EDUCATION: Then and Now

I want to begin writing a series about our education system by comparing and contrasting the education system I began with in the 1980s to the one I finished with in 2014. Not all the changes that have taken place are for the good.

Then: In my first year of teaching, I taught six periods with seven different preparations. How is this possible? Well, as a first year teacher you just didn't complain so when the principal gave me both the yearbook class and the newspaper class the same period, I ended up teaching seven different courses. The others were sixth grade reading, sixth grade social studies, seventh grade reading, seventh grade World History, and eighth grade reading. My weekends were spent with an average of 16 to 20 hours of lesson planning and by the time I added up all my non contracted time I put into the job, I earned about five dollars an hour.

Now: I finished my career at the far end of the pay scale and was paid close to $90,000.00 a year to essentially keep control of classes that averaged over 40 freshmen, most of who were reading well below grade level and who already had made up their mind they were not going to attend college. Reading assignments were pointless because students looked at text books as punishment so class was set up with a lecture and group discussion curriculum coupled with weekly essays. I had not been observed in almost six years and in the three previous years at the school I finished at, I never once had an administrator come check on my class.

Then: By my second year at Clifton Middle School, I had proven myself as a skilled teacher and was rewarded with a full schedule of five periods of sixth grade social studies. I had a total of 99 students which meant I was not swamped with papers to grade and had plenty of classroom space for small group activities. There was also no pressure to teach to a state or federal test so a colleague and I taught a three week unit on manners and etiquette which culminated in a large feast with boys and girls dressed in their “Sunday Best” and parents coming by to admire the job we did.

Now: Since the course I taught was not required as part of graduation or had nothing to do with any state tests, no one seemed to care what I taught. As a result, I had the freedom to present any topic of my interest to my classes and could focus on current hot button issues. I also was not part of any department so when we had collaboration time, there was no one for me to work with. I was essentially a guy the district was waiting on to retire and yet no one in the administration wanted to see what I could do as a teacher until my final year when a new assistant principal began to observe my classes. When she told me she had no idea what high level discussions I held and how involved my students were, I informed her it was because she was the only administrator in six years to come see me teach.

Then: In my second year, when a student told his father I called him a name I had never heard of before, the parent came to school and wanted to beat me up. When a colleague of mine intervened, he wanted to beat him up as well. When the parent left, we reported the matter to the principal who in turn asked the parent to meet with us the next day. She sat and listened to the man tell his story and did nothing as he got angrier. When he finished, she informed him she checked on his background and learned he had threatened teachers at three previous schools. She then informed him she had the backing of the school board and superintendent to tell him if he ever set foot on our campus again, he would be arrested. The next day, the boy's mother came down and checked him out of the school and moved on somewhere else.

Now: Today, a similar meeting would be held but I would be advised to bring a rep from my union to take careful notes. After the meeting, the parent would be told a decision would be forth coming. Within ten days of the meeting, I would receive the principal's notes from the meeting and a letter placed in my file instructing me not to make comments to students that are hurtful. By doing so, I created a situation that could have been dangerous to myself and a colleague. I would be reminded I could respond to the write up to which I would point out I never made the comment to begin with. When the dust finally settles, I would have a letter in my personnel file stating I made a hurtful and unprofessional remark that I never made and will have received no administrative support.

Then: I moved to a high school in northern California and taught in the English department. I taught in a real “hick” town where kids were into rodeo, hunting, and farming. While they were not the brightest kids in the world, they sure were polite. On the few occasions when I received a new student from the courts who was moved up from southern California and who was disrespectful to me, male students would approach me after class and apologize for the student's behavior and then assure me they would make sure it wouldn't happen again. The student usually came to class the next day with a black eye or two.

Now: If a student mouths off to you, administrators will ask you what you did to provoke the kid. They also want to know if you logged their behavior into the computer,called the parent, created some kind of intervention before writing up a referral for discipline from the office. Rather than suspending students for their unacceptable behavior, the state would prefer we keep them in the classroom so they can learn irregardless of the harm they do to the learning process of good kids. The inmates run the asylum and the administrators want nothing to do with teachers problems.

