Don't Let The Money Fool You
“That is my problem with life, I rush through it, like I'm being chased. Even things whose whole point is slowness, like drinking relaxing tea. When I drink relaxing tea I suck it down as if I'm in a contest for who can drink relaxing tea the quickest.”
― Miranda July
We were in the driveway last night - me sitting on the wall to the side, him shooting at the hoop anchored in front of the house - when he made his pronouncement.
"I'm telling you right now, I'm not taking another EOC math exam. If they try to make me, I'm just getting up and "walking out of class. So you better be ready to pick me up." He said as he let loose with a mid-range shot. "I've done my part. I took the test seriously, and I studied. I'm not retaking a test that I think I did pretty well on just because you can't get it graded in time for it to be included in my grade. That is not a me problem, Sounds like a you problem."
He's a 13-year-old eighth grader taking a high school credit course in math. State law requires that if the results are returned before report cards are printed, they count as a percentage of his final grade. It hasn't been a great year for math. His teacher and he have engaged in a continual battle of wills. Both are equally at blame for how things have unfolded, but neither is willing to concede ground. Ultimately since he's the 13-year-old, he'll assume the cost.
"You think I'm kidding." He says, "But I'm not. I've had 5 tests in the last month and I'm done. You tell me testing is done, and then because you can't do your job, I'm expected to take another. I upheld my end of the bargain, now it's time for them to uphold theirs."
I try to choose the words in my response carefully. He's not wrong, but he's certainly not helping himself. Earlier in the day I'd gotten a call from one of his teachers telling me that he'd scored exceptionally well on his math I-Ready test, so it wasn't a matter of capability.
"It's not quite that easy." I slowly start. "These tests can shape the opportunities available to you going forward. Don't do well and they close doors on you. You don't want to lose out on potential opportunities because you got stubborn."
"I don't care." He angrily responds, "The whole thing is stupid. They repeatedly test you and act as if they are all important. If you have five different results, how does that tell you anything? Just like they get tired, I get tired. I want to be left alone, just like they want to be left alone."
He throws up a 15-footer before continuing, "They give TCAP first thing in the morning when I'm already tired and if you finish early you get to lay your head down and literally sleep because you can't do anything else. So an extra hour of sleep - sign me up all day."
I've raised both my kids to not fight unnecessary battles. However, qualifying those battles is left to them, as long as they are willing to pay the associated costs.
Today is a test of my policy.
As an adult, I can see how this battle will end, and I tell him. "I'm not saying you are wrong, but I am saying, ultimately you'll lose this fight."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll have to live with the grade and perhaps repeat the course. It also may limit what courses are available for you in the future. It'll be hard to get into advanced academic classes." I explain.
"That's a good thing, isn't it"
"What do you mean?"
"If I take easier classes, it means easier high grades." He explains, "Leaves me more time for other things, right?"
"No, Let me put it this way." I respond, "Look at it like travel ball. The Knights are probably the best organization, right? With Select close behind. The Orioles are considered the worst organization, right?"
"Yeah"
"Part of the reason you play travel ball is because it is a path to Division 1 ball. Playing for the Knights or Select gives you a better shot at playing Division 1 than playing for the Orioles, agreed?"
"Yeah"
"If you don't do well at tryouts, will you play for the Knights or Select?"
"No"
"So you are stuck playing for the Orioles. Do you want to play for the Orioles, which I'm sure would be a lot easier and you'd be the best player, or do you want to play for Select?"
"Select"
"Same holds true for academics." I tell him," You can't see it right now, but the classes you take and how you perform determines whether you play in Division 1, community college, or your playing career ends with high school. It's about providing the best opportunities to make your dreams come true. You still want to play D-1, right?"
"Of course. But, I'm taking a year off before college if I don't go D-1 after high school. He retorts.
"That's another fight for another day. But this is all part of the process."
"Dr. C says I'm so smart but I constantly focus it in the wrong direction," he says while laying the ball on the rim.
"When did he say that?"
"Today when he pulled me out of math class to talk to me. Mrs. G was trying to make me sit in a certain seat after I'd already been moved 4 times and I wasn't doing anything. I said I wasn't going to move again. I was sitting in the seat right behind the one she was trying to make me sit in."
Dribbling around the driveway, he added, "I wasn't going to get into it with her. So I was like, can you please not talk to me anymore and just let me take my test? That's when she went and got Dr. C."
