Radical Education Reform
As you send your kids off to
school, I want to tell you a couple
of things I’ve picked up in a life
time of teaching and learning:
(1) People fundamentally teach
themselves. You can offer instruc
tion, but you can’t force anyone
to learn.
If students want to master a
skill or a body of knowledge,
you're not going to be able to stop
them. And if they’re learning it
just to get through the test, they
won’t do all that well on the test
and will forget the information
faster than they picked it up.
The best a teacher can do is
create an atmosphere in which
people can learn if they're in the
mood.
(2) Great teachers are bom, not
made. Teaching is a talent, like
playing a musical instrument. The
talent can be refined through
training and practice, but you’ll
never be a good musician if you
don’t have it and you’ll probably
end up being a good musician if
you do.
Teacher education makes a
negligible difference in teaching
quality, and often for the worse.
Theories of education change
globally every few years and
what is fashionable today is
anathema tomorrow.
Meanwhile, good teachers
ignore the theories and just
engage the students at a human
level and try to show them that
learning is a blast.
A couple of years ago I tried to
get certified to teach high school
English. I figured it would be no
problem, since I was a profession
al writer with a Ph.D. and many
years of experience teaching col
lege.
But the folks in charge of certi
fication practically laughed me
out of the state; or rather, I just
got ever more deeply entangled in
the incomprehensible bureaucra
cy.
It was obvious that - teaching
shortage or not I could never
obtain any sort of certification
without taking a whole bunch of
education courses and asinine
standardized tests.
The present certification
process is simply an attempt on
the part of education programs to
monopolize the teacher training
process, and an attempt by school
systems to have a consistent prod
uct to put into the classroom.
Principals would be much bet
ter off watching a teacher for an
By Crispin Sartwell
Capital Times Advisor
hour in the classroom than look
ing at a transcript.
My parents were both public
high school teachers, and I
watched as they became pro
foundly frustrated by a school
system that did not allow them to
work but tried to dictate every
facet of the process, from book
orders to exams.
They spent most of their time
trying to meet the arbitrary stan
dards of the system and less and
less actually teaching something
they cared about to their students.
Finally, they quit in disgust.
Taking seriously principles (1)
and (2), here are some sugges
tions for radical education
reform:
• Institute aggressive voucher
programs. This would give the
public schools some serious and
desperately needed competition.
No monopoly is responsive or
efficient.
• Reduce the size of schools.
Warehouses like Columbine (and
most suburban high schools) are
irritating places to be, especially
considering that attendance is
compulsory.
• Eliminate most teacher edu
cation programs. Make teachers
get a degree in the subject matter
they will be teaching or a related
field, and perhaps take a couple of
courses in teaching along the way.
• Leave teacher hiring deci
sions to each school. Ditch state
certification standards. Give the
principal of the school the oppor
tunity to hire her own faculty.
Emphasize classroom observation
in hiring and retention decisions.
• Eliminate standardized test
ing, which arises as much from
laziness as anything else: folks
want a simple number, but educa
tion is not reducible to a number.
Evaluate students and schools
through grades, portfolios, rec
ommendations, observation.
• Stop treating children like
chattel. Respect basic rights of
association and expression. A 1
Gore’s proposal to ban gangster
clothing, utterly unenforceable, is
also an expression of disrespect.
• More recess, less homework.
Quit expecting children to behave
like middle age office workers.
Let them relax occasionally.
• Let teachers teach. Let them
choose their own books and their
own teaching styles.
• Let them design odd or inter
esting programs. Hire weirdos.
Encourage eccentricity.
Letters to the Editor
Job Well Done
Capital Times Staff,
I would like to commend you
guys on a great job this year.
Your efforts have not gone unno
ticed. Everyone knows that all
you met your goals by providing
us with timely informative issues.
As you all know the awards are
chosen by the OAB. In addition,
you all know that this group con
sists of club officers and the V.P.
ofSGA.
Personally, I feel you guys did
a great job and are very deserving
of an award.
Hopefully next year there will
be more participation among
clubs with the OAB. Thanks for a
job well done.
Roderick L. Lee
SGA President 1999-2000
April 19, 2000
Bike Racks for
Lazy Bastards
Editor:
Well, another Earth Day has
come and gone, and thanks to
school programs and a plethora of
little A 1 Gores and Ted Kasinskys,
maybe we’ll all start using less
plastic spoons.
