Friday, May 6, 2011

Charts and figures are great, but what's missing are the voices of the people...

Teacher Certification
Brought to you by Teacher Certification Map and MAT@USC | Masters of Education

The chart says but half the story...but kudos to the MAT@USC for soliciting personal stories...They will make the difference...

I was in the classroom today and noticed that my music teacher who is still teaching by the way received a care package with a lannard, a black whiteboard marker, a bag of Cheetos, and a tiny bottled water...and I was thinking to myself, "It must be Teacher Appreciation Week..." Yet much like these days of remembrance or whatever appreciation week, it seems to me that this is just a way to show that even though we crap on teachers, blaming them for society's ills, call them freeloaders when they rise up to protect their benefits, we actually really do care...It's still shit even if it's sugarcoated with chocolate...

What are we actually doing to show that we appreciate teachers and what are we doing to show that we appreciate the students who are also maligned in the media and by those who desperately want to cut public education?

When we talk about cuts, (I know it's state funding in the chart above) we never hear about the bloated Pentagon budget...we never hear about oil subsidies or corporate welfare...we never hear about states subsidizing highly profitable industries such as the oil industry, when we talk about taxes, we do not hear about raising the tax rate on the highest income brackets...we hear about how hard it would be for those making $250,000 to pay an extra 3.6% on the income that is over $250,000 as if they would become destitute and penniless...we never hear about how the failure to extend the Making Work Pay credit will affect taxpayers who received that credit ($400 is a lot of money these days...)...We never hear when it comes to sob stories about the richest Americans, teachers paying out of pocket to ensure that their students have the best school supplies available for their classrooms...we never hear about the turnover rate in this job, which is the favored scapegoat of those who engage in class warfare...

How do we frame funding education? The Santa Clara Unified School District relies on property taxes, but the majority of it comes from the commercial properties in our city, such as Intel. Could we not frame this as a way to fund the future employees at Intel or the other high-tech companies we have in this area? Could we not frame this as fighting for our country's future so we remain competitive? With elementary school education on the chopping block, with the district proposing that it be cut completely, how do we frame the benefits of music education? The district had proposed turning it into an after-school activity, but that carries the stigma of it being voluntary and students may see that as something that they can come whenever they feel like it. Music gives children the chance to express themselves emotionally and artistically...some students may not shine in the standardized tests that we force down their throats, but when it comes to music, their genius may finally be revealed. 

Which brings me to my point that standardized tests are not enough to measure what our children gain through school. Unfortunately, our focus on the number games the standardized tests make available to us has ensured a mentality that since we don't test on music, music programs become expendible...This is a tragic mistake as it denies students what brings them joy in actually going to school...along with drama programs and art programs. These are a vital part of the schooling experience, not extras...I see students every day at the high school I work at, and their faces light up whenever they're in Drama or even Choir...I see students who WANT to take this choir program and build upon it...I hear things about show choirs, choir and drama students working together to produce musicals just like we did in the old days when I was going to high school, I see students who bemoan the fact that Cantanova at Wilcox had been cut...These are the voices that need to be heard instead of those emotionless, soulless voices talking about budgetary figures and statistics. Unfortunately, these voices full of passion and anger are drowned out by news of "budgetary shortfalls," "cuts," "increased class sizes, the voices that those who promote a culture of austerity except when it comes to perks that benefit themselves and their system...This has to end.

Update: I just remembered that the survey that I saw at the middle school was based on a scale from 1 (DO NOT WANT as in cuts) to 10 (WANT cuts) to use LOLCAT...I do not remember if there was a space provided for comments, but I realize that I made a huge mistake in not writing personal comments. In this budget battle, the voices of the people are the ones that need to be heard, not the numbers that the system wants to reduce this debate down to...I shall return and fix this oversight...

No comments:

Post a Comment