By: Ted Dabrowski
If you’re looking to make sense of why so few Chicago Public School students can read and do math at grade level, you’ll want to listen to Brandon Johnson’s words from a 2018 talk he gave along with author Mark Warren, a former professor at Harvard, and Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground.
Johnson’s views on education matter because he could be the next mayor of Chicago. Equally important is that the Chicago Teachers Union has donated more than $2 million to his campaign. It’s the CTU’s philosophy, in part inspired by Johnson’s ideology, that for decades has run CPS schools. Today just 1 in 10 black CPS students can read at grade level and only 1 in 20 are proficient in math.
If Johnson – a former CPS teacher and now a CTU organizer – takes control of City Hall, you can count on even more of the union’s influence. Less testing, less homework, lower expectations and more passing of kids along to the next grade, whether they’re ready or not.
Brandon Johnson has already told us he wants to rebel “against the structure.” The talk in question was published on YouTube by Midwest Socialist, a publication of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Johnson is asked a question (45:38) regarding the politics around education and how he handled conflicts between his personal philosophy and the requirements of the education system – in particular because Johnson taught at a selective enrollment school. His response:
I taught at Westinghouse. Westinghouse was a selective enrollment school. That is in conflict with my philosophy. It’s actually a contradiction, it’s hypocritical. I’m teaching in a structure that actually weeds out a certain element of my neighborhood.
One of the ways I would deal with it, was, I believe I had an additional responsibility to challenge those of us who taught in selective enrollment schools. So one of the things that I did personally, it’s why I began to really push for opting out and not buying into the standardization of our public schools. Sometimes my colleagues actually had a tough time with the way I taught. I spent less time offering tests to my students. They were frustrated. I taught at a selective enrollment school much like I taught at a neighborhood school, I used a lot of inquiry based and I would challenge my honor students in particular to think beyond whatever it is they’re able to remember, they’re ability to just regurgitate.
But I also had to challenge myself. Seeing a school within a school system that provides more for a particular segment of our population is most frustrating because when those students succeed at a selective enrollment school, particularly black students, what ends up happening is, all other black students who don’t meet those same standards get shamed. ‘See, so and so made it out, what’s your problem? How come you can’t do it, these students are doing it?’
And so what it taught me, though, was pushing to eliminate some of the standardization of our public schools. My students, sometimes, would get frustrated. I didn’t offer any of the test prep that my other colleagues were pushing at the time. I was pushing our administration to move away from it.
To be quite frank with you, I didn’t issue a lot of homework for students. That was my own way of rebelling against the structure. I don’t think I ever gave a kid an ‘F.’ I don’t know how a student sits in front of you and fails. I know some professors may find that slightly troubling…”
I think the last thing is, it actually gave me that much more motivation to actually leave the class and become a full-time organizer with the CTU…
Some takeaways.
First, you can’t disagree with everything Johnson says. Too much standardization in schools isn’t good, especially if it overtakes the system. And who can disagree with inquiry-based thinking?
But this isn’t some idealistic teacher talking about improving his students’ chances by challenging them on the virtues of merit, achievement and excellence. Rather, it’s a CTU organizer talking about how “troubling” it is to hold children to specific, measurable standards. Forget testing, forget grades, forget homework. He was a teacher willing to undermine the selective enrollment school where he worked at the expense of his own students.
It’s a destructive mindset. Instead of raising all students up, Johnson would rather tear down high-achieving students for the sake of “equity.”
For more evidence, Johnson said in 2020, “part of it is removing ourselves away from this, you know, state-sponsored policing, but also the tools that have been placed against Black folks that have been used violently, whether it’s policing, or administering standardized tests, or … around how white supremacy finds its way in every facet of our lives, that we have to fight and resist that.”
His type of thinking is what for decades has led to a dismissiveness of standards, leaving the overwhelming majority of black 3rd-grade CPS students unable to pass basic reading tests.
Less than 10% of black 3rd-graders read at grade level based on the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness test. It’s even worse for math readiness.
