Wednesday, February 26, 2014
To Andrew Cuomo
To: Andrew Cuomo, Governor, New York
From: the Labor
Re: Efforts and Results
Date: February 26th, 2014
-------------------------------------------------------
To Andrew Cuomo
You lord about in limousines
As you had done before.
And then you bellow, bellicose,
Demanding more and more.
You dance around with denizens
Of regions that are tony.
You coddle them and bully us
With “reasons” that are phony.
Oh step out of your limousine
And fancy tie and suit.
Come shovel muck like workers do,
In dollars’ grim pursuit.
Oh Andrew, leave the Kennedys
For dinner at our “diner”.
Come eat it standing on the street,
And do not be a whiner.
An office? Tie it on your back
Or cart it on a wheeler.
A desk? A phone? Remember, you’re
No more a wheeler-dealer!
Give up on sleep, oh Andrew, and
Work night and day – and harder.
And then perhaps you’ll understand
The viewpoint of a worker.
And when you’ve slaved enough, you’ll find
In your mailbox, see – a letter.
“Trying is nice, efforts are nice,
But results, oh slave, are better.”
And when you're fired, you could throw
Another temper-tantrum.
But you're no longer money's boy.
So try another mantram!
2014 February 26th, Wed.
Brooklyn, New York
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/nyregion/new-york-officials-stall-plans-to-tweak-teacher-evaluations.html
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Re: Work in the name of love
Re: Work in the name of love
Thanks, Steve. I read the article (at the link at the bottom). It is definitely worth reading.
While it is of course true that it is desirable to find a livelihood that gives one some enjoyment and satisfaction, the sad truth is that, in the setups that prevail in most economies the world over, most of us -- indeed, the overwhelming majority -- have to labor at jobs or in enterprises that offer little of either.
Given this fact, it is important that those who work have some collective power to influence the conditions under which they work, to limit the amount and pace of the work that they do and to ensure that the compensation they get is fair and something they can survive upon. (The word "survive" may be argued about. I suppose the best way to understand it is to imagine oneself and one's family in the worker's place.)
When this collective power is achieved, workers then have the leisure to attend to their responsibilities to self, family, friends and the wider community, and to explore and indulge in activities that are more fulfilling.
This also provides those who work the chance to do their jobs well, attending to details, paying attention to beings and their needs, and being creative, rather than doing things in a rush, cursorily or "by the rules". This gives them some measure of enjoyment and satisfaction in the work that takes up a major part of their lives on our planet.
Unfortunately, we see that workers have, all over the world, grown increasingly disempowered. Here in this country, over the last three to four decades, the amount of work each (average) worker does has expanded, and the pace of work has correspondingly increased. Work is carried over, in many cases, into after-job-hours, being basically work done out of obligation or pressure, for free.
Slogans that sound appealing, such as the one this author discussed, have only furthered this disempowerment.
It is the focus on the individual to the exclusion of the collective, which is the bigger picture, that lies at the root of this. Those who are focused only on themselves may still thrive in such an environment, because they feel little obligation towards others, especially the ones that need the most help -- such as elders, the disabled, the ailing and children -- and so do the minimum, efficiently, by the rules, making sure they look good and rise up. They may even have more than enough leisure for other things. Those with a conscience or those who by habit attend to details suffer most.
In all things, there is a balance. It seems to me that the balance has shifted in a direction that has been atomizing our societies and even our families, putting impossible pressures on some individuals while allowing others to avoid their basic responsibilities. I do not think that this is a prescription for the long term survival or well-being of our species, let alone of other species on this planet.
I recommend this article (reachable via the link below your note) to others. There are insights and facts there that I have not gone into in my long preamble above. While both the author and I have had this country primarily in mind, the situation in other countries should not be ignored. The author does draw some attention to that. Those in academics might also find this article relevant.
-- Arjun
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Brown <>
To: sjanah <>
Sent: Sat, Feb 1, 2014 9:53 am
Subject: Work in the name of love
From: Steve Brown <>
To: sjanah <>
Sent: Sat, Feb 1, 2014 9:53 am
Subject: Work in the name of love
Sunday, September 29, 2013
A retired teacher on fads (Washington Post)
Dear Steve,
Thanks for
this. Given the distractions that teachers and their students face, both
those that come from students who misbehave, perhaps because they know
no better, and from adults (like superintendent Sherman) who should know
better but do even worse than those students, it is a miracle that
teaching and learning continue in many of our classrooms -- or at home,
where more distractions abound.
What keeps teachers going? For many high school regular ed. teachers, Patrick Welsh, the author of the Washington Post article you forwarded to me, sums it up.
What keeps teachers going? For many high school regular ed. teachers, Patrick Welsh, the author of the Washington Post article you forwarded to me, sums it up.
A passion for communicating one’s subject matter to the next generation isn’t among the 74 items on Alexandria’s Curriculum Implementation Walk-Through Data Collection list, which Sherman, who left Alexandria schools last month, used to evaluate faculty. But it’s what all great teachers have in abundance. And it’s what will keep them going when the next wave of reforms comes rolling through.
But then, he taught for over forty years. So he must be yet another know-nothing, as per Bloomberg, Klein, Rhee, Duncan et al.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/four-decades-of-failed-school-reform/2013/09/27/dc9f2f34-2561-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html
Note added:
I only take issue with the adjective "great". The mythologies surrounding the "great teacher" are counterparts of that surrounding the "bad teacher". There has been as much time wasted and chaos sown searching for the former as there has been in attempting to weed out the latter. Central to all of this is the idea that the "bad teachers" are the problem. This assumption has never been challenged publicly by our teachers' unions, working with parents to draw attention to the real problems that plague the schools.
Those of us who have taught for a while in different circumstances have learned humility. Our performance has varied widely, depending on a host of circumstances, which include:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/four-decades-of-failed-school-reform/2013/09/27/dc9f2f34-2561-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html
Note added:
I only take issue with the adjective "great". The mythologies surrounding the "great teacher" are counterparts of that surrounding the "bad teacher". There has been as much time wasted and chaos sown searching for the former as there has been in attempting to weed out the latter. Central to all of this is the idea that the "bad teachers" are the problem. This assumption has never been challenged publicly by our teachers' unions, working with parents to draw attention to the real problems that plague the schools.
