A Sad day

Every once in awhile, someone says something critical of education and my first impulse is to defend education, but I stop myself and realize, what with current "reforms," including No Child Left Behind, there isn't much to defend.

Today was one of those days where this point was driven home in spades.

First, this was the second day of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Students were herded into our two gymnasiums, separated by sex, and submitted to two full days of taking a test that you have to get a score of 52% on if you want to get your diploma. All students, even those taking rigorous AP classes, have to take it and pass it. And, since everyone is in the gym and test security is so tight, everyone has to wait until everyone else is finished. So that means that a brilliant student who aces the test in a half-hour has to sit and wait for the students who fell asleep, went to the bathroom and had to be hunted down and brought back, or came in late after we had already started.

Folks, that's the reform you are paying for. Schools are forced to set their sights low for all students, wasting much of the time of their top students. Why should a student taking difficult classes be forced to waste their time like this when the REAL test, the AP test, is more crucial for their future?

Second, our principal called in the probationary teachers whom he intended to let go. Now couple of these needed to be let go. But, as a site rep, I sat in on four of these meetings, and will probably still sit in on one tomorrow, and I could see that many of these teachers had no idea this was coming. Nothing ever came up during the evaluation process. No assistance was offered. They were let go just because.

If you want real reform, start with the people who run the schools, you'll get rid of a lot more incompetence that way.