Then: When it was time to negotiate a new contract and look at an increase on the district's salary scale, our superintendent would tell the teachers how much there was for a pay raise and then hand over the district's books. She would tell us to feel free and bring in someone to look them over and if they could find more money elsewhere, we could have it. The entire process was open, took little time,

and did not result in any mistrust. As for health care, it cost teachers nothing and covered us and our families 100 percent.

Now: When I retired, our contract for the just completed school year was still not settled. Negotiations on a pay raise were going no where and the district was unwilling to open their books to our people. Furthermore, if my wife and I wanted to keep our previous health insurance, we were going to have to pay an additional $2,000.00 for the coming school year. The district's offer of a four percent pay raise coupled with an increased cost in health benefits and our state retirement system taking out more money would result in a pay cut at a time our schools are swimming in new money. Needless to say, there is now talk of a possible strike.

Then: ZAP the CAP was the phrase of the day. The Cap was the name for the state test of which there was little emphasis placed on. There was no accountability for test scores so no one stressed out about it. Instead, we focused on the development of the whole child rather than looking at each one as a possible test result. While academic progress was a goal for all, just as much emphasis was placed on social progress. Students were viewed as future members of society and we took seriously developing the behaviors needed to succeed as much as the academic skills required for a successful life.

Now: Common Core has replaced No Child Left Behind which has replaced one new wheel after another. Teachers have such huge workloads in terms of the number of students they teach and all the measurable standards tested that there is little to no time available for developing the social expectations of our society. While our test scores have been increasing, so have the number and levels of school violence. Students are feeling more labeled and isolated than ever as we forget we are teaching young people and not test takers.

Then: Students could be assigned detention to serve after school for failing to follow class rules. Students who failed to serve would then be referred to the assistant principal and either additional detention time would be assigned or a suspension from school would be given to repeat offenders. Parent complaints fell on deaf ears as they were told the detentions could be served before school or during lunch if after school was inconvenient. For the worst behaved, corporal punishment was still in use. I can remember seeing Mr. Barrick, my first principal, picking a up a student I placed on his bench by his belt and carrying him into his office for a few swats on the rear. At the high school I moved to, our assistant principal was a man who was six foot seven and who enjoyed chopping wood as a form of relaxation. Believe me, students were not about to test his skills with a paddle. The school district down the road from where I lived in 1984 had students lined up in long single file lines on Saturday mornings cleaning the local high school campus. They began at eight in the morning and if they finished before noon, they moved across the street to clean the local park and golf course.

Now: Detention is just not held after school because it is too inconvenient for parents. However, Saturday school is made available for students who have absences from school. To entice them to make up these absences so the school can receive more ADA funding, students are bribed with pizza, soda, movies, and anything else fun they can think of. Nothing is done to make up for their lost instructional time.

Then: Summer school was offered to all students. Kid could take academic classes to get ahead on their credits so they could take more electives during the school year or they could take elective courses that might not normally be offered during the school year. Athletes could also take classes in the sports they competed in. Teachers loved the extra money they could earn for working a half day and usually still had a month of free time during the summer when summer school ended.

Now: Summer school is not offered because we no longer have the money for it. Students who struggle in Math or Language Arts often do not get to take any electives during the school year and have to double up on the courses they struggle with. As a result, schools have had to decrease or drop classes like music, art, and theater which only makes school more of a drag for kids. If you are a kid who lives in an impoverished community, without summer school, you have too much free time and nothing to do with it. This is a recipe for getting into trouble.

While it is important to improve the education we offer our youth today, it can not be accomplished at the expense of ignoring the social expectations of our society. What good does it do if all our students graduate with more academic skills than ever but are ill equipped to conduct themselves in a manner acceptable by their elders? More and more employers complain about the lack of social skills young employees have and prefer to hire retired people in their place. And we can not forget, it doesn't do anyone any good if our youth graduate from high school with outstanding academic skills but can not afford to attend college. Besides, college is not for everyone and it is time our public schools rethink their emphasis on a college prep curriculum.

And thought the past is behind us, there is much of it worth preserving. Public education needs to be as much about developing well mannered people with a solid work ethic, an understanding of what society expects of them, and steering our youth in the direction that is best for their future as it does about understanding measurable data for state and federal exams. Until we do this, we will continue to miss the mark and be continually reinventing the wheel.