Those of us who have taught for a while in different circumstances have learned humility. Our performance has varied widely, depending on a host of circumstances, which include:
- the subjects and levels taught (often far from that for which we were certified);
- the student body -- with all its varied strengths and deficiencies, including many with zero knowledge of English in language-intensive classes;
- our administrators and the policies that were rammed through, often punitively, that we had to accommodate to varying degrees;
- the time available to teach the content;
- even the number and type of rooms we taught in -- often on different floors;
- the resources available (including appropriate textbooks, review books, a sizable chalk or white-board , this being a threatened commodity in many schools of late, and the machines to print out the handouts that so many of us have to painfully create and self-publish, continually reworking them over the years, as what is available fails to meet the ever-changing needs of our students);
- and our own personal lives, including caring for family members and being short of sleep -- the quantity and quality of sleep being, in my experience, often a better determinant of how the school day goes than any amount of lesson planning, matched only by the resources available.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
On Discipline
On Discipline
Hello Vonny,
Thanks for reading my stuff, for replying and for your comments, which are of course valid. Let me explain why I did not explicitly list and discuss discipline.
I mentioned, in my sending, that the the reasons for the twin tragedies in K-12 education include:
(1) social problems;
(2) structural problems.
(Blog readers: Please see the post, The Two Tragedies of K-12 Education and their Causes , which is at:
http://subject-teacher.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-two-tragedies-of-k-12-education-and.html . )
I then went on to say that I would address, in that sending, only the structural problems.
I did this because to attempt to address the social problems would have taken too long and would have diverted attention from the structural problems. I personally think that the social problems are the hardest to deal with, and the primary reason why schools are failing. But the structural problems also have to be addressed. It is like a car -- it won't run without tires -- but you also need gas in the tank.
Social and structural problems cannot be completely separated. But we may do so for purposes of analysis. It is like the human (animal) body -- the organ systems are ways in which we artificially divide up the complexity. Although one cannot really separate organ systems in practice, either anatomically or physiologically, they are useful conceptual divisions, with a lot of accumulated knowledge organized around them. They are useful for physicians, as well as for patients and their relatives.
The conceptual division of the complexity of the vertebrate body into organ systems is also useful for students learning biology. Indeed, especially given that textbooks still organize much of their material around this, I would venture that it is essential. But this is a point completely lost on the designers of the "Living Environment" curriculum that has replaced the traditional Regents Biology one in New York State, with organ systems almost completely stripped out of the syllabus -- along with much else.
Now there's a structural problem in K-12 education, festering now for more than a decade, with no resolution, or even acknowledgement, in sight! (This is not to say that the prior syllabus was optimal, especially given the impossibly tight time-allotments for science in this country.) Similar situations may be found in mathematics curricula and elsewhere.
I left out discipline (although it comes under the purview of focus, as lack of discipline dissipates focus) because I could not begin to address it without bringing in the social problems. And in this country, this issue is tied up with issues of race and class (although the issue cuts across all these boundaries) and one cannot talk sensibly about it without running into all manner of defensive reactions and arguments without end.
That said, one has also to address the social problems -- and discipline belongs more squarely in that discussion.
I had mentioned the primacy of informal education -- which included not only the first spoken language, which all of us appear mercifully to master unless we have severe problems -- but also, as I mentioned, ethical understanding. In this area, many of our students appear to be lacking -- or operating from a different set of ethical principles than, say, I do -- based more on satisfying the immediate or apparent needs of the self, with little regard for the rights of others or for one's own responsibilities.
When ethical understanding is present, one can appeal to it -- a mere momentary pause or a gentle look suffices. When it is absent or perverted, discipline has to be enforced, ultimately by intimidation. And this is a losing battle, with the teacher placed in a most unfortunate position.
The Two Tragedies of K-12 Education and their Causes
The Two Tragedies of K-12 Education and their Causes
K-12 education in this country has long been a war zone. This has produced two ongoing tragedies. Firstly, too many students, especially in "troubled" school districts and schools, do not get a formal education that prepares them for survival, college and citizenship. Secondly, too many teachers, along with their students, become either collateral damage or intentional targets in the ongoing war.
The reasons for this include:
1) social problems, with historical and economic roots, that enter into the classrooms and make teaching and learning almost impossible;
2) structural problems that have been neglected as waves of "reforms" have created chaos and stupefaction.
I will (begin to) address here only the structural problems.
Formal education is not a replacement for informal education (which includes the acquisition of the first spoken language and ethical understanding). It is on this informal education that all else is based.
That said, formal education, though limited in scope, provides the student with access to the skills and knowledge -- and hopefully the wisdom -- that have been acquired by our species and have been formalized into disciplines. For academic subjects, the three R's are the entry points into those vast and expanding reservoirs.
A beginning point for understanding the commonsense needs of formal education may be found at
On Teaching
http://subject-teacher.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-teaching.html
Please see, in particular, the "Note added", which lists some starting requirements.
But there are also other issues, including those of:
respect;
purpose;
choice;
sequence;
focus;
success;
time and pacing;
familiarization and habituation;
feedback and correction;
exploration;
application.
This is not yet one more inane list of items that teachers have to try to incorporate into their lessons. It is a partial list of basic, commonsense requirements that have long been recognized, by humans all over the planet, as needed for formal education in structured, sequential disciplines. In academic areas, these clearly include mathematics and many of the sciences. But there are many other fields in which the listed principles are applicable to some degree. That said, there may be others in which they are of far less importance.
The purpose of this listing is not to impose these things on teachers, who may or may not find them of direct use in their work, but rather to draw attention to them and to provide a formal basis for advance for those teachers who do find these things to be useful.
More attention to these issues would make work (and so also life) easier and more meaningful for sincere students and teachers of formal, structured disciplines. Many teachers have always recognized these requirements and tried to implement them. But they have been increasingly dis-empowered and forced to do this surreptitiously. It is time that those who wield power in K-12 education in this country acknowledge these issues. This will not happen by itself. Collective pressure from parents and teachers will be needed.
I will try to delve into these issues, in outline and in detail, later. I have not listed them in any particular order of priority, except for the first three items. These first three are meta-educational -- but, without them, all the rest is meaningless. Also, the last two items are not afterthoughts. They are essential -- but room needs to be made for them, without sacrificing or compromising the rest. This is not the teacher's job, primarily -- it is the job of those who design curricula.
