Our Children Are Able – Are We?

“If people are given an accurate assessment of their abilities and the likelihood of achieving certain goals given those abilities they may gravitate toward domains in which they have a realistic chance of becoming an expert through deliberate practice,” Michigan State psychology professor Zach Hambrick explained.

Our current system of education doesn’t adhere to the same belief. When we send our children to school, they are not given an accurate assessment of their abilities.

The exact opposite is true.

Too many children, who do not fit the “norm”, are given an inaccurate assessment of their disabilities and are forced to learn skills that are contrary to their gifts and talents, making them resistant to the process of education and reluctant to engage in learning for learning’s sake.

If our leaders in education truly believed that “every child can learn” our system of education would focus on the gifts and talents of every child, recognizing that each one has something wonderful to offer this world that would make it a better place in which to live.

However acknowledging and advancing the humanistic aspect of education is counterproductive to the corporate bottom line, profit.

Educating children to recognize and believe in their personal power breaks them free of the control of capitalism. Believing in themselves our children have the potential to truly change the world so that we evolve into high order thinking beings that work together to preserve the beauty and love that we were given to enjoy in our lives and our world.

Science has proven time and again that a child centered education produces educational and personal success. We now know that the Scientific community believes that discovering, developing, and directing the gifts and talents of our children will provide them with a realistic chance at being successful in life.

How can we continue to ignore the truth that will save our children’s educational lives?

Regardless of the cost, we must begin to provide all children with an excellent, child centered, experiential, education that will connect them to their families, communities, and their world.

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Children vs Kids vs Students

Desensitize: To make emotionally insensitive or callous; specifically : to extinguish an emotional response to stimuli that formerly induced it.

A psychological identity relates to self-image (a person’s mental model of him or herself), self-esteem, and individuation.

Recently a discussion ensued concerning what term to use in a document when referring to our children. It was the perception of the majority that the use of the term children is derogatory to those individuals who consider themselves young adults.

It is important to understand that language, and the way we use it, can have very positive effects on a persons psyche or it can have very negative effects.

Though the use of the term “kid” in reference to our children is widely accepted, consider that period when the word “kid” prompted images of baby goats in the minds of our children and adults.

To be called a “kid” by an adult was, at that time, an insult to the child. After all, a kid, being a baby goat, is a stubborn, stinky, stupid, animal. Also, according to the Bible, a “kid” is the child of the cursed.

After generations of being called a “kid”, the self esteem of our children is now desensitized to the connection to their humanity. Their self image is now connected to their animalistic nature, not their human nature.

The use of the word student instead of child and young adult further decreases the connection to our children’s humanity.

By codifying their humanity through the use of the word “student” our children are forced even further away from the possibility of being considered an individual of importance with gifts and talents yet to be discovered, developed, and directed towards a positive connection to their world.

These are our children not their students and until we begin to understand that the image we are creating in the minds of our children is more important to how they feel about themselves than the money spent to instruct them, we will continue to fail to provide our children with an excellent education.

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Reading Is Fundamental To Understanding

The reason the general public, is discouraged from reading anything but informational text is because to read fiction is to gain insight into innuendo, rhetoric, metaphors, hyperbole, analogy, logic, wisdom, and truth.

Reading, and understanding the intent of the written word is crucial to understanding the intent of the individual or individuals writing the word. The structure and word choice of every sentence becomes vital to uncovering the truth of the intent.

In a notice sent out by the New NY Education Reform Commission, it tells of a new Education Commission Symposium on education and ends its communication with,

“WE WORK FOR THE PEOPLE
Performance * Integrity * Pride”

It can be assumed that they brainstormed this powerful tag line and all agreed that their verbiage sent exactly the right message.

In dissecting their concluding statement to derive its meaning, leading to the truth of its intent, the capitalization of the first line sends the message that the commission is insecure in the belief of their statement. Making all the words capital shows a lack of strength through the illusion of power. “We work FOR the People!” would have sent a much more humanistic message. The truth of their statement is, they are the power, not the people.