Michael Brown Jr. Is No Rosa Parks

December 1, 1955 is a significant day in American history. On this day, a 42 year old black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white person. She was done with the humiliation of Montgomery's segregation laws and could not think of a logical reason why she should go stand in the back of a bus so a white man who got on several stops after she had could have her seat.

At the time, eighty percent of Montgomery's bus riders were black and yet they were only afforded half of the seats. Worse, when whites filled up their half and needed additional seats, blacks were required by law to give up theirs and stand. Rosa Parks refused to be treated differently simply because of her skin color. As a result, she was arrested and four days later convicted of breaking the law.

What followed next was a 381 day boycott of the Montgomery buses by blacks while Rosa and her attorneys appealed her conviction and the constitutionality of the Jim Crow laws that rule the south. In the end, the laws were overturned, although Parks conviction stood, and the Civil Rights movement gained a head of steam that would result in equal rights for all human beings in the United States.

Rosa Parks chose arrest and conviction over further humiliation. She avoided a violent confrontation with the police and allowed them to do their job when arresting her. She relied on our legal system to bring about change for all citizens rather than thumbing her nose at it. This is why Rosa Parks belongs in our history books.

Michael Brown Jr. is no Rosa Parks. While the debate rages on regarding his death from the shooting by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer, Michael Brown Jr. did not die for a cause.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Michael's father, Michael Brown Sr., talked about how he had several conversations with his son over how to react when stopped by the police. He may well have had these conversations with his son but they did not sink into young Michael's head. Furthermore, there may have been other conversations that did not stick with him.

For starters, if Michael Jr. mastered his father's teachings on how to respond when stopped by the police, how do you explain the swollen face from the punch or punches thrown by Michael? Why did Michael and his friend, Dorian Johnson, run when instructed to stop? Why did Michael ignore the officer when asked to not walk down the middle of a busy street? Were any of these requests as humiliating as ordering Rosa Parks to give up her bus seat so a white man can sit?

Michael Sr. also was unable to impress upon his son the dangers that go with hanging out with a friend, Dorian Johnson, who has a criminal record. Nor did he succeed in convincing his son why it is wrong to commit strong armed robberies on local shop owners. This is not to suggest Michael Sr. did not do his parental duties in raising his son. However, it does show Michael Jr. was not keen to take dad's advice.

Michael Brown Jr. is not a hero for being killed by a police officer. Time, and evidence will determine whether or not the shooting was justified. However, we do know Michael Brown Jr. was not living a quiet dignified life like Rosa Parks lived. Instead, he was a young man who was playing Russian Roulette with his life. In this way, Michael Brown Jr. is more Rodney King than Rosa Parks, a victim of a string of poor decisions he made that resulted in police intervention.

Ferguson, Mo: Excuses Don't Fly

Lets get a few things out the way about me before diving into the meat and potatoes of my argument. I am white and I am in my mid 50's. I recently retired after a thirty year career in teaching. My parents were the first of my family to be born in the United States and while I was raised in the comfort that comes with having a father who was a doctor in a community that was mostly affluent and almost all white, I was raised to believe that the color of ones skin does not matter as much as what the person in the skin does with their life. I was the only one of eight children who was present when my father kicked his father out of the house before Sunday dinner because he refused to not abide by my dad's request to refrain from using the “N” word in the presence of his kids.

With all that said, I have to state that it is time for the excuses to end from the “black community” claiming they are not given a fair shake in this world. No one is. Some of us are born into better circumstances than others but there comes a point in life when you have to stop using your circumstances as an excuse. All parents, rich or poor, have within them the ability to support or reject the expectations of the society they raise their children in. Eventually, their children will reach a point in life when they have to stop using their circumstances as an excuse for their position in life. When the parents of Ferguson, and communities like them, have been given plenty of opportunities to advance themselves or their kids lives but choose not to, they have themselves to blame for their anger.