Now that we have the sublime
covered, let’s focus on the obvi
ous. Our school desperately needs
more bike racks at the new
library, the CUB, Olmsted East,
and the Meade Heights
Community Center.
Doing so will not only help
bikers, but also potential bikers
and even lazy non-bikers. Why
do we need more bike racks? If
motorists have to walk, why can’t
bikers?
Because we don’t have to.
Walking wastes my precious
drinking time. If there were a way
to put every parking spot within a
few feet from the doors, I’d be for
it. But there’s not.
Why should I be punished just
because the laws of physics are
on my side.
Furthermore it would encour
age biking, once people realize
the obvious advantages of riding
a bike, as opposed to the subtle
ones, everyone would start riding
a bike.
I know what you’re saying,
“It’ll take a helluva lot more than
a new bike rack to get me on a
bike, ’cause I’m a lazy pansy bas
tard.”
Well this part is for you, but it
involves some thinking so you
better sit down. If more people
ride bikes, then that means fewer
people driving. That means you’ll
get a better parking spot, and
spend less time in a big car line
trying to get out of the lot.
In conclusion, our campus
needs more bike racks; not for us
bikers, who would benefit from
school funds for the first time in
about 30 years, and not for the
environment, but for all you lazy
bastards who would be able to
park at least five feet closer.
He illegally accepts campaign
contributions and then claims we
need reform and new laws. If he
did not live inside the current
laws, why should we believe he
would obey new ones?
He stated his strategic goal is
to ban the internal combustion
engine (cars) by the year 2020. I
guess we will all walk or ride
horses. (Which is probably why
he has been silent on the rise in
Gore's Record sa» prices?)
Steve Bielski
Computer Science
April 19, 2000
Editor:
While I have never worked for
a campaign, I also feel the
upcoming presidential elections
are very important. I commend
Mr. Werner for getting involved
and encouraging others to do the
same.
Here are a few facts about A 1
Gore anyone who is thinking of
voting for him should know. His
actions often contradict his
words.
He says he is for more gun
control, but his voting record in
the Senate shows he voted against
the semi-automatic weapons ban
in 1990.
He voted to relax federal gun
control laws in 1986, and voted to
exempt gun collectors from
licensing requirements, and to lift
the ban on the interstate sale of
guns in 1978.
At the Democratic National
Convention in 1992, he tearfully
told the story of how his sister
died of lung cancer, and how he
would “pour his heart and soul,
till his last breath, into protecting
children from the dangers of
smoking.”
Then four years later bragged
how he has been, and will be a
tobacco farmer all his life.
He claimed to have invented
the Internet while in Congress.
The Internet started as the
ARPANET in September of 1969,
COMMENTARY
the same year A 1 Gore graduated
from college.
He claims the novel Love Story
was based on his and Tipper’s
college romance, but the author,
Erich Segal, said he was “befud
dled” by the claim.
He claims to have discovered
the Love Canal hazardous waste
site. He did hold hearings on
Love Canal but only after
President Carter had declared it a
disaster area.
He wrote in his book Earth in
Balance that increased use of
fresh water would lead to “pover
ty, hunger and disease,” but
allowed four million gallons of
fresh water to be poured into the
Connecticut River in order to
have his picture taken in a canoe.
The Pennichuck Water Works
calculated the four million gal
lons cost $7.1 million.
As for racial profiling, it is a
state and local issue and the pres
ident cannot do anything about it.
If he could why hasn’t
Clinton/Gore done it?
Remember, this is the adminis
tration that rushed armed forces
to Europe when 2,000 whites
were murdered, but sat back
while 500,000 Rwandans were
murdered.
We are just now starting to see
the effects of the Clinton/Gore
economic policy, raise taxes and
bring lawsuits against tobacco
companies, gun manufacturers,
Microsoft and Intel.
Companies are scared they will
be next and the stock markets
around the world are falling.
We need someone with integri
ty in the White House, not a
Clinton Mini-Me who lies with
the same ease as the rest of us
breathe.
Sincerely,
Ross Paterson
Information Systems
April 13, 2000