"What else did he say?"
"Just that I was very smart but continually used that intelligence to make trouble. I'm not trying to but, I not going to do something just because you tell me to do something if you never listen to me.'
"Unfortunately, that's a large part of adulthood."
"I never get in trouble in Ms J or Mr. N's class, and they'll get on me and push, but not relentlessly without ever listening to me. Mrs J always says she has no problems with me and that when she says it's time to get serious, I get serious. It is because she explains why we are doing things and considers my thoughts sometimes."
"I've always said that the hills you die on are the ones that you decide to die on. My job is to help you discern the important from the unimportant. Ultimately you are the one that bears the cost of those decisions. Not me and not your teachers." I respond,
"What do mean. Don't they get in trouble if I fail or do not take the test?"
"Nah, not unless three-quarters of the class fail and then it depends. In math, and some other subjects, it's hard to find teachers, so they'll almost always pick the teacher over the student." I tell him. "Sorry bud. Reality is tough. I told you this was a losing fight. When's the test?"
"I don't know but, be prepared to pick me up."
"That serious about it?"
"That serious about it." He says, putting up a 20-footer that turns out to be all net.
He's not towing the party line, but he's not wrong. However, I'd argue we are.
Standardized end-of-the-year testing is a canard. It doesn't give us information that can be applied to teaching, no matter how much we pretend.
The tests are made up of items that we expect to me memorized when modern technology allows them to be looked up with ease,
Forget a formula. Look it up.
Forget a grammar rule, look it up.
As a manager, I've frequently told those I supervise to not rely on their memory, if there is a doubt look it up.
These kids today are tested way too much, on material that we'll be readily available in the future, to justify adults' existence, and they see right through our bullshit.
They know what this is all about - adults making other adults feel justified. Justified in criticizing, justified in supporting.
We do so while using compromised data. We assume that kids taking tests attach an iota of importance to these tests that we do. As if the conversation in my household is an outlier.
Some do, but many reject them.
I've got one of the former as well. I couldn't be prouder of my daughter who works diligently on her grades and takes every test seriously. She often earns the highest of accolades, that of being considered a "good student".
But even she complains about the volume of tests they are subjected to and the lack of connectivity to the real world.
It's like running a three-card monty when everyone can see the sleight of hand.
Instead of admitting it, and adjusting so we can actually serve all kids, we put on a serious face and say dumb things like, "Don't take this seriously and you are going to ruin your future" or "You are too young to understand how important this is."
Most everybody who knows anything about education, knows we test too much, and they also concede that we measure the wrong things and tests don't tell us what we claim they do. So why do we continue to proceed as if the mark remains unaware of the con?
We had a chance last session, to do something about our testing policies, but we were unwilling to compromise on our hatred for vouchers. So instead, we chose to not limit something that definitely harms kids, in favor of preserving a system that doesn't serve every kid.
I'll never be able to align that in my head, and it'll be a source of anger for a long time.
But today we are not talking vouchers. Well. not a lot about them.
ironically, most education non-profits were silent on the voucher issue, until they became concerned that the House version limiting testing might be enticing enough to pass. More than vouchers, they were concerned that a reduction in testing might actually occur. Fiscally, they couldn't let that happen. It's a fundraising tool.
The Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) regularly receives multi-million dollar grants from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Just last May they picked up a million dollars for "operational support".
How do you justify that investment without tests?
How do you instill the impetus to increase investment without student testing?
How do you justify your existence without a measuring stick that supplies the words for your narrative?
You can't, and you don't. Instead, you through your considerable weight behind lobbying to make sure that the state maintains the same policies even as they are repeatedly shown to be ineffectual.
But it doesn't stop with testing.
SCORE recently released a brief highlighting the challenges of small rural districts securing high-quality teachers. No secret - it's difficult.
According to their findings:
Over 80 percent of rural district leaders in our sample do not believe Tennessee’s teacher pipeline is producing enough effective educators.
Over 75 percent of rural district leaders in our sample do not believe their district has access to the number of effective educators it needs to support students.
Nearly 70 percent of rural district leaders in our sample do not believe that Tennessee has strong policies and strategies in place to support the teaching pipeline.
ironically, there were provisions in the House voucher bill - lower teacher benefit costs, more funding for rural districts, fewer teacher evaluations - that would have helped with all of this. But we never even talked about this because we were so blinded by voucher rhetoric.
