Schoolkids at play, yet again
Maybe it’s a hangover from the 1960s, or maybe it’s the intrinsic rebel in me, or maybe I get a perverse pleasure in seeing people disturbing the mire, but I like to see a good donnybrook between the ‘little’ people (who do the work and pay the taxes) and ‘the man.’ The aforementioned ‘man’ being an individual or body who, by dint of their position, feel they not only have ‘all’ the answers, but also feel no obligation to abandon a course that those who pay the bills see as not only madness, but also disquieting and probably costly – to them, not to the man.
At the moment we have a right old pissing-match happening in our local school district. In this case the school board (never a body to be noted for any semblance of humility) and superintendent (I won’t even begin to describe my sentiments about assorted superintendents that have come and gone in our local district, but suffice it for me to suggest that professional talent and smarts are not essential ingredients for being raised to that ‘exalted’ and highly-highly paid position) have chosen a course of action that involves reconfiguration of the district schools. Ostensibly this is to save money.
What they, and especially the super (who has a ‘Doctor’ in front of his name, which doesn’t mean he can write you a prescription, nor would you want him to. Someday I’ll write a derogatory screed about those who are not medical practitioners who use choose to use this honorific, AKA the hubris title) want to do is gut the current formula and to rid the district of middle schools. Middle schools being those institutions we used to call junior highs. What they want to do is have the elementary schools run from kindergarten to the 8th grade, and then the secondary schools run from 9 to 12. How this is going to save money has never been, in my perception, adequately explained. How valid this is as educational theory isn’t apparent, but maybe it’s good. I dunno. But, it seems to me if there is an educational downside, which most teachers in the district seem to feel is the case, then maybe quality education should trump expenditure. Just sayin’.
Anyway, Dr. Super seems to have co-opted all the trustees bar two over to his way of thinking. Good thing those are elected positions, I might add. How does the public feel about this? Not good, according to the media and people I’ve spoken to. They, teachers and parents alike, seem to be outraged and truly are of a mind that education will suffer. They do have a point in that not one school district in the province follows the formula advocated by Dr. Super. But, it seems, according to his utterances, he knows, as does the board chair (what she knows about education is possibly open to question since she is a lay person), what is best for the kids and, by default, the parents, and utterly by default, since their views don’t matter a fig, the teachers.
Now, it has been a long time since I taught school and had direct dealings with Supers (Drs or otherwise) so I am not really in any position to take a stand. But, the fight stirs up my juices regardless. I feel an impulse to shout: “Au barricades! Hell no, we won’t go! We shall overcome! Hey-hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? Different issue in the latter case, I know, but I was on a roll. Maybe some strains of La Marseillaise in the background, just like the scene in Rick’s in Casablanca. That is always a stirring scene for the beleaguered.
Anyway, whatever is going to happen will happen, and the ‘man’ will prevail -- for a time. He always does. And, Dr. Super won’t fall on his sword, but you can bet your boots that his highers up have a nice position for him to segue into immediately after the next school board election in which his loyal trustees will be ignominiously returned to their civilian lives. Silly pawns.
Meanwhile, continue to fight the good fight, folks. I’m right behind you. In theory, anyway.
At the moment we have a right old pissing-match happening in our local school district. In this case the school board (never a body to be noted for any semblance of humility) and superintendent (I won’t even begin to describe my sentiments about assorted superintendents that have come and gone in our local district, but suffice it for me to suggest that professional talent and smarts are not essential ingredients for being raised to that ‘exalted’ and highly-highly paid position) have chosen a course of action that involves reconfiguration of the district schools. Ostensibly this is to save money.
What they, and especially the super (who has a ‘Doctor’ in front of his name, which doesn’t mean he can write you a prescription, nor would you want him to. Someday I’ll write a derogatory screed about those who are not medical practitioners who use choose to use this honorific, AKA the hubris title) want to do is gut the current formula and to rid the district of middle schools. Middle schools being those institutions we used to call junior highs. What they want to do is have the elementary schools run from kindergarten to the 8th grade, and then the secondary schools run from 9 to 12. How this is going to save money has never been, in my perception, adequately explained. How valid this is as educational theory isn’t apparent, but maybe it’s good. I dunno. But, it seems to me if there is an educational downside, which most teachers in the district seem to feel is the case, then maybe quality education should trump expenditure. Just sayin’.
Anyway, Dr. Super seems to have co-opted all the trustees bar two over to his way of thinking. Good thing those are elected positions, I might add. How does the public feel about this? Not good, according to the media and people I’ve spoken to. They, teachers and parents alike, seem to be outraged and truly are of a mind that education will suffer. They do have a point in that not one school district in the province follows the formula advocated by Dr. Super. But, it seems, according to his utterances, he knows, as does the board chair (what she knows about education is possibly open to question since she is a lay person), what is best for the kids and, by default, the parents, and utterly by default, since their views don’t matter a fig, the teachers.
Now, it has been a long time since I taught school and had direct dealings with Supers (Drs or otherwise) so I am not really in any position to take a stand. But, the fight stirs up my juices regardless. I feel an impulse to shout: “Au barricades! Hell no, we won’t go! We shall overcome! Hey-hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? Different issue in the latter case, I know, but I was on a roll. Maybe some strains of La Marseillaise in the background, just like the scene in Rick’s in Casablanca. That is always a stirring scene for the beleaguered.
Anyway, whatever is going to happen will happen, and the ‘man’ will prevail -- for a time. He always does. And, Dr. Super won’t fall on his sword, but you can bet your boots that his highers up have a nice position for him to segue into immediately after the next school board election in which his loyal trustees will be ignominiously returned to their civilian lives. Silly pawns.
Meanwhile, continue to fight the good fight, folks. I’m right behind you. In theory, anyway.