Over the course of thirty years of teaching, I had the honor to teach and coach kids of all ethnic backgrounds. I once taught in a small “redneck” community and had a colleague with over thirty-five years experience tell me he just got his “first colored kid” for a student. When I told him I had previously taught classes in southern California where two thirds of the students were black, he sincerely asked me how to “teach them.” When I told him to teach them “like they were white,” he realized how stupid his concern was.

I have also had my share of Hispanic, Arab, and Asian students, along with almost any other ethnic group you can think of. However, only one group, blacks, ever played the “race card” with me and claim their behavior or poor progress was my fault. When I would compare their work to their black classmates and point out how successful most others were doing, I was often surprised to see not only the student, but their parent stick to their argument.

As I write this, all hell is breaking loose in Ferguson over the police killing of Michael Brown. Was he shot by a racist cop? Not likely. Why? I can only argue that if a racist cop of any color wants to kill a young man, he is not going to do it in broad daylight on the town's main drag. He would be more apt to pick up a youth late at night while on patrol and drive to some remote spot and kill him. It does not make sense to commit a hate crime in front of Michael's peers.

It makes more sense that Michael panicked when he realized he was about to be picked up by the police after doing a strong armed robbery earlier in the day. Why is it a conspiracy to release a tape that hopefully will get the public to understand why Michael may have placed himself in a bad situation with the law? Why is it hard to believe a young man may have compounded one mistake with a worse mistake? Why is it hard to believe this young man may have felt empowered to disregard the authority of the law when we live in such a politically correct and sensitive society? Why is the cop a murderer before we know whether or not Michael may have been on something like PCP? Instead, the white cop is a murderer and the “black community” of Ferguson feel they are entitled to a form of justice not allowed under our Constitution?

Ferguson residents claim white police “over reacted” to their protests causing blacks to loot and riot so the state brings in a well qualified and respected black law enforcement officer to run the show. What happens? The community continues to riot and loot. A curfew is put in place and it is ignored while more looting and rioting goes on. Instead of bumping up the curfew from mid night to say dusk, the curfew is instead lifted and the rioting and looting continues.

When all of this is pointed out, the public is told the rioters and looters are a small minority and most are from out of town. However, the “black community” of Ferguson refuses to hand over these law breakers to the police so the trouble continues.

Tear gas and stun grenades are used to quell the disorder and the “black community” claims this is excessive on the law's part. However, when the law pleads for people to clear the area they ignore the pleads and expect to not face harsh consequences.

Meanwhile, we have plenty of other minority groups in this country who take a different approach to life in America. I can't tell you how many parents of students from other parts of the world have come to our country and sacrificed greatly so their children can take full advantage of the educational opportunities here. They keep close tabs on their children and let them know they expect them to work their hardest so they may enjoy a better life. They drill the meaning of the word respect into their children and do not make excuses for them if they perform or behave poorly in class and it's never the fault of an oppressive American government.

I also have to say that the “black community” I speak of is not representative of all blacks in our nation. Just as with other minority groups, I have had a great deal of parental support from black parents who have drilled an expectation of excellence in their children. They do not make excuses for them but rather make it clear they expect the most from their kids. However, I have seen these students ridiculed by the “black community” for being sellouts or “too white” because they choose to follow the path that increases their chances for success later in life.

The time to use ones skin color as an excuse for behavior or refusal to conform to the norms of society are over. The time to blame others because of their skin color is also over. Are there racist cops out there? Sure. There are racists everywhere and not all of them are white. However, in a community like Ferguson where blacks are an over whelming majority, they would accomplish more good by making full use of the educational opportunities afforded to them to better their lives. They can then become the cops, teachers, doctors, lawyers, architects, nurses, and business owners of Ferguson. They can control the local politics by running for office rather than running from responsibility.

The people of Ferguson, and the scores of communities big and small like them across this nation, have only themselves to blame by choosing to wait for a flash point to have an excuse to blow off their anger. The people they should be angriest with are the ones they see when they look in the mirror for failing to reinforce the American dream into their children and respecting the values of a multicultural nation that affords them the freedom to express their anger in the manner they have.

California's Soloar Solution

There is a well know acronym, K.I.S.S., that reminds us to keep things simple. However, all too often, when our government gets involved with matters, they find a way to make the simple far more complicated than it has to be. If you do not believe me, try making sense of our tax code or the Affordable Care Act.