And if standards don’t matter – as Johnson appears to imply – then it’s no big deal for schools to just move kids through the system, whether they can read or not. Social promotion, it’s called. If teachers can’t and won’t fail a student for a lack of performance, then they’ll just automatically move students on to the next grade.
Which is exactly what’s happening. Check out reading ability grade by grade for Chicago’s black students. The system fails them year after year after year after year. By 11th grade, just 10 percent of black students can read at grade level on the SAT.
The rejection of standards doesn’t end there. Nearly 80% of those black students in 11th grade end up graduating – accompanied by the self-congratulations of Chicago’s leadership.
And that’s not the only way accountability is bastardized and the failure covered up. The CTU makes sure its members and schools are protected regardless of student outcomes.
98% of CPS teachers were rated “proficient or excellent” in 2020. 100% of teachers got the same rating in 2021. And in 2022, 84% of all evaluated CPS teachers were rated either “proficient or excellent.
Schools, too, get protected under updated state board of education measurements. School ratings aren’t based on whether kids can read or do math but instead on “improvements.”
It’s how black-majority schools in Englewood and Bronzeville can have zero students reading at grade level – not even one student – and yet still get “commendable” ratings from the state board. A commendable rating is the state’s second best rating and is for “a school that has no underperforming student groups, a graduation rate greater than 67%…”
No, Johnson alone doesn’t own the mess the CTU has made for decades, a mess we reported on in detail in Why the Chicago Teachers Union Always Gets What It Wants.
But based on his own words, Johnson is ready and willing to take the union’s extreme positions even further.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Chicago Public Schools implicitly endorses ‘looting and burning’ as a form of equity
- Brandon Johnson’s views on tolerance for violence and defunding police are absolutely clear. Here are his own words.
- New CPS data: Mayor Lightfoot, Chicago Teachers Union continue to keep dozens of empty, failing schools open
- Chicago’s progressive agenda has been destructive for black communities
- 50 years of failure: Norman Lear’s ‘Good Times’ first criticized Chicago’s policy of automatically passing students in 1974. It’s still happening today.
- Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system
Some Illinois lawmakers continue to deny that covid aid and other federal stimulus bailed the state out of its fiscal mess. But a look at past and projected revenues from COGFA shows just how much the bailouts blew out the state’s revenues. And now that they’re over, how much harder it will be for Illinois revenues to grow.
Election integrity – both real and perceived – is essential to government’s legitimacy and stability. Illinois, like the rest of the nation, better fix its problems now.
Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about Chicago’s latest bond offering, why Chicago’s dismal home value growth is due to poor policies, the next $70 million to be spent on migrants, the 9% salary hikes demanded by the CTU, and why Illinois lawmakers voting to stop Chicago’s selective enrollment schools from being closed is hypocritical.
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 4/21/2024.
Illinois just suffered the lowest presidential primary turnout since 1960, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. Blame voter apathy on a lack of competitive elections. On gerrymandering. On the concern people have, thinking their votes don’t matter. It’s likely a little bit of each.
Over 100 years of racism, corruption, nepotism and quid pro quo Chicago politicians and their friends and family all mainly unqualified work for the City Of Chicago. These people feel that they are entitled even though their quality of work is sub par. This is every form of city government, money has been taken/stolen from the public schools for years. Because you may have a Democrat or Republican as Mayor neither party will incriminate their lowly corrupt brother/sister. Until reform of city government happens, children who live here will always be uneducated.
Chicago is screwed and I’ll be eating popcorn on the sidelines
The CPS and the CTU are to blame.
Because black people as a race have a much lower average IQ than every other race but hey, stating that fact is seen as racist. Better that people keep pretending blacks are on equal ground intellectually as the other races and keep wasting time trying to get them to reach this level that they never will hit or blaming X politician for not making this fact go away. Every race has their strengths and intelligence is simply not one of those for blacks. It’s a fact that reality has proven. It’s also absurd to try and deny this fact and… Read more »
Oh, how you must miss the good old days when everybody truly knew their place in life!
It must be tough going through life while denying reality.
