THE DIARY OF A
MAD PUBLIC
SCHOOL TEACHER
DAVID A. HANCOCK MA
Copyright © 2017 by David A. Hancock MA.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017910954
ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-5434-3641-9
Softcover 978-1-5434-3640-2
eBook 978-1-5434-3639-6
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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Rev. date: 07/20/2017
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Contents
Teaching Philosophy And Style
Introduction
American Students Can Hold Their Own With The Japanese
Politicians, Money Can’t Make Bored Kids Learn
George W. Bush Is No “Education” President
Science Teacher Free To Experiment With Ideas
Republicans Prove Point
Stimulating Reproach
Medicate To Educate
Brain Drugs Hazardous
Teachers Can’t Educate Kids Who Refuse To Learn
Improving Instruction Isn’t Enough
Students Need More Than Miracles
Opposite Of Progress
Conflicting Priorities
American Public Schools Dehumanize, Inhibit Kids
Letters To The Editor Superintendent Excels
Teachers Teach Kids—Administrators Don’t
Schools Become Prisons, But Learning Not Priority
Teachers Shun Public Schools
A Last Word On Reform? Don’t Bet On It
Can’t Predict Success
Letters Homework’s Problem
The Book That Ignited The Great Homework Debate: The End Of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, And Limits Learning
Letters Teachers’ Boycotts Might End Proficiency Testing
Education Spending On Decline
Blame Students, Not Teachers, For Low Scores
Tests That Fail Schools And Students
Testing For Humanity
If We Had Proficiencies In Phys-Ed, Youth Will Fail
Letters Computers In Classroom Not Answer To Education
Even Einstein Couldn’t Fix State Science Test Woes
Public Schools Mission: Serve All, Not Chosen Few
Sports Fans Pay, Taxpayers Don’t
Bus Parents Too
Letters To The Editor Schools Reflect Society
Write On Preschool Levies
Write On
Noblest Of Professions
Write On Homeschooling Advantages
The Plain Dealer: Letter To The Editor
It’s Up To You
Outside “Experts” Know Nothing About Education
Students Must Be Responsible
Poor Expectations Explain A Lot
Behavior Shows What Kids Learn At Home, Not School
Teachers Should Teach, Not Be Social Workers
The Brain Behind Bush’s Speeches Is Not His Own
Students, Not Teachers, Hold Key To Learning Process
Back-To-School Terror
It’s That Time Of Year
Minority Achievement Must Be Studied Locally
Answers Aren’t So Good
Kids Who Choose Not To Learn May Have Right Idea
Teacher Says Many Of His Students Learn And Excel
Leave No Child Behind
School-Funding Reality
Look Around: Money Can’t Buy Happiness
Machiavellian Duplicity
Letters To The Editor Fallacies Of Negotiation
Mysteries Of Sexuality
Peace
Usa Has Had Addiction To War From Its First Days
Oppressive Tendencies
Letters To The Editor Goodness, Righteousness
Letters To The Editor Iraq “Experts” Exposed
Common Sense On Hiatus
Political Priorities
Letters To The Editor Voting Is Just A Game
Thoughts About Destiny
Politicians And Diapers
Laughter Happens Too
Faith Needs No Proof
Warning. Warning, Warning
A City Says No To Drones
Of Religion And War
Watch For False Alternatives
Delusions Deserve Scorn
Football Proficiency Law
Letters To The Editor Wit And Wisdom To Ponder
Final Reflections
The Panacea
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Further Reading List
Endnotes
I dedicate this collection of letters to the editor to all the students of my teaching and counseling practices as well as to those who are just beginning with their career in teaching and education.
This book is also dedicated to my twenty-thousand-plus students and my inspiring favorite high school teachers—Nancy Lansdowne Knowlton (English) and Hal Burbach (biology/zoology).
A Gadfly Teacher Monologues
Hancock completed his student teaching in biology at his alma mater in 1968 (a very enlightening experience).
Hancock was also a student in Burbach’s health education class at Kent State University (1966–67).
Nancy and Hal proved Henry Adams, who said, “A teacher affects eternity - You can never tell where his/her influence stops.”
Book Title Ideas
White Teacher—Black Students Diabolical
(Letters from an ADHD Mad Public School Teacher)
(Being a White Face in a Black Place)
—Sundry—
Sardonic
Oracular
Satirical
Commentaries
Irascible
Bemused
Reflections
VIPS
Views
Insights
Perspectives
Irascible
This book is about being a white male teacher in a school of black students with many itinerant students.
DAVID A. HANCOCK, MA
Howland High School Warren, Ohio (1964)
BS Education, biological science / life science 7–12
Health Education 7–12, Kent State University (1968)
MA, John Carroll University (1988)
Educational psychology, school counseling, science education, and professional teaching (1974)
Teacher 7–12—biology, life science, nature study, health; Cleveland Heights-University Heights public schools (1969–2003)
Adjunct professor: education / educational psychology / student-teacher college supervisor / mentor, professional development seminars
Lakeland Community College (1982–1903); Kirtland, Ohio
John Carroll University (1974–1988)
Baldwin Wallace University (2000–2005)
Notre Dame College (2006–2013); South Euclid, Ohio
Lake Erie College (’04, ’05, ’06); Painesville, Ohio
Brandeis University (1989, 1990, 1995); Waltham, Massachusetts
Awards
Favorite Teachers / TV-8 Teachers of the Week / Funniest Teacher / Most Influential Teacher
Several of Mr. Hancock’s students are doctors, nurses, and teachers. One of Mr. Hancock’s students performed gallbladder surgery (anesthesiologist), which reminded him of Henry Adams.
A teacher affects eternity—you can never tell where his/her influence stops.
Teaching Philosophy and Style
After thirty-five years of multicultural-classroom teaching experience, I have learned that “we are what we teach.” Teaching is a twenty-four-hour-a-day position. We are not teachers just for the time we spend in the classroom or just for the days we spend in school. We are teachers after school, on weekends, and throughout our lives. I entered this profession willingly because I believe in education, and I believe in children, and I believe in the future in which those children will be a part of. If we project that belief in our personal lives, our students cannot help but learn that lesson well. Each of us has within that spark of compassion and concern and love that drove us into teaching in the first place. Each of us can fan that spark into a flame that will warm our classrooms and nurture our students now and in the future.
Also, for me, the hope lies in teaching itself—the hard work requiring ingenuity, patience, and a focus on what is effective with students. At its core, it is not mechanical or technological. I have always thought of myself as a teacher/counselor the way other people think of themselves as gardeners, painters, composers, and poets. I am a craftsperson of learning, working to refine what I do with students for success. I do my best to model my teaching philosophy and style to reflect the writings of William Glasser, Howard Gardner, Herbert Kohl, Neil Postman, Judith Carducci, John Dewey, John Holt, and Charles Silberman.
I constantly keep in mind the indelible words of William Arthur Ward, “The mediocre teacher tells, the
