From: rizzo@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (anthony.r.rizzo)
Subject: Re: Fate of the Energetic Teacher
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 15:06:39 GMT

In article <yywasB5w165w@netlink.cts.com> bigbro@netlink.cts.com (Kenneth Sullivan) writes:
>rizzo@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (anthony.r.rizzo) writes:
>
>> In article <1agognINNipc@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> bm665@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ja
>> >
>> >     Early this Summer I posted a request for help teaching a 
>> >STATICS course to pre-engineering students. I received perhaps 25 
>> >responses both publically posted and by e-mail. Virtually all 
>> >were informative and helpful. With this help, for which I am 
>> >genuinely thankful, I looked forward to teaching the class. In 
>> >preparation I read through the text, solved many of the problems, 
>> >and sorted out how I would approach many of the topics. But, at 
>> >the last minute the class was cancelled. The reason given was 
>> >"insufficient registration". There were however as many or more 
>> >students registered in my STATICS class this Summer as in 
>> >previous Summers when the course was not cancelled.
>> > 
>> >     Also this Fall, for the first time in ten years, I am not 
>> >teaching the Engineering Physics laboratories. My usual classes 
>> >are being taught by other instructors. Over the ten years that I 
>> >taught the Engineering Physics laboratories many students have 
>> >commented to me and to others about my ability to explain the 
>> >concepts of physics, my availablity to students needing help and 
>> >the high level of experimentation performed in the lab. Without 
>> >my involvement or explanation to me or the students, the 
>> >instructors and the content of the labs have changed. Still many 
>> >of the students taking these labs seek me out. But now it is to 
>> >find out why the class has changed and why I am not teaching the 
>> >course anymore. Most of them express the loss this represents. 
>> >Some have asked what if anything can be done to return the labs 
>> >to their former higher and friendlier level.
>> > 
>> >     This situation is not unusual here. In the last ten years 
>> >there has been a lowering of standards in the main K-12 system 
>> >that feeds the school where I teach. Every year fewer "college 
>> >prep" and "advanced" courses were offered until in the last few 
>> >years none at all have been offered. Now it seems the more 
>> >advanced courses at the college freshman and sophomore level are 
>> >being gutted or watered down.
>> > 
>> >     Without the more advanced courses, the more elementary ones 
>> >suffer as well because there are no more higher or advanced 
>> >courses to prpare for. From my point of view, the result can only 
>> >be the weakening of our whole society by lowering still further 
>> >the intellectual level sought for by the educational system.
>> > 
>> >     Not only in my case but in many others I have seen, the 
>> >energetic, resourceful and student oriented teacher is not 
>> >allowed to practice the art of teaching for long without road 
>> >blocks or worse put in his or her way.
>> > 
>> >     I suspect that this phenomena is wide spread. I wonder if 
>> >anyone has an understanding of it, whether there have been 
>> >successful fights against it and what the experience of other 
>> >teachers has been.
>> > 
>> >P.S. I am this semseter teaching the Physics laboratory for 
>> >health para-professional majors. The course is at a conceptual, 
>> >almost non mathematical level. The challenge is a big one: to do 
>> >meaningful physics labs with a minimum of mathematics. Any words 
>> >
>> >of advice and encouragement would again be put to good use. (The 
>> >text being used in the course is "The Physics of Everyday 
>> >Phenomena" by W. Thomas Griffith.)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The problem is that there is NO accountability in the school system.
>> Government and the educational system could learn much from the
>> "Process Quality Management and Improvement" programs that are
>> being implemented in the private sector.
>> 
>> As I see it, the students are the customers, and the educational
>> system is the supplier.  The customers need to be made ready
>> for the next step in their lives, either college or a job.
>> The K-12 school system does a mediocre job, at best,
>> of preparing its customers for college.  It does nothing
>> to prepare its customers for jobs.  Industry suffers too, of course.
>> People who aren't ready for the challenges of the workplace
>> must be trained on the job.
>> 
>> The solution?  Maybe we SHOULD Vote for Ross Perot.  
>> Perhaps we'd see some meaningful change, for a change.
>> I've seen documentaries about the program that
>> Perot championed in Texas.  In effect, he did a skillful
>> end-run around the school system's bureaucrats by getting support
>> directly from business.  He also got some interesting guidelines
>> installed, such as "no pass no play," which says that students
>> who want to play sports and take part in extracurricular activities
>> must first achieve passing grades.  Oh yes, the educational system
>> in Texas, so I've heard, was improved for ALL, rich and poor alike.
>> 
>> Yes, I know that this is not alt.politics.  But the deterioration
>> of the school system inevitably will lead to the deterioration
>> of industrial competitiveness.  It will affect even my own
>> children's ability to earn a living, even though they are only
>> 4 year old and 15 months old right now.
>> 
>> Well, for what it's worth, that's my two-cents.
>> 
>> Tony Rizzo
>> 
>
>well regarding "no pass, no play" is hardly a new idea, I can not think 
>of a place that does not have that rule.  Also, it all depends on the 
>school.  Like idealy, by the time I finish high school, I will have one 
>science, one math, one english, one history, and another science credit 
>for college, because I had the opputunity to take AP classes now.  
>However this option is not always open.  Part of the problem is 
>differnces between one school and another.  Like one school may have no 
>money, and so the kids get 800s on the SATs, and they say, look the 
>school system is gone compltly. lets elect a dictator.  or they could 
>pick on another school and say gee they get 1400's on the SATs everything 
>is A-ok, lets keep Bush.  Well first off, Federal only contributes a wee 
>bit compared to local..so complain to senators.....enough politics,  
>indeed the education of todays work force is pale in comparison to other 
>countries such as Germany and Japan, but do we have to raise taxes to 
>60+% to accomplish the same?
>
>--                    
>INTERNET:  bigbro@netlink.cts.com (Kenneth Sullivan)
>UUCP:   ...!ryptyde!netlink!bigbro
>NetLink Online Communications * Public Access in San Diego, CA (619) 453-1115

