Educating or Harming Boys...

Educating Boys

Imagine how challenging it would be to educate Henry V in our US public schools today. At least that is what David Brooks, columnist with the NY Times is suggesting in his offering today entitled "Honor Code".

I can see it now, a ten year old Henry V playing with his friends on the school playground rallying his friends in an imaginary battle against the French army near the jungle gym. Little Henry is encouraging his army of friends carrying their imaginary swords made up of tree branches and the like, while screaming at the top of his lungs "Once more to breach!"

As the armies of kids are about to clash, elderly playground monitors run in, and stop the violent play,though imaginary, and haul off little Henry to the principal's office for violating the NYS Project Safe Schools zero tolerance laws for encouraging armed conflict with sticks, and is suspended for 5days.

Upon returning to school he is assigned to a special education evaluation where they confuse his desire to create, be passionate, and energy as ADHD, and he is medicated with amphetamines to calm that restless spirit. This way he will be able to sit still in class, and be lulled into boredom and dreary sleep listening to lectures and test preparation exercises. The medication dulls his personality causing him to fall asleep. Another elderly classroom aide drags him to the principal's office to be reprimanded for sleeping in the class,a sign of insubordination. He is kept in from recess for three days and must eat lunch in the principals office.

Little Henry is already gaining a sterling reputation in the faculty lunch room. This is the professional forum where teachers sit around a table with their sustenance, where they discuss, at times unprofessionally, how little Henry is a trouble maker, nuisance, and comes from an arrogant broken family.

Two years later he is caught calling his friends "a band of brothers" and talks about fighting together in the MS lunch room, when another elderly lunch monitor hauls him into the principals office and he is suspended for organizing gangs in the school.

By the end of his senior year in high school he is disaffected and not interested in encouraging loyalty and competition because the system has frustrated his creativity, imagination and desire to compete and excel. He drops out of school and is labeled a renegade, troublemaker, instigator.

Like Mr. Brooks, I agree that schools today do not wish to foster the excitement for learning when teachers are faced with career ending evaluations based on one dimensional assessments that force all students into a box of perceptions that are restricted, stringent, and narrow, much like Andrew Cuomo's personality!

"Schools have to engage people as they are. That requires leaders who insist on more cultural diversity in school: not just teachers who celebrate cooperation, but other teachers who celebrate competition; not just teachers who honor environmental virtues, but teachers who honor military virtues; not just curriculums that teach how to share, but curriculums that teach how to win and how to lose; not just programs that work like friendship circles, but programs that work like boot camp. "
Brooks, D. (July 5, 2012). Honor Code. New York Times. Retrieved at http://nyti.ms/NFh6t4

The American Flag: Fabric or Symbol?

We have a friend in Florida who is a commander of the Marine Corps League in Florida that asked me to write a note on the American Flag for the newsletter. On behalf of the July4th festivities, I offer it to my readers this July, 2012: There are many symbols of American freedom that are all around us, each and everyday. As we enter the month of July, we are confronted with these very symbolic representations that remind us of who we are as a nation, and what we stand for as a united people. Whenever we celebrate July 4, we celebrate the birth of our nation when a few brave and courageous individuals met in Philadelphia to declare with one voice: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." After reading the article about Betsy Ross in the June newsletter, I was inspired to remember those sacred words of the Declaration of Independence, especially when being reminded of the greatest symbol of our country, the American Flag, our Star Spangled Banner. I am sure everyone knows of the story how General George Washington asked Mrs. Betsy Ross of Philadelphia to sew the standard that would become the American flag. (For anyone interested in more detail, check out this link http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagpcp.html). A committee of Congress made up of Robert Morris and George Ross (both of Pennsylvania) accompanied by General Washington met with Betsy Ross (who happened to be an acquaintance of the General, and a well-renowned seamstress in Philadelphia. Prior to making the Star Spangled Banner, she had a reputation for making signal flags for the Pennsylvania Navy of 1775. As recounted by Betsy's daughter and other family members she was paid 14 pounds, twelve shillings, and two pence for the project.   The exact directions from Congress can be noted from the following resolution approved by the members in the design of the new flag that was passed on June 14th, 1777 and read: "Resolved. That the flag of the United States be 13 stripes alternate red and white, that the Union be 13 stars white in a field of blue representing a new constellation." Regardless, the American flag has been an important part of my life and the lives of our countrymen. For every Marine will always be energized by the raising of that very flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, or standing erect and tall on Firebase Charlie in Da Nang, Vietnam, or proudly in the desert encampments of Iraq, and the mountainous gorges of Afghanistan. The American Flag is an important symbol of our American freedom, and our way of life, defended proudly by the Corps, for over two hundred years. God Bless the USA.

