EDUCATION: The Price We Pay
Posted by: Teresa Shuff Trujillo | 04/02/2008 6:59 PM
I am a parent--my child's first and foremost educator. I am an impassioned community member who pushes for local education reform. And, I am a business owner who is concerned that the current state of education will leave me without a capable workforce and with an economically disadvantaged customer base.
I was not surprised by the April 1, 2008 headline stating our schools are failing. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's America's Promise Alliance released a report on high school graduation rates in America's 50 largest cities. New York and Los Angeles are graduating less than half of their students, and Detroit is only graduating one-out-of-four. The complete report can be found at www.AmericasPromise.org.
This report was issued the same day that U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spelling announced that her department would be investigating the establishment of a national reporting structure for calculating graduation rates. Anyone who follows education closely knows that local school districts and the states have been cooking the book, so to speak, on the numbers measuring graduation rates.
Locally, 13 of the 27 school districts in Orange County did not achieve their annual yearly progress measurements under the No Child Left Behind legislation. Statewide, the California High School Exit Exam led to approximately 26,000 more drop outs last year when it became to prerequisite to a high school diploma. The 2007 drop out rate for California is roughly equivalent to the population of Fullerton.
It is easy to blame the liberal left for the state of today's public education. It is also foolish to do so. There is just too much at stake to continue to place responsibility, or blame, on the shoulders of the teachers, teachers unions, school boards, teacher tenure, elected officials, teachers' colleges, and the un-informed masses. This problem exists because the conservatives abandoned the education high ground to the liberal left.
Citizens with morals and standards were silenced by the educated "Kennedy Camelot liberals" who viewed education as a means of social reform. Many education professionals adopted a persona that telegraphed to parents that the "teacher knows best.", while parents and politicians blindly followed the teachers down a dangerous path of liberalized education policies.
The liberal young teachers who entered the classrooms in the 1960's and 1970's are the administrators of 2008. At the end of their careers, and more concerned with their professional legacies than the measurable outcomes of the programs they championed, they have dug their heels in for another budget fight.
Decades passed and the message was the same--our innovative programs will work if we just spend more time and money.
The indulgence of more time and money has translated to more student failure. Failing programs became entrenched tools and acceptable methods as the legacy of the generation of teachers who taught during California's golden age of education in the 1950's and 1960s retired from the classroom. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were replaced by cultural awareness, self-esteem, and bilingual classrooms.
Some of the social reform we have seen in our schools was long overdue. Separate but equal schools are neither separate nor equal. More than 60-year-ago, the wisdom of the courts were used to begin desegregation right here in Orange County with the. Mendez v Westminster case. The landmark Brown v. Board of Education followed eight years later.
But the schools remain a system of haves and have-nots.
"About 58 percent of students served by the urban districts within the largest metropolitan areas graduate, compared with 75 percent in nearby suburban communities," states the report prepare by Christopher Swanson of the Editorial Projects in Educational Research Institute. "The more typical situation, however, is characterized by sharply lower rates of high school completion for the city districts." The report was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the America's Promise Alliance.
I agree with the major tenants of the report. But, there are other subtler issues affecting educational outcomes.
The first issue is the marketing messages that career educators have seared into our collective conscience. The sell has been so successful that most of us take it for granted that you have to graduate from college to be successful. But, this is education's big lie.
The staggering truth is that only one in four Americans will attain a bachelor's degree. So, it is not just our high schools that are failing--it is the whole pre-school through college education system and their message that our young people are the flotsam and jetsam of the workforce if they don't complete the necessary coursework and huge financial commitment of a college degree.
Education and big media is the same team convincing parents that they are financially responsible for Junior and Princess throughout their undergraduate and graduate school careers.
The overwhelming financial burden of a college education has contributed to parents re-financing the family home and mom working to save for a college education. And while mom and dad work to insure that Junior and Princess have a college education--it became a standard practice to send children into the education system at younger and younger ages.
Now the same educators that have given us failing high schools want voters to approve universal pre-school. They want voters to believe that by adding more time in a school chair that students will be successful. Voters defeated this measure once, but be prepared for it to return.
The dream of a college education has also saddled a generation of young adults with the crushing debt from education loans, just as they begin their independent adult lives. Too many of my friends have faced the reality of a twenty-something's return home when the young graduate realizes that he or she can't service their college debt and pay for food, clothing, and shelter.
A public university education costs just under $20,000.00 per year right now. Books, fees, tuition, and housing for more elite institutions run to the $40,000.00 and above. That roughly translates to a $100,000 to $250,000 investment in education per child, because the statistics are clear that Junior and Princess won't graduate in four years.
.The U.S. Departments of Education, Commerce, and Labor keep extensive records on education and the workforce. All of these statistics are available on their websites.
