I am currently a lecturer in the School of Education at Edgewood College, and an instructor at the University of Wisconsin’s Odyssey Project, Madison, Wisconsin. I was formerly an English and theater teacher at schools in and around Rochester, New York. I even have a fancy Ph.D. from a school that likes to boast of its #1 ranking (by U.S. News and World Report). I’ve been an educator for about 40 years, which offers some perspective as I look back to see where we’ve been and forward to figure out where we’re heading. Recently, I was asked to write for Busted Pencils and agreed to give it a try. It seems I should be doing something; it’s just that I’m not sure I’m a real academic. I’m not sure I’ve learned what academics are supposed to learn.
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with schools. It’s just not in our DNA to sit still for seven and a half hours each day. In order for schools to function, we need to suspend our disbelief of schools as dreadfully boring places where worksheets and tests with questions about iambic pentameter and tragic hero are better and healthier than being outside playing and exploring.
I think I truly do love learning cool stuff, and I have found no end to cool stuff that for whatever reason interests me. Stories are cool. Even poetry can be cool. “So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain.” Call me WEIRD, but I get that. But so much of school has so little to do with cool stuff and so much to do with compliance. And labeling. Compliance and labeling go together. People who comply are “normal.” People who don’t comply, or worse, people who resist compliance, are “not normal.” In fact, a whole industry has developed around the idea of normalcy: Who is and who is not.
The cruelest ploy is that when the normal is defined, so is the abnormal: those who don’t belong, the misfits, the silenced, the different. Those who resist any aspect of being normal are not normal and are labeled as such. Normalcy does not come with any guarantees, but those who are involved in the production of normalcy are often highly rewarded.
Like any other product, for example a smart phone, normalcy can be developed, produced, marketed and sold for very tangible profits. Schools are now maintained for quality control, but maintenance comes at a cost. More and more tax dollars are being spent on profiteers who sell what they package as “normal.”
For many years, I played the part of a high school English teacher in Upstate New York. I had times of normalcy (tons of idiotic, but well-intentioned worksheets) and times when I couldn’t very well stay inside the lines. I had colleagues, administrators, and sometimes students and parents who didn’t appreciate when I acted like some Robin Williams character, but there were so many others who loved being jolted out of their seats with some outrageous provocation:
“If Romeo lived in today’s world, should he go to jail for statutory rape? Check out the nurse’s soliloquy where she tells how old Juliet is. And wasn’t Juliet something like a Crip and Romeo a Blood? How does that grab ya? And while we’re at it, should kids your age be reading books about lust, drugs, and gangs? And did you know that Shakespeare got an older woman pregnant and her father made him marry her? Did I just make that up? Somebody wanna go look that up? Maybe we should ban Shakespeare, don’t-cha- think?”
New York State now offers districts throughout the state pre-scribed lessons, ironically labeled “Engage NY,” purposefully void of such cool stuff. Engage NY is distributed with the understanding that its “modules” convey what a normal student needs to know in order to be career and college ready. Here’s an example of questions from a pre-scripted lesson from Engage New York, the packaged curricula that New York State bought with its Race-to- the-Top money:
- What is the “many-hued procession” that Riis describes in lines 3-7?
- What details about the “newcomers” do I notice as I read this sentence?
- Does anyone give a rat’s patootie?
Now that’s normal stuff high school kids should be thinking about to be prepared for work and college. (Ok, that 3rd question is mine. I think it’s a pretty good question.)
So that’s pretty much where I’m coming from. Learning should be about cool stuff and teachers should be the on-the-scene professionals who know how to get students engaged in thinking about all those cool things that float kids’ boats. It’s only normal.
Posts
The Achievement Gap: Now Closed by the Alternate Executive Order
Amidst all the furor (Did I spell that right?), the derisive snickering, and those silly pink cat hats that surrounded the water coolers during these first few days of the new administration, it went virtually unnoticed that the Trump administration’s greatest triumph thus far is the end of the Achievement Gap. It’s sooooo over. Over…. Read more »
Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear
Objects in Mirror are… As lightning struck closer and closer, I looked to other parents who chatted casually on the sidelines. I felt almost embarrassed to be the one to raise the alarm as I sheepishly approached by daughter’s soccer coach and exclaimed as calmly as I could, “Coach, I think we need to get… Read more »
Ease on Down the Road with Betsy
Ok, I’m back. The semester is coming to a close, and I just have to finish up my grades, attend a few meetings, and answer about a dozen e-mails from students who didn’t realize they actually had to turn their assignments in to earn a passing grade. What did I miss? What’s all this bitchin’… Read more »
Hold the Rigor; Pass the Respect
loonyhiker, Creative Commons I’m a newcomer to this blogging gig, and I’m getting a quick education about all the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to putting my private musings into public exposés. Some people we want to annoy, and others we desperately need on our side. Recently, a student’s comment in one of… Read more »
The Sun Also Rises
What an inspiring country!!!! Guess where I’ve been the last couple weeks. Let me give you a hint: There is virtually no litter, no profanity, no violent crime, no graffiti, and no public smoking. And I’m not talking about just those civil middle class folks (although this country claims that 90% of its people are… Read more »
The Greening of American Education
The Greending of American Education By Todd Lilly As I have been traveling this summer talking to K12 and college faculty about the total transformation of American schools that is taking place right under our noses, people get this confused look on their faces: “What are you talking about?” That’s understandable; hard-working educators don’t have time… Read more »