Finally, this emphasis on structure should not be taken to be an emphasis on rigidity. Learning and teaching are joys as well as labors. They are fluid in their very essence. And that is what gives them their power. If one were to free these processes from the constraints that have been put on them by various rigid methodologies, students and teachers could focus instead on learning and teaching, firstly as instinctive, joyful endeavors, but secondly, also as part of valuable heritages that should not be discarded.
They might then experience some degree of liberation. They might also then have a chance to rediscover, rather naturally, these traditional requirements of the structured disciplines, if their learning and teaching involves these.
Fraternally,
Arjun (Janah) < sjanah@aol.com >
Friday, September 20, 2013
On Teaching
On Teaching
-----Original Message-----
From: Arjun Janah <sjanah@aol.com>
To: ken
Sent: Fri, Sep 20, 2013 9:01 pm
Subject: Re: Syria
From: Arjun Janah <sjanah@aol.com>
To: ken
Sent: Fri, Sep 20, 2013 9:01 pm
Subject: Re: Syria
Dear Ken,
Thanks for asking. Teaching, like learning, is a joy as well as a pleasant, though often arduous, labor. It is part of our biological heritage, shared with many other animals, but especially highly developed in us. There is an instinct to teach as well as to learn, and it is commingled with parental and altruistic instincts. So most members of our species are both good at it and enjoy it. It requires no specialized training. Mothers teach their children, and siblings teach each other, instinctively and well. (But please do see the "Added Note" below.)
So these intrinsic rewards persist. However, the situations in the schools, which are education factories, here and elsewhere, in the past and in the present, rarely are and rarely have been the best of environments for teaching and learning. That said, public education lies at the heart of much of whatever success this country and others have had in bringing the gifts of formal education to the masses. It should be noted that formal education is by its nature limited in scope, being complementary to and dependent on informal education. This latter includes the acquisition of the first spoken language and ethical understanding, and forms the base on which all else is built,
Over the past several decades, the situation in most public schools in this city and elsewhere in this country (and no doubt in many other countries as well) has deteriorated to the point where little remains of whatever virtue once existed in them. This is not to say privatization is the answer.
I will not go into the causes of this deterioration or the arguments for maintaining healthy and vigorous public schools. That would take too long and also be beyond my powers.
But pathology is rarely enjoyable. It behooves teachers and parents to work to make the situation better. This again cannot be done without an understanding of both the pathology and the potential. Unfortunately, this understanding does not exist publicly. It only exists underground, suppressed and fragmented.
You may compare the situation of sincere teachers with that of well-intentioned, patriotic (in the best sense of the world) soldiers sent into a war zone. Most armed conflicts are pathologies -- in every sense of the word. The soldier may find moments of solace, but the more he understands the pathology, the less solace he will have. It is the same with teachers.
A situation which should be one of helping children, doing what is in their best interest, and of sharing the accumulated knowledge, insights and skills of generations past -- and of one's life's labor and experience -- is turned into something else -- something that is, in fact, harmful to the children and degrades and corrupts the cultural transmission, substituting myths, gimmicks, confusion and diffidence for facts, disciplines, clarity and confidence.
Children, just like adults, cannot, beyond a certain point, be either forced or tricked into learning anything of substance. Compulsion, pressure and fear are enemies of insight, learning and creativity. At the other extreme, an aversion to any kind of intensity and duration of effort and attention, and a catering to this aversion, are also inimical to any depth of understanding, indeed, to any kind of maturing as a thinker or feeler.
Thanks for asking. Teaching, like learning, is a joy as well as a pleasant, though often arduous, labor. It is part of our biological heritage, shared with many other animals, but especially highly developed in us. There is an instinct to teach as well as to learn, and it is commingled with parental and altruistic instincts. So most members of our species are both good at it and enjoy it. It requires no specialized training. Mothers teach their children, and siblings teach each other, instinctively and well. (But please do see the "Added Note" below.)
So these intrinsic rewards persist. However, the situations in the schools, which are education factories, here and elsewhere, in the past and in the present, rarely are and rarely have been the best of environments for teaching and learning. That said, public education lies at the heart of much of whatever success this country and others have had in bringing the gifts of formal education to the masses. It should be noted that formal education is by its nature limited in scope, being complementary to and dependent on informal education. This latter includes the acquisition of the first spoken language and ethical understanding, and forms the base on which all else is built,
Over the past several decades, the situation in most public schools in this city and elsewhere in this country (and no doubt in many other countries as well) has deteriorated to the point where little remains of whatever virtue once existed in them. This is not to say privatization is the answer.
I will not go into the causes of this deterioration or the arguments for maintaining healthy and vigorous public schools. That would take too long and also be beyond my powers.
But pathology is rarely enjoyable. It behooves teachers and parents to work to make the situation better. This again cannot be done without an understanding of both the pathology and the potential. Unfortunately, this understanding does not exist publicly. It only exists underground, suppressed and fragmented.
You may compare the situation of sincere teachers with that of well-intentioned, patriotic (in the best sense of the world) soldiers sent into a war zone. Most armed conflicts are pathologies -- in every sense of the word. The soldier may find moments of solace, but the more he understands the pathology, the less solace he will have. It is the same with teachers.
A situation which should be one of helping children, doing what is in their best interest, and of sharing the accumulated knowledge, insights and skills of generations past -- and of one's life's labor and experience -- is turned into something else -- something that is, in fact, harmful to the children and degrades and corrupts the cultural transmission, substituting myths, gimmicks, confusion and diffidence for facts, disciplines, clarity and confidence.
Children, just like adults, cannot, beyond a certain point, be either forced or tricked into learning anything of substance. Compulsion, pressure and fear are enemies of insight, learning and creativity. At the other extreme, an aversion to any kind of intensity and duration of effort and attention, and a catering to this aversion, are also inimical to any depth of understanding, indeed, to any kind of maturing as a thinker or feeler.
Arjun
============================================
Note added: My comments regarding the lack of the need for any specialized training for teaching should not be taken out of the context of this correspondence with my friend Ken. I was referring to teaching in the general sense, as a basic life activity of our species, just like learning. We are naturally good at both these activities. That does not mean that any person placed in a public or private school, either as a teacher or a student, will be able to teach or to learn. That is another story -- being less a commentary on our deficits as teachers and learners than on the commonsense requirements of various fields and levels of formal education and on the problems, issuing mainly and continually out of our societies, that plague our schools.