Here is a thumbnail sketch of education outcomes:
There are over 15 million high school students in this country, but only 3.9 million seats at 1308 degree granting institutions recognized by the US Department of Education. The reality is that there is only one seat for every four students at a university.
Truly understanding these numbers is a sobering experience.
The No Child Left Behind legislation was designed to give every student the opportunity to go to college--at least that is how it was sold by the politician, and educators.
Vocational education was winnowed from school budgets because the emphasis was to insure that every student was going to get a curriculum that would prepare them for college, thanks to the No Child Left Behind legislation.
In truth, it is much more expensive to provide vocational education than it is to provide a college prep curriculum. Vocational education requires a lower teacher to student ratio, large workshops, expensive equipment, and higher insurance.
Local school districts were eager to abandon vocational education and sell the path to college as the means to a secure future for their graduates.
There is yet another point where the message and reality are very far apart--the new economy requires and educated workforce.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that only 30% of the available job titles require a college degree. This does not mean that 30% of the available jobs require a degree, just 30% of the job titles. And many of the job titles that don't require college degrees are well-paying careers that benefit from on-the-job training and apprenticeships, in other words--earn while you learn opportunities!
Many trades have trouble recruiting young people. Educators won't let the apprenticeships and employers represent themselves at school career day. After all, the educators believe that the only path to success is a college education. Anything that dilutes that message is strongly discouraged.
But, who will be our auto mechanics, plumbers, construction workers, soldiers, police, firefighters, skilled labor, and other workers--all the foundations of our economy that don't require a college degree?
Basically, the group of college educated professionals who dominate 30 hours or more a week of a youngster's time believe that college is the only real solution for success. They have controlled the message to the point of brainwashing Junior, Princess and their parents. It is a dangerous vicious circle.
At some point 75% of our young citizens realize that they won't achieve the only path to success that they have been told to follow.
Many parents are guilty of blocking the discussion of career paths that don't include college. Too many of the parents I know want to force their square peg children into the round hole of college students--even if Junior and Princess aren't interested in college.
What message are today's youth taking to heart when they know they can't meet the expectations of their teachers and parents--all those who all believe the myth that a college education is the golden ticket to success?
Education is the greatest equalizer in our society. Every student who earns their way to college with hard work, good grades, and a winning attitude should be rewarded with an admission to college. But the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research reports that only 32% of students leaving high school are qualified to attend four-year colleges. They are reporting on academic preparedness--not the social, emotional, or financial preparedness to attend college.
It is time to view public education as an entry into the economic engine. It means that the emphasis must be placed on preparing our youngest members with a skills set that will prepare them for life--not just for college.
Today's headlines trumpet drop-out rates, but education success starts long before a student enters high school.
It is time to go back and evaluate the processes and programs that were in place generations ago that proved successful and reinvent them for today's classroom.
It means abandoning the social engineering programs that take time and talent from teaching skills and standards.
It means tracking students for career skills and college aptitude long before the college prep courses are offered.
It means re-instituting music and art programs that build brain and body function not measured by a standardized test.
It means investing and promoting vocational training in middle and high school.
It means respecting every students belief system, culture, and ethnicity without exalting or demeaning anyone.
It means demanding student write as well as they read.
It means teaching the math basics so well that Junior and Princess can add, subtract, multiply and divide in their head faster than they can pull out their calculator.
It means partnering social services, adult literacy and parenting programs to at-risk families at their local schools--where they can easily access the services they need to provide a home environment conducive to learning.
It means that parents and the community need to stand up to their local school boards and demand that their children's needs are met--not the needs of the college recruiter.
It means that employers need to partner with local educators in the classroom and board rooms to ensure that the schools meet the community's need--not the need of the state university system.
It is time to remind educators that they work for the voters, not the other way around.
It is time to remind the teacher union that for every vote they muster to the polls, there are the votes of 20-30 parents that carry more weight than the teachers' union.
It is time for those who have been successful in one career to look at a second career in education where they could contribute their real-world experience to the classroom.
It is time for the voters to take note of what is happening in Washington DC , Sacramento and every school board meeting and fight for a rapid change in how our schools work.
It is time for major employers to volunteer their expertise to educators, and every time the door is closed in their face by the education elite--to keep knocking.
It is time for educators to leave the rarified air of academia and partner with the community they serve.
It is time for Junior, Princess and their parents to prepare for the real world, while pursuing the dream.
It is time to stop buying what the educators, politicians, and big media are selling.
True conservatives should be appalled by what is happening in our schools. California taxpayers invest nearly $12,000.00 per student per year in education. Right now it is a failing investment--but with a little time, effort, and talent, California education could be golden again. It is imperative that the right thinking conservatives invest in educational outcomes.