The Leadership Variable

" I learned that history is shaped by the use of power, and that different people, leading the same army, with, therefore, approximately the same power, applied it so differently that the army seemed to change from a pack of noble fools at Fredericksburg to panicked cowards melting away at Chancellorsville, then to the grimly determined, stubborn soldiers who held the ridges at Gettysburg, and then, finally, to the disciplined, professional army that ground Lee to dust in Grant’s long campaign. It wasn’t the soldiers who changed. It was the leader. And even though I could not then have articulated..." (Card, O.S.(1991). Enders Game. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. P. VIII-IX.) Whenever I consider the dilemma of leadership affecting organizations I am drawn to that quotation by Orson Scott Card in the introduction of his acclaimed science fiction novel Enders Game. His apt description of the crisis that Abraham Lincoln had in finding someone to effectively lead the might and resources of the union army at the outset of the Civil War was truly a problem, especially when his golden boy, in the selection of the proper, well-dressed, and verbose George McClellan could not lead his way out of a paper bag, let alone a significant defeat of the Army of Northern Virgina. It wasn't until a Ulysses S. Grant was appointed to lead the Grand Army of the Republic that the war eventually was won by the Union. This typical example of what I call the "leadership variable" is played out in our school organizations,as well. If you have the right person in a leadership role of a principal's position,supervisor's position or superintendent, the success of the organization will be assured. The quandary is how do you find successful leaders? Boards of Education need to be bold enough to make changes and decisions to leadership positions sooner, rather than later. The risk would be devasting to keep ineffective people in these roles. Just look at the example of an incompetent George McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, George Meade, and others that had no idea on how to beat the Confederacy from winning the Civil War. In education, the stakes are equally devastating.

A Failure of Imagination

Language can still be an adventure if we remember that words can make a kind of melody. In novels, news stories, memoirs and even to-the-point memos, music is as important as meaning. In fact, music can drive home the meaning of words. " (Constance Hale. The Sound of a Sentence. New York Times. [Opinionator]. Retrieved June 13, 2012 from http://nyti.ms

I enjoyed reading this beautiful post by Constance Hale on writing, creative expression, and language. What we fail to understand in this maddening world of "tests, tests, and more tests" is the frightening realization that our expectations for learning revolve around multiple choice responses. It reminds me of the Pavlov Dog Show for Humans, so that ignorant politicians can brag their test scores are proving something.

But, what of creativity? How do we foster imagination and kindle that spark of inspiration that only a child will develop in wonderment?

In the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" an interesting episode on the aftermath of the Apollo I disaster was presented. All the greatest minds in the country were investigating how this horrific fire could have occurred killing three astronauts. It wasn't until the end of the episode when Astronaut Frank Borman was being questioned by a congressional oversight committee that the true reason for the cause was revealed.

According to Astronaut Borman, we lacked the imagination that something could go wrong. We did not want to consider that something could happen that would prevent us from being successful. We lacked the imagination.

The same can be said in our schools and classrooms if we continue to allow the political demagogues work against the creativity and expression of our students. Children need to spend time each week in role playing, creativity scenarios, and expressive writing. These skills must be cultivated alongside the test-taking skills, and the rote memorization that certain people mandate.

Our failure to work on these skills will be our failure to imagine the future.

Bagger Vance and School Leadership

One of the things I have learned since being retired is to work and focus on something to keep my mind and body active. I could have done this by writing and consulting, but I began to remember that life is too short to change the minds of people caught up in their own delusions. So, I took up the goals of getting physically fit, writing a novel, and improving my golf swing, all things that I could do something about. The physically fit stuff is fine, even though I sweat and smell awful to keep active, life is good. Writing a novel has been fun, but mentally challenging.

The golf swing, and playing golf so much has taught me much about the things and problems that I have had in my career as a school administrator, such as the APPR, the state education department, and dealing with red tape and insurmountable problems day in and day out- much of what most administrators do everyday. As you play an 18 hole round of golf, each hole is beset with all sorts of issues, obstacles, challenges, and obstructions to your progress of playing the hole in as few shots as possible, and moving on to the next hole. There may be a sand trap- or two, or three- a water hazard, bushes, trees, and other environmental hazards, but the goal will always be the same, getting the ball to the hole in as direct and efficient manner as possible.