That said, one might venture that teaching and learning will occur rather spontaneously and effectively if the following conditions are met, which I list in no particular order, recognizing that this may be a partial listing at best, and that some items may not be applicable to certain subjects and levels:
(1) there is an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust between teacher and student;
(2) the teacher knows the subject that he/she is going to teach (without going into the meaning of "knows" -- which is clearly situation-dependent);
(3) the teacher has a strong desire to help the student learn the subject;
(4) the student has the pre-requisite knowledge and skills to learn the subject at the level taught (which involves attention to sequence);
(5) the student has a strong desire to learn the subject;
(6) the student and teacher are left alone to learn and to teach (and this includes many things, being about relaxed, yet sustained, focus);
(7) there is sufficient time available (and this also includes many things -- including both student time and teacher time);
(8) there are means by which the teacher gets to know what the student has learned/not learned and provides feedback and correction -- and there are means by which the student has his/her questions answered and concerns addressed;
(9) there are resources available (this again is no small thing -- including, in the case of formal education, sensible curricula, textbooks, materials, equipment, etc...).
This may sound absurdly utopian. But without these, or without at least bearing these in mind as ideals, it is difficult to have any enlightened vision and to make any meaningful progress. With these things, or things like these, in mind, we can actively work towards a better environment for teaching and learning in the schools and elsewhere. Without such ideals to guide us, all we can do is react to external pressures. We can then either acquiesce and act as executors, or else take, at best, defensive actions. In the first case, although we are supposed to be teachers, we are behaving like soldiers, carrying out orders to the best of our abilities. In the second case, we are continually on the retreat. We can dodge and weave, but sooner or later we are pushed, individually or collectively, into corners or over precipices.
Of course, the use of "student" in the singular, as I have done here, may also be considered criminally absurd. In a typical public high school here in NY city, a regular ed. teacher sees over 150 students each day. And they are often not the same students on Monday that one saw on Friday. (If one teaches labs, for example, one may see, in an extreme case, 25 different sets of 34 students, or a total of 850 students in a week. And if your school has been shut down, the wisdom of Bloomberg and his chancellor Klein -- now replaced by Walcott -- will have you wandering for years from school to school, seeing hundreds of brand new faces each week.) A regular-ed guidance counselor typically "counsels" and programs around 500 students. (My figure in this last case may be dated -- and low.)
The Teacher
http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-teacher.html
============================================
Note added: My comments regarding the lack of the need for any specialized training for teaching should not be taken out of the context of this correspondence with my friend Ken. I was referring to teaching in the general sense, as a basic life activity of our species, just like learning. We are naturally good at both these activities. That does not mean that any person placed in a public or private school, either as a teacher or a student, will be able to teach or to learn. That is another story -- being less a commentary on our deficits as teachers and learners than on the commonsense requirements of various fields and levels of formal education and on the problems, issuing mainly and continually out of our societies, that plague our schools.
That said, one might venture that teaching and learning will occur rather spontaneously and effectively if the following conditions are met, which I list in no particular order, recognizing that this may be a partial listing at best, and that some items may not be applicable to certain subjects and levels:
(1) there is an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust between teacher and student;
(2) the teacher knows the subject that he/she is going to teach (without going into the meaning of "knows" -- which is clearly situation-dependent);
(3) the teacher has a strong desire to help the student learn the subject;
(4) the student has the pre-requisite knowledge and skills to learn the subject at the level taught (which involves attention to sequence);
(5) the student has a strong desire to learn the subject;
(6) the student and teacher are left alone to learn and to teach (and this includes many things, being about relaxed, yet sustained, focus);
(7) there is sufficient time available (and this also includes many things -- including both student time and teacher time);
(8) there are means by which the teacher gets to know what the student has learned/not learned and provides feedback and correction -- and there are means by which the student has his/her questions answered and concerns addressed;
(9) there are resources available (this again is no small thing -- including, in the case of formal education, sensible curricula, textbooks, materials, equipment, etc...).
This may sound absurdly utopian. But without these, or without at least bearing these in mind as ideals, it is difficult to have any enlightened vision and to make any meaningful progress. With these things, or things like these, in mind, we can actively work towards a better environment for teaching and learning in the schools and elsewhere. Without such ideals to guide us, all we can do is react to external pressures. We can then either acquiesce and act as executors, or else take, at best, defensive actions. In the first case, although we are supposed to be teachers, we are behaving like soldiers, carrying out orders to the best of our abilities. In the second case, we are continually on the retreat. We can dodge and weave, but sooner or later we are pushed, individually or collectively, into corners or over precipices.
Of course, the use of "student" in the singular, as I have done here, may also be considered criminally absurd. In a typical public high school here in NY city, a regular ed. teacher sees over 150 students each day. And they are often not the same students on Monday that one saw on Friday. (If one teaches labs, for example, one may see, in an extreme case, 25 different sets of 34 students, or a total of 850 students in a week. And if your school has been shut down, the wisdom of Bloomberg and his chancellor Klein -- now replaced by Walcott -- will have you wandering for years from school to school, seeing hundreds of brand new faces each week.) A regular-ed guidance counselor typically "counsels" and programs around 500 students. (My figure in this last case may be dated -- and low.)
The Teacher
http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-teacher.html
Monday, August 24, 2009
Plug Addicts + A Teacher's Dilemma + Mathematics?
Here are some recent "poems" drawing on three decades of teaching, two of them in the public schools in New York City.
Some might not like the tone of these verses. To make matters worse, I append, at the end, some notes for each poem. These notes might offend some even further.
But, when we take a child to see the dentist, would we be content with one who smilingly declares the teeth and gums to be in excellent condition, only to see the poor child suffer later from rotted teeth and abscesses? Or one, who directs attention to the child's apparel, declaring that to be the cause of his/her dental problems?
I cannot prescribe, far less carry out, a cure for all that ails our schools and our society. But, based on many years of labor and observation, I think it would be remiss of me not to point to certain facts that are rarely brought up in the public discourse that we are subjected to on the subject of K-12 education.
The verses, below, are, unavoidably, caricatures. They represent limited viewpoints, not always my own; and they spotlight, at best, only certain aspects of the full reality. The appended notes may clarify slightly my own personal views on some matters -- but again, these are limited views, and they show only a partial picture.