In California, we have found a way to take our abundant sunshine, and the inexpensive energy potential it offers, and made it far more complex and expensive to make solar energy worth pursuing. By creating numerous barriers to its development and catering to large power suppliers like Southern California Edison or Pacific Gas and Electric, our state is missing out on a golden opportunity to assert itself in the filed of energy production. This failure is costing us jobs, energy revenue, and much needed affordable energy.

I am not an expert in solar energy but it seems to me a simple process. You install solar panels that collect the sun's energy and stores it in a source that can distribute that energy in the form of electricity. I do know the solar lights I have in my backyard are connected to a battery that clicks on each evening at dusk and shuts off the following morning before sunrise. Their total cost was less than twenty bucks at my local Big Lots.

It's that simplicity that concerns our power suppliers. They have invested much into our state's current power system and do not want to see it come crashing to an end by having each home owner tap into their own cheap source of energy. It is why our state no longer allows home owners to produce more energy than they can use while selling the remaining back to the state to use. It is also why home owners like me who manage to keep down their energy bills do not convert to solar power. The industry is designed to make the price of converting to solar power so expensive, it is not worth it over the lifetime the average home owner will spend in their house.

Most of us understand the game played between the state and its major energy suppliers and while our state may not fall apart if we were all able to cheaply convert to solar energy, our energy suppliers are right when they say it would cost a lot of people their jobs. We already have enough people in this state collecting unemployment and do not need more. However, under a simpler plan, our energy suppliers would not be adversely affected and jobs in the field would remain plentiful.

We also have to take into account environmentalists who have worked hard to block the development of major solar farm construction in our desert. While their claims may be exaggerated, there is some degree of truth to their concerns.

So how does our state develop affordable solar energy that does not destroy the existing power companies or environment while still helping citizens when their bill arrives? It's simple.

We begin by offering home owners like me a tax credit for donating their roof top to the state so they can install solar panels. When you factor in the amount of south facing roof my house has along with the same south facing roof my detached garage has, the state could provide enough solar energy to take care of the needs of most of my neighborhood. I would get a much needed tax break, the state would collect and store the solar energy while also maintaining and up dating the equipment, and the energy collected would be stored in a distribution site or plant built and owned by a power company. The source of collecting the energy is far cheaper and friendlier to the environment than constructing more hydroelectric dams and with over six million homes owned in the state, we would have plenty of cheap energy available for use.

Next, we require all new home construction to include enough solar collecting panels to meet the needs of two homes. Again, this can easily be done with solar friendly home designs with south facing roofs as well as with solar collecting panels strategically located on power poles, fence lines, and even mailboxes. There is no sane reason new home developments can not be 100 percent solar powered. Besides, the most affordable way to install solar panels is with new construction.

The state also needs to require the same with all new business construction. If Wal Mart wants to come to a town with a new super center, it must be able to meet the energy needs it requires. With the technology we have today, there just isn't an argument that companies can make that justifies not installing solar collecting panels on their roof tops.

From there, the state should offer existing businesses a tax credit to donate their roof lines just as they would offer private home owners. Just think of all the solar energy our state could collect by installing solar collectors at all our shopping centers and business centers, not to mention government buildings . Added to the energy collected from existing and new home construction and new business construction, the state would find itself with enough energy to meet its needs for several lifetimes to come. This also allows the state time to work more closely with environmental groups for the construction of future solar collecting fields that would be more environmentally friendly, resulting in fewer lawsuits and delays.

The end result will be a new era in which California once again becomes the Golden State it once was. Only this time, it would become a major collector and supplier of cheap energy that is in turn sold to other energy deficient states rather than remaining one dependent on others to help meet our needs. It is not inconceivable to see a state in which we are counted on to supply much of the nation with energy. Jobs will be plentiful in the energy field while Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric become even larger energy providers. And while we are profiting from the sale of our excess energy to other states, Californians can also rejoice in having the most affordable energy bills in the nation.

It is possible to develop a simple energy plan that benefits everyone in the state. However, it requires a generation of leaders who refuse to take the simple and make it more complex than it has to be. That, unfortunately, may be a bigger task than solving our energy woes.

