Thoughts on education in these times

Underpaid and over-stressed, Teachers should all have secretaries too — among other things…

Today I spent a lot of time staring at a screen. I want to absorb as much about the STR Exam as possible but I don’t feel prepared. Finally, after three practice tests, I am qualified to register for the real thing. I have earned the right to murder 5+ hours of my life by taking the worst test in history. I don’t want to take it more than once because it costs somewhere around $135 each time. I am so annoyed and blurry-eyed at the whole process. The practice test questions are overly wordy, circular, and, in my opinion, subjective. I had to struggle to get over the PTSD I had from failing the first practice test which was a pretty horrible 5+ hour chunk. Cognitive overload is what some call it.

I failed by just a hair and I could tell that the instructor wanted me to “make corrections in class”. This was probably to increase her number of passing students and pat herself on the back. Rather, I transferred out of her class. Her personality was now one less stress I’d have to deal with. She treated us like irresponsible teenagers or prison inmates. She chose a Shel Silverstein poem as an example of alliteration that didn’t use alliteration. She also called Shel Silverstein a SHE which would be fine, but I don’t think Silverstein identified with that pronoun. It sorta drove me nuts. I was so upset I went online and took the official Pearson practice test to further torture myself. Now ten hours of my life gone and for no good.

Finally, the third time is a charm. However, the third test was not overly wordy and unnecessarily complicated. It was like a normal content area test. I scored a 93%. This is crazy. Why are we making it more difficult for teachers to be teachers? Why are we overly complicating the process like this? Reading the STR exam or the TEKS for that matter is a great way to lobotomize yourself. It is so convoluted it is difficult to get to the point of each standard and chart the proposed evolution. Maybe the writers thought of it as indoctrination to repeat the same words over and over again in such a mind-numbing way. Or maybe they thought they sounded smarter by really stretching out the concepts within the questions and answers by just adding extra words.

They say it’s not subjective, but it’s all based on theories and the theories didn’t write themselves. It’s called the Science of Teaching Reading, but it should be called Theories on Teaching Reading. We are not being tested on what the theories and best practices are factually and throughout history, but instead given 90 scenarios (okay maybe 85 with 5 that are definition questions), and we need to figure out an appropriate response to the scenario. The STR experts will even tell you that two of the four answers will be very close.

It’s a tough time for teachers. According to CNN,

“Former President Donald Trump … wants to close the Department of Education

and have state governments “run the education of our children,” pushing for a long-held Republican goal that has been endorsed by several other 2024 GOP candidates.

“We’re going to end education coming out of Washington, DC. We’re going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the states,” Trump said in a new campaign video.

But eliminating the US Department of Education would not necessarily give any more power to states over K-12 schools. While the federal agency helps the president execute education policies, the power to set curriculum, establish schools, and determine enrollment eligibility already lies with the states and local school boards.”

Getting back to my anxiety about taking this test in these times, I have concluded: that the only way out of it is through it.

If for no other reason than to know in myself that I can muster up all my patience and endurance I have and pass. I suppose if I were really angry about it, I could probably get 100%. Too bad I’m only super annoyed and stress eating is my best friend.

I went to a super hot and hard power yoga class and killed it. All those stored carbs made me feel like I could have done three classes like this. Reminds me of my tri, marathon, and bike racing days. I’d carb load and then burn it all up on the road. I loved that. I used to tell my kids all the time: It only takes a half hour to run 3 miles! I don’t run anymore, but I wish I did because going to these yoga classes takes about 1.5 hours including drive time. I used to ride my bike, but then it took 2 hours. Now I’m probably so slow on the bike it would probably take longer and I feel pressed for time all the time.

I signed up for 4 classes this week because if I sign up for them, I will feel obligated to go. I walk the dogs most days at 5 am anyway. So I am up. I like to wake up around 4 am on days like this. I practice some language lessons on Duolingo. Right now I’m practicing Spanish, French, Latin, Italian, and Japanese. Today I practiced French and Japanese only. I also listen to public radio while I’m making my espresso. Sometimes I listen to it on my headphones when I walk the dogs too, but today I didn’t. I just enjoyed the morning walk. It was nice not to multitask. All in all, a great start to the day.

On the way home I did see a man sleeping on the hood of a yellow VW bug. People can sleep anywhere. I like to listen to the rest of the news on the way to yoga, but music on the way home with all the windows open. The 7 am photons from the sun’s rays are nice for my brain. It’s interesting how our eyes and brains are connected.

I looked up the etymology for the word ‘radio’ the other day because of a cognates assignment. I have also studied Russian using Duolingo so I know radio in Russian is pronounced rah-dio which is very close to how we pronounce it and in Japanese, Spanish, French, German, and Swedish. It has Latin roots in a word meaning ray or beam. I find it interesting how the Russians didn’t have a different word for radio being Slavic. Now I wonder how many languages use the word radio now and why. Another task for another day.