This is really Chicago’s last chance. Elect a communist who thinks Kim Foxx is doing a tremendous job with integrity or elect Vallas who is the candidate that can “potentially” turn this around. We always forget about the insane number of victims who are just kicked to the curb by Foxx and Evans. Victims have zero rights and justice while the criminals are treated like royalty. There are so many let out so quickly that they commit even more crimes. I don’t care what age or color they are, for Christ sakes you must hold criminals accountable!!!!! Any voter who… Read more »
CPU Teachers Union voted in favor of each member contributing $8 a month to his campaign. He’s on the Union payroll. He used to be a CPU teacher. Getting a pension? The Union has made other major contributions to his campaign. If you vote for him, you’re voting for the “quid pro quo” system in Chicago. Remember Madigan? If that’s what you want, go for it, just don’t complain when taxes go up, education excellence continues to go down and your children belong to the teacher’s union not you. He will support teacher’s unions, NOT YOU.
But can they play ball? that’s the question.
Brandon is the reason this problem exists.
Brandon Johnson and CTU, lowering the bar for all. That’s equity in a nutshell.
Let’s assume that the teachers are qualified and competent. (Truthfully, I think a vast majority probably meet that standard.) Logic then causes us to look elsewhere for the problem. Is it the school funding? Probably not. The schools are being well funded. By process of elimination, the problem must be the students. If students today have the same intelligence as students in the past, then something else is causing the decline in learning. Could it be the drastic increase in single parent homes? Could it be feminism that teaches women that they don’t need a man? Could it be that… Read more »
I think we already know the answer, don’t we? Does a leopard change its spots?
Nothing, that means it’s working.
They should pay for performance; this would be a game changer.
Good luck getting anyone to work low income/low education/esl areas. This would be the equivalent of doctors working an obesity clinic being paid by percentage of patients that are healthy weight. Most patients won’t be successful but that doesn’t mean the doctor didn’t do his/her job helping show patients what they need to do and treating other underlying issues. You can create more charter schools or offer school choice but ultimately the lowest performing students will still not meet expectations. There isn’t this magical building or unicorn teacher group that has solved this problem. The real question is how much… Read more »
Exactly! The current long-standing public education systems throughout almost all states need serious revamping as to what’s reasonably to be expected compared to the dollars spent. It’s a huge waste of money at present as many see it, myself included. We need to spend money wisely, meaning we need to put more resources where there is a likely payoff and less resources where the practical reality is more a baby-sitting service than an educational one. Students should be able to change tracks or have a track change forced upon them where it involves spending public tax monies. Should parents want… Read more »
If you think active parental involvement in their children’s education is a step in the right direction to improving their performance I think my proposal would do more of that. When the parents of the under-performing students expect more than the performance such a student has been showing start charging the parents for any track change which purports to help with college acceptance and performance standards there. My bet is that forcing such parents to cough up extra money until the student’s academic performance improves will encourage the parents to be more active in monitoring their children’s performance.
Pardon my ignorance but how does a parent “help” their child in school when the students are being indoctrinated and not educated. Lets say a parent who was a student in the 80’s or 90’s helps their child with (insert subject here) biology. Is todays subject matter rooted in reality? How can you expect students to preform when what is taught is total bs?