The picture that emerges may appear, however, to be almost a photographic negative of that promulgated by our current educational establishment.
Whether or not one agrees with the assumptions or biases of the viewers represented here, I believe their views should also be taken into account, if only to counter or complement the assumptions, biases and filters of the establishment view.
I also believe, based on first-hand experience, that the aspects of our educational and social reality presented here are real, yet neglected, ones. They deserve greater, and immediate, attention.
-- Arjun Janah < sjanah@aol.com >, 2009 August 22, Brooklyn, New York
===================================================
Plug Addicts
'Was a time, when teachers, they were paid, I'd say, much less
Than they were worth. They now earn more, but have much greater stress.
The I-Pods and the Game Boys, and the cell phones, texting, more,
Make plain old study, of the books, seem, well, just such a bore!
(And yet, if you could travel like a spirit could, and see
The ones, who conjured up these things, you would amaz-ed be!
For you would find they'd studied books, and done each boring thing,
For only then could they know 'nuff to make your gadgets zing.)
But who pretends to listen now to old and boring teacher,
When we're engrossed in finding out our gadget's newest feature?
And after school, we go to work, to earn ourselves the cash
To supplement what parents spend, in adding to our stash.
So homework? Why, that's for the ones who can't afford these things.
And playing ball, and running 'round? Why bother, when we've wings
That take us to the stadiums, where we can play with heroes,
By pressing on those button-things (that spit out ones and zeroes)?
And after-wards, there's TV shows, and CD's we must watch;
And when we go to class, you see, we're all exhausted, natch!
So school's the time to catch a nap, or flirt with girls and guys,
For we're the kids who bother mom, till she the gizmo buys!
Now there's a teacher, sexy sweet, who teaches down the hall,
And kids who take her classes say they're having such a ball!
For she is into gadgets too, and watches every show.
What else, we ask, would any one, who's savvy, want to know?
(The marketers, like Jobs et al, are laughing to the bank.
Jobs says that books are read no more, by normal file and rank.) \1
Our generation's visual, and when those frigging nerds
Who read, can figure out more stuff, then books we'll flush, with turds!
For see, who still knows how to add, subtract, and (rolling eyes)
Multiply, divide? That's for the pointy-headed guys!
Calculators rule, and soon, machines will hear and read,
So reading, writing, 'rithmetic, we simply will not need. \2
Arjun Janah < sjanah@aol.com >
2009 Aug 16, Sun
Brooklyn, New York
Notes: See section A of the notes -- at the end, below.
==================================================
A Teacher's Dilemma
When loudness and vulgarity subdue the tempered tongue,
Then should we take recourse to same, and battle, lung to lung?
But can that work? Or would it feed the flames, and fan them more,
So those, of milder nature, burn, right down to inner core?
What then? Should we ignore the speech that so pollutes the air,
And, stoic, both obscenities and loud aggression bear?
Does not this lead, in time, to shift in mores, so that, later,
The one, who dares to ask for peace, is deemed the trouble-maker?
So choosing middle path, we try our best to counsel calm,
And suffer still indignities, and much invective warm.
And if, when patience is at end, and work at hand is stalled,
We ask for help, "Incompetent!" we instantly are called. \1
We look, at eyes of those, who're mute, accustomed to such storms,
And others, new to violence that shatters ancient norms,
And so resolve to carry on, though lesson, time are lost,
But ask, who profits from this curse, and who bears all the cost?
Arjun Janah
2009 August 10th, Mon.
Brooklyn
Notes: See section B of the notes -- at the end, below.
===============================================
Mathematics?
"Mathematics? You mean math?" the troubled child inquired,
By mandate strong, from Albany, to take my class required. \1
"I never, ever, figured out what that was all about,
And that, perhaps, is why I choose, to either sulk or shout.
"When I was small, I learned to add, although it was a struggle.
Subtraction? Why, I mastered that, but all the rest's a puzzle!
Multiply, divide? I can, but where's the calculator?
And fractions? Now, you see why I'm a mathematics-hater!"
"Now listen, friend, all that is past, you're now in grade called 'ten',
Which means that things, far more complex, you now will have to ken.
But if you come to class each day, and do your homework daily,
You'll find you'll understand the math, and pass, at end, quite gaily."
"Yo mister, I don't trust your kind, I've heard that speech before.
Mathematics, like all else in school, is such a bore!
Just because I don't like math, don't mean I'm a retard.
Besides, my homies tell me that your test-es are too hard." \2
Arjun Janah
2009 August 22nd, Sat.
Brooklyn
Notes: See section C of the notes -- at the end, below.
================================================
NOTES
Notes, Section A: On "Plug Addicts"
A1. Steve Jobs, (lately infirm) head of Apple, and driving force behind the gloss of market-breakthrough audiovisual offerings such as the Macintosh of the 1980's and (in his later resurrection) the I-Mac, I-Pod and I-Phone, was said to have ridiculed Amazon's recent introduction of the Kindle e-reader, asserting, "Nobody reads books anymore."
A2. There is a common complaint that many teachers do not utilize, sufficiently, the rapidly changing technology of our times, nor do they make sufficient effort to engage the rapidly vacillating attention of many of our children, who are accustomed to the "highs" and shortcuts provided by this technology. Employment of useful technology, and efforts to engage our students, should be actively encouraged. But there is a danger, here, of joining in a "race to the bottom" as regards attention span and depth -- two essential markers of normal psychological growth and maturation.
The commercial, ad-driven TV networks are an example of this trend. Apart from their quality and content, one cannot but note that their pandering to short attention span and use of attention-grabbing devices has profoundly affected, in a sort of vicious spiral downwards, the attentional health of their viewers, especially children for whom TV has been the basic babysitter from infancy onwards.
Education is not simply entertainment. The building up of attention span and depth is an essential part of both informal and formal education. Without this mental stamina, a child (or, for that matter, an adult) does not have the wherewithal needed for any kind of sustained mental activity, or even for any but the most shallow human relationships. Nor can they resist being manipulated by others. This manipulation may come from unscrupulous marketers who target children as well as gullible adults, and from politicians with sufficient money (often from powerful interests) to buy themselves unfettered access to media.
The "critical thinking" skills that teachers are so often (usually unfairly) accused of neglecting cannot operate without the traction provided by focused and sustained attention, and without the factual and conceptual background gained, over time, through this attention. Analysis and synthesis cannot proceed in a vacuum, nor even in an incoherent stream of transient, disorganized sensory input.
