Another school year has been completed and we turned another batch of young people out to the world. The class of 2008 received their diplomas, but did they get the education they need to make it in the world.
There has been a lot said lately about the WASL testing program. I have never seen a “WASL” test, so I cannot comment about that specifically, but I do see young high school students in my business and I am no longer shocked, but seriously disappointed with the lack of education I see in them.
My comments are not meant to suggest that our local school district is failing all the kids, most of them are smart enough to succeed in spite of the system. When I interview current high school students and recent graduates for jobs, I review their applications and I talk to them. I don’t know much about them except what I see on paper and in conversation. If the educational level I see in these kids is representative of the other kids in this age group, they and we are all in trouble.
The point of my concern is the fact that we don’t have achievement standards for kids all along the way from grade 1 to grade 12. If a kid is not making progress along that continuum, the kid is not advanced to the next level. In the old days, we were concerned about being promoted to the next grade. I don’t know about kids today.
Whether you like WASL or not, our local school district should have promotion standards that establish respectable benchmarks that would prepare kids for life regardless of their career path. The responsibility of the School Board is to educate kids for life. It seems to me that we are more interested in providing the opportunity for education rather than achieving it.
Electives are great for a lot of kids, but basics are good for all kids. Core classes that cover science, English, math and social studies that give the average child the tools to figure out the world are the minimum.
For me, I see kids that cannot write well enough to describe why I should give them a job. In interviews I listen to kids that cannot tell me about what is happening in the world, how to solve a math problem or even rudimentary explanation for basic science questions. When I ask about level of education, they often reply with “I wasn’t required to learn that.”
My question to our school district leaders is this, “What standards do we set independent of WASL that insure that kids meet a local expectation of achievement?” If we set the bar high enough on a local level, who cares about the rest of the state? The debate about WASL takes too much energy from the district to be healthy. If we need to hold kids back in the fourth grade to get them on track, they will be better served than if we say that they would be too traumatized by being held back and just send them along knowing that they are not making necessary progress.
Our country does not demand educational excellence from our kids. Our state does not demand educational excellence from our kids. Currently our School District does not demand educational excellence from our kids. That disturbs me.
But, we can. If our local district takes the initiative to step up our standards we can meet the needs of our children. It will take effort, but what worthwhile goal doesn’t take extra effort?
I hope we have certain expectations for kids already. That could work as a framework for the future. If we think a kid needs to have exposure to some part of English curriculum every year, then make that a requirement through grade 12. Include a healthy dose of composition to help a kid communicate better. If I had to choose between literature and composition, I would favor composition. Half the English requirement would be in development of communication skills.
Social Studies curriculum includes history, geography, government and current affairs. Every year a child should be required to take full time classes in one of these areas.
Math knowledge today is shockingly absent, even for the bright kids. Calculators and computers today take all the thinking out of solving a math problem. But, solving problems using math as a tool still requires that a kid be able to think. If we determine that a kid needs to be able to implement math skills to solve real world situations, we get to incorporate both reasoning and knowledge of when and how to use particular buttons on the calculator to solve the problem we might be on the track. We need to teach kids at a young age how to do basic math and build on it every year to take into account that we don’t always have a machine to do the work for us.
Last but not least, Science. The quest for knowledge about why things are the way they are should be a lifelong journey. Our school system doesn’t motivate kids to ask “why” at an early age so some of them never do. They just accept the world as it is.
Science should be a part of every child’s education every year. If we can impress upon them the need to know why something is the way it is, they can have the knowledge to know what can be changed.
In summary, curriculum for every child, every year should include an English component, a Social Studies component, a Math component and a Science component. Then in order to round them out a little more, we should require some exposure to foreign language and art in some form. The kids should be required to meet benchmarks of achievement at places along the way to make sure they are making required progress and be held back if they are not.
The system needs to acknowledge that some kids are already behind and refocus efforts on them to help them get on track so they don’t end up casualties of neglect. We need to make it clear to parents that we are not hoping for excellence, we are demanding it and they have to play a part in their own kids success.
