Education System Reform
The United States Department of Education (ED) needs NOT to be eliminated, as some politicians want, but to have a major overhaul which would not only serve the poor better, but also save money for middle class taxpayers.
I agree to some extent with the Republicans about education reform, but not so much with ones who’d like to get rid of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in ED. Republicans such as Condoleezza Rice believe that the US Department of Education is not helping the poor to be better educated which I agree with. On the other hand I don’t agree with the Republicans who think that the top 1% wealthiest people in the United States pay their fair share of taxes. I think they do need to pay their fair share of taxes.
Before addressing how the Department of Education can serve everyone better let’s talk about OCR and about myself. I used to live in Oakland, CA and worked as a substitute teacher and for a couple of hacked up semesters, plus a summer semester, I was an Independent Studies Teacher. Then the bureaucracy and my inability to communicate with it caused me to leave. Over a dozen years after I left teaching, when passing through Berkeley I met with one of the teachers in that program. He had recommended me to the Principal at the Independent Studies Program for a newly funded position in the program. Suddenly I had found myself a full time contract teacher with double the salary plus benefits. I had an office where I saw students once a week and no classroom of 30 kids.
I admired this teacher not because he helped get this job but he was organized and good at his job. As we were talking over coffee all those years later I realized he was mad at me for leaving. As he was mad at me he said, if I remember correctly, that I was one of the best teachers in that program! Or maybe he said I was a very good teacher. On one hand he was giving me a high complement. I had considered myself to be good enough but certainly not that good. I knew the principle like the fact that I kept the student files up to date for the funding and audit purposes and I was never called in for a student or parent complaint, if there was any. But being very good was not something that I had heard or crossed my mind.
The way I approached teaching in that setting, which I thought was much better than a crowded classroom, was to, of course, first see where the student is at then cover teaching the minimal on each subject then take it to the next level. I covered English, History, Economics, Social Studies and even P.E. for high school kids. If the subject at hand was P.E., in that little office with no windows in a building with no yard, there was room to do a couple of jumping jacks if I felt it was needed and couple of basic arm, neck and shoulder stretches but mainly I’d make sure they’d know the basics about the physical condition of their being from nutrition to exercise. If it was about the US History I would want them to know the difference between Civil War and the Civil Rights Movements and when they took place as well as when the Revolutionary War took place and what’s the Independence Day is all about, especially if a 17 year old who had just been transferred to our program and needed only a history and a couple of other courses to graduate. I wanted to see the aha, the light bulb to turn on inside them as to recognize how long a century is compared to how long they had lived, if I felt that light bulb had not been turned on. I did my best not only to teach the basics but have them be interested in continuing to learn through life. All I was doing was to pass on what I was taught in my liberal arts education; Learning is a life time process. And you don’t have to go to a four year liberal art college to get that.
I loved that job. In retrospect it was the best job of my life. I never clearly communicated to my colleagues as to why I left and a short analysis of it is coming up but in short; It is what it is, sometimes simply Karma.
It was 25 years ago when OUSD hired me and on every given school day Oakland Public Schools was short about 60 teachers yet they lost me and I lost the opportunity to keep that job. Yes, Karma is real, as well as change in one’s destiny. Back then I hadn’t analyzed what had happened to me during my early and elementary education was complex trauma which had caused hidden handicap. I didn’t know I had Complex PTSD and how it had impacted many decisions in my life until COVID Pandemic, at 60.
For the past ten years I’ve been living in Oregon and have had difficulty keeping a steady job, on the other hand I really don’t have anything to complain about. I’ve been able to have a roof over my head and be okay. Even though Oregon is not much exposed to people of color and it’s a very white state where in 1844 they legislated some of the strictest and scariest laws prohibiting African-Americans to settle in the state and it wasn’t until 1926 that the last of those laws were taken down, I’ve been respected here. Even though I live in one of the most progressive towns in Oregon, Eugene, when I moved here I could feel, due to little exposure to people of color, how folks who recognize me as an immigrant and a person of color, were not quite sure how to start a conversation based on that. For example just recently, after ten years living here, in a conversation with a stranger within a few seconds she knew where I was born based on hearing my accent. She was right on and the way she approached the topic, she was neither offensive nor complementary. She had also moved from California.
