How Not To Fix Our Schools

click on image to see larger image (made with clipart from funnytimes.com)

Recently, a manifesto appeared in the Washington Post called “How To Fix Our Schools”. Written by some of the superintendents of public schools , like Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein, the manifesto echos many of the same points made in the recent documentary “Waiting for Superman”. I would like to examine the fundamental claim in the manifesto, that teachers alone determine student achievement and other factors like poverty have no bearing.

According to the manifesto, “as President Obama has emphasized, the single most important factor determining whether students succeed in school is not the color of their skin or their ZIP code or even their parents’ income — it is the quality of their teacher.” I had to do a doubletake when I read this. I have a degree in education. According to an educational research class that I took over twenty years ago, the most important factor in determining student achievement was the socio-economic level of the child’s parents. This was first pointed out in a study done in 1966 called the Coleman Report. According to the Coleman Report, teacher quality accounts for only one-third of student achievement. Teacher quality is therefore important but hardly qualifies as the “single most important factor determining whether students succeed.” But its been over 20 years since I’ve taking that class. Maybe there is new research that contradicts this finding.

Well, it turns out there isn’t any. According to an article by Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute written in reaction to this manifesto “Decades of social science research have demonstrated that differences in the quality of schools can explain about one-third of the variation in student achievement. But the other two-thirds is attributable to non-school factors.” Recent research such as by Michelle Phillips and Jonathan Crane do not support the manifesto’s claim about teacher quality. I encourage everyone interested in this issue to read his article, especially the footnotes.

My point is that the fundamental belief about teachers mad by people like Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein is not supported by educational research. If the analysis behind their proposals is faulty, why should we give any credence to their proposals.

One additional point I discovered in reading Rothstein’s article. Remember that quote attributed to President Obama. It turns out that this is not quite what Obama believes. According to Obama’s remarks at a high school in Missouri “I always have to remind people that the biggest ingredient in school performance is the teacher. That’s the biggest ingredient within a school. But the single biggest ingredient is the parent.” (emphasis mine). What does it say about those that wrote the manifesto that they would resort to distorting what the President believes in order to gain popular support.

Cows With Guns

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(cartoon created with clipart from funnytimes.com)

One of the best cartoonists of all time was Gary Larson. This cartoon reminds me a little of some of the stuff he did in the Far Side.

TSA Job Interview

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(cartoon created from clipart by funnytimes.com)

The purpose of terrorism is to cause the government to overreact. When the government overreacts by taking away our rights, the terrorists win.

Heaven

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(cartoon created from clip art from funnytimes.com)

WTF

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One of the podcasts that I listen to almost religiously is WTF with Marc Maron. I can't recommend it enough. The cartoon above is based on a commercial he does for Just Coffee. Other podcasts I like are The Young Turks, Best of the Left, Filmspotting, David Feldman, the Breakdown, and the Moth. Let me know about any podcasts that I should be adding to my list. (To create these cartoons I use clipart from funnytimes.com)

Ready For Plan B

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We Is Them and They is Us

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George Bush was on the tube recently saying that he approved waterboarding because his legal advisors told him that it wasn't torture. Let me provide another point of view. Pete Peterson was a POW in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Here is part of a letter to the editor he wrote in reponse to POW abuse by the Bush administration.

As a former POW in Vietnam, I know what life in a foreign prison is like. To a
large degree, I credit the Geneva Conventions for my survival. . . I am disgusted, angry, outraged and at the same time grossly embarrassed by what my government has sought to justify in the name of freedom! This is not the principle of freedom that I nearly gave my life to defend.

As the Army Field Manual says:

Abuse of detained personas is immoral, illegal, and unprofessional. . . Torture
and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment is never a morally permissible
option, even if lives depend on gaining information. . .

Finally for those who believe that abiding by laws and rules keep us from "winning" the war, the Army Field Manual provides a good historical counterpoint in its examination of the French in Algeria.

(The) failure to comply with moral and legal restrictions severely undermined
French efforts and contributed to their loss despite several significant
military victories.

The title of that section of the Field Manual says it all "Lose Moral Legitimacy, Lose the War."

More Epicurean Cannibals

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More epicurean cannibals. I think I had just watched Top Chef before doing this cartoon.

Veterans Day

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I'm not against all wars. Sometimes they are necessary. What I am against is wars that are fought for BS reasons. We owe it to those in uniform to never ask them to fight or die for light and transient reasons.

Walking Dead

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Watched the first two episodes of Walking Dead. Big thumbs up! The zombie menace is growing! And if you don't believe me look at the success of Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, and the Tea Party. Thinking about zombies got me thinking about cannibals and led to this cartoon about a high class restaurant that caters to wealthy cannibals.

Don't Ask

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Feeling a little under the weather today. But that doesn't explain my foul mood. Besides the electoral defeat of Democrats (including my favorite Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin), FSU just lost its second game in a row in the last minute of the game. Last week it was a fumble 4 yards away from a TD. This week a missed field goal. I know the sun will shine, the flowers will bloom, etc., etc. Just don't ask me how my day went.

A Nose Is A Nose

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Waxing poetic today. William Shakespeare as channeled through Gertrude Stein.

Good News Jesus

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This cartoon was inspired by a line I came across from Lenny Bruce: “If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.” Needless to say, I'm anti-death penalty.