Parents are unable to help their elementary school children with common core math without themselves first watching youtube videos to learn how to do it correctly. Common core math has been an unmitigated disaster for student performance since it was implemented nearly a decade ago. My own son who tests in the top 25% in state tests has to have math tutoring from private tutors to learn the right way to do math because he has trouble understanding all the nonsense concepts in common core. As I told my district’s superintendent a few years back, I have a college degree… Read more »
Parental involvement is the crutch the educational system falls back on after the create an intentionally confusing curriculum – common core – so that parents are unable to help their own children complete their school work. I stare at my child’s math and I have no idea what to do. Neither does he. So we pay for a private tutor to teach ‘real’ math and not ‘common core’ math. Don’t even get me started on the ELA nonsense they teach. “Identify why unions are good in the text” and “describe the ways you can help save the earth and environment… Read more »
I didn’t imply that parents can help any child literally all the time and in all subject areas, but where you feel reasonably knowledgable you should do so. If you could teach every subject at all times you’d be the rarest case ever. What a parent can do, however, is set a tone that encourages effort and frequent, positive interaction with the teacher in class and otherwise. Failing that there’s a strong likelihood the child will start to do some combination of hating the teacher, the class, the school, and maybe even the whole thought of trying to learn. That’s… Read more »
Sight words, context guessing for reading, common core for math- makes you almost think the curriculum is set up for children to learn nothing, and the parents being unable to help since parents don’t know how to do it the “right” way according to the education system. Then the parents are the problem, while the schools become nothing but woke madrasas. If only they had more money…
My layman’s understanding re math education these days is that the newer teachers are expected to teach the underlying concepts as to how arithmetic works rather than relaying on memorized ways of arriving at an answer. For example a teacher might ask to solve the problem 25 x 4200. The immediate temptation for most who have a calculator or cell phone is to plug in the numbers and see what answer is given. Another person not having that no-brainer device is forced to do it the more hated way—think it through. Most will do the older multiplication method if they… Read more »
Yes, your layman’s understanding of math education is correct. And it sounds like a great idea – teach the underlying concepts to make students understand better. But in practice, it has been an abysmal failure. This is undeniable. In practice, teaching math this way leads to WORSE outcomes than teaching it the previous way. Sometimes, rote repetition learning pounds ideas into student’s heads that forms the foundation for more complex learning. And sometimes, maybe over-complicating simple equations with inane number lines, confusing word problems, and other ridiculous innovations is one of the causes of poor and declining math performance. I… Read more »
It amazes me that they claim to be teaching “critical thinking” while the kids can neither read nor do basic arithmetic.
They are teaching ‘critical consciousness’
https://mobile.twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1638512968060088321?cxt=HHwWgsC90Z-3lb0tAAAA
Here’s another one:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1638306317247868928/photo/1
One key point to consider in this whole story is who creates the mathematics program? People highly trained in math, no doubt. They likely do it in ways that they find interesting, challenging and “getting to the heart of the matter.” People of all kinds and interests want to do things more quickly as their higher priority, and, yes, in math at the lower levels you can arrive at answers quickly given a background memorized way of getting there. I’m no expert on this matter, but my guess is “their” method appeals to the patient and attentive students and the… Read more »
This guy wrote common core. Say his name: Jason Zimba. It was his idea. He gave an interview on NPR trying to disassociate himself from the generation of stupid children he created. He’s an elite Democrat. HE and his elite friends know what is best for your children so they ‘worked really hard, guys’ designing common core….. And even back in 2014 he admitted that common core isn’t working, after test scores in all state plummeted because…..wait for it… He wants MORE federal control of learning! They just need to listen to him MORE. He takes no responsibility for the… Read more »
You’re right, they are teaching nothing and parents are of no help either, because we don’t even understand their homework either.
To the extent you (or anyone else) tries to help your child with homework without knowing/understanding how the teacher is doing it your likely to approach any given problem quite differently than the teacher does. That’s where a child can really, really get lost. At their age they want to think there is ONE way to do mathematics. If you throw another way of doing it into the mix they “get lost in the crossfire” of two people doing it different ways. As adults we know there are lots of ways sometimes to do a given problem. Children don’t care… Read more »
So now the parents are damned if they do try to help instruct their kids, because the kids might get confused? Really, this is just too much. Blame the parents for not being involved, then blame them for trying to get involved because the kids will get confused. The parents know how to do 3rd grade math, and under any normal system are perfectly capable of helping their kids.
Is there not an ounce of common sense left in the school system any more?
I remember some early grade school math my kids were doing. A question was “estimate 3 * 9”, why give an estimate when the answer is known. I sort of get the concept, but that is not when estimating is needed. A few weeks of this was just a waste of time.
That concept is teaching the child to learn whether his answer is in the ball bark.