It’s good to live in a democracy and in a town where people respect each other — as best as we can on a good day. On the other hand we have a housing problem here which partly relates to social structure and lack of well knit small communities. On my commute, I see mainly white poor folks with mental health problems living on and off the bike path, near the Amazon Creek and elsewhere in tents or simply a blanket. One reason for this is that the education system has failed them.
My question to OCR is this; What “form” a white person needs to file for being discriminated against in the school system to the point that they have become unhoused!?! I know, it’s a very odd and off the wall question. I would need OCR to hear me if I’m teaching in a mostly white school and a person of any race or ethnicity discriminates against me based on the color of my skin or cultural and religious upbringing. I’d like OCR to be there, on the side of justice. So I am for keeping the Department of Education and I’d like us all to do better to educate the next generation no matter what race or background.
In consideration of education reform would you agree that; Not all nine year old kids can or must read at the same level and all infants need to have good food and health care. My guess is that most people, if not everyone, will agree. Most people also know that the first three years of a child are the most formative years of his life.
Children up to the age of six and their parents need to have mental health support, including boosting self esteem to see their potential. They need at home and in community support before being sent off to book learning school. If they can’t get that help from their parents, grandparents and members of their immediate community then local, state and federal governments need to do their part respectively to help that child be supported in their formative years.
If I wasn’t forced to choose at an early age to either become a doctor, an engineer or another secure job which, unfortunately, I ended up rebelling against, it would have been different. At the same time from personal experience I also have this to say: Liberal Arts education is for people who can easily afford it without any student loans. Liberal Arts education was highly promoted for the past 50 years, perhaps mainly by ‘liberals’. Not all creative people who need to pay rent and have zero promise of generational wealth should go to liberal arts schools. They do need to learn that learning is a lifelong process and going to a four year liberal arts college will not necessarily make them feel fulfilled.
Most importantly young folks from an early age need to be taught that people need housing, food and a well knit community more than a better GDP, especially when that wealth doesn’t trickle down. They need to have some knowledge of how to grow food in a small space with the help of neighbors. Kids at an early age can start thinking about how to govern their communities or even how to design and build live, work and play structures. Going to college to have a career which would give money, prestige and fame is not the main reason to live but we need to know how to have fulfilling ways to spend our days and rely on the income we generate from our efforts.
One model of education will not fit all cultures and economic backgrounds around the globe and not even in North America. But most children around the world want to play and simply burn energy and not be forced to sit in a classroom for several periods a day. Some kids may desire to do things that adults call work and make things with their hands from a very early age. Let’s not call that child labor. I’m not saying that laws against forced child labor should be eliminated. Let’s work on finding a balance.
When kids reach age 13, 14 and up they are better able to sit in a classroom and learn. When a kid is ready to learn to read she can do it in a classroom or at home with a book or a tablet at the age she is ready to learn. The moment for her when she gets interested in learning to read may be at age six or 10 or even 12. Give the kids the freedom to learn when they are ready and want to learn. Let’s put the money for book learning and trade skills in high school. As most people know, it’s important to teach kids not only math, science, literature and arts in high school but also skills such as plumbing, electrical, carpentry, home building, small scale farming and community building.
For kids around the ages of six to 13 let’s have a Division of Play within ED! Yes, some kids want to play all the time if they are not sleeping from exhaustion. So let’s set up more playgrounds in communities and professionals paid by ED to supervise and teach creative ways to play and finding new and community building games to play — and sports as well. If kids in that age range are interested in learning science or other topics they are available on line and by adults in their communities and they join higher education at an early age.
The US Departments of Education can be divided into three parts:
- Early education & parent education (from infant to around age 6)
- Mid level education (ages around 6 to 13) run by ED’s Division of Play
- Higher education and trade skills education (about age of 13 and up)