Also, while technology has its uses, it currently presents, to us, a "black box" configured by wizards. Unlike the technologies of the past, ranging from traditional agriculture and manufacture to writing, reading, and arithmetic, the new information technology is neither locally reproducible nor transparent. As such, rather than empowering, it tends to dis-empower a local population, making it hopelessly dependent on a class of, often distant, hardware and software magicians and on a global network of processing and marketing.
The great breakthrough in global communication and interaction made possible by the Internet should not be minimized in import or potential. However, this again has great potential for positive use as well as for abuse. The vision of the founders of this global network continues to be subverted.
In practical terms, would one prefer that a child interact, in the main, locally, in physical contact with others, or over distance, staring at a computer screen? E-mail, blogs, social websites, cell-phones, texting -- all of these are welcome things insofar as they tie us closer together. Increasingly, more of us are being dispersed by the economic winds that keep us on the move, often leading to separations over great distances. However, these long-distance communication devices are no substitute for local community and physical relationships.
Can an adult really care for a sick child or parent, or make love to a spouse, over the Internet? Can a boy really play ball with friends under a virtual sun? Can a girl put an arm around her disconsolate friend, or wipe away a tear?
==================================================
Notes, Section B: On "A Teacher's Dilemma"
B1. We still have a few sincere administrators, deans and others who try to help classroom teachers with highly unruly students. However, they seem to be a dwindling minority, as educational policy itself seems to either studiously ignore this crucial problem or else to blithely blame it on teacher incompetence.
Disruptive behavior in classrooms aggravates problems arising from increasingly prevalent attention deficits. It makes learning almost impossible for most students, especially those needing the most help.
Teachers simply cannot do their job as long as such behavior persists. As such, such behavior, if allowed to continue, is often a major contributor to a previously functional school's decline and demise.
One may argue that disruptive behavior in the classroom is itself a symptom of a greater social malaise. This is true. But the children whose learning is critically impaired by such behavior cannot wait for this wider malaise to be addressed. It would be too late for them. Immediate action is needed.
One-on-one counseling for those who disrupt classrooms is essential. The student's own personal history and circumstances need to be taken into account. Teachers are not qualified, by training, to do such counseling. Nor can this be done in a classroom that has thirty-plus other students, each with their own educational needs.
Resources currently expended on endless reforms would be far better utilized for this essential task. The teacher has to be able to teach, the students to learn.
Social pathologies, the products of history and economics, can devastate not only individuals, but entire generations of an affected community.
================================================
Notes, Section C: On "Mathematics?"
C1. For those not familiar with New York State, Albany is the state capital, and so also the central seat of the state's Department of Education.
C2. I have never taught a mathematics class at the K-12 level (except as a sub). So this conversation above is purely fictional.
However, I've had to teach, or re-teach, a great deal of basic mathematics as a teacher of high school physics, chemistry, earth science and basic "physical science". Indeed, I've constantly had to butt my head against those who implicitly or explicitly work on variations of the following paradigms:
-- students are like light bulbs that are either permanently on or
off as regards mathematics;
-- each us has a static, maximum capacity in mathematics and other
subjects, a ceiling that is truly reachable in K-12 (or later,
in higher) education.
I have met many teachers of mathematics and other subjects, as well as many administrators, who hold such views. Some of them have a lot of experience in education, while others are relative novices.
Although I still hold my contrary ground, in this regard, when it comes to my own philosophy and practice of teaching, I cannot completely disregard the opinions of those in the field, especially those who are experienced.
The truth, as in all such things, probably lies somewhere between extreme views. Our bodies and minds have great potential plasticity, which may be expressed in highly positive ways, given motivation, persistence, guidance and encouragement. However, we probably cannot create, on demand, Olympic gold-medalists or mathematical or musical geniuses.
But more of us will find common ground in this: the attitudes, especially of students (but also of parents, teachers and administrators) cannot but affect learning outcomes.
Whether student apathy or discouragement results primarily from sincere effort leading to repeated failures (not so much in formal examinations as in actual basic comprehension of subject matter and self-confidence in skills) or from lack of sincere effort and persistence, or from other causes, one can debate forever.
The same, one might add, is true of apathy and discouragement when these manifest themselves in the ranks of teachers and administrators.
Expectations and outcomes can spiral downward or upward, in vicious or virtuous circles. One needs to avoid the easy, blanket generalizations that blind one to either the virtues and abilities, or the vices and disabilities, of our students.
Each of us does have a finite capacity for enduring punishment, before giving up. If it were not so, we would, sooner or later, batter ourselves to death like flies up against a glass wall. This is a basic survival instinct, that modifies behavior based on feedback from outcomes, and conserves energy and resources for worthwhile and attainable ends.
However, some, both children and adults, do give up more easily than others, while some may, indeed, push themselves to the point of injury to physical and mental health. These "habits of persistence" arise both from individual, perhaps inborn, characteristics and from social influences.
It behooves those, who have a hand in designing and modifying systems of education, to ensure that goals are achievable without need for heroic, and unsustainable, effort, and that sincerity and effort are encouraged rather than punished. The social context in which schools must operate cannot be ignored. This context is neither an excuse for inaction, nor is it avoidable when planning and executing meaningful educational policies.
In my own experience, having watched schools go from functional to non-functional as local communities changed, even while much of the teaching staff did not, this social factor appears to be a primary driver of a school's quality.
The extreme difficulty of addressing the social roots of many educational problems should not result in avoidance activity that leaves the primary cause untouched, while indulging in (often puerile) "educational reforms" and misguided teacher-purges. These cause even greater devastation to students' educational prospects.
Of course, any kind of educational initiative that does not actively elicit real input and feedback from classroom teachers, as well as from sincere students and their parents, and modify itself accordingly, cannot possibly succeed, except as a temporary cosmetic measure.
Some might not like the tone of these verses. To make matters worse, I append, at the end, some notes for each poem. These notes might offend some even further.
But, when we take a child to see the dentist, would we be content with one who smilingly declares the teeth and gums to be in excellent condition, only to see the poor child suffer later from rotted teeth and abscesses? Or one, who directs attention to the child's apparel, declaring that to be the cause of his/her dental problems?
