Paul Karrer teaches fifth grade in a high-needs school in Castroville, California. He writes for California newspapers, trying to bring a realistic perspective to education debates.
In this article, he calls out “reformers” for believing in magic and silver bullets.
He writes:
“Education reform (education deform) is doing kids, the profession, and the country short-term and long-term harm. Ed Reform Inc. “believes” in short fixes, silver bullets, the power of personal cult persuasion, mantras, and now the twin goddesses of all – technology and data.
“More than half of all children in United States now live in poverty (Washington Post/UNICEF). As someone who has taught in a financially-socially challenged district for many years I can attest to the overwhelming negative influences of poverty. They are both direct and indirect. What is now normal in many communities was not the norm too long ago. The influences are single parent families, multiple families living under one roof, incarcerated family members, under-employment, no employment, no history of employment, poor language skills, the culture of poverty, early birthing, poor neonatal care, high percentages of children with unbelievable disabilities, addictions, and GANGS, globalization, and the death of low-level jobs due to technology.
“These variables cannot be pooh-poohed. Absurd belief in words like GRIT and EVIDENCE and TESTING – currently trending by Ed Reform — simply cannot overcome the long list of negatives. But Ed Reform claims they do….
“I believe a needs formula is required in schools of poverty. We need to save those desperate kids. If a classroom has X amount of special ed kids, X amount of incarcerated relatives, scores X on reading or math, has more than X amount of people residing in one house (or room), more than X amount of kids on Section 8 housing, more than X amount of kids in Title 1 programs — it should trigger an automatic cut in class size. There should be no more than 15 kids in such a class. Free pre-school needs to be mandatory. Wrap-around social services (nurses, shrinks, dentists, COUNSELORS, librarians, parent training, parental language classes) have to kick in. And kids need the classic, realistic school philosophy of teach THE WHOLE STUDENT….
“Ed Reform’s solution is curriculum. Common Core will change it all, they declare. The curriculum is not the problem. But that is where the financial feed trough is these days. And even the biggest promoter of Common Core, Bill Gates himself, said, “It will take 10 – 15 years to see if this is successful.”
“How nice,” I say.
“And in the meantime Ed Reform gets to close public schools (Chicago, Louisiana) defraud the public with for-profit institutions (Corinthian/Heald), pay their owners huge obscene salaries, and they destroy public education with a thousand strokes.
“Funny thing about the Ed Reform group – they espouse so much in favor of big business, profits, monetizing, reducing costs. Except for their very own rock core belief in supply and demand.
“Supply and demand doesn’t pertain to teachers? Teachers apparently are supposed to work for a pittance. But if they are to be the solution, they need to be paid much better so as to attract more candidates to the field. But Ed Reform chokes there.
“Smaller class size is the beginning of a real solution. Put the money where it will do KIDS the most good.
“Oh yes, and have your kids opt out of testing — especially next year when it counts.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Supply and demand doesn’t pertain to teachers? Teachers apparently are supposed to work for a pittance. But if they are to be the solution, they need to be paid much better so as to attract more candidates to the field.”
Oh, they have that covered. That’s where “merit pay” comes in. Get a handful of Super Teachers who can handle hundreds of students, raise test scores and leap over tall buildings, pay those few stellar salaries and you’ll still save money getting rid of all of those entrenched, lazy, has-been LIFO lifers.
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Karrer’s suggestions are on the right track. We cannot ignore the issues of poverty. Paterson, NJ has tried using wrap around services in its priority schools, but the test scores gains have been uneven, and in some cases a loss. I think test scores are the wrong tool for assessing the efficacy of such programs. Perhaps graduation rates would be more useful, or even post high school training. I would like to see more opportunities for poor students to attend middle class schools. I know this has a remarkable impact for many students as it reduces isolation and marginalization; but it can be a logistical problem. There are no magic bullets to “fix” troubled schools. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/paterson/articles/student-test-scores-get-worse-at-patersons-six-p
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Although I agree with much of what Karrer says I fear that he has fallen for the smokescreen argument that the reformsters actually want to FIX schools.
They do not.
They do not care if the teaching profession is destroyed — a feature, not a bug, that frees up more money for them to pocket;
They do not care if the needs of children in poverty are met — they view anyone not in the .01% as a lazy failure at life, a ‘taker’ who adds nothing of value to the world and who does not deserve any form of government ‘handout’, including a free public education.
They do not want to fix schools because public schools are expensive and they have drained the profits from the housing industry, the banking industry, the tech industry, the healthcare industry, and the military industrial complex. Education is the last frontier to conquer re: profiteering.
Think about this, dear friends. We live in a time when shelter, food, and medical care are not considered basic human rights but rather a means of profiteering and creating/maintaining a stratified society.
Every day children are allowed to suffer and die for want of a cheap drug, an inexpensive series of prenatal clinic visits, or access to nutritious meals and a safe living environment. We live with that every day and allow it to not only continue but to increase every year.
We elect politicians who demonize the poor and dog whistle the worst of our past racist tendencies and violent natures and support a constant state of fear and loathing among the people.
Why would we assume that the people who are in charge care anything at all about anyone who is not one of them?
They don’t.
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Agreed completely. Look at what is happening in Pennsylvania where our new Governor who supports full and fair funding of the public schools and wants to raise the necessary monies by taxing the fracking which in Pennsylvania, unlike every other fracking state,is not taxed, faces determined opposition from the Republican legislature. The Republican rural majorities don’t see any benefit or moral obligation in educating our poor, they are elected by bigots who prefer home schooling for their children over public schools where they might become socialized and exposed to diversity, and they are holding the Governor’s budget hostage to so-called pension reform which will, actually, destroy the pension system and further deplete the ranks of those who will dedicate their lives to our noble profession. Reformers are for cyber charters, home schooling with the added benefit of a new laptop at taxpayer expense – they are not about fixing education.
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Think about the number of governors celebrating Robert’s decision allowing states not to expand Medicaid under the ACA. Moral leaders would try to do more for the uninsured. Scott is even trying to sue because Florida is feeling “extorted” to come up with an alternative to Medicaid expansion. Thousands of poor American adults and children have died due to lack of access to healthcare. http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance-in-us/
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Here are some examples of questions from an ACE test at a fundamentalist Christian school in Texas. There are 33 sample questions, discussion, and answers that require zero critical thinking skills. There is the absence of real planning and/or thinking when designing these questions. I would suppose every student gets an A+ since the answers are obvious. They take no more thinking than asking a child what he/she would choose for dinner…a rock, a piece of pizza, or a napkin. This is some seriously bizarre stuff. Most kids would know that these were “easy, fake, bonus, freebie” questions. And vouchers in some states pay for this.
http://www.alternet.org/belief/33-jaw-droppingly-stupid-multiple-choice-questions-christian-education-curriculum?sc=fb
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From your article: “In his 1979 book Rebirth of Our Nation….”
Nope, no dog whistle there. In case anyone’s still wondering whether or not these people really are racist.
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