If I say 2+2=5 I’m wrong but I have a close estimate to the correct answer. If I reply the answer is 22 I’m way off
This is why it’s important to know how to estimate, so you can check the answer
Get involved where you can be in league with the teacher’s way of doing things, and you’re likely really being helpful. Fighting the system by going about things differently may help in some cases and with some children, but in the usual sense of things it simply makes a child more confused. Maybe it will turn around well enough anyway as the child becomes more mentally mature and can finally appreciate “all roads lead to Rome,” after all.
There is another point to make on the practical side. Some teachers are very strict that students should do things the way he/she teaches them. Others are more liberal and care to a greater extent that the student gets the right answer. It usually is not sufficient to simply get that answer without showing or explaining how the logic used to arrive at it. If your child’s teacher is in that latter category then any help from you using some other logic system successfully may be perfectly acceptable. Not so much with the other kind of teacher. But, again, if… Read more »
Does there ever come a point where educators ask themselves “Elementary school math doesn’t have to be this hard, people have been learning it for generations. Maybe the new system doesn’t really work?” Does that point ever come? Or is it better to rationalize the failure as everyone else’s fault? I guess we know which way the education system has chosen. The test results certainly show it. But “expert” educators are always right. Sorry James, I don’t mean this personally. It’s just amazing to see the twists of rationalization obviously decent people will use to defend a system that is… Read more »
As I said yesterday the educational system is forever attracted to the latest fad, almost as if thinking its the end-all of wisdom much like Prof. Eistein’s “Theory of Everything.” I’ve seen it over and over again where teachers are charged with doing this, that and some other new and great thing only to largely abandon much of it without fanfare a few years later as a newer fad is embraced. All I can say is that ideas, popular “in” languages and phrases, and the larger culture itself all have to play out in the normal course of time and… Read more »
My grandchildren are being subjected to this cavalier attitude of “grin and bear it”. Honestly, I’m not worried about the teachers in this situation. They have guaranteed contracts and pensions. I’m worried about a 6 yr old and an 8 yr old who may have to live with the repercussions for the rest of their lives. I would imagine that most teachers hate the new system too. But they keep voting for leaders who push everyone farther down the road to madness. All I can ask is “Please stop”. Nothing will change without the teachers deciding they, too, have had… Read more »
“Nothing will change without the teachers deciding they, too, have had enough.” Blaming the teachers again while ignoring the voters that decide to elect the local school board. Teachers don’t decide the curriculum. The school board decides. If you have a problem with what is being taught, take it up with the board. Don’t like the board? Run for the position or support a candidate that aligns with your thoughts and beliefs. What’s next? Blaming doctors when your insurance company doesn’t cover your treatment. They can prescribe outside of your coverage but you will be paying cash out of pocket.… Read more »
Kids were scoring higher 6 year ago; and they were scoring much higher 12 years ago before common core.
Where in my statement did I defend common core? I simply pointed PP in the right direction as to how to seek a remedy.
This common core?
https://mobile.twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1637853781604851727?cxt=HHwWnoCz6cXV6botAAAA
Received this from a follower. A classroom in California. Homeschool your kids
Can you read debtsor? Again, where did I defend common core.
Again you make the facile judgment that I am somehow jealous of teachers. I am angry, not jealous. Stop trying to portray teachers as the poor victims of the education system. They are only following orders? Where have we heard that before? If teachers hate the system so much, as I suspect many of them do, then stop voting for the union leaders who give all the union political donations to the people who promote this. Stop endorsing board members who force these programs on students and teachers. Stop promoting curriculums that have no chance of educating students. No more… Read more »
Stop playing the victim PP. Your insurance company doesn’t cover the treatment. Take it up with your insurance company and stop blaming the doctor. The majority of the voters for any school board are the parents not the teachers. In many towns, teachers don’t even live in the community to vote for the board members. Yet your ignorance seems intent on blaming them. Stop expecting others to solve your problems. If you are not willing to help change the school board through elections then take some pride and ownership and help out your own grand kids. Although you should probably… Read more »
School board members have been elected based on teacher union endorsement. Nobody gets elected to a school board without union approval. They sent home flyers in my son’s backpack with the list of candidates to vote for. The voters foolishly relied on those endorsements in the past. I don’t think that will happen as much going forward. I have a list of conservative challengers for my local school board hanging on my fridge. Parents are starting to realize what’s really going on in the schools, despite all the great report cards kids are getting. You are right, parents did vote… Read more »
You’re free to continue to blame teachers all you want. I have no expectation of your ability to use logic and reason and actually understand how the education system works. You haven’t demonstrated any before so why start now. What will you do if those “conservative” candidates hanging from your fridge don’t get elected? Will you whine some more about how it’s the teachers fault and how the voters were “fooled”? What will you do if those conservative candidates do win? Are they promising to remove common core? If you don’t get everything you want will you still blame teachers?… Read more »
So PPF, enlighten me with your superior wisdom. Explain how the poor teachers are victims of the evil taxpayers, who elected these awful people to run the education system. Explain how teachers can do nothing but follow the directions imposed on them by school boards they made sure got elected, by the administrators who also hold degrees in education, union leaders that teachers selected, and politicians to whom they are the largest donors. You are right, voters and parents have supported teachers and education for years. Was it too much to expect that support would result in better outcomes for… Read more »
“Teachers don’t decide the curriculum.”
