The Sunday Washington Post has been running a series of articles about the Washington school system, with a ground level view. One of these stories centered on a specific student who is failing--a senior who needs 3 credits to graduate and will probably not get those. It's entertaining and elucidating in many ways--mostly in the attitudes of the students and teachers of the school. Administrators come across as wanting good things for the students, but having no clue as to how to reach any goal.
The central character--the senior--is followed during his school day by the reporter, and the birds-eye view of his behavior, and the environment in the classroom, is revealing to say the least. Yet the adults who see this picture for the most part are very liberal and therefore react in a predictable liberal way--hand wringing over the fate of the students who are actively destroying the education of students who ARE willing to work. To be sure, everyone laments the condition of the schools (in a city that has huge amounts of money assigned to the schools, yet can't deliver on even the basic texts) or the inability to remove incompetent teachers, but the breakdown of student behavior is hardly mentioned by the authorities as a key problem. I would submit that the most competent teacher in the world cannot teach the thugs whose only reason to be in the classroom is for the entertainment of disruption.
A short piece on the classroom--an Algebra class--was illustrative. The key figure slid into the back of the class--10 minutes late--and proceeded to carry on loud conversations with friends about anything but Algebra. The mouse-like teacher tried to instruct the ones who wanted to learn, all the while contending with loud-mouth trash creating a circus of foul language and petulant poses. The central figure even made loud threats of physical violence to the teacher. And this "student" was being portrayed in the kindest light the writer could muster, as if the lad was simply misguided and was, at heart, a "good" boy. The good boy had an average of less than 29 in this class--one that he must pass to graduate.
Back in the "terrible" '50's, D.C. boasted of all black schools that out performed many white schools. The kids showed up, studied, delivered their work, and graduated as literate, capable citizens. Many of the hand-wringers will say that they want the same for the kids today, but will always place a caveat to this: we mustn't cast out the poor benighted souls that are the troublemakers.
The truth is you cannot heal a wound unless you remove the corrupted flesh. To be sure some of the trouble makers would in fact straighten up if faced with real discipline--it really doesn't take that much to get things right. But the D.C. area is simply so entrenched with the bleeding-heart crap of personal rights of irresponsibility, that it's unlikely that the new leader, Ms. Rhee, will get very far. The liberal tolerance of personal irresponsibility and demand for collective accountability will doom any effort to improve the performance of the schools.
Yes, it's important to have skilled, competent teachers in those schools, and yes, it's very difficult to remove poor teachers. The rate of teacher firings across the nation range from a high of 1% (in California) to about 0.3% in Virgina--these removal rates are abysmal in comparison to other professions. But it is hard to reasonably assess competence in a chaotic classroom--if the teacher has no authority, he or she will have no ability. As hard as I can be on the teaching profession, I would not care to endure what teachers in the city schools endure.
What's to blame? Certainly liberal attitudes and devices are central to bringing the anarchy that exists. That famous exemplar of teaching, Hymie Escalante was driven out by the union members and administrators who wanted conformance, not performance. The "secret" of Escalante's success was no secret--it was hard, determined work and an iron discipline. He achieved huge performance because he exerted herculean effort. Not all teachers will or can do what he did--Escalante was literally one in a million. But far more could do well enough with a little change in the classroom.
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