Let me bring you up to date.  It doesn't matter who gets in the
Whitehouse.  They'll all raise taxes.  There's nothing left 
for the government to do but raise taxes.  

But here's the bottom line with respect to the school system, Kenneth.  
Will you be ready to either learn or earn after high school?
If you had chosen to not prepare for college, would you
have been prepared to earn a living with the skills that you would have
acquired in high school?  If you can answer "yes" to both questions,
can the majority of students in your graduating class do the same?
Be honest.

Let me rattle your cage slightly, Kenneth.  Economists have been
saying for years that by the end of the century there will be two
classes of people in this country, the educated and the uneducated.
The difference in education, inevitably, means a big difference
in earning power, a BIG difference.  For example, a competent
engineer with ten years of experience now earns between
$60,000 and $70,000.  Look around.  How many people do you see
between the ages of 30 and 40, who earn that much without having
gone to college?  My guess is that anyone who hasn't gone
to college and is still making a comfortable living probably
has a marketable skill.  Will those classmates of yours who
don't go to college have a marketable skill after high school?
Will you?

When you have your own family, all that matters is being
able to support them.  There's little joy in seeing your
own children playing in a dirty parking lot, because you
can't afford a house.  There's no joy in taking your kids
to school in a run-down, crime-ridden neighborhood, because
you can't afford to live in a safer area.  There is no
comfort in taking your sick child to a hospital's emergency
room, because you don't have medical insurance and can't
afford the services of a pediatrician.  All that matters,
when you have little faces looking up at you, is being
able to keep them safe and helping them grow in a nurturing,
loving environment.  That's when you will either appreciate the
value of your education or curse the bureaucrats in the
school system who robbed you of one.  Study hard, Kenneth.

Tony Rizzo

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