Obama Is Failing History

The following post was also run by the Los Angeles Post Examiner on August 13, 2014. http://lapostexaminer.com/

As a recently retired teacher who spent much of the past thirty years teaching history to middle school students, it pains me to see our president repeating mistakes made by previous world leaders. Unfortunately, if history repeats itself, these mistakes will lead to far worse consequences than are currently being experienced. For this, Obama has earned a failing grade in History.

President Obama's first mistake was assuring the world he had no intention of getting the United States into additional wars when he ran for office in 2008. He was honest enough to express what much of the country was feeling after eight years of George W. Bush when he said Americans do not have the stomach for more wars. While this earned him much praise from voters and helped get him elected, his statements were not interpreted in the same manner by our enemies.

Obama's insistence not to send in troops to troubled areas has resulted in horrible consequences in Libya, Syria, and Iraq and has helped to give rise to a new level of world troubles not seen in decades. By making such public statements and sticking to them, he has made a promise that has resulted in terrorist groups, separatists groups, and world leaders with eyes toward expansion, creating such an international mess that we now finds experts debating whether or not the world is headed toward World War III.

Any time a candidate for president or a sitting president publicly pushes for non military solutions to problems as much as Obama has done, our enemies can't help but think we have a weak leader. While it might take more courage and strength to walk away from a fight, it also takes great strength and courage to step in and help use your power for the betterment of others.

In this way, Obama is not much different than Jimmy Carter was when he was in the White House. Carter was unable to secure the release of American hostages held in Iran because our enemy viewed him to be weak. It wasn't until the final hours of his only term in office that the hostages were freed because our enemy clearly believed Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, was not a man to test. We have far too many issues at home today to turn the 2016 presidential race into a battle between Hawks and Doves and nothing else. Doesn't Obama remember what happened in Chicago in 1968?

Obama's second mistake has been the policy of appeasement. You would almost have to think he never studied World War II. Just as Hitler took advantage of European leaders who did not have the stomach for another war to grab more land and round up Jews into concentration camps, we now have others attempting much of the same today.

The Islamic terrorist group ISIS has been allowed to systematically march through Syria and northern Iraq, murder those who worship differently than they do, and threaten to establish a new Islamic state built around terrorism and expansion. The mindset of ISIS is such that they will continue to cleanse the middle east of all infidels until someone is bold enough, and strong enough, to eliminate their threat. Unfortunately, there is no one left for that task but the United States and because Obama has dragged his feet, he is now left with a much better armed and organized ISIS. Obama now admits we are in for a long process which also adds up to a very expensive one.

Meanwhile, thanks also in large part to Europe's reluctance to stand up to Vladimir Putin, we now have another Russian leader with eyes on expansion. Putin hears what Obama has to say and smells the weakness in his words while he plots the course for a new Russian empire. Do either of them remember something called the Cold War?

Complicating our “Russia problem” is now that Obama has finally ordered the bombing of ISIS strongholds and sent much needed aid to the displaced people of northern Iraq, he has opened the door for Putin to send his troops into the Ukraine. Does anyone believe Putin will sit back and do nothing? Obama's words will now be viewed as nothing more than do as I say and not as I do by Putin and will be used to justify further Russian aggression.

It should also be noted we simply do not have the military capability to send our troops to support the Ukraine along with the people of Syria and Iraq and still be in a position to deal with others who lie in wait so they can take advantage of our military being spread too thin. Let's not forget we have a constantly tense situation with North Korea while China has begun to test Japan's patience over disputed islands and airspace. We also have yet to rid ourselves of the al-Qaida problem. While they may not be near the threat they once were, do you really think they will remain this way if we have to place them on the back burner of foreign issues? History tells us they won't but our President seems to have failed to master this subject which is why we have people beginning to question whether or not the world is headed toward another world war.

It's one thing to want to avoid wars. However, just like on the school playground, it is usually best to stand up to a bully sooner than later. By failing to remove problems in their early stages, Obama has allowed a number of tumors to grow into full on cancers. Unfortunately, Obama has failed to learn from his historical national health plan. If preventive well care helps keep down the cost of insurance, so should preventative intervention help avoid full blown wars.