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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Molchan on January 16, 2013 at 10:24am

Is this a failure of the individuals, or an indictment of our schools, or what?  Is anyone under the illusion that you can't be successful without a high school diploma?  I don't find this list helpful.  I already know that our one size fits all educational system does not fit everyone.  I have encouraged more than one student to consider withdrawing from high school and applying directly to a college or university.  Also, not everyone should go to a postsecondary institution right out of high school.  I would like to see some of the thought-provoking you promised.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Keany on January 16, 2013 at 10:37am

Dear Stephanie:

Thanks for your well-considered insightful comment.  You managed to provoke some thought on my part.  When I first saw this list and posted it, I thought of it as a curiosity and perhaps worthy of some chat.  However, you have caused me to take a second look.  I am struck by the large number of people of the arts who left school.  Perhaps this is the one community that is underserved.  Perhaps it is the one community that our schools do not value as highly.  Perhaps it is the one community that, because of our unstated mission to support business and industry, we cannot serve.  Again, thanks for making me think.

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Molchan on January 16, 2013 at 11:00am

Our unstated mission to support business and industry, yes, that's exactly what it is.  Why is this not addressed by education professionals? 

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Michael L. Cubbin on January 20, 2013 at 9:39am

Dear Michael,

I left a message on this topic yesterday, and today it is gone. I realize it was not "in line" with the thinking of educators that is so pervasive today, but I am a little surprised that it would have been removed.

But then, isn't this part of our educational failure? Should we just be compliant and "lemming-like" and agree with the status quot? If the status quot were correct, then we wouldn't need to be having all of these discussions.

Disappointing, yes. Saddening, most certainly. Surprising, not in the least. If you were to allow different points of view, then perhaps as a collective, we might be able to come up with solutions. (You might even get more responses on your postings as opposed to the ubiquitous "0 Replies" that runs though your website's thoughtful article non-responses.) But I am not expecting a healthy and open dialogue. After all, this is an "educational" forum.

Regards (although I do not expect this reply to make it to "press time",

Dr. Michael Cubbin

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Permalink Reply by Michael Keany on January 20, 2013 at 12:13pm

Dear Michael:

I did not see nor did I remove your previous posting.  We take a very open view of our dialogues and try to encourage open discussion within the bounds of civil discourse.  Please feel free to repost your comment.

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Michael L. Cubbin on January 20, 2013 at 3:36pm

Hello Michael,

I will try to recap my thoughts.

For as long as I have been teaching, I have read articles such as this one by those in academia espousing the gains made by those who have never achieved educational success, yet have acquired both wealth and fame. Are these stories true? Definitely. Are they the rule? Not by a long shot.

As educators why do we feel the need to continually put forth stories of how those who were not cut out for the classroom managed to experience accomplishments in their lives? We would be kidding ourselves if these tales of wonder were not true. Is school a guarantee for success? Not at all, but education does level the playing field in the majority of cases. Do we need to continually show each other (your site being an educator to educator website) how meaningless an education is? If we are not selling education, why don’t we just become a rock promoter, or an athlete agent?

Stories such as these are akin to a Chevrolet salesman telling his customers how much better a Ford is. Or a McDonald’s counter person telling each customer how much cheaper Burger King is. Why are we afraid to push to GO button on education?

I am dreadfully tired hearing from teachers how:

• Not all students are cut out for school. Duh. We hear it from students and the web every day: “Dropout rapper makes millions!” “Computer geek designs million dollar website – without formal education.” “Who needs school? says famous model earning millions a year.” Great, but compare these percentages to the percentages who lives were made infinitely better through good schooling.
• School X calls for an end to formalized tests. Do you want to know why? Because they cannot get the kids to pass them. When in history have we heard such a cry to remove standardized testing? Only now, especially when the push is on to include the results in our formal observations. Isn’t this what we get paid to do? Get out kids through the tests? Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way. Either teach, or leave.
• Teacher group pushes to end homework in district. We know why. Students are not doing the homework, so the logical (from illogical sources) solution is to stop assigning homework. How about taking out traffic lights and stop signs because people just blow right through them? No more bench warrants for criminals who fail to show up to court hearings. They would show up anyway. Doctors can also stop advocating a good diet, 8 hours of sleep, and moderate exercise, because our country is obese. Is this where we are headed?

Having taught in China on several occasions, I am embarrassed that some of my colleagues from abroad would ever see these articles enshrining those successful folk who lack a formal education. If they read these articles (and they do) they might say something like:

“We know that America is the greatest country in the world. You have the best universities (Yale, Harvard, MIT, etc…), the best hospitals/doctors, the greatest technology, and so much more. We also know your students are failing. So why then, instead of boasting your accomplishments and the benefits intricately intertwined with the acquisition of an American education, do we see articles like this (promoting luck and statistically improbable exceptional talent) more routinely that articles promoting education such as we do? Here in China and India, we are hungry, many of us for food yes, but more for success. From an early age we are taught that education is the way to pull oneself out of poverty and to give your family a better life. So why, when American education is on the decline, do you continue to promote success through something else other than education. It is true that many people achieve success through athletic prowess, acting/musical talents, and sheer luck, but they are the outliers. They are the exceptions, but when you promote them as you have in this article, students believe that these “outliers” can be them, but that it is statistically impossible.”

* Memo to teachers: Watch the “2 Million Minutes” documentary.

I have many Chinese friends and they love America, but they also think it is ripe for the taking.

• The US ranked 32nd out of 65 countries that participated in the latest international PISA
• 32% of American students are proficient in math
• Just 21 % of high school seniors performing at or above capable levels in science
• Only 1 percent of fourth-grade and 12th-grade students, and just 2 percent of eighth-graders, scored in the highest group on the federal test known as the “Nation’s Report Card”
• With regard to math, 71 percent of black students scoring below the basic knowledge level, and just 4 percent proficient on the “Nation’s Report Card.”

I could do this all day, but why? We need change and it needs to come in two stages. First, since we have such a diverse number of ELLs in our school system and English fluency within our native English speaking ranks in below acceptable, we need to increase fluency and public speaking skills. It just so happens I have developed a program to do just this. www.speakenglishwithme.org

Second, we are looking at our students’ achievement, or lack of it, from the wrong end. We are placing the cart before the horse. We need to rebuild students from the inside out. These are the same kids who walked into the classes of “The Blackboard Jungle,” “Lean on Me,” and “Stand and Deliver” (watch those again too), but who are barraged by outside forces we are losing the fight against. That must change. It is us who are not recognizing what is needed to facilitate change. I know this, because I have yet to sit in on a professional development day that fails to bring me to tears with the lackluster, low-intensity, re-hashed & re-packaged ideas that continue to bring out the best in our kids.

My book detailing steps unheard of in the education arena is slated for release this summer (2013), called The Business of School. Keep an eye out for it. (This purpose of this response is not to plug my website or my book, but what the heck.)

Well, that is the gist of my previous post. If anyone has comments (pro or con) I am always willing to listen and respond. Oh, by the way, I teacher in NYC – a HS with a 100% ELL Spanish-speaking population and my students had a 100% passing rate on the NYS chemistry Regents last year. And in eight years of teaching Regents Earth science, I have had 3 students fail. I am no genius, but ladies and gentlemen, we are not building pianos here.

Best Regards,

Dr. Michael Cubbin

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