[Texgreen] The US education system

[Craig Miller]

Well I meant to disagree, not attack.  So if I was a bit harsh I apologize.  I
just don't see how this so called article helps. It is hear-say.  Anyone can
gripe and complain about how bad things are.  I don't hear any community
building, grassroots inspiration, or anything of value in the article.  I agree
that public education needs to be reformed.  I just don't find any evidence in
Mark's article of anything, and we were not advised of anything but everything's
going to hell in a hand basket - kind of a thing.  And that by spreading this it
does not empower, but incite helpless anxiety and fear.  

The author says he threw some statistics at his teacher friend but he has all
this personal evidence in his half empty glass to disprove that.  Were we
suppose to plug in our own national statistics or just take his word for it. 
It's just not good journalism.  But there's not much of that going around these
days.  I think that has more to do with society's problem than dumb kids having
dumber ones.  

Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.  

Craig Miller
 




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---- On Mon, 29 Oct 2007, Gene Akins (geneakins@hotmail.com) wrote:


 
 
 
Craig: I have been reading some of your half-baked conjectures for several years
now. Most of the time I just hit the delete key.But , in the spirit of charity,
I thought to give you another chance and see if you were doing or saying
anything positive about the "movement". I opened post and you were attacking
somebody else named Mark(of course, in your friendliest way). I beleive you are
an agent for the "bosses"; that group or oligarchy if you will, that never
thinks any threat to their rulership is too small to be overlooked. So they
place cats like you to confuse and disrupt any coming together of minds that
might cause the sheeple to  REALLY wake up and get off this reformist crap, get
out in the streets (as we did in 10 or 11 cities this last Saturday), start
having more Coalition meetings on Real Civil Disobedience.instead of listening
to jitterbugs like you knocking somebody saying something meaningful
about"education".I am NOT in solidarity with you unless you change your song
or split!   Gene (a friend of Red Emma)> To: texgreen@lists.gp-us.org> From:
loveandrage@ureach.com> Subject: Re: [Texgreen] The US education system> Date:
Mon, 29 Oct :12:> > I think Mark is whack! At least bad reporting. The expert is
one teacher. > Where is the evidence ... statistics. Don't spread your personal
fear,> conspiracy, and disfunctional issues on us, Mark Morford. It's all
hear-say. > Not journalism. This is crap. People see what they want to see. This
just> says more about Mark Morford and his so called educator than it does
about> society as a whole. No offense Roger.> > Miller> > > > >
________________________________________________> Get your own "800" number>
Voicemail, fax, email, and a lot more> http://www.ureach.com/reg/tag> > > ----
On Thu, 25 Oct 2007, Roger Baker (rcbaker@eden.infohwy.com) wrote:> > >
ATTACHMENT 0: image/gif> > > > Mark Morford: Kids these days ...> Mark Morford>
> Wednesday, October 24, 2007> > I have this ongoing discussion
with a longtime reader who just so > happens to be a longtime Oakland high
school teacher, a wonderful guy > who's seen generations of teens come and go
and who has a delightful > poetic sensibility and quirky outlook on his life and
family and > beloved teaching career.> > He often writes in response to
something I might've written about the > youth of today, anything in which I
comment on the nefarious factors > shaping their minds and their perspectives
and whether, say, EMFs and > junk food and cell phones are melting their brains
and what can be done.> > His response: It is not bad at all. It's absolutely
horrifying.> > My friend often summarizes for me what he sees, firsthand, every
day > and every month, year in and year out, in his classroom. He speaks > not
merely of the sad decline in overall intellectual acumen among > students over
the years, not merely of the astonishing spread of lazy > slackerhood, or that
cell phones and iPods and excess TV exposure are >
short-circuiting the minds of the upcoming generations. Of this, he > says,
there is zero doubt.> > Nor does he speak merely of the notion that kids these
days are > overprotected and wussified and don't spend enough time outdoors and
> don't get any real exercise and therefore can't, say, identify basic > plants,
or handle a tool, or build, well, anything at all. Again, > these things are a
given. Widely reported, tragically ignored, > nothing new.> > No, my friend
takes it all a full step further. It is not only a sad > slide. It is not just a
general dumbing down. It is far uglier than > that.> > As far as urban public
education is concerned, we are essentially at > rock bottom. We are at a point
where we are churning out ignorant > teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and
society will pay dearly, > very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily
terrified, mindless > fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been
bad for the > soul of this country, just wait.> > It's
gotten so bad that, as my friend nears retirement, he says he is > seriously
considering moving out of the country to escape what he > perceives will be the
collapse of functioning American society in the > next handful of years due to
