Sentenced to Mediocrity
Amid Covid-19 killing and sickening us as we struggle to obtain and distribute vaccines;
Amid a national effort to control Covid and restore the economy by a new National administration and the expected opposition of an old one desperate to regain power at all costs;
Amid the stunning sight of an “empty” New York City with cars but no people in the street; massive office buildings open but essentially empty;
Amid a public transportation system still running but starving from lack of customers and revenue;
Amid tens of thousands of people out of work because their businesses are either closed or so limited that they cannot pay their employees;
Amid crime so continuous and intense that it seems to be a part of city life and unlike anything we have seen for years; people being shoved off subway platforms; random shootings by street gangs out every night looking for trouble and making it;
Amid all of this and perhaps worst of all. there is an all but total abandonment of public education…which started almost a year ago and continues into the future. Children are no longer in school attempting to learn. All methods being used as alternatives… virtual learning, remote learning, blended learning, hybrid learning with half-days …all of them are complete failures.
Teachers have simply decided not to return to school until they feel safe despite all the statistics which clearly indicate that with careful attention to detail, schools are safe for teachers and pupils.
Teacher unions, strongest in big and small cities are adamant…their teachers will not return to school.
And when anxious parents call to find out what they can do to help their children – when no teachers exist to do so – they are told to make certain their children attend to their computers, read material offered, answer questions and take tests.
Parents are assured their children “will pass”…not learn, but pass..
In some areas around the city and suburbs, children haven’t seen the face of a teacher since last March…all they see are assignments, questions and tests. Deep concerns expressed by parents are met with a similar response…make certain your child does the assignments and we will make certain your child will pass.
For the first time in our history as a political party we see the refusal of teachers to return to school and the attitude of teacher unions to keep teachers away from school as an absolute negative and one which must change if we are not to lose an entire generation.
AN HISTORICAL NOTE
In the 1940’s and 50’s it was the legislative efforts of the Liberal Party which produced total support for the establishment, development and success of the United Federation of Teachers. Albert Shanker the fighting leader of the UFT knew that the Liberal Party would always be strong supporters and that it was the Liberal Party who led the fight to establish decent salaries and reasonable working conditions for teachers.
In the 1990’s the Liberal Party began to speak out against what it saw as a weakening of teacher preparation by Schools of Education.
Yet Weingarten could do little to help with teacher training because the rule was that no help could be provided unless it was requested by a Principal.
Current UFT President Michael Mulgrew seems little interested in anything but the 85,000 union dues checks he receives every month to guarantee union pensions.
Failures of teacher preparation have continued and we have been constantly critical about the reality that our public schools no longer prepare children for college or a work environment.
In New York City only 25% of high school graduates are prepared to enter college. The rest need significant remediation to go to college or into the job market. These facts have been true for the immediate past generation and what is happening now to children will make these terrible results even worse for years to come.
REALITY
A study by Stanford University of schools now reveals that the average student has lost at least a third of a year’s worth of learning in reading and at least one year’s worth of learning in math. Understand that this means that what was known in these subjects is now lost. Studies indicate that these losses can amount to an eventual loss in total income over a lifetime and that this loss could actually contribute to a shorter life span.
News of childhood boredom and loneliness has contributed to a serious rise in childhood stress and depression.
What may be worse is this: there is not a single educator in America, and certainly not in New York, who is talking about how teachers will deal with children once schools are officially open someday in the future. The idea that they may be ready to open next September is just a wish not nearly a fact.
How will a fourth grade teacher teach a class coming from the third grade when none of the children were in school for that third grade? Of course they have all been passed along as promised but none of them necessarily have learned what they might have learned in third grade. What is the fourth grade teacher prepared to do?
Now repeat this reality in every elementary grade and in every junior high throughout New York – and across the country as well.
All those children, all those teachers clueless as to what they must do.
And while we are talking about all children here, it is easy to imagine how much more difficult it is going to be for those poor students of color who have never had the best education New York can offer. Their more advantaged white friends might have had some private teaching but they never had that chance.
Now it is possible to use the months ahead to begin preparing for this inevitability of schools reopening.
Teachers could be called into a thorough review of the class material in the grade before the grade they teach and a special syllabus could be designed to teach them how to blend what should have been taught into what they will be teaching in their grade.
But is it being done? Is anyone designing such a program?
We are certain a union which is so determined to keep their teachers safe that it would act to prevent the education of children, will support a training program to prepare its teachers for what is to come.
Otherwise the potential chaos in schools will make the recent chaos of our national government seem like child’s play.
Yet we see nothing in the background of the new Secretary of Education appointed by the Biden Administration that indicates anything that would inspire an effort to save our system of public education. Concerned and well meaning? Yes but inspiring with the “new”? Not so much.
And so we look at New York State which controls all education in New York. And find something unusual.
Prez, short for President, was the nickname of Lester Young a tenor saxophonist in the 1940’s. His playing not only changed the way saxophones sound and were played, but actually changed the sound of jazz. His jaunty appearance and his genuine cool relaxed way made him a unique giant of the music.
His 69 year old son Lester Young, Jr is now the newly appointed Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents…the ultimate control center in New York.
Can he be to New York’s education establishment what his father was to the world of jazz music? Without question…anything is possible.
But looking at his record to date…it will be a surprise.
We need surprises.
We need good news.
We need genuine leadership in education.
We need it but our children need it more.
Among the negatives of “remote learning” are absence of gym, shop and lab classes; and unsecure unproctored exams. The pluses might be absence of bullying, no disruption by unruly pupils and no need to commute.
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“We need surprises.
We need good news.”
These may not be the same. It’s hard to be optimistic here.