I cannot prescribe, far less carry out, a cure for all that ails our schools and our society. But, based on many years of labor and observation, I think it would be remiss of me not to point to certain facts that are rarely brought up in the public discourse that we are subjected to on the subject of K-12 education.
The verses, below, are, unavoidably, caricatures. They represent limited viewpoints, not always my own; and they spotlight, at best, only certain aspects of the full reality. The appended notes may clarify slightly my own personal views on some matters -- but again, these are limited views, and they show only a partial picture.
The picture that emerges may appear, however, to be almost a photographic negative of that promulgated by our current educational establishment.
Whether or not one agrees with the assumptions or biases of the viewers represented here, I believe their views should also be taken into account, if only to counter or complement the assumptions, biases and filters of the establishment view.
I also believe, based on first-hand experience, that the aspects of our educational and social reality presented here are real, yet neglected, ones. They deserve greater, and immediate, attention.
-- Arjun Janah < sjanah@aol.com >, 2009 August 22, Brooklyn, New York
===================================================
Plug Addicts
'Was a time, when teachers, they were paid, I'd say, much less
Than they were worth. They now earn more, but have much greater stress.
The I-Pods and the Game Boys, and the cell phones, texting, more,
Make plain old study, of the books, seem, well, just such a bore!
(And yet, if you could travel like a spirit could, and see
The ones, who conjured up these things, you would amaz-ed be!
For you would find they'd studied books, and done each boring thing,
For only then could they know 'nuff to make your gadgets zing.)
But who pretends to listen now to old and boring teacher,
When we're engrossed in finding out our gadget's newest feature?
And after school, we go to work, to earn ourselves the cash
To supplement what parents spend, in adding to our stash.
So homework? Why, that's for the ones who can't afford these things.
And playing ball, and running 'round? Why bother, when we've wings
That take us to the stadiums, where we can play with heroes,
By pressing on those button-things (that spit out ones and zeroes)?
And after-wards, there's TV shows, and CD's we must watch;
And when we go to class, you see, we're all exhausted, natch!
So school's the time to catch a nap, or flirt with girls and guys,
For we're the kids who bother mom, till she the gizmo buys!
Now there's a teacher, sexy sweet, who teaches down the hall,
And kids who take her classes say they're having such a ball!
For she is into gadgets too, and watches every show.
What else, we ask, would any one, who's savvy, want to know?
(The marketers, like Jobs et al, are laughing to the bank.
Jobs says that books are read no more, by normal file and rank.) \1
Our generation's visual, and when those frigging nerds
Who read, can figure out more stuff, then books we'll flush, with turds!
For see, who still knows how to add, subtract, and (rolling eyes)
Multiply, divide? That's for the pointy-headed guys!
Calculators rule, and soon, machines will hear and read,
So reading, writing, 'rithmetic, we simply will not need. \2
Arjun Janah < sjanah@aol.com >
2009 Aug 16, Sun
Brooklyn, New York
Notes: See section A of the notes -- at the end, below.
==================================================
A Teacher's Dilemma
When loudness and vulgarity subdue the tempered tongue,
Then should we take recourse to same, and battle, lung to lung?
But can that work? Or would it feed the flames, and fan them more,
So those, of milder nature, burn, right down to inner core?
What then? Should we ignore the speech that so pollutes the air,
And, stoic, both obscenities and loud aggression bear?
Does not this lead, in time, to shift in mores, so that, later,
The one, who dares to ask for peace, is deemed the trouble-maker?
So choosing middle path, we try our best to counsel calm,
And suffer still indignities, and much invective warm.
And if, when patience is at end, and work at hand is stalled,
We ask for help, "Incompetent!" we instantly are called. \1
We look, at eyes of those, who're mute, accustomed to such storms,
And others, new to violence that shatters ancient norms,
And so resolve to carry on, though lesson, time are lost,
But ask, who profits from this curse, and who bears all the cost?
Arjun Janah
2009 August 10th, Mon.
Brooklyn
Notes: See section B of the notes -- at the end, below.
===============================================
Mathematics?
"Mathematics? You mean math?" the troubled child inquired,
By mandate strong, from Albany, to take my class required. \1
"I never, ever, figured out what that was all about,
And that, perhaps, is why I choose, to either sulk or shout.
"When I was small, I learned to add, although it was a struggle.
Subtraction? Why, I mastered that, but all the rest's a puzzle!
Multiply, divide? I can, but where's the calculator?
And fractions? Now, you see why I'm a mathematics-hater!"
"Now listen, friend, all that is past, you're now in grade called 'ten',
Which means that things, far more complex, you now will have to ken.
But if you come to class each day, and do your homework daily,
You'll find you'll understand the math, and pass, at end, quite gaily."
"Yo mister, I don't trust your kind, I've heard that speech before.
Mathematics, like all else in school, is such a bore!
Just because I don't like math, don't mean I'm a retard.
Besides, my homies tell me that your test-es are too hard." \2
Arjun Janah
2009 August 22nd, Sat.
Brooklyn
Notes: See section C of the notes -- at the end, below.
================================================
NOTES
Notes, Section A: On "Plug Addicts"
A1. Steve Jobs, (lately infirm) head of Apple, and driving force behind the gloss of market-breakthrough audiovisual offerings such as the Macintosh of the 1980's and (in his later resurrection) the I-Mac, I-Pod and I-Phone, was said to have ridiculed Amazon's recent introduction of the Kindle e-reader, asserting, "Nobody reads books anymore."
A2. There is a common complaint that many teachers do not utilize, sufficiently, the rapidly changing technology of our times, nor do they make sufficient effort to engage the rapidly vacillating attention of many of our children, who are accustomed to the "highs" and shortcuts provided by this technology. Employment of useful technology, and efforts to engage our students, should be actively encouraged. But there is a danger, here, of joining in a "race to the bottom" as regards attention span and depth -- two essential markers of normal psychological growth and maturation.
The commercial, ad-driven TV networks are an example of this trend. Apart from their quality and content, one cannot but note that their pandering to short attention span and use of attention-grabbing devices has profoundly affected, in a sort of vicious spiral downwards, the attentional health of their viewers, especially children for whom TV has been the basic babysitter from infancy onwards.