the destruction, the shocking - and > nearly hopeless - dumb-ification of the
American brain.> > Now, you may think he's merely a curmudgeon, a tired old
teacher who > stopped caring long ago. Not true. Teaching is his life. He says
he > loves his students, loves education and learning and watching young > minds
awaken. Problem is, he is seeing much less of it. It's like the > melting of the
polar ice caps. Sure, there's been alarmist data about > it for years, but until
you see it, the deep visceral dread doesn't > really hit home.> > He cites
studies, reports, hard data, from the appalling effects of > television on child
brain development (i.e.; any TV exposure before > age 6 and your kid's basic
cognitive wiring and spatial perceptions > are pretty
much scrambled for life), to the fact that, because of all > the insidious
mandatory testing teachers are now forced to > incorporate into the curriculum,
of the 182 school days in a year, > there are 110 when such testing is going on
somewhere at Oakland > High. As one of his colleagues put it, "It's like
weighing a calf > twice a day, but never feeding it."> > But most of all, he
simply observes his students, year to year, > noting all the obvious evidence of
teens' decreasing abilities when > confronted with even the most basic
intellectual tasks, from > understanding simple history to working through
moderately complex > ideas to even (in a couple of recent examples that
particularly > distressed him) being able to define the words "agriculture," or
even > "democracy." Not a single student could do it.> > It gets worse. My
friend cites the fact that, of the 6,000 high > school students he estimates
he's taught during the span of his > career, only a small fraction now make it
to
his grade with a > functioning understanding of written English. They do not
know how to > form a sentence. They cannot write an intelligible paragraph. >
Recently, after giving an assignment that required drawing lines, he > realized
that not a single student knew how to use a ruler.> > In short, it is, nothing
less than a tidal wave of dumb, with once- > passionate, increasingly
exasperated teachers nearly powerless to > stop it. The worst part: It's not the
kids' fault. They're only the > victims of a horribly failed educational
system.> > Then our discussion often turns to the meat of it, the bigger >
picture, the ugly and unavoidable truism about the lack of need among > the
government and the power elite in this nation to create a truly > effective
educational system, one that generates intelligent, > thoughtful, articulate
citizens.> > Why should they? After all, the dumber the populace, the easier it
is > to rule and control and launch unwinnable wars and pass laws > dictating
that sex is bad and TV is good and God knows all, so just > pipe down and eat
your Taco Bell Double-Supremo burrito and be glad > we don't arrest you for
posting dirty pictures on your cute little blog.> > This is about when I try to
offer counterevidence, a bit of optimism. > For one thing, I've argued
generational relativity in this space > before, suggesting maybe kids are no
scarier or dumber or more > dangerous than they've ever been, and that maybe
some of the problem > is merely the same old awkward generation gap, with every
current > generation convinced the subsequent one is terrifically stupid and >
malicious and will be the end of society as a whole. Just the way it > always
seems.> > I also point out how, despite all the evidence of total public- >
education meltdown, I keep being surprised, keep hearing from/about > teens and
youth movements and actions that impress me. Damn kids made > the Internet what
it is today, fer chrissakes. Revolutionized media. > Broke all the
rules.> > Some of the best designers, writers, artists, poets, chefs and so on >
that I meet are in their early to mid-20s. And the nation's top > universities
are still managing, despite a factory-churning > mentality, to crank out young
minds of astonishing ability and > acumen. How did these kids do it? How did
they escape the horrible > public school system? How did they avoid the great
dumbing down of > America? Did they never see a TV show until they hit puberty?
Were > they all born and raised elsewhere, in India and Asia and Russia? Did >
they all go to Waldorf or Montessori and eat whole-grain breads and > take long
walks in wild nature? Are these kids flukes? Exceptions? > Just lucky?> > My
friend would say, well, yes, that's precisely what most of them > are. Lucky,
wealthy, foreign-born, private-schooled ... and > increasingly rare. Most
affluent parents in America - and many more > who aren't - now put their kids in
private schools from day one, and > the smart ones give
their kids no TV and minimal junk food and no > video games. (Of course, this in
no way guarantees a smart, attuned > kid, but compared to the odds of success in
the public school system, > it sure seems to help). This covers about, what, 3
percent of the > population?> > As for the rest, the evidence seems
overwhelming, to the point where > it might be no stretch at all to say the
biggest threat facing > America is perhaps not global warming, not perpetual
warmongering, > not garbage food or low-level radiation or way too much Lindsay
> Lohan, but people far too ignorant to know how to properly manage any > of it,
much less change it all for the better.> > Too fatalistic? Don't worry. Soon
enough, no one will even know what > the word means.> > > >
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