Comments on: They did it their way

By: Marsha

Marsha — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:46:44 +0000

Who said the school did not have art or music?

By: Jim Kalember

Jim Kalember — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:58:16 +0000

As a 20 yr school board member in a public district whose scores since the API began consistently rival American Indian, and as a teacher for the past 2 years in underprivileged public schools, I have some comments on both sides.
First, let’s peel off the veneer of “test scores”, and ask the question “Is authentic and relevant learning happening in this sterile environment?” Is American Indian teaching kids how to deal with life or how to get really good at using paper and pencil? Where is the “whole child” in this prison-like environment? Should not school s be filled with some laughter and joy and discovery? And using humiliation and ridicule for discipline? Expelling a kid for a family event? This is getting very close to medieval conformity that translates into unquestioning acceptance of the faith—the antithesis of a free democratic society. If you want automatons who do not question the institution, who have no need of free expression, and whose docility makes them excellent and unquestioning soldiers of the faith or state, then AIS is the answer for all. Remember the Pink Floyd video of “Another Brick in The Wall”? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bvT-DGcWw
Second, let’s look at the real value of the American Indian approach. In spite of all the bad press, public education in the US is working—for a significant number of students, year after year. Why else the intense competition for admittance to our universities? What doesn’t work is our “one size fits all” approach education. Our factory schools are designed for the college bound kids who can handle looking at the back of someone’s head for hours on end and who have the family support and drive to do well. There are many students like this. What we do not do well is meet the needs of kids who are not college bound, struggle with literacy, come from disadvantaged ‘hood, and deal with stuff that makes life a challenge. For these kids, let’s do “humane American Indian”. Why can’t one in three urban middle schools be like American Indian, or have “schools within a school” using the Chavis model? Is this discriminating? You bet. But rather than continuing to nurture drop outs, why not take those kids who need the AI approach (all teachers know who they are!) and help them succeed? They may not all get through quadratic equations, but they will certainly have been well trained in how to succeed in high school and beyond. The American Indian model is ideal for many students today, and with some creative re-engineering, could be embedded in our public schools. Tie this middle school solution to high schools that are integrated with the world of work via apprenticeships and school to work programs, and we may on the way to overcoming the NCLB-tainted “one size fits all” disaster. The time is now–

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:23:27 +0000

Lightly,
You got going on a misinterpretation of too little information and a dose of annoyance and figured to put me down.
But that’s okay. In class, nobody calls you on it–they might flunk–and the habit kind of spreads to dealing with adults.
To be a little clearer, I said nothing, that is zero, zilch, nada, not a thing, nuffink, about school choice.
I was talking about whether the drop out rate tells us anything.
Period.

By: Lightly Seasoned

Lightly Seasoned — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:21:19 +0000

I’m arguing for school choice and you argue against me. I’m assuming you disagree with me. Perhaps that’s just a crazy assumption on my part. I’m a public high school teacher; me don’t need none of your funny smoke to be crazy this time of year.

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:18:46 +0000

Lightly.
I’m opposed to school choice? This was the wrong week for you to quit smoking that stuff.

By: hardlyb

hardlyb — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:24:58 +0000

I sometimes use the word “nuanced”, but I’m apparently a hopeless conservative (a former colleague who is a lefty-Democrat pronounced me to be such, while explaining to me why all of the stuff I believed was wrong – oddly, not a single belief he attributed to me during this diatribe was substantially correct, although his instinct that I thought he was entirely full of c**p was correct) and I actually try to use words according to their dictionary definitions. I was criticized by another, less left-wing Democrat, as being opposed to the natural evolution of the language because of that, but since he was a liberal (uh I mean, since he felt that the definition of a word was only a suggestion), I wasn’t sure what the heck he meant by that comment.

Anyway, it’s sad that we can’t use that word without triggering painful memories or PC police, but I would add on to the responses to Ms. Senechal’s question, “Probably not”. It seems fairly clear that this school doesn’t want that. And I think that it’s nice that they can try doing things that way, although I wouldn’t send my kids there.

By: Lightly Seasoned

Lightly Seasoned — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:18:24 +0000

Richard, sure it is. It is telling me 1/3rd don’t make it there for some reason (just as 50% don’t make it in the Detroit system). It isn’t telling me all I want to know, but it is telling me something. You don’t buy into school choice?

By: kim

kim — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:51:48 +0000

Funny how right wingers complain about what they feel are liberal views in schools, yet applaud this guy’s right wing school. Hypocrisy knows no bounds with some it seems.

I think the fact that they school gets such high ratings while still losing a third of students is misleading. Rating schools high with no extra curricular activities, no art, no music is not deserving of a high rating no matter the test scores, which they admit they teach to.

If all they do is teach to the test, how will the kids understand what they are learning?

By: fromPA

fromPA — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:28:08 +0000

> Or what it can mean is “for god’s sake, please, please, please stop translating everything into black-or-white, all-or-nothing terms!”

I agree, that is very funny (and sadly very true and irritating)

By: allen

allen — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:56:40 +0000

> Or what it can mean is “for god’s sake, please, please, please stop translating everything into black-or-white, all-or-nothing terms!”

Now that is funny.