This curriculum?
Non-binary second grade teacher says she taught students that a person can be born in a body that doesn’t match their gender and some people aren’t a boy or a girl
https://mobile.twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1638544853242978304?cxt=HHwWgIC94Zr3o70tAAAA
or this curriculum?
This non-binary teacher’s favorite part of the day was talking about non-binary with a student
https://mobile.twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1637925374121132034?cxt=HHwWhIC20eOcirstAAAA
And how happy are you that some rogue teacher decided to go off script and not follow the board approved curriculum?
Is it really just a rouge teacher off script? It seems to be in most schools anywhere near blue areas these days…
Look at you following the BLM playbook. They love to point to a bad cop here or there and try to pretend that it’s systemic. Goes to show that extremes from both sides love this tactic.
PPF, the ‘bad cop’ is freaking everywhere.
Wait, let me guess:
That’s Not Happening and It’s Good That It Is
So after 50 years of massive investments in education, based on the promises of the “experts” in education that they knew how to run the system better than anyone, and everyone could learn if only there was more money made available….
Now the idea is “never mind, go back to the way we used to do it”, where we recognized that not everyone belonged in college, that trade and vocational training were a better option, that students could and should be tracked by demonstrated ability? The way the system was run before “experts” got their hands on it?
PP,
You seem to think my thoughts are those of the teachers unions, other teachers or the administration. Again, you have a real problem using basic logic. It is merely just my opinion.
“Now the idea” – is just my idea. It’s not some opinion that’s being floated by the “experts”. My guess is the schools and teachers unions still want more money.
Try to keep up.
Sir, we know your thoughts are rooted in greed.
That seems to be the American way with nearly every economic decision. Capitalism! If you want another basis for economic transactions you’ll need to live elsewhere if there is such a place.
I don’t live in Illinois
Kids can learn to read and do basic math. But the state’s mandated curriculum I posted here the other day, leaves little time for remedial learning, because there’s too much gay history to learn about.
The world needs ditch diggers too. Ironically, half of them make more than college grads.
The law of diminishing returns is definitely in play in education. How many dollars are we gonna throw at the low end at the expense of those that excel or have the ambition to excel?
Before you can fix the issue, it needs to be clearly defined. The article does not do that. What is causing the problem? The article focuses on the public educators. My gut tells me the problem is mostly being caused by factors outside of the school. For generations, society followed the ideal model of 2 parent homes, with at least one parent being well educated. The most recent one (or two) generations have increasingly rejected that model, coinciding with lower and lower test scores. While there is room for drastic improvement in public education, when all is said a and… Read more »
I can tell you what happens and is happening in a closed Union environment like the Teachers Union that gets its money whether kids learn or they don’t. Its the mind set “Don’t kill the job” its a mindset for doing work to the lowest common denominator. People that excel and are ambitious make the less ambitious look bad. Unfortunately this breeds the less ambitious to have control and if the performance oriented people want to exist in a peaceful work environment they put on the brakes too. Before you criticize me I worked in closed Union environments (Closed Shop)… Read more »
Baby Machines, which continues to sap the criminal justice system, the welfare roles, the violent crime and the drug epidemic. What were you expecting ? But it only affects the largest ten cities in the USA. Hope and Prayer, casting pearls to swine.
