I'm a bitter, burnt-out veteran of thirteen years teaching in the public schools who has a passionate desire to do one thing with my students: make them better than they were when they walked in. I have taught in a rural school and an urban school. I have taught history, literature for reluctant readers, special education and, yes, Algebra. I used to coach but I saved my interest in pornography for home where I can look at grown-ups on the internet.
I voted "go away" before I read any of the comments. I read the diary and was gripped by The Fear: People want the schools to solve a current events problem and, since everyone who has ever gone to school is qualified to address education issues, people will write about what "they" ought to do.
I'm going to do some teaching here. Some of what you're going to read might seem self-evident (Who's heard of that phrase? Anyone? Anyone?) or you know it already but I've got to do what good teachers do and that's make sure I take into account those who don't already know these things.
There are going to be exceptions to the following but they are just that: exceptions. Please recognize that before arguing.
- Public education is political. The United States wants something. Your State wants something. In some places, County and Municipal governments want something (real estate prices are heavily impacted by perceptions of the local schools). Your local school board wants something. All of these are political and the people involved are politicians.
- No Child Left Behind is all about Standards. Politicians vote Standards into being. Standards are adopted so that success fulfilling those Standards can be measured. These measurements (scores on standardized tests) are recorded and published. Records are kept of scores so that progress, or lack thereof, is evaluated.
- Less publicized but still understood: The American public high school exists to prepare students to go to college. A high school's prestige comes from what percentage of its students are preparing for college and how they are doing it (Advanced Placement, Honors classes, SAT or ACT scores and so on). Prestige is also gained by extracurricular activities offered by the high school that impact going to college (Model United Nations, Award-winning Performing Arts, successful interscholastic sports teams and so on).
- The entire structure of an American public high school is built around raising scores and sending a high percentage of graduates to college. Administrators gain status for working at a successful high school. Guidance Counselors gain status for placing students at particular, high-prestige colleges. Teaching advanced courses is often a measure of a teacher's status, longevity or lack of a competitor when it comes to necessary certification.
- Funding for classes that are not college preparatory or Standards scored have been consistently cut since the publishing of the 1983 report: A Nation At Risk. These classes include industrial education, home economics, agriculture, accounting and business math, typing or keyboarding, art, music and theater arts. In many high schools, the existence of any of the arts is a product of outside fundraising rather than budgetary funding.
- The remedial function of education has been shifted down to the middle school level. If remedial classes exist at a high school, they exist to aid students to pass classes in the established college preparatory program. Since the primary requirement for admittance to a two-year community college is a high school diploma, high school students who need remedial classes in order to just pass classes and receive a diploma are still considered to be preparing for college.
- An average, four-year high school will have significantly larger ninth- and tenth-grade populations than the graduating twelfth-grade class. At first, this represents students who have entered the high school but did not earn enough credits to advance a grade level. Eventually, it is representative of how many students have dropped out of school. Estimates fluctuate between twelve and fifty percent.
- A majority of American public high schools require both a Government (Civics) class and an Economics class to graduate because four-year universities require them for admission. Both of these classes are considered to be "social sciences" and are therefore taught by a credentialed Social Science teacher. These classes tend to be twelfth-grade classes.
- A majority of American public high schools have adopted requirements for graduation that include three years of math because four-year universities require a minimum of three years of math. For a truly college-bound student, this would encompass Algebra-Geometry-Algebra II, plus an optional and often recommended fourth year. This sequence will change in the next few years (see 10) as Algebra becomes fully an eighth-grade class. For other students, the three years of math often include a pre-Algebra class, Algebra and Geometry. In some states, Algebra and Geometry are joined by some form of "Consumer Math."
- Nationwide, Algebra has been steadily shifted down into the eighth-grade. A correlation was found in the 1980s that indicated that for university-bound students, those taking advanced placement or honors or advanced-level math and science classes, these students took Algebra earlier than what was considered "average." Though correlation does not mean causation, Algebra has become an indicator. Recently, the federal Department of Education held a financial gun to the head of the California Department of Education and forced it to adopt a program that will require all eighth-grade students to be tested in Algebra within the next three years. California already has adopted Algebra as its Standard eighth-grade class but allowed school districts to test eighth-grade students not ready for Algebra in "general math;" in most cases, "general math" is indistinguishable from a second year of seventh-grade pre-Algebra. It can be fairly assumed that Algebra as an eighth-grade class will be adopted nationwide as a Standard.
Now that I've said all that, allow me to somewhat-randomly respond to posts at the other diary:
Economics in practically all State curriculae is considered to be a Social Science class, not a math class.
Partnerships for teaching practical economics are discouraged at the State level by demands that the outside teachers be properly certificated (and thus pay a fee to the State) and have background checks beginning with fingerprinting. Outside educators also have to have proof of inoculations, particularly for tetanus and hepatitis.
Coaches are certificated professional teachers. If they teach Physical Education, they are college graduates who have completed a course of study that allow them to teach. The same is true for coaches who teach in other departments. There is no correlation between poor teaching, coaching and what department teachers teach in. Excellent educators are found in all departments just as much as poor educators. The existence of a poor educator on any staff is the fault of the evaluating administrator.
In most States, high school-level math teaching requires more than an education college major or math minor. Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II, Trigonometry (now fused into Geometry in California), pre-Calculus and Calculus teaching requires a math major. This is why math teachers are chronically in short supply; financial opportunities for math majors often prohibit even consideration of a career in public school education. That said, high school math departments resist adopting "consumer math" classes because they strain personnel resources.
Consumer math courses are "waived" for advanced-math students in order for those students to pursue their college-preparatory plan. College acceptance and entrance is the priority.
Most high schools concentrate computers in computer labs. A required consumer math course would put constraints on other classes' and departments' usage of these labs for college-preparatory work.
Having truly comprehensive required Consumer Math courses would open political, social and religious questions. Underrepresented viewpoints will accuse the schools of indoctrination. Curriculum questions will arise such as whether joining a union is something to encourage. Should the woman in a traditional marriage have her own bank account and credit?
Teaching Consumer Math requires specialization to be effective and credible. Experts in the field aren't necessarily good teachers and good teachers don't necessarily have the expertise. A Hall of Fame baseball player is not necessarily good manager material if he can't teach what he does naturally any more than a former POW is an expert on diplomacy.
Again, education is political. If you want to address the current economic disaster in this country through the schools, then you must get the politicians to address what our schools are for. I think another of the many political "third rails" is the idea that all students are not college-bound, that some will only get through high school and that the current organization of education virtually assures that some students will fail often enough to convince them to drop out.
And don't pull the Obama card on me. McCain is a damn fool and I'm going to vote for Obama. But I still want to know how he thinks "good teachers" will be determined for merit pay. Scores? I'm a damn good teacher and because I am, administrators routinely place the hardcases in my classes, so don't judge me on scores.