Since the voucher bill died, have we pivoted at all? Have we gone from being anti-vouchers to pro-policy that benefits ALL kids and teachers?
Nope. We are too busy doing victory dances and shoring up defenses for the next voucher battle - posting memes about people wanting to "destroy public education".
Quite possibly one of the stupidest statements I've ever heard.
Are you aware of the billions of dollars that flow through public education?
In Tennessee, it's just under $9 billion.
Think about it, if you destroy public education, all of that money gets redistributed.
That happens, and all of the curriculum companies, testing companies, tutoring companies, consultants, technology companies, and education non-profits, not to mention those that use schools as a source for tax write-offs, are left scrambling to find a new revenue stream.
We are not talking about poor people here, we are talking about companies and entities where CEOs are making mid to high six-figure salaries. Not to mention the superintendents and their cabinets who have their own six-figure salaries to protect.
The idea that anyone is going to allow the golden goose be destroyed is ludicrous.
What we actually have, is a situation where one group of millionaires wants a cut of the money the other millionaires have, and they don't want to give it up.
The Science of Reading is a prime example of what I'm talking about.
Is there anything new in it?
Is it even Science?
However, there is no denying that it is a revenue generator. It is also an effective way for new publishers, like Amplify and Great Minds, to get a chunk of the budget that has previously been claimed by traditional publishers.
Those districts, who've long been using low-quality curricula, are now forced to reinvest in high-quality curricula. Let's not forget the accompanying investment in training.
I guess if I was being honest with the boy, I'd explain to him that the tests are important because they keep the money flowing. Get between a man and his money, you are looking for a world of hurt.
It's a fight you'll rarely win unless you have more money.
We don't.
He won't.
And neither will the other Tennessee children.
At least until we change our priorities.
- - -
Despite the bill being signed by Governor Lee, the arguments against a new law allowing teachers to carry a gun in school continues unabated.
A new article in the Tennessean asks experts if arming teachers makes schools safer. Per the article, the jury is still out on that one.
The article is fine, but I do have to cite one passage, as it gives insight into public opinion of what teachers do.
Mo Canady, is the executive director for the National Association of School Resource Officers. He was a police officer for 25 years before taking on his current role in 2011. Nearly half his time on the force was spent overseeing local SRO programs in Hoover, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham.
Canady acknowledges that law enforcement is in a recruiting crisis.
When asked if he thinks the 40 hours of basic training required under the law is enough for teachers and staff to carry guns in schools, his answer was simple: “Absolutely not.”
He goes on to tell the reporter, that the basic training his organization offers includes things like adolescent brain development and mental health issues, special needs, human trafficking and behavioral threat assessment, among others.
"It's so much more than just carrying a weapon," Canady said.
If it wasn't so depressing, I'd probably laugh aloud.
Does he believe that teachers are not already versed in the areas he mentioned? What does he think they do all day?
I'm betting that his view is one shared by a majority of the general public, and that's just disappointing.
There are a lot of legitimate reasons for teachers not carrying guns in school.
A lack of knowledge about, "adolescent brain development and mental health issues, special needs, human trafficking and behavioral threat assessment" aren't among them.
- - -
A quick comment on a bill that's not education-related. Since I have extensive experience operating a live music venue, I feel qualified to comment on it.
This session the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill allowing the creation of a Live Music Fund. The law doesn't actually fund any action this fiscal year, but it lays out a framework through which the state can support music venues, promoters, and performers via grants in the future.
Part of me supports this idea because keeping the doors on a live venue open is damn hard work and there is never enough money.
Former Exit-In owner and Music Venue Alliance Nashville member Chris Cobb lays it out in a press release.
“We are truly excited by the unanimous and bipartisan support for our independent venues,” Cobb says in a releasefrom the Tennessee Entertainment Commission. “It has become increasingly difficult to own, operate, or grow an independent venue in today’s climate, and a fund like this will be a difference maker to ensure that independent venues across Tennessee not only survive, but thrive.”
But, I have some trepidation.
Like my homeschool friends like to say, "What the government funds, the government ends up controlling."
Part of the allure of rock and roll is being a rebel without a clue. It's a hard role to play when you are depending on a government paycheck.
- - -
Per usual, I need to rattle the cup a little bit before I head out the door.
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