Sitting on the same stage as Bill Ayers does anything more need to be said
I worked at UIC as an outside contractor all over the Campus in the early 2000’s. Bill Ayers had an office in one of the buildings. We had to get into various rooms to do work and had campus security available to unlock them if the occupant was not available. Bill Ayers office was always locked with campus security telling us he was on sabbatical. He was always on sabbatical. Of the few times he was present, he was one the most condescending elitist people I have ever met. A far cry from the equality socialist he portrays.
Nope. Says it all.
Teachers are nothing but overpaid day care workers.
Teachers and administrators are no better or worse than any other profession.
Snappy reply, but if you’ve never done any such job how seriously can we really take such a flippant remark?
Some are. Others who showed great enthusiasm and skill are simply warn down by the continuing struggle akin to swimming upstream. Still, a really few others are successful even at the end, but that’s due a whole set of reasons usually. Teaching is seldom the cake walk those who have never done it want to believe. When it comes to educators losing their way at feeling successful it’s similar to age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg? Was it tiredness while doing that upstream swim for years on end without adoring cheers for the heroic efforts… Read more »
Education went woke. Teachers get some of the blame. Spend 10 minutes looking through James Lindsay’s tweets. Woke Education is a cult and it is everywhere. I hate your profession of teaching now that it is woke.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ConceptualJames
Minnesota elementary school teacher proud of confusing students about gender
“The students asked the other teacher if I’m a boy or a girl, and the
teacher was like, ‘Does it matter?'” Kourtney Ryan began.
https://thepostmillennial.com/minnesota-elementary-school-teacher-proud-of-confusing-students-about-gender?utm_campaign=64478
Things are ever evolving. What’s trendy for awhile in education nearly always loses steam and is replaced by some other head schmuck’s concept of how things should be done. Education in America is a field that’s forever fixated on the latest trend. It’s a bit like Einstein’s relentless efforts to explain the universe’s physical forces using one all-encompassing relatively simple theory or equation. Its a worthy pursuit, perhaps, but one almost guaranteed not to be found.
As a city, Chicago must decide what they want from schools. English, Math and Science proficiency or a food pantry with baby sitting service and a distribution point for CEDA funds and stay in school grants from organizations like YMCA or Salvation Army. Once they choose, then staff accordingly. Educational organization? OK, staff with people who can themselves read, do basic math and understand science. Social service center? OK, maintain the same staff but pay them as baby sitters.
All most students—and likely adults as well—really want is to be entertained. Find good entertainers, and they’ll be well on their way to being good teachers. Learning something is easier and more likely if entertainment happens simultaneously. The problem is that public schools and even colleges typically try inculcate intellectual growth without a hint of making it compellingly interesting. I can’t immediately recall any obvious attempt by an instructor to be entertaining in any college class I ever had, although others there may have thought differently. Absent that a student has to stay really continually focused to be a successful… Read more »
That is so so true! If you can take comp,licated topics and show the practical benefits, everybody will lean in and engage. I had the benefit of having quite a few of these wizards. Some of them were irascible nuts, but I loved them all!
I went to the University of IL at Champaign/Urbana. That was eons ago, so things may well have changed. But many of the lower level classes were taught by grad assistants (aka beginners) who may or may not have any real desire to be a teacher. On another occasion I remember having a Ph. D. who was said to be age 22 or so. He wrote furiously on a blackboard until it was full, then all too quickly started erasing it with his other hand to write more with much of said effort done literally facing more to the blackboard… Read more »
Same story at MSU in the 70s. Thevrub was paying full tuition rate for a prof and getting a grad student just off the boat. I had one whose “English” I couldn’t understand.
