Currently, the Washington State Supreme Court is having hearings about a lawsuit brought by parties believing that more money for schools will solve the learning problem. Despite the fact that funds going to schools has increased steadily over the last several decades, with most of those new funds going to middle administration in school districts (Can you say increased bureaucracy?) and an increasing requirement from courts to accommodate a higher percentage of students with special needs, the demand for more money is a never ending reality. (Here's another article on the court hearings.) Question: Where in the WA State Constitution does it say the State Supreme Court can take jurisdiction over the funding of education, when the Constitution of WA states that this is the responsibility of the legislature? (And the State Supreme Court is fining the state legislature $100,000/day?)
Back in the late '70s when I got hired to teach right out of college, the family unit was already deteriorating in a gradual way from various influences. The NEA was crowing that they had their president - Carter - push through the creation of the Dept. of Education. This was touted as the answer to the declining quality of education then. At this same time, traditional discipline attitudes and consequences were shifting away from "corporal punishment", or a little temporary discomfort, to "you're awesome, now behave!", or any form of even mild violence will damage their little egos for life! So, if I was spanked when misbehaving as a child, how is it I turned out alright?
Through those three decades of my career in the same community, I saw the continued complaint expressed about a shortage of funds by both local, and state level teacher's union leaders at the local and state meetings and conventions I attended. Their ideology harbors the notion that if you throw enough money at something the outcome will result in better learning. More importantly, they admitted in my conversations with those I asked, that they believe increasing funding to public education will help grow a more coordinated state and federal educational support and delivery because the smart government bureaucrats know all the answers; not the parents who raise those children.
When President Reagan commissioned and released the study on the state of education during his administration the NEA and WEA, in coordination with most of the mainstream media outlets, orchestrated their response to "poo-poo" it; they didn't want to allow any credibility for the points it revealed behind why our children were not performing as well as previous generations when funding had steadily increased.
That trend has continued, thanks to the lobbying efforts at the state and federal levels to increase funding, or throw more money at the problem. After all, if spending more last time didn't result in better learning, it just wasn't enough last time, right? You know, sort of like the communists who continually tell us that past failures of creating a utopian state didn't work because the previous attempts just didn't do it correctly, like our trying this time will work.
I've got to be honest here. While I was teaching, I honestly didn't feel that I was paid enough for the amount of effort I put into it. But I must also be honest in saying that, as I got into the last half of my classroom career, no amount of money would have been enough to feel adequately compensated. Why? Because the caliber of student coming to the classroom was different than the earlier years; less prepared to learn in almost every way. Here's why I say that.
It's no secret that over the past several decades the stability of the family unit has deteriorated due to an increase in the divorce rate. This has negatively impacted the students self-concept from those who experienced psychological impact from feeling abandon. Consequently, I encountered many who essentially shut down from the belief that they weren't loved and valued. And I haven't even touched on the growth of sexual abuse by live-in boyfriends of their mothers, or the rise in drug problems throughout our society.
I've been semi-retired for seven years now, but my wife, who also teaches elementary students, has been bringing home stories of frustration about the same district I was in; now, she's ready to retire at the end of this year because of how absurd much of their policies and implementation of curriculum has been handled; extremely disorganized and uncoordinated. Essentially, their mindset for improving education is to adopt new programs every year so that teachers can never become competent at any subject, which is limited now to reading, writing, and math at elementary. No social studies, science, or art!
So, let's get down to the bottom line of who's mainly responsible for this problem which has been manifesting itself on our youth for so many decades. I hate to sound like I'm politicizing this issue, but as I see it everything has become political during my lifetime. Which party has been in power more? Democrats! What kinds of policies have been implemented by the party in power? The welfare state in various forms! Which party is dominant in the teaching profession across the nation? Teachers! Did those policies by Democratic Presidents promising a brighter future, with more jobs and stability for families in our country result in actual improvements? No, just increased national debt!
That's how I see it from my experience and I'm sticking to it!
Thanks John.
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