The next sentence, Performance*Integrity*Pride, would also appear to be a strong statement until you recognize the unfortunate choice of order for the words they used. Placing performance before integrity exposes the truth that integrity will suffer when faced with meeting performance. How can anyone take pride in having a lack of integrity? This sentence also speaks to their value system.

Should our educational leaders value performance over integrity?

The truth is, until we focus education on discovering, developing, and directing the gifts and talents of every child, we will continue to fail as a community and as a nation.

There is nothing new about the Education Commission or the system of education they promote.

Reading was eased out of education because, if you do not recognize the truth, you cannot fight for the truth.

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The Proof of MisEducation

Benny Warr Video
http://blip.tv/indy-tv/corrected-higher-res-video-of-benny-warr-being-attacked-6587434

Some may say, “What does the case of Benny Warr have to do with education?”

EVERYTHING!

The police in the video were White males in an urban Black neighborhood. Had they received an excellent, child centered education, they would have recognized, immediately, that this situation must be handled delicately.

Understanding that the person they were there to speak to was a human being, they would have approached Mr. Warr with respect, asking him if they can assist him in any way since they received a call about a person in a wheel chair having trouble.

If, at that point, Mr. Warr did become resistant to their help, the common sense derived from a child centered education would have told them that blocking the wheels of the mobile chair and surrounding Mr. Warr while waiting for a chair lift bus to take him to jail would have been a much more appropriate way to handle the circumstances they were forced to address.

Arresting an individual does not have to involve the disrespect of that individual.

Our current system of education teaches and enforces a socio-economic system of justice that allows middle income White males, the bar to which we are told all should aspire, to believe that they are somehow better than any other “sub-group” which gives them the privilege of treating others disrespectfully.

Unfortunately this attitude is not exclusive to the middle income White male but is generally held by many who breach or exceed the achievement gap.

The idea that anyone is better than anyone else is non-existent in the child centered system of education. Focusing on discovering, developing, and directing the talents of all children means providing the opportunity to all children to see the gifts within themselves as well as in others. Respecting the individuality of the human and their experiences is the basis for the instruction of the curriculum, not graduation from an institution.

Public, private, or charter, until we change the system of education so that it focuses on the child, we will continue to suffer the inhumanities of capitalism.

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Day Care vs Child Care

On May 13, Rachael Barnhart posted a blog titled, “Is Daycare a Right?”

As stated in the article, most other countries have asked and answered “YES” to this while, “the United States doesn’t provide institutional care the way that other countries do.”

In the “so called” “Greatest Country in the World” our children do not have the basic Constitutional right to an excellent education.

The public is convinced that education is a States’ responsibility yet the Federal government is handing down more and more mandates, with less and less accountability, to States that must receive federal funding in order to support their LEA’s.

Because the Federal government must provide States with federal funding to support their educational costs, the responsibility of educating our nation’s children should fall upon our nation and therefore should be a Constitutional Right of every child in America.

Now that that question is answered, the bigger question is, should we settle for “Daycare” or should we fight for “Childcare”.

Day care providers are largely unregulated and unconnected to the system of education their clients will be entering very soon. Unfortunately, the system of education these children will enter is also largely unregulated and disconnected from educating children.

Child care providers prepare children for the transition to school by giving them opportunities to socialize and discover their gifts and talents. They offer tutoring services to older siblings in their programs. They involve the arts and experiential learning opportunities.

These are the children whose parents seek out private and charter schools to continue the “child” centered education their children received in “child” care.

Day care providers pass their children along to public schools to become cogs in the wheel of capitalism. Any child that does not conform to the shape of the wheel is cast aside.

Make no mistake, this is not every day care or every public school in Rochester.

However, in Rochester we have “cast aside” 51% of our children many of whom were in “day care”.

“Daycare” is not a right, providing ALL children with an excellent education must become one.

