Ron's Random Ruminations

As you may already figured out, I'm a strong proponent of quality education for our children.  So, it's understandable that it was with great interest, today, I read La Shawn Barber's post on how Bush's No Child Left Behind law is failing. Although I disagree with her on some of the points she argues (in specific: "There is a poisonous strain of 'anti-intellectualism' coursing through the subculture") , I did find the information she presented interesting overall. Read it and judge for yourselves.

Tomorrow, Californians will vote on Propostion 82, the "Preschool for All" Act. The ballot initiative , if passed, would would tax the wealthy to pay for free preschool for all 4-year-olds for at least three hours a day. 

As Jennifer Roback Morse so clearly states it, "The fate of Proposition 82 matters, even if you don’t live in California. Bad ideas have a way of oozing out of California and into the rest of the country."

Morse also say Prop 82 is bad for California in a couple of ways:

1.  It "mandates that the state determine curriculum standards for preschool. Remember, this is the state that micromanged the curriculum to the point of requiring history textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians and transgendered persons. The state legislature has no common sense about the curriculum they are already responsible for, so it's important not to put the little kiddies into their hands any sooner than necessary."

 2.  ...".supporters of Prop 82 say it will have no impact on 99.4% of the taxpayers, because the program will be funded by a special tax on the highest income bracket.  Prop 82 requires a 1.7% tax on individuals with incomes over $400,000. But this claim is misleading... these same taxpayers already pay one third of the state’s annual income taxes. Remember that the state’s solvency is deeply dependent on this handful of people. Last time we had a big recession in California, tax revenues went to hell in a basket. The burst of the "Dot Com" bubble drained wealth from the wealthiest, so these high income people no longer had the income to tax. Besides paying the taxes, these are the people who create jobs in our state. Prop 82 says, "let’s tax them some more." We might as well have a contest to see how many wealthy people we can drive into Nevada."

So, if you're a Californian, if you have no other reason to vote tomorrow, go just to vote no on Prop 82. If you live outside of our great state, take heed of the outcome of this election. If it passes, it may be coming to your state soon.

Dan Walters, writing for Sacramento Bee, has a great take on California's implementation of a "requirement that high schoolers pass an exit exam in English language and mathematics skills before being awarded diplomas."

Sure, this makes sense, doesn't it? Make them all take and pass an exit exam proving that they acquired an adequate education. Nothing wrong with that. Really?

Mr. Walters writes (and I think this is a terrific comment on his part),  "We are cramming children with an immense variety of cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic and familial backgrounds, with an equally immense array of abilities, into a one-size-fits-all system without providing individualized options for students, such as vocational classes, or for parents, such as private school vouchers." Wonderful, two snaps and a circle!

Folks, I've been saying this for some time now. What Walters means here is that people differ in the way they learn, just as we all differ from one another in our physical appearance (i.e. shape, height, and skin color). We each learn in a certain way. The one size fits all method of educating and testing students, in my view, just doesn't work. And I believe it has done much harm to students than good.

Walters writes that the "exit exam could push graduation rates for African American and Latino youngsters down to a third of those who begin the ninth grade - even lower in Los Angeles and other urban school districts." The current pass rate on the exam for both groups is now under 70 percent.

The idea that other factors are crucial in a student's  learning ability is not glossed over, either, by Walters. "Innate ability, parental and familial support, peer group pressure, the quality of instruction, the availability of materials and the culture of the school are just a few of the influences on educational outcomes."

I agree. But still, I believe we need to take a real and comprehensive look at how we're educating our children and design an educational system that is flexible enough to cater to the various learning styles of students.  Not all have the aptitude nor the desire to go on to college. Some have a terrifc aptitude for working with their hands and can make a good living at it too, if given the proper preparation. The last time I looked, there's a big shortage of qualified auto mechanics. And if,  like me, you've taken your car into the shop for service recently, you know they're getting paid well. 

I say bring back the vocational schools that there used to be so many of. Bring back the auto mech classes in the high schools. Partnership ( sorry, I had say it) with the local community colleges and labor unions and start apprenticeship programs for youngsters contemplating a career path that doesn't include college.

As an Air Force veteran, I've seen this work first hand. The military does a tremendous job identifying the aptitudes of its applicants and then training them in that particular field with great success. Why can't we do the same in the civilian world? 

Click here to read Mr. Walters column.

In his latest column, Economist Thomas Sowell writes how New York City public schools, once touted for their high quality education, now lag behind those in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I went through the New York public school system when it still had high standards. I can honestly credit it with helping me get to where I am today and what I have achieved. I was also fortunate to be put into the class for advanced students from the 1st - 9th grades.

It's sad to see a school system that once produced students, often of immigrant parents, like Colin Powell and Michael Savage, fall to such low levels.

From Davis California:

The schools in Davis are trying to achieve a racial balance in the number of students they identify as gifted.

According to the Sacramento Bee:

Concern that African Americans and Latinos were being disproportionately excluded from the school district's gifted and talented education program, known as GATE, drove the Davis school board to alter the program's admission requirements two years ago.

Here we go again folks! Why is it that when selected minority groups are unrepresented in a certain area, the first thing we do is "alter" (read that lower) admission requirements?

The article goes on to say:

That effort yielded last year's spike in gifted identifications - it also proved some parity among racial groups.

What was the spike? Thirty-five percent of students were identified as gifted. Get that, over one third of students were said to be gifted. Come on now!

But lets see what happend the second year:

Tinkering with the district's identification procedure yielded a lower number this year, but in preliminary data presented to the school board May 5, the original problem seemed to have reappeared: Whites and Asians were once again much more likely to be identified as gifted than were African Americans and Latinos.

No kidding sports fans! Maybe the problem is not with the test used for identifying this gifted kids.

Wait just a minute now. Before you start taking the rocks out of your pockets and throwing them at me, let me point this out. Kay Hymowitz, writing in City Journal, presents a thoughtful article on why black children have problems academically, and puts the blame on parents.

Could it also be, in the case of Davis schools, that certain groups of students do better academically than others because there is that expectation and it's reinforced in their homes or culture? I think it deserves and honest look as well as honest answers.