the 1950's very few people had any "education" beyond HS. Also read speeches by presidents Eisenhower and JFK that were made to public. Night and day from even the people not named trump of last 15 years.
Agreed, there has been a great decline in literacy.
BA in English/French, alternatively certified to become a high school teacher. We were told to join a teacher’s union because if you were sued by a parent they would represent you. The school wouldn’t.
As in all government, smaller is better. The longer I taught, the more regulations and mandates there were. There were countless forms to fill out and meetings to make sure the curriculum fit the requirements. All this bureaucracy took up time that could be spent on the students. Every school is different and has different needs. More attention needs to be paid to local needs. One size does not fit all.
The teachers in my community abhor the standardized testing. They HAVE to give it three times. What happens is they end up “ teaching to the test” they have to get good numbers in order to get funding. I haven’t seen any info on what Trumps saying. Where could I find?
Perhaps sources like Education Week and Chalkbeat might be useful. Once President Trumps puts out a list of nominees, we should be able to find their stances by googling their names🤞
Eliminating College Entrance Exams and SATs alowed a lot of kids to go to college and an inordenate amount to Drop, or FLUNK OUT! It contributed to the "Student Loan Bailout"
3 times year is too much. But their should be a way to gague progress.
My sister taught AP Psychology and History and for 3 years all her students passed the AP test. She had an MA is Criticle and Creative thinking. The school system called it, Unprecented. She died 3 years later and he lesson plans should have been used by subsequent teachers.
The best thing the government can do is to explore the Teaching plans of the most successful students and making them available to ALL.
The DOE and teachers unions are all inclusive and diverse. Unless, as Clifton Duncan says:
“For who gets to be included?
Are Pro-Lifers included? Are blacks who deplore DEI included? Gays who oppose political "Queerness?" Women who reject feminism? Latinos against mass immigration?
Jews who stand with Israel?
Everyone knows the answer.”
I would add, are Conservatives included?
Clifton Duncan is great - excellent comment.
He is!
They are/we are, but it is extremely rare that we are actively invited to a table to speak. In my local, diverse viewpoints get more airtime than at the state level. I am the local president and am not (or no longer) ideologically captured by far-left aims, so normal liberal, center, and conservative members know they can speak their minds. It took the past 5 years to get there, though. The state level is completely ideological! Their mission includes, among a hodge-podge of silliness, to be an Anti-racist organization. At the national level, NEA's annual meeting is much less a monoculture, in my opinion. I think because 50 states send delegations, predominantly red states have delegates that push back on the insanity and blue state delegation largely promote the insanity. NEA's mission statement, maybe not looked at much or consulted before establishing action plans is still far more ideologically benign than the mission statement(s) of my state union - the Washington Education Association.
Duncan is fast becoming one of my favorite commenters
Former PS teacher: it's been a long time but I could see the writing on the wall and got out as soon as I knew it would break me. I taught 8th grade English and then as an adjunct at a community college.
I remember reading years ago that FDR thought that public service employee unions should not be allowed to engage in collective bargaining. He, I think, has been prescient given degree of influence these unions have on the political process to the detriment of students and taxpayers.
Look what happened with Covid.
FDR had a firm stance on bargaining - you can't bargain with yourself and serve the public.
JFK is the one that gave the country its federal employees union.
Assess the number of non teaching positions vs teachers over the last 20 years. The administrative state is what has destroyed education. When you add a non functioning position to any organization all you’ve added are road blocks. Human nature dictates that a person MUST show some level accomplishment when hired into a position. What they do is create policies, mandates, reporting requirements and forms to display fictional worthiness. People confuse activity with results and fatigue with accomplishment.
The "Parade of Bleeding Stumps" as the Brits call it.
"This unsavory phrase originates in British government bureaucracy and darkly refers to the Civil Service's clever response to the threat of spending cuts. The idea is that whenever cuts in a department are demanded by elected ministers, civil service bureaucrats respond by ignoring the many cases of waste, inefficiency, or general uselessness in the department, and instead tell the minister that the only way to cut spending is to axe necessary or politically important services and initiatives. So for example, when a government minister demands cuts to a hospital, the bureaucrats hide the two hundred administrators in a back room and haul out the battered and bruised hospital patients (aka the "bleeding stumps") to show the minister "who will be hurt most by spending cuts." The hope is that the minister will then back down, realizing that cutting funding would be politically unfeasible."
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2010/07/the_parade_of_bleeding_stumps.html