While it took me many years of golf to be able to finally smell the roses and learn to enjoy the game. When I play now, I focus on my swing, carefully, consistently, and rhythmically, practicing, and practicing often, and managing each hole with a consistent, relaxed, and focused strategy.

Since the goal of playing golf is to compete against yourself, and improve while doing it, being a school administrator is a similar game to being a good golfer.

In the words of Bagger Vance, "Yep... Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing... Somethin' we was born with... Somethin' that's ours and ours alone... Somethin' that can't be taught to ya or learned... Somethin' that got to be remembered... Over time the world can, rob us of that swing... It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas... Some folk even forget what their swing was like..."

Don't let the water hazards of the APPR, the SED, or the sand traps of ineffective teachers, crazy parents, unruly children, deter you from staying in your game with an efficient, and consistent strategy. And when the game is over, the day is over. Go home, live your life. Find joy in your life, your family, and do it all over again tomorrow (something I wish I did more of as a school administrator).

For your homework I sincerely request you watch the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance" with a glass of wine, and no distractions. I challenge you to find the analogies to being a great school administrator, and you will find that all of these hazards are just temporary distractions from doing what you do best...providing a quality education for each child in your schools.

Graduation or Masquerading?

Many things change in education as times goes on, but some things always remain a constant. One in particular is the idea of graduation, the proverbial ceremony when academic degrees and diplomas are symbolically given to students that have passed the tests, ran the obstacle course of programs and studies, and have successfully made it across the finish line of knowledge.

There was a time when this honored ceremony was a sacred moment in the lives of students and parents, as well as the faculty and trustees of the academic community bestowing the diploma. The official donning of academic robes may just be a vestige of medieval characteristics and circumstances but it did stand for something at one time, and for some people it still stands for something time-honored, serious, and special.

Unfortunately, colleges and high schools have let this tradition wallow in despair and disgrace when standards are cheapened. For instance, allowing students to walk through the ceremony even though they failed the program. Or, allowing students to denigrate and deface their academic attire to display their personal mockery of the ceremony and it's traditions.

For some of us that have accrued the robes and adornments of advanced college degrees it is insulting to witness this aberration and abomination of something that is held so highly esteemed as a graduation ceremony. It would be better to have people opt out of attending if that is how they truly feel about the process.

To graduate is to move on. I can only hope moving on is worth more to people then tuning out.

Stop Changing the Rules

I had a friend growing up that cheated at everything he did in order to gain the advantage over others. He loved to make up some new rule or scoring procedure for every game we played, including baseball, football, poker, and monopoly. Unfortunately, he found out the hard way that life does not allow people to take such liberties and he is now serving time for just such behavior in his adult life, if you know what I mean!

In many respects, I think there are parallels to my friend's story and the debacle of public school testing and assessment. For awhile, I have disparaged the concept of assessment in our schools, and I loathe at the macho, political verbosity of our elected leaders- and others- that cry for more of it to satisfy some inner ambition to foster competition in our schools, our children, and our "way of life"!

This morning in Florida, the state is reeling from the release of the state's FCAT writing scores. The revised grading system was more rigorous than previous years and the results were a blow to the schools, the administrators, teachers, students, and parents of Florida as many below-acceptable scores were released. Schools that have been struggling to improve under the former scoring systems and beginning to make progress were thrown for a huge blow to their progress. All in the name of "Every Child Left Behind" and Racing to the Bottom.

The same thing happened in New York State last year, when the gurus of state testing, under the continual cattle prod of a maniacal governor- were told to make the assessments more critical and more rigorous in scoring, under the false premise to make it harder for people to pass, only to throw the state's testing model into a tailspin. Cries of "foul", and "revert to the other model", or "throw the tests away" were raised there as well, as they are throughout the state of Florida this morning.

And still, I think about the lonely classroom teacher that is struggling to help and excite a handful of struggling readers and doing everything she can to inspire them to keep trying, only to to realize she is a pawn in a greater chess game than we will ever know.

Someone keeps changing the rules to the game. And what we learn from my friend, who did that throughout his life, people are held accountable for that kind of behavior.

By the way, it's time to send him another birthday card since he will be spending another anniversary away from his family in a jail cell out west!