A friend showed me today something that I knew, but maybe I wasn't really willing to look hard enough to make it stick in my head. She showed me a map of the United States as it pertains to educational levels and ranking. Guess where the State of Oklahoma fares on that map? We are dead last at #50! We are the WORST state as far as implementing our educational instruction to students. I know why, I absolutely know why, but we're not allowed to say it. We're not allowed to voice our opinion or show vital evidence as to why it is that kids in Oklahoma (and most all of our states) can't and won't receive a good education. We can't say it because it's considered racist. We can't say it because it would mean admitting our folly. We can't say it because the higher-ups will only poo-poo us, fire us for saying so, and nothing will be achieved. NOPE...just let the kids stay ignorant, that's their plan, it would seem.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of running into a student I had taught at an inner urban district. I hadn't seen the kid in three years. I hardly recognized him, he had grown so tall. He recognized me immediately and gave me a hug. "Dr. Stringfellow!" he said, "I thought I would never see you again, someone said you moved to Scotland!" He's not wrong, I almost moved to Scotland a few times between 2018 and now. He and I talked for about thirty minutes really, and he had things to say about his education. He thanked me for being a hard-ass teacher. He claimed out of the several teachers he had in high school, I was the ONLY one who demanded that he get his work turned in and that it be complete. He said without me encouraging him to read he would not have, and now he reads about a book every two weeks just for fun.
After he left the school in 2018 he decided to not return to classroom study, but to take the rest of his courses online. The Pandemic helped with that decision of course, but by that time he was already involved with learning through online coursework. He graduated in 2021 and has been going to college recently, and again, he chose to do it online for the cost and convenience. When I told the kid that I had just accepted a position with a federally run program up north of our city, he knew exactly where I would be teaching. He laughed and said "Yeah, with my attitude and everything, if I had not chosen to finish online my parents were going to make me go there! It would have been funny to have you as my teacher again! I would love that." He was a typical kid with angst, no worse, no better than most, but he was smart. I liked that one. He had potential.
The thing is, I don't have that job up north now. Today, the HR department decided that since the State hadn't gotten around to giving me my updated license to teach, they would offer the job to someone who had the license in hand. WHAT? Are they nuts? Just because it hasn't been processed doesn't mean it's not binding, legal, and authentic. They didn't want to "take the chance" of being audited by the same state or even the Department of Labor and they claimed if they were I would have to have a copy of the license framed and posted. I have a COPY of it, but the state is 8-12 weeks behind in processing, and they can't give me the original. That is NO REASON to rescind an offer? Not when I've already turned other offers down, and I've paid for the renewal of the license on their word that I had the job. I am FURIOUS with these people.
I guarantee you they are going to offer the position to someone who doesn't care and won't care, and won't find ways to encourage the students to do their work. They'll pick an introvert who can't find their ass from a paperweight, one who won't get off their bum and walk around the room to help the students. How do I know this? Because 90% of our teaching staff is like that in our state. We have so many couch coaches and so many don't-bother-me-I'm-on-my-phone teachers, that the kids are forced to find answers on their own phones, and most of the time they give up after a minute and go back to playing games or looking at things they shouldn't be engaged in looking at in the first place. This state has REAL PROBLEMS and they won't let us say anything or do anything to fix it.
What could we do? Well, to begin with, only allow students into an English-speaking and taught classroom who have the ability to speak, read, and write in English. If they can't, they need to have other facilities for them to learn so they can participate rather than pulling the scores down collectively for the entire school, district, state, region, and even at the national level. Did I say that out loud? I did. The next thing(s) they could do is limit the classroom sizes to 20 maximum, and level those students out to have the more progressive students in one class, while the others are categorized into classes with students who are at the same level so that the teacher isn't trying to teach 11 levels in one classroom! It's impossible! Don't give a damn about people thinking a child is singled out. If they can't meet the cut, they go to another classroom where they can!
They could also enforce discipline and consequences for poor behavior and poor performance, you know like we had when we were growing up? When Oklahoma wasn't number 50 out of 50 in educational rank. Discipline and accountability for performance is what is utilized in Japan, China, Russia, Israel, Germany, and many other countries that produce great scientists, writers, and mathematicians. It's crazy to me that they even allow the Arts or sports to any child who can't read or write at the school grade level he or she is enrolled into. Why would we want students to yes, WASTE THEIR TIME, on Arts and/or sports if they can't first read, write, and do simple or basic Math? Arts are GREAT and should be taught but not to those who can't muster enough common knowledge to even survive in the big bad ugly world. If they can achieve at their stated school grade levels, by all means, introduce them to the Arts. They can only become better by doing so.
Who am I? I only have a Ph.D. in Leadership of Higher Education. I may as well be spitting in the wind before thinking the people in the position will do something will do anything whatsoever. We have one-third of the teachers this year waiting for the State to do their job. One whole third of the teachers in the WORST educational state, just waiting to be given their certificates so they can teach. One-third will not be hired or allowed into the rooms until they have their certificates. We can't force the State to push them. We can't do anything but wait, but you would THINK that those in a position to do something would REALIZE that we are still certified. We just don't have the PAPER in our HANDS. We have the education in our hearts and our minds and the experience(s) on our resumes. Torpedoes be damned! I'm so sick and tired of the chaos and the moronic mindset that those with positions have, while those of us with the willingness to make a difference are told to sit this one out.
Let me tell you about another student I ran into last week. She was in another class, another year from the kid I saw at the mall, but she was nevertheless my student. She didn't and wouldn't speak English. She refused. She faked or cheated her way through classes. I stopped her in my class. She was expelled from my class after I proved more than 10 times (ten) that she was cheating. It took 10 times before they decided to move her to another class, where she cheated of course, but she was not called out for it. Where did I see her? She was waiting tables at the restaurant I was eating at. I left her a tip of course, and in her native tongue, she thanked me. She used broken English to tell me she has five children now. She has no husband and this is her own means of employment. I was kind, but I was firm. I told her to go back to school and learn a skill. She told me TO MY FACE, that she would but she doesn't speak English well enough to go to college because college professors can insist on students speaking English. (Yes, we can)
I'm not being mean. I'm not being nasty. I want a good education for everyone, literally EVERYONE to be given the best education, but that will not happen if we don't do something about it right now! We have to get off our own stupid asses and fix this before it turns in the bottle and all we have left is the damn dead worm! Will I be heard? No. Why won't I be heard? Because there's still money being given to school districts who crank out what they can without checking to see if they have the ability to even know how to spell Oklahoma!
Photo Credit: Lumenlearning.com
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