Education is not simply entertainment. The building up of attention span and depth is an essential part of both informal and formal education. Without this mental stamina, a child (or, for that matter, an adult) does not have the wherewithal needed for any kind of sustained mental activity, or even for any but the most shallow human relationships. Nor can they resist being manipulated by others. This manipulation may come from unscrupulous marketers who target children as well as gullible adults, and from politicians with sufficient money (often from powerful interests) to buy themselves unfettered access to media.
The "critical thinking" skills that teachers are so often (usually unfairly) accused of neglecting cannot operate without the traction provided by focused and sustained attention, and without the factual and conceptual background gained, over time, through this attention. Analysis and synthesis cannot proceed in a vacuum, nor even in an incoherent stream of transient, disorganized sensory input.
Also, while technology has its uses, it currently presents, to us, a "black box" configured by wizards. Unlike the technologies of the past, ranging from traditional agriculture and manufacture to writing, reading, and arithmetic, the new information technology is neither locally reproducible nor transparent. As such, rather than empowering, it tends to dis-empower a local population, making it hopelessly dependent on a class of, often distant, hardware and software magicians and on a global network of processing and marketing.
The great breakthrough in global communication and interaction made possible by the Internet should not be minimized in import or potential. However, this again has great potential for positive use as well as for abuse. The vision of the founders of this global network continues to be subverted.
In practical terms, would one prefer that a child interact, in the main, locally, in physical contact with others, or over distance, staring at a computer screen? E-mail, blogs, social websites, cell-phones, texting -- all of these are welcome things insofar as they tie us closer together. Increasingly, more of us are being dispersed by the economic winds that keep us on the move, often leading to separations over great distances. However, these long-distance communication devices are no substitute for local community and physical relationships.
Can an adult really care for a sick child or parent, or make love to a spouse, over the Internet? Can a boy really play ball with friends under a virtual sun? Can a girl put an arm around her disconsolate friend, or wipe away a tear?
==================================================
Notes, Section B: On "A Teacher's Dilemma"
B1. We still have a few sincere administrators, deans and others who try to help classroom teachers with highly unruly students. However, they seem to be a dwindling minority, as educational policy itself seems to either studiously ignore this crucial problem or else to blithely blame it on teacher incompetence.
Disruptive behavior in classrooms aggravates problems arising from increasingly prevalent attention deficits. It makes learning almost impossible for most students, especially those needing the most help.
Teachers simply cannot do their job as long as such behavior persists. As such, such behavior, if allowed to continue, is often a major contributor to a previously functional school's decline and demise.
One may argue that disruptive behavior in the classroom is itself a symptom of a greater social malaise. This is true. But the children whose learning is critically impaired by such behavior cannot wait for this wider malaise to be addressed. It would be too late for them. Immediate action is needed.
One-on-one counseling for those who disrupt classrooms is essential. The student's own personal history and circumstances need to be taken into account. Teachers are not qualified, by training, to do such counseling. Nor can this be done in a classroom that has thirty-plus other students, each with their own educational needs.
Resources currently expended on endless reforms would be far better utilized for this essential task. The teacher has to be able to teach, the students to learn.
Social pathologies, the products of history and economics, can devastate not only individuals, but entire generations of an affected community.
================================================
Notes, Section C: On "Mathematics?"
C1. For those not familiar with New York State, Albany is the state capital, and so also the central seat of the state's Department of Education.
C2. I have never taught a mathematics class at the K-12 level (except as a sub). So this conversation above is purely fictional.
However, I've had to teach, or re-teach, a great deal of basic mathematics as a teacher of high school physics, chemistry, earth science and basic "physical science". Indeed, I've constantly had to butt my head against those who implicitly or explicitly work on variations of the following paradigms:
-- students are like light bulbs that are either permanently on or
off as regards mathematics;
-- each us has a static, maximum capacity in mathematics and other
subjects, a ceiling that is truly reachable in K-12 (or later,
in higher) education.
I have met many teachers of mathematics and other subjects, as well as many administrators, who hold such views. Some of them have a lot of experience in education, while others are relative novices.
Although I still hold my contrary ground, in this regard, when it comes to my own philosophy and practice of teaching, I cannot completely disregard the opinions of those in the field, especially those who are experienced.
The truth, as in all such things, probably lies somewhere between extreme views. Our bodies and minds have great potential plasticity, which may be expressed in highly positive ways, given motivation, persistence, guidance and encouragement. However, we probably cannot create, on demand, Olympic gold-medalists or mathematical or musical geniuses.
But more of us will find common ground in this: the attitudes, especially of students (but also of parents, teachers and administrators) cannot but affect learning outcomes.
Whether student apathy or discouragement results primarily from sincere effort leading to repeated failures (not so much in formal examinations as in actual basic comprehension of subject matter and self-confidence in skills) or from lack of sincere effort and persistence, or from other causes, one can debate forever.
The same, one might add, is true of apathy and discouragement when these manifest themselves in the ranks of teachers and administrators.
Expectations and outcomes can spiral downward or upward, in vicious or virtuous circles. One needs to avoid the easy, blanket generalizations that blind one to either the virtues and abilities, or the vices and disabilities, of our students.
Each of us does have a finite capacity for enduring punishment, before giving up. If it were not so, we would, sooner or later, batter ourselves to death like flies up against a glass wall. This is a basic survival instinct, that modifies behavior based on feedback from outcomes, and conserves energy and resources for worthwhile and attainable ends.
However, some, both children and adults, do give up more easily than others, while some may, indeed, push themselves to the point of injury to physical and mental health. These "habits of persistence" arise both from individual, perhaps inborn, characteristics and from social influences.
It behooves those, who have a hand in designing and modifying systems of education, to ensure that goals are achievable without need for heroic, and unsustainable, effort, and that sincerity and effort are encouraged rather than punished. The social context in which schools must operate cannot be ignored. This context is neither an excuse for inaction, nor is it avoidable when planning and executing meaningful educational policies.
In my own experience, having watched schools go from functional to non-functional as local communities changed, even while much of the teaching staff did not, this social factor appears to be a primary driver of a school's quality.
The extreme difficulty of addressing the social roots of many educational problems should not result in avoidance activity that leaves the primary cause untouched, while indulging in (often puerile) "educational reforms" and misguided teacher-purges. These cause even greater devastation to students' educational prospects.
Of course, any kind of educational initiative that does not actively elicit real input and feedback from classroom teachers, as well as from sincere students and their parents, and modify itself accordingly, cannot possibly succeed, except as a temporary cosmetic measure.
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