Well, you are clearly someone who can perfectly relate to my experience. I was a science major. My grades in that and otherwise were absolutely fine overall , but honestly it’s more a reflection of what saves all students and all teachers—the ever-present “grading on the curve.” I may misrepresent the actual numbers a bit here since it was so long ago, but as I recall I had a grade of something like 67 out of roughly 130 possible on an upper level final exam in a science class. I didn’t immediately know my grade, of course, although I presumed… Read more »
James – your description is highly disappointing. U of I is considered one of the nation’s best public schools. I might add at my private school where I finished in the 80’s I only had TA’s for science labs, and they did not take the place of the professor who taught the main lesson, and the rigor and education was excellent. The school of course leaned liberal, but the concept of economic scarcity was understood by most. There were many negatives for a poor person like me but what went on in the classroom was excellent. The school has an… Read more »
I likely was wrong in suggesting that the primary teacher in the lower level UI courses all those years ago was not a professor. But, my memory of the performance of my average instructor there at whatever level is right: almost without exception they didn’t see being either an entertainer or engaging students during class time as a priority. There were smaller sized subset classes where TAs ran the show as you’ve said. Some did recognize they ought to be personable at the very least, and a few did that reasonably well. Most weren’t even trying all that much for… Read more »
Woke instruction isn’t supposed to improve academic outcomes. Woke instruction’s purpose is to make students woke. As James Lindsay so eloquently points out, woke is really a concept called critical consciousness, which is a cult belief that everything is society is designed to oppress you and the only way to see the truth is to become a marxist using critical theory. Following this logic, oppressed students are unable to learn, because there is sooooooo much oppression. So they teach them woke critical theory stuff to explain away the lack of learning. It’s wildly successful too. Graduation rates are way up,… Read more »
I don’t recall any entertainment when I went to school, and if there was… they called it recess.
EFAP, Chicago has already decided what they want from public schools. They want woke madrasas. Pronoun indoctrination, Social-Emotional Learning focused (tell me your feelings, are you a boy, or a girl, or something else today?), community organizing factories, with high graduation rates. That’s what they have now. That’s what parents voluntarily send their children to. And that’s what the schools are graduating.
You are correct! Avg. student absentee rate = 38%. Students who read at level = 6%. We are paying an enormous price for citizens who can’t differentiate between two, too and to : or more difficultly, there, their and they’re. Hiring babysitters would be less expensive but then they’d probably organize a union!
I believe, Brandon’s just like sharkey & gates and others. He was only a teacher for 3 or 4 years before moving on to unions organizer, im sure always his original intent same as sharkey & gates. All these folks are from somewhere else–elgin, a dirt road in Maine, ohio, etc who in reality all moved here to pursue being radical change makers. You could probably say the same for lightfoot, toni, obana and so many more in politics, press and achdemia. Kids, b&b chicago are just props for their national agenda. I SURE NONE OF THEM HAVE THEIR KIDS… Read more »
People in Union enviorments learn early which road they want to take. You can be a employee putting in your time. You can strive for a management job. Or you can go into the union hierarchy and advance various positions. Most of the people who advance through the union hierarchy were not very good at their initial job they were hired for. Thats not saying they are bad at their union job. That’s my observations from over 45 years of various union experience.
I repeat myself. Kids should know how to read regardless of the school they attend, or whether they even attend school. I know! It’s boring… books in the home. Parents teaching their kids how to read. But the context here is ‘ammo to be used against the left’.
Personally, I’d never vote for this nincompoop, or for most of the buffoons who run for office. Ballast, er, sorry, Vallas, seems to speak in moderate terms.
Brandon has such great ideas about education. He should form his own network of charter schools that adheres to his personal philosophy on learning and attempt to sell that to the local school district. Not buying? There’s always St. Brandon’s of Assassi.
Communists always will divide and conquer based on income and wealth which they reference as the bourgeoisie. The system is inherently flawed and unequal because it takes property and ownership from the private individual and transfers this to the state. If you are a member of the inner circle your lives and livelihood may (I caution you here) be allowed to continue but they also may end when the party decides you are finished. Many “new voters” (we will call them new entrants to the system) such as the 50M undocumented aliens come from the third world are part of… Read more »