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What’s Cultural – What’s Learned

Hoebel describes culture as an integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not a result of biological inheritance.

“Public education is a worthy investment for state government, with immense social and economic benefits. Research shows that individuals who graduate and have access to quality education throughout primary and secondary school are more likely to find gainful employment, have stable families, and be active and productive citizens. They are also less likely to commit serious crimes, less likely to place high demands on the public health care system, and less likely to be enrolled in welfare assistance programs. A good education provides substantial benefits to individuals and, as individual benefits are aggregated throughout a community, creates broad social and economic benefits. Investing in public education is thus far more cost-effective for the state than paying for the social and economic consequences of under-funded, low quality schools.”

Monday evening Councilwoman Lovely Warren, Police Chief Sheppard, and Dr. Marvin McMickle of Colgate Rochester Divinity School met with members of the 14621 Neighborhood Association to discuss possible strategies and solutions to the excessive violent crimes in Rochester which occur primarily in their neighborhood.

If we are to agree with Hoebel, the culture of violence in Rochester is not inherent in our youth, but is a learned behavior.

Where is this violent behavior learned?

There is no question that violent behavior is experienced in the home. However, what most will not admit to is, violent behavior is experienced at home and reinforced in school.

Our current system of education belittles and bullies our children to such an extent that by the tender age of seven, too many Second grade students have already realized that school does not provide an alternative to the violence they experience at home but an opportunity to engage it, test it, refine it, and use it as a coping mechanism for solving problems.

We must stop blaming our children for trying to survive in a culture we created in which they are forced to live.

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Their Decision – Our Children’s Fate

The district has released several documents to staff, parents, and students concerning student discipline procedures and parental responsibilities.

These notices were sent out to parents with students in Grades 7-12 and are in answer to the recent violence occurring in the K-8 setting.

The notices warn students against the decision to bring weapons to school and bullying others.

The letter to families states there are five specific actions that students can expect will result in immediate placement in PM school: Participation in group violence; Bullying other students; Carrying weapons; Assault; and Trespassing.

The letter continues to say, “Students also should be aware that actions that take place outside school can result in suspension.”

While violence to amend a situation is absolutely no answer to any problem, it must be understood that these children were forced to accept conditions to which they were vehemently opposed. The same conditions were forced upon staff and parents of schools who did not want to restructure.

The restructuring process was implemented without due diligence, data collection, school, parent, student, or community support.

Now our young people are pushing back against a system that has bullied them for years and they are being punished for not accepting a fate that they neither agreed with nor understand.

Parents are also being made to suffer the consequences of the School Board’s decision to ignore the voices of the school community and enact their policies and procedures while holding others accountable for the results.

Will the School Board be remanded to Long Term Suspension for bullying school communities into accepting the K-8 model?

Will the School Board be made to attend “PM” school because they participated in “group” violence by voting to implement the K-8 model, causing our youngest students to witness acts of unmitigated hatred?

As the letter states, there is nothing new about the “Code of Conduct” or long term suspensions. This is the district’s way of mis-handling their system of mis-education.

Our children deserve to be understood and listened to, not put out of school and silenced.

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A Story of Abuse

Fights, shooting threats, police searching students and lockers, all this happening within the purview of our youngest and most impressionable 3, 4, and 5 year old children.

This is the educational environment of just one Pre-K-8 district school.

Parents are afraid to bring their babies to school but they are more afraid of leaving them behind to endure the chaos of their educational environment.

Superintendent Brizard, convinced the School Board that moving to a K-8 model would be “cost effective” and would “reduce the footprint” of the district on the environment.

Superintendent Vargas reported that the K-8 model was an inefficient and ineffective move at this time. Commissioners Adams and Powell asked for a moratorium until more evidence could be collected. Commissioner Elliott expressed apprehension citing the district’s inability to properly implement programs.

Parents, students, teachers, and community members were against rolling out the model. However, the School Board, following the plan of a superintendent who was no longer in our district, decided to disregard the concerns and preference of those who actually have to learn and work in the newly imposed structure.