Labels: fighting city hall et al
posted by Ian Lidster at
6:27 AM
16 Comments:
Dr. Super (nice one!) seems to think he has all the answers without consulting with those in the trenches.
That's always the way, no?
(I just finished reading Marie Antoinette's bio. Makes me want to shout, "To the Bastille!".)
God I hate the ivory tower paper pushers who feel that they have "la science infuse". They do not know what is going on in the classes and yet would dictate their pet theories about education. Who pays for all of these "theories"? The kids do... hey guys these are human beings we are dealing with, they are not guinea pigs. You won't have to pay the price for your experiment but they will. What also burns me is when they say it is for the good of the kids and you can easily see that the good has less to do with it than the bottom line, education is not a business we are not there to make a profit.
As it happens, (revealing my youth here) I was in the first "trial" cadre of kids that went from the K-7 elementary system to the middle school system in that district back in... 81? Now, as an educator, I can reflect on the benefits. Middle schools allow a transition from elementary to high school. The system recognizes that there is a wide range of developmental stages in young adloescents. You don't just go from "child" to "high school student" over one summer. Keeping them in an elementary school when some of them will be smoking or drinking makes the elementary school a very strange place. How does one secure safety and an appropriate environment for K students when grade 8 students are well into "trying on" new personalities on their road to adulthood?
If money is the issue, everyone knows that most of the money is spent on people, not facilities. Salaries are where they should look if they want to cut spending. Let's see. Who's salary should be cut...?
I'm with you and your posters. This sounds like a dreadful idea. Get off my lawn had very perceptive comments, I thought.
Some really good thoughts here about how the client's wants and needs always come to the end of the list. Get Off My Lawn, your thoughts virtually mirror mine on the matter.
*Warning* *Contrarian In the House*
The Man is not always the person in power. In this case the conservative, entrenched "we hate change" majority are The Man in-my-completely-unhumble-opinion. That said, reconfiguration is a touchy subject and the school district where my kids go just went through exactly the same thing -- though elementary ends in Grade 7 and as far as I'm concerned anyone over age 12 needs to be out of elementary school. As usual my opinion was contrary to the rest of the Outraged Parents, none of whom had done or even read a study on the benefits that are so much more than fiscal, the most important of which being the sense of community having an 8-12 school generates. By the way I'm also dead against "seniors' communities" and any other community that is restricted to a whole bunch of people in a very narrow age group. It's against the whole notion of human community. That said, I'm not inviting my parents to come live with me! :)
A friend of mine has kids who go to school in Courtenay (and he's a teacher in Campbell River) so I'll forward your blog link to him to read. He should find it interesting. And he probably disagrees with me, too, but if that mattered I'd keep my pie hole shut. :)
you are preaching to the choir...some things just don't make any sense at all. is there anything that you can do to express your feelings about this matter? is there any course of action to change the possible outcome?
Given that I hated my junior high years, I can't say I'm disappointed to see middle schools go -- plus, the glowing memories of friends who participated in an 8-12 system has oft times made me bitter that I endured the social shark swarm of junior high society.
Be that as it may, I dispise hubris, and pushing through a policy change without discussion, and general political bullying, even more. May the little people rise up and throw down their oppressors -- as long as the little people have a solid, well-planned system to replace the old. :)
We don't have middle schools in Vancouver, although surrounding municipalities do. I can see the point of them being a transition from elementary to high school but I can't see that education suffers in either system.
Now, now. Don't knock the Doctors of Philosophy. I have two in my family and that degree existed before the Doctor of Medicine degree.
Doesn't mean they have a degree in common sense however.
The important thing is that the people who disagree have to get out there and put there case and hope that they will be really heard.
dunno what the prob is, other than stupidity on many levels... messing with a system that works just cuz they can
in ontario, the school system i went through, primary was k to 8, and high was 9 to, until recently, 13... and it was not a bad thing
in nova scotia, they have schools similarly set up as those on [most of] the west coast, nothing wrong there either, per se
what really gets to me though is the totally incestuous setup of the whole educational system, at least in canada... i have no experience with other countries
I attended school in rural Alberta and we did not have middle schools at that time - at least not in the school I was at. In those days kids on the whole were pretty good - only the very rare one smoked or drank or any of the good stuff until they were about 15 or 16. For all of us it seemed to work fine. Later they brought in the junior high bit but by that time I was attending senior high in Calgary.
I went to a K-8 elementary school. It was a small school though, maybe 250 kids total. I don't know if it worked for socially because I couldn't wait to get away from those folks, but academically, it was good.
Is the Super backing this decision up with data about higher performance in K-8 schools? If not, they need to check themselves...which of course, they won't.
some of our schools (private & charter) here already have that structure. when i was in school, elementary was K-6th, jr high was 7th-9th, and high was 10th-12th. then they made jr high 7th-8th and called it middle school. maybe these changes have partly added to the deterioration of quality education, at least here.
I like the fight too.
I don't have kids, nor am I a teacher (or a Dr. Super) so I feel that regarding schools I'm not well placed to comment.
But I do hate the whole "we know what's good for you" attitude. Funny enough, it seems to be very prevalent at the municipal level - the place where they should be closest to their electorate all things considered.
One of my earliest childhood memories is of my father making derisive remarks about Doctor Ducker, the Superintendent of Schools in our town, and what a complete ass he was to insist upon using that title.
I cannot see any benefit to the children in combining elementary and middle schools, or any valid reason to do so.
And how is this going to save money? Are they going to cram all the kids into fewer classrooms based upon the old one-room schoolhouse and "repurpose" the middle school buildings as Bingo parlors?
I have learned that those in education do not ever make decisions based upon logic.
There are simply too few situations in which one can say with any certainty, "This time I know our side will win." (I know every line in Casablanca. Ask me.)
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