I have a lot of interests, it’s true: writing, nutrition, psychology, and education. And I have so many things I want: things for me, things for others, things for strangers and the community, things for society so we can better care for the planet.

I don’t feel a need to silo it all because in real life it isn’t siloed and I feel sometimes this has been one of our biggest problems in education and in general. Not only do we look at our problems in the silo, this silo doesn’t talk to that silo and that creates a whole new problem because the answers exist.

As a society, is it that we don’t want to see them?

Are we hoarding answers and solutions?

Is it the money?

While greed and materiality marginally matter to me, I understand the dilemma: the researcher, teacher, or scientist works for years so diligently and wants or needs credit for the work to have influence. Maybe that means a promotion and newposition and well deserved corner office with a view.

Come out of the basement, they want to hear, Your work is genius! You’re the boss of the department now and here’s a big raise.

Altruism becomes a small grain of impracticality left in the corner alone or with one or two other altruistic friends. Finally, in a very real and tangibleway, the researcher or teacher or scientist can feed his or her family well, they can go on vacation, and buy that new car.

I became acutely aware of my desire to justify it all as I listened to a podcast on literacy the other day that struck the chord of hell in my brain. I listen to this podcast fairly often, but I was so annoyed at the limited thinking of the day’s guest and reporting that I came very close to writing in (I still might).

The guest was talking about the failure of teachers in literacy and defended some methodology.

The fact is, children learn through play and they are learning all the time. Teachers are not in this alone yet teachers alone are responsible for piles of paperwork, documentation, study, implantation, analysis, and reporting (thus the need for a secretary).

All the while teachers alone, if they are to be effective teachers, need to be omnisciently present for each little (or big) human life in the classroom and all of their idiosyncrasies, feelings, interactions, and needs.

The guest was looking at the issue of literacy in a silo. As we know and as research shows us, students bring a wide range of experiences into the classroom with them. They bring everything from different languages to the food they eat to the positive or negative conversational interactions they witness or partake in. They bring their parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and siblings in the classroom not to mention all the media they’re consuming.

To me, education and nutrition and psychology all go hand in hand and impact literacy rates. And families need to be involved. But see, there might be yet another dilemma, some might say: socio-economic status. Well, I might argue, that if we engaged with the families also, wouldn’t we be able to provide ways for the adults to better themselves too? But this still is only part of the picture. Belief systems play a role and I realize it is a web. The problem is we’ve been ignoring the fact that it is a web.

I know time is precious. I know there is a cycle of events. I know deep habit trenches get formed. I know people struggle.

I also know that time is going to march on whether we choose the hard path in the moment or the easy path in the moment.

Moment by moment, the time will persist.

Let me use the 2007 documentary Surfwise as an example. The film centers around Dr. Paskowitz, a Stanford graduate, sat President of the American Medical Association, and a Medical Doctor. He divorces his wife, remarries another lady, and has 9 children who all live out of a van and surf. Doc did have some notoriety as he was Kelly Slater’s instructor. But what was driven home was the neglect of his children. One son wanted to be a doctor at some point in his life and at the time of the interview, he was flipping hamburgers. He said when he found out it took ten years to become an M.D. he abandoned the idea. But by the time this interview took place, it had been more than ten years. He could have gotten that degree by then and not have a job flipping burgers, but rather, in the medical profession.

This documentary sticks with me. It makes me think about time, priorities, raising children, enjoyment, and what it is to “live life to its fullest”. Sacrifice has been a part of that journey for me. And I guess it was for Doc too, but worse for his 9 children. What are the costs we don’t see for our choices at the moment? And are our dreams short-sighted?

Here’s the thing: I love education. I have always loved education. It is not for the elite, it is for everyone and should be free and accessible. Truth should be the standard. Integrity should be the governing board. Honesty should be the way. Perspective should be included in the lessons. The choice should be undeniable.

I grew up in a house with overflowing floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. I never knew education was a political tool and now that I know that it can be, I reject it as a quality of education. Education should not be politicized and withholding education is like withholding love from your children — it is abuse. I once lived in a city that told me we only speak English here, and I reject that too. I have always believed education is the answer. Every program from garbage to compost to recycling to social interaction to water use to food, clothes, and media consumption has an education component that is underfunded and underutilized.

Maybe it’s time we studied the return we would get on that investment — and we’d see the return would be a more fulfilling and satisfying life. Oh yeah, and there might be more money in it too: for our productivity, GDP, and household income. Because isn’t that what it’s all about?