And one more thing, I’m happy that my parents did not choose to homeschool me academically. However, they did homeschool me in morals, values, ethics, Eagle Scouts, travel experiences, etc. They believed what Mark Twain said: “The greatness of the nation is in public schools.”
In order to gain a full education, students need to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints and educational ideas, not just those of their erudite parents! Case closed! If you are convinced homeschooling is best, check out the following: ActiveParenting.com, Common Sense Parenting at BoysTownPress.org, HomeSchoolingParent.com, The Hurried Child by David Elkind, and Allow Your Children to Fail If You Want Them to Succeed by Avril Beckford.
Respectfully,
David A. Hancock
Chester resident
THE PLAIN DEALER: LETTER TO THE EDITOR
TOO MANY ADMINISTRATORS AND NOT ENOUGH TEACHERS
I really had to chuckle when I read the editorial, “Grading New Teachers” (PD May 22, 2000). The question asked was, “What do supervisors—principals and superintendents—say about their teaching skills?” It needs to be pointed out that administrators in general do not have many years of classroom experience. During my thirty-two years of classroom teaching experience, I have only known one administrator with more than five years of classroom teaching experience. Most administrators (most will not admit it) who were fortunate enough with connections—and known as the sycophants—could not wait to escape the classroom.
In 1960, classroom teachers made up two-thirds of the full-time staff of American schools. By 1991, classroom teachers barely made up half of the full-time employees of American education; nonteaching staff had risen from 25 percent to 47 percent in three decades. Between 1960 and 1984 (A Nation at Risk alarm, remember?), local school districts increased their spending on administration and other nonteaching functions by 107 percent after inflation—a rate almost twice the increase in per pupil instructional expenses. During the same period, the proportion of money spent on teachers’ salaries in elementary and secondary education fell from more than 56 percent to less than 41 percent, according to a fact sheet from Education Digest.
A remarkable number of people are being added to the payrolls of public education, none of whom have anything to do with teaching students in the regular classroom. They are guidance counselors, curriculum specialists, psychologists, deputy superintendents, assistant / associate superintendents, coordinators, in-service staff, professional development personnel, etc.
The eminent lawyer Gerry Spence refers to these individuals as the “miscreants of the corporate oligarchy.” This scenario also infers the pernicious-elitism factor. There are many examples of public school systems that double central administration when the number of students decreases.
I have found it to be very interesting to observe that once these people go from the classroom to administration, they tend to become idealistic bosses with the elitist halo-effect behavior. If we could read their minds, it would be similar to, God, I’m so happy and grateful that I am not in a classroom trying to manage twenty-five students. Many just peek in by the door for a few seconds.
Despite all this nonsensical nonsense, education bureaucrats have continued to relentlessly push for increases in the missions of the schools—expansions that would result in further escalation of noninstructional hiring and spending. I have observed this many times during my thirty-two years of classroom teaching experience—certified classroom teachers being appointed to nonclassroom positions. Personally, I think that noncertified personnel (staff assistants) could be placed in these positions. It would definitely save a copious amount of money.
I think Lee Iacocca said it best when he said, “In a perfect world, teachers would be paid the most, and everyone else would be paid less.”
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
It’s Up to You
Personal responsibility is out of fashion these days, but in Shaker Heights, it’s imperative that African-American students revive it in the district’s quest to raise the achievements of its minority population.
Last week, a subcommittee of Project Achieve released a list of sixteen suggestions on how to raise the achievement levels of minority students. It follows on the heels of the controversial article in the Shakerite, the student newspaper at Shaker Heights High School, that claimed that African-American students weren’t achieving as well as their white counterparts.
Raising the achievement scores will require the district to refine its teaching methods, offer remedial work, and encourage minority students to take more advanced-placement classes. It will require it to encourage minority students to be all they can be.
But it will also require cooperation of the students and their parents. Too many students admit that grades take a back seat to socializing. Too many said they didn’t aim for honors classes because those classes were predominantly white. If so, they are only sabotaging themselves.
African-American students have an opportunity to show the district, the city, and the nation just what they can do.
The Shaker schools are excellent. Students are fortunate to be there. Teachers are dedicated. Classrooms are well equipped. All the African-American programs, Black History programs, and other extracurricular events may bolster black pride, but they won’t bolster grade-point average. Only students, teachers, parents, and administrators, working together, can do that by taking academics seriously.
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
Outside “Experts” Know Nothing About Education
To the editor:
It’s that time of the year again. Time for all the demagoguery about public school proficiency tests and education standards from the standardistos (media, pundits, politicians, corporate leaders) who are gushing forth from state boards of education.
Most of this nonsense has a lot in common with septic tanks, says Susan Ohanian in her enlightening book One Size Fits Few: The Folly of Educational Standards.
Ohanian points out several sanctimonious examples of obfuscations about the invasion of almost-unattainable education expectations and standards.
It’s really getting bad in Atlanta were (stuporintendent?) Superintendent of Schools Benjamin O. Canada defends the elimination of recess because “we are intent on improving academic performance. You don’t do that by having kids hanging on monkey bars.”
Ohanian responds, “This is monkey business. Treating a kindergartener like a robot or Wall Street broker-in-training cannot help.”
For us classroom teachers today, standards are pretty low on the