I was not surprised by the April 1, 2008 headline stating our schools are failing. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's America's Promise Alliance released a report on high school graduation rates in America's 50 largest cities. New York and Los Angeles are graduating less than half of their students, and Detroit is only graduating one-out-of-four. The complete report can be found at www.AmericasPromise.org.
This report was issued the same day that U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spelling announced that her department would be investigating the establishment of a national reporting structure for calculating graduation rates. Anyone who follows education closely knows that local school districts and the states have been cooking the book, so to speak, on the numbers measuring graduation rates.
Locally, 13 of the 27 school districts in Orange County did not achieve their annual yearly progress measurements under the No Child Left Behind legislation. Statewide, the California High School Exit Exam led to approximately 26,000 more drop outs last year when it became to prerequisite to a high school diploma. The 2007 drop out rate for California is roughly equivalent to the population of Fullerton.
It is easy to blame the liberal left for the state of today's public education. It is also foolish to do so. There is just too much at stake to continue to place responsibility, or blame, on the shoulders of the teachers, teachers unions, school boards, teacher tenure, elected officials, teachers' colleges, and the un-informed masses. This problem exists because the conservatives abandoned the education high ground to the liberal left.
Citizens with morals and standards were silenced by the educated "Kennedy Camelot liberals" who viewed education as a means of social reform. Many education professionals adopted a persona that telegraphed to parents that the "teacher knows best.", while parents and politicians blindly followed the teachers down a dangerous path of liberalized education policies.
The liberal young teachers who entered the classrooms in the 1960's and 1970's are the administrators of 2008. At the end of their careers, and more concerned with their professional legacies than the measurable outcomes of the programs they championed, they have dug their heels in for another budget fight.
Decades passed and the message was the same--our innovative programs will work if we just spend more time and money.
The indulgence of more time and money has translated to more student failure. Failing programs became entrenched tools and acceptable methods as the legacy of the generation of teachers who taught during California's golden age of education in the 1950's and 1960s retired from the classroom. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were replaced by cultural awareness, self-esteem, and bilingual classrooms.
Some of the social reform we have seen in our schools was long overdue. Separate but equal schools are neither separate nor equal. More than 60-year-ago, the wisdom of the courts were used to begin desegregation right here in Orange County with the. Mendez v Westminster case. The landmark Brown v. Board of Education followed eight years later.
But the schools remain a system of haves and have-nots.
"About 58 percent of students served by the urban districts within the largest metropolitan areas graduate, compared with 75 percent in nearby suburban communities," states the report prepare by Christopher Swanson of the Editorial Projects in Educational Research Institute. "The more typical situation, however, is characterized by sharply lower rates of high school completion for the city districts." The report was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the America's Promise Alliance.
I agree with the major tenants of the report. But, there are other subtler issues affecting educational outcomes.
The first issue is the marketing messages that career educators have seared into our collective conscience. The sell has been so successful that most of us take it for granted that you have to graduate from college to be successful. But, this is education's big lie.
The staggering truth is that only one in four Americans will attain a bachelor's degree. So, it is not just our high schools that are failing--it is the whole pre-school through college education system and their message that our young people are the flotsam and jetsam of the workforce if they don't complete the necessary coursework and huge financial commitment of a college degree.
Education and big media is the same team convincing parents that they are financially responsible for Junior and Princess throughout their undergraduate and graduate school careers.
The overwhelming financial burden of a college education has contributed to parents re-financing the family home and mom working to save for a college education. And while mom and dad work to insure that Junior and Princess have a college education--it became a standard practice to send children into the education system at younger and younger ages.
Now the same educators that have given us failing high schools want voters to approve universal pre-school. They want voters to believe that by adding more time in a school chair that students will be successful. Voters defeated this measure once, but be prepared for it to return.
The dream of a college education has also saddled a generation of young adults with the crushing debt from education loans, just as they begin their independent adult lives. Too many of my friends have faced the reality of a twenty-something's return home when the young graduate realizes that he or she can't service their college debt and pay for food, clothing, and shelter.
A public university education costs just under $20,000.00 per year right now. Books, fees, tuition, and housing for more elite institutions run to the $40,000.00 and above. That roughly translates to a $100,000 to $250,000 investment in education per child, because the statistics are clear that Junior and Princess won't graduate in four years.
.The U.S. Departments of Education, Commerce, and Labor keep extensive records on education and the workforce. All of these statistics are available on their websites.
Here is a thumbnail sketch of education outcomes:
• 75% national high school graduation rate according to the 2004 U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics
• 65.5% of high school graduates enrolled in college in 2006 according to the Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics
• 52% college graduation rate after 6 years of college according to National Center for Education Statistics, US Dept Ed Placing Graduation Rates in Context NECS 2007-161 October 2006
• 26.5% is the number of college graduates in the workforce according the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics.
