Education bureaucracy bears down on our kids

STEVE SMITH

At Harbor View Elementary School in Newport Beach, math scores on the

recent statewide standardized tests were lower in the fourth, fifth

and sixth grades than last year, with fifth-graders dropping from 73%

passing to just 61%.

At Newport Coast Elementary School, math scores were even or down

in three of the five grades. I’d give you some stats from the Costa

Mesa side of the district, but they’d make a reasonable person cry,

particularly if our school board cares to claim that each side of the

district receives equal treatment.

If it’s any consolation, the whole state flunked: Less than half

of California’s elementary schools showed any increases in scores in

the latest round of the standardized English and math tests.

The statewide drop in scores on standardized English and math

tests should come as no surprise to teachers, administrators or to

anyone with kids in a public school system. This is merely the result

of the weight of the state’s education bureaucracy finally bearing

down on our kids.

What is also not surprising, but no less upsetting is how the

bureaucrats still cling to the same, tired, old excuses for poor

performance.

A recent story in the Los Angeles Times stated: “Educators cited

several factors to explain the lackluster performance including

budget cuts that have eroded teacher training programs and increases

in the number of students who are still learning English.”

Yes, they’re pointing fingers at the budget bogeyman once again.

The only thing I haven’t read so far is how the nearly 30-year-old

Proposition 13 is to blame. But there’s still time.

Here’s what’s really wrong:

* Schools are trying to fit square pegs into round holes by

putting far too much emphasis on sending all kids to college. Not

every kid wants to, needs to or should go to college. Someone needs

to fix our cars, repair our plumbing and build our homes. None of

that requires a college education. But if you are in a public school

-- and many private ones, too -- you have college drilled into you

day after day as the only way to become successful.

Kids who aren’t college material need options. If they don’t see

any, school becomes a burden instead of an inspiration, and they are

less inclined to study or attend classes. Eventually, they drop out.

We need to initiate aptitude tests early on to determine which

kids are college material and which are not. For those who are not,

we need to start opening more vocational classes and schools to help

them learn alternative careers. And let’s stop forcing those kids to

learn algebra and other courses that will be of no use to them.

Give them separate tests and watch them excel.

And most of all, stop making the vocational kids feel like they’ve

failed if they don’t attend college.

* Start a statewide no-TV program. Yeah, I know; I’ve beaten this

drum before, but the fact is that it works. When kids watch less TV,

the first thing they do is read. Encouraging kids (and parents) to

turn off the tube in a statewide campaign does not have to cost one

dime.

* Teach less material. There were 35 kids in my fifth-grade class

at Laurel Elementary School in Los Angeles in 1965. We all got a good

education, taught by someone who had the time to teach it all. If

you’ve seen the amount of curriculum mandated by the state, you’d

understand why kids get so much homework. It’s because teachers

cannot get through the material during the regular classroom

schedule. There is plenty of curriculum fat to cut.

* Not so long ago, if a student acted up in class and was

disciplined, there was shame and embarrassment for the student and in

his family. Today, teachers are considered the perpetrators. They

have to tip-toe around discipline issues, lest they be accused of

something, or their school district is sued. Allow teachers to reduce

or eliminate classroom disruptions by empowering them to take

immediate action.

* I know a smart kid who is 12, who is most likely going to skip

college and take over his dad’s successful business instead. It sure

would be nice if he could get some entrepreneurial training while he

is in our schools, instead of being thrown into the mix with the

other kids, all of whom are only taught how to go to work for someone

else.

Here’s my tally: Five suggestions, only two of which may cost any

money -- and in those cases it’s probably just a matter of shifting

existing funds to put them to better use.

So, bureaucrats, please stop whining about your budgets. Think

instead of how to make the most with what you have (see above) --

that’s what most American households do every day. And if necessary,

go back to the math classes you so desperately want all our kids to

attend.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.