To shoot or not to shoot... That is the question...

So here we are again, back after a hiatus. 

And this time I'm really not pleased.

Can we all agree that the question of more/less guns is a symptom?  That the idea of gun control or gun laws or reduction of gun control or reduction of gun laws is more like a band-aid?  We seem to have this problem a lot in this country.  We'll instantly come up with a thousand ways to treat the symptom, but ignore the overall cause.

"Hey doc, my mouth hurts when I go like this!"

"Well, stop doing that!"

Ok, great, but what's causing the pain in the first place?  Is there an underlying condition?  Lack of care?  Lack of proper structure to begin with?  Some foreign object/body?  Lots of questions to clarify what's really going on.

But instead of asking questions, the answer seems to be more along the lines of "Take two of these and we'll bill your insurance in the morning."

School shootings have become a thing that is on our collective conscience more and more of late.  They are becoming regular enough to not be big news until the body count gets high enough.

I find this unacceptable.

I find this offensive.

I find the only thing that makes these worse is the idea that the "Solution" is to bring more guns to the table.

I'm also bothered by the idea that the "Solution" is to vilify and ban guns entirely.

This is a case of reality not fitting neatly with one particular approach/dogma/belief.

Personally, I own no guns.  There are zero guns in my house aside from an airsoft gun that is a throwback to when my stepson and I would goof around in the yard plinking targets.  However, I am not opposed to gun ownership.  I don't own a gun primarily because the cost is high enough that it isn't on the table right now.  Notice this has nothing to do with school shootings directly, or my belief as to whether or not to bring more guns into school settings.

The "Solution" to this problem that we're having, in my opinion, has nothing to do with guns.  In fact, it has so little to do with guns as to be virtually unrelated.

Also, if you're looking for the declaration that God is missing from schools and that's the real problem, you're reading the wrong blog.

The problem, as I see it, is a lack of involvement in daily life.  In all facets.  In all situations.  From all sides.

Parents are disengaged from their kids.  Kids are disengaged from their families.  Schools are disengaged from teaching all of the intangibles that used to be taken for granted as part of the school experience to worship at the altar of the almighty Test.  We, as a society, are always looking for what's next.  When it's over.  Are we there yet. How much longer. 

I say enough is enough.  Focus on the now. Experience life as you're living it, and stop looking at the clock. 

Parents, act like it.  Be a parent.  Be involved.  Be engaged.  Come up with a way to meet your child's needs without forgetting that long term needs and immediate needs may be in conflict.  Yes, your kid may be upset right now.  Maybe even making a scene.  But is it really better to get them to be quiet while simultaneously teaching them that they're the most IMPORTANT BEING IN THE UNIVERSE AND THEIR WANTS/DESIRES/DEMANDS MUST BE MET RIGHT NOW?????  I would like to see parents using effective strategies to teach their children patience, delayed gratification, and a sense of being a part of a community rather than being a wailing monster that has to get what it wants every time and right now.

Kids, live in the moment.  As children we are naturally equipped to have not a care in the world.  But through various forces we have been training kids more and more to watch the clock and look for the escape.  A student in the midst of an activity shouldn't feel compelled to ask when it's over, hopefully they're so engaged and enthralled with the experience that they don't even think to ponder the passage of time.  I would like to see kids being able to experience life to the fullest.  And I'd like to see them do it without relying on screens and technology.  The flashy, hyperactive pace of digital entertainment isn't doing anyone any favors.  Be in the now, and enjoy the now that you're in.

Schools (and by extension, those who make laws concerning schools) should be in the business of helping students become the most well-rounded, interested, interesting, thoughtful, kind, empathetic, passionate, motivated people they can.  We've strayed too far away from the path of treating each child like an individual rather than a number on a testing form.  We need to seek something closer to a path of enlightenment.  Something that helps kids learn to appreciate learning in whatever form it presents itself.  Teach kids that learning is an active process that they are in control of.  Learning isn't something that happens in school.  Learning is literally the entire world around all of us, and if we aren't paying attention we'll miss it and have it pass us by.  Learning is a lifelong process that never ends, and we're doing our level best as a society to make sure people are trying to cram that infinite process into a box that can be packaged and sold at a premium.

Why do we have so many problems with mass shootings? 

Because people are always willing to destroy what they don't value.

Why I don't agree with standardized testing as THE TOOL for evaluation.

Today was a first for me.

Not that I did anything different in my morning routine, or that I did anything out of the ordinary when I got to my classroom.  The first was much more subtle and surprising.

I agreed with a news article from Texas regarding education.

What?  Is that possible?  How can it be?

No, really.  I have never before read an article about education out of Texas without feeling like it held a deeply flawed view, or perhaps was promoting some sort of twisted version of how school should be.

But today I read an article about Pearson and their stranglehold on the current educational climate in the US.  Not only that, but how they have gone out of their way to discredit those who find fault with their standardized testing products.  In particular, the article is about the efforts of Dr. Walter Stroup, and his testimony before the Texas State Legislature.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.texasobserver.org/walter-stroup-standardized-testing-pearson/.

If you'd like the summary, essentially it goes like this:  Pearson's tests are highly accurate, but not at measuring student learning or student growth.  Instead, the tests are highly accurate at measuring a student's ability to take a test.  And for this finding, Pearson has largely discredited a tenured UT professor and seems to be doing what they can to end his career.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, in that the current educational climate reflects a belief that what schools need is more testing, not more instruction of higher caliber.  I teach in a school system that had to conduct a system-wide infrastructure test that lasted roughly two weeks in January just to see if the computer resources in the county could handle the load from state testing.  In short, it worked, but just barely.  Students were kicked out of test sessions because of computer issues left and right.  Teachers had to scramble to keep things running.  Essentially the system only worked if enough people could frantically keep the plates spinning to avoid everything crashing down on them.

This took two weeks.  State testing will last another 3-4 weeks starting next month.  This means that the collective time spent just administering this test is growing.  To top it all off, this doesn't even touch the issue that many of the standards are flawed, or developmentally inappropriate, or just outright unrealistic.  Tell me why Kindergarteners are expected to know what had previously been taught in 1st grade.  Tell me why the term "Rigor" has come to mean "Difficult for the sake of difficulty."  Tell me at what point do teachers get to teach what they are supposed to teach.

In many ways, I count myself lucky.  I teach elementary music, which means that I do not have a standardized test to administer for my subject area.  In previous years this has led to an entirely ridiculous notion that in order to be taken seriously the arts must come up with some kind of test for ourselves.  Thankfully this year we have been allowed to use performance assessments based on rubrics and student performance of actual age-appropriate skills.

Hallelujah.

Is it too much to ask that educators be allowed to make educational policy?  And is it too much to ask that educators make that policy based on what is BEST for our students?  Best as in a truly appropriate educational decision is one that helps students learn, think, and grow?  I, for one, do not care what kind of money is in it for testing companies like Pearson.  Instead, I care for my students.  I care for my fellow educators.  I care for the families that see their children stressed out by high stakes testing at the ripe old age of eight.  Why should an eight year old child have to worry about performance on a standardized test?  How about instead they worry about learning the best approach to solving a math problem, or the type of reading they like best, or what instruments they want to learn to play, or how best to paint or draw, or what physical fitness really means.  How about they learn what happened at important moments in history, or where in Europe they can find Austria, or what kind of chemical mixture might cause an interesting reaction?

Who cares about standardized tests?

The companies that write them.

And the politicians who enforce them.

Hopefully those politicians can be shown the way of true education and meaningful learning and assessment before it's too late.

In the meantime, anybody want to make some music?