There are over 15 million high school students in this country, but only 3.9 million seats at 1308 degree granting institutions recognized by the US Department of Education. The reality is that there is only one seat for every four students at a university.
Truly understanding these numbers is a sobering experience.
The No Child Left Behind legislation was designed to give every student the opportunity to go to college--at least that is how it was sold by the politician, and educators.
Vocational education was winnowed from school budgets because the emphasis was to insure that every student was going to get a curriculum that would prepare them for college, thanks to the No Child Left Behind legislation.
In truth, it is much more expensive to provide vocational education than it is to provide a college prep curriculum. Vocational education requires a lower teacher to student ratio, large workshops, expensive equipment, and higher insurance.
Local school districts were eager to abandon vocational education and sell the path to college as the means to a secure future for their graduates.
There is yet another point where the message and reality are very far apart--the new economy requires and educated workforce.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that only 30% of the available job titles require a college degree. This does not mean that 30% of the available jobs require a degree, just 30% of the job titles. And many of the job titles that don't require college degrees are well-paying careers that benefit from on-the-job training and apprenticeships, in other words--earn while you learn opportunities!
Many trades have trouble recruiting young people. Educators won't let the apprenticeships and employers represent themselves at school career day. After all, the educators believe that the only path to success is a college education. Anything that dilutes that message is strongly discouraged.
But, who will be our auto mechanics, plumbers, construction workers, soldiers, police, firefighters, skilled labor, and other workers--all the foundations of our economy that don't require a college degree?
Basically, the group of college educated professionals who dominate 30 hours or more a week of a youngster's time believe that college is the only real solution for success. They have controlled the message to the point of brainwashing Junior, Princess and their parents. It is a dangerous vicious circle.
At some point 75% of our young citizens realize that they won't achieve the only path to success that they have been told to follow.
Many parents are guilty of blocking the discussion of career paths that don't include college. Too many of the parents I know want to force their square peg children into the round hole of college students--even if Junior and Princess aren't interested in college.
What message are today's youth taking to heart when they know they can't meet the expectations of their teachers and parents--all those who all believe the myth that a college education is the golden ticket to success?
Education is the greatest equalizer in our society. Every student who earns their way to college with hard work, good grades, and a winning attitude should be rewarded with an admission to college. But the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research reports that only 32% of students leaving high school are qualified to attend four-year colleges. They are reporting on academic preparedness--not the social, emotional, or financial preparedness to attend college.
It is time to view public education as an entry into the economic engine. It means that the emphasis must be placed on preparing our youngest members with a skills set that will prepare them for life--not just for college.
Today's headlines trumpet drop-out rates, but education success starts long before a student enters high school.
It is time to go back and evaluate the processes and programs that were in place generations ago that proved successful and reinvent them for today's classroom.
It means abandoning the social engineering programs that take time and talent from teaching skills and standards.
It means tracking students for career skills and college aptitude long before the college prep courses are offered.
It means re-instituting music and art programs that build brain and body function not measured by a standardized test.
It means investing and promoting vocational training in middle and high school.
It means respecting every students belief system, culture, and ethnicity without exalting or demeaning anyone.
It means demanding student write as well as they read.
It means teaching the math basics so well that Junior and Princess can add, subtract, multiply and divide in their head faster than they can pull out their calculator.
It means partnering social services, adult literacy and parenting programs to at-risk families at their local schools--where they can easily access the services they need to provide a home environment conducive to learning.
It means that parents and the community need to stand up to their local school boards and demand that their children's needs are met--not the needs of the college recruiter.
It means that employers need to partner with local educators in the classroom and board rooms to ensure that the schools meet the community's need--not the need of the state university system.
It is time to remind educators that they work for the voters, not the other way around.
It is time to remind the teacher union that for every vote they muster to the polls, there are the votes of 20-30 parents that carry more weight than the teachers' union.
It is time for those who have been successful in one career to look at a second career in education where they could contribute their real-world experience to the classroom.
It is time for the voters to take note of what is happening in Washington DC , Sacramento and every school board meeting and fight for a rapid change in how our schools work.
It is time for major employers to volunteer their expertise to educators, and every time the door is closed in their face by the education elite--to keep knocking.
It is time for educators to leave the rarified air of academia and partner with the community they serve.
It is time for Junior, Princess and their parents to prepare for the real world, while pursuing the dream.
It is time to stop buying what the educators, politicians, and big media are selling.
True conservatives should be appalled by what is happening in our schools. California taxpayers invest nearly $12,000.00 per student per year in education. Right now it is a failing investment--but with a little time, effort, and talent, California education could be golden again. It is imperative that the right thinking conservatives invest in educational outcomes.
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