Our First, Second, and Third grade students are now learning that there are few, if any, relevant consequences to abhorrent behavior.

Our Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth grade students are learning how to use the system to intimidate teachers and school staff so that they can be in charge when they move up.

And, all of our children are being disrespected and institutionalized from the moment they enter our current system of education.

To say this system is working and therefore should be supported by budgeted district dollars, begs the question,

“Is the realistic goal of this School Board to support the failure that is created by an inefficient and ineffective system of education?”

What our youngest students witness during their earliest years of school is crucial to their perception of and attitude toward their entire educational career.

Is there any wonder why our drop-out and truancy rate is so high.

Our children are simply refusing to be mentally and emotionally abused any longer.

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A Unanimous Passing

With the exception of Commissioner Willa Powell, who was absent, all School Board Commissioners voted “yes” to approve the 2013-14 Rochester City School budget with the caveat that it can be “worked on” throughout the coming year.

Commissioner White passionately championed offering the Freedom School model at School #17, his amendment to add three support positions along with $120,000 to start the program was voted down, 4-2, White and Adams voting yes.

Commissioner Adams championed an amendment that would shift Title 1 funds from providing eleven technical assistants to teach teachers how to use white boards, which the district has been doing at Hart Street since the late nineties, to supporting our children with the counseling services they may need to transition from a community based support system to a district support system. Also voted down.

The rationale, the community organizations were there to train our staff which has been done. Unfortunately, in too many cases, there was no staff to train and the community organizations became the only counseling services our children received.

If there was any question whether the budget was going to pass or not, there shouldn’t have been. With the same individuals in the same positions, the decisions will be the same.

For too many years we have waited for our elected officials to actually speak with our voice, the voice of the community.

It is evident that the only voice of the School Board is that of corporate interests. Making sure that the grant money continues to flow at the cost of our children’s educational success should not be the vision of this district or its leaders.

It is time for the Rochester community to become active in making sure that the people we elect to represent our voice, to provide an excellent education to our children, have the educational success of our children, as their goal.

Our children deserve educational leaders who are willing to stand against the intimidation of corporate funding and vote to provide them with an excellent education.

Money is not the problem, what our leaders do with the money is.

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Budget Hearing Results

Tuesday night Commissioners Adams, Powell, and White urged the other members of the Board present, Campos, Cruz, and Evans, not to vote on the budget Thursday due to the lack of data concerning certain programs.

While everyone would agree that data is necessary in deciding the outcome of a program, data becomes irrelevant if the system being assessed is inherently flawed.

Commissioner White touted the success of the Young Mother’s Program and, according to it’s beliefs and goals, they very well may be successful, however they are still focused on teaching young girls, not parents, how to deal with the “problems of pregnancy” instead of the “joys of parenting”.

The precious life these young parents are blessed to bring forth are seen as a “mistake” made by uninformed youths instead of the choice of unloved youths to experience love in an uncaring environment.

Until we change the perspective of the “teaching” the outcome will be the same, our children will fail to realize their true potential as loving, caring, human beings.

Commissioner Cruz questioned Superintendent Vargas about School #19. Dr. Vargas was very proud to announce that due to the receipt of the Extended Day grant, every child at School #19 will be able to receive an additional 120 minutes (2 hours) of extended learning.

The regular 61/2 hour school day, plus an additional 2 hours, add to that a minimal 15 minutes for transportation, multiply all of that by 5 days a week, and the children at School #19 will be putting in a 45 hour school week, five hours more than adults are expected to work each week.

Instead of extending the school day, extending the school year may prove more efficient and effective. Remove vacations and only maintain National holidays. Children have the opportunity to attend school year round. No summer vacation unless parents decide, according to their schedule, when the family takes a vacation. Observing religious holidays also becomes the parent’s decision.

Changing our system of education is not about who is right or wrong, it is about what is best for our children!

Join the Movement to Save Our Children!