Posted on July 26, 2008 at 4:04 am in Schools - Education, Snohomish, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed
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No Loss for Words
Where is Hal Moe when you need him?
by Steve DanaAnother school year has been completed and we turned another batch of young people out to the world. The class of 2008 received their diplomas, but did they get the education they need to make it in the world.
There has been a lot said lately about the WASL testing program. I have never seen a “WASL” test, so I cannot comment about that specifically, but I do see young high school students in my business and I am no longer shocked, but seriously disappointed with the lack of education I see in them.
My comments are not meant to suggest that our local school district is failing all the kids, most of them are smart enough to succeed in spite of the system. When I interview current high school students and recent graduates for jobs, I review their applications and I talk to them. I don’t know much about them except what I see on paper and in conversation. If the educational level I see in these kids is representative of the other kids in this age group, they and we are all in trouble.
The point of my concern is the fact that we don’t have achievement standards for kids all along the way from grade 1 to grade 12. If a kid is not making progress along that continuum, the kid is not advanced to the next level. In the old days, we were concerned about being promoted to the next grade. I don’t know about kids today.
Whether you like WASL or not, our local school district should have promotion standards that establish respectable benchmarks that would prepare kids for life regardless of their career path. The responsibility of the School Board is to educate kids for life. It seems to me that we are more interested in providing the opportunity for education rather than achieving it.
Electives are great for a lot of kids, but basics are good for all kids. Core classes that cover science, English, math and social studies that give the average child the tools to figure out the world are the minimum.
For me, I see kids that cannot write well enough to describe why I should give them a job. In interviews I listen to kids that cannot tell me about what is happening in the world, how to solve a math problem or even rudimentary explanation for basic science questions. When I ask about level of education, they often reply with “I wasn’t required to learn that.”
My question to our school district leaders is this, “What standards do we set independent of WASL that insure that kids meet a local expectation of achievement?” If we set the bar high enough on a local level, who cares about the rest of the state? The debate about WASL takes too much energy from the district to be healthy. If we need to hold kids back in the fourth grade to get them on track, they will be better served than if we say that they would be too traumatized by being held back and just send them along knowing that they are not making necessary progress.
Our country does not demand educational excellence from our kids. Our state does not demand educational excellence from our kids. Currently our School District does not demand educational excellence from our kids. That disturbs me.
But, we can. If our local district takes the initiative to step up our standards we can meet the needs of our children. It will take effort, but what worthwhile goal doesn’t take extra effort?
I hope we have certain expectations for kids already. That could work as a framework for the future. If we think a kid needs to have exposure to some part of English curriculum every year, then make that a requirement through grade 12. Include a healthy dose of composition to help a kid communicate better. If I had to choose between literature and composition, I would favor composition. Half the English requirement would be in development of communication skills.
Social Studies curriculum includes history, geography, government and current affairs. Every year a child should be required to take full time classes in one of these areas.
Math knowledge today is shockingly absent, even for the bright kids. Calculators and computers today take all the thinking out of solving a math problem. But, solving problems using math as a tool still requires that a kid be able to think. If we determine that a kid needs to be able to implement math skills to solve real world situations, we get to incorporate both reasoning and knowledge of when and how to use particular buttons on the calculator to solve the problem we might be on the track. We need to teach kids at a young age how to do basic math and build on it every year to take into account that we don’t always have a machine to do the work for us.
Last but not least, Science. The quest for knowledge about why things are the way they are should be a lifelong journey. Our school system doesn’t motivate kids to ask “why” at an early age so some of them never do. They just accept the world as it is.
Science should be a part of every child’s education every year. If we can impress upon them the need to know why something is the way it is, they can have the knowledge to know what can be changed.
In summary, curriculum for every child, every year should include an English component, a Social Studies component, a Math component and a Science component. Then in order to round them out a little more, we should require some exposure to foreign language and art in some form. The kids should be required to meet benchmarks of achievement at places along the way to make sure they are making required progress and be held back if they are not.
The system needs to acknowledge that some kids are already behind and refocus efforts on them to help them get on track so they don’t end up casualties of neglect. We need to make it clear to parents that we are not hoping for excellence, we are demanding it and they have to play a part in their own kids success.
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Posted on July 26, 2008 at 4:04 am in Schools - Education, Snohomish, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed | Reply | Trackback URL