My small town experienced a recent tragedy, the untimely death of a young man. Son of well known and beloved parents, sibling to a brother and sister, this young man took his own life for reasons beyond our kin. It is deeply sad. It is tragic.
There is a quick and predictable response: folks want to know why. They want to know why to confirm or absolve their guilt. They want to know why because if there is an identifiable variable perhaps we can implement something to control the variable. Was it drugs? Was it alcohol? Was it a lost love? Was it a failure of some sort? Who should have done what to keep this from ever happening? Should it have been me? Should I have done something? Could I have said something? Should I have noticed something? Oh my, what should we do?
It is deeply sad. It is tragic. It is scary.
If this young man took his own life, my own kids might do the same! Oh my, what should we do? We should do something. We cannot just sit here and fear and worry and wonder and not act. We must do something, anything! Find the cause and treat it! Find the variable and control it! Eliminate our pain. Make us safe.
This tragedy replays across our land in cities large and small. I believe it hits smaller communities harder. Why live in a small community? It is safer. We know everyone. We can control more variables. There is less random contact, fewer unknowns, and more knowns. We have more control. We should be safer. We forgo the malls, the theatres, the symphonies, the plays, the restaurants, the 24 hour a day hustle and bustle to feel safer. We forgo making more money to live smaller, to live slower, to live closer, to know more, and to be safer. We are totally rattled to discover we are not safe. The randomness of life, the intervening strange variable happens even here. There is no control. There is no real safety. Life unfolds and we all die.
We resent the randomness. We are angry at the lack of control. When we ask “why?" we are demanding a cause and effect response so we can control future responses. That is science, that is math, that is the technology that in fact has made us safer, our homes more secure, our transportation more efficient, our communication instant, and our weapons so effective. Few die from the attack of wild animals. But some do. Few die from poison in our food or water. But some do. Few die from the attack of marauding enemies. But some do. Few die from starvation. But some do. We are safer than we have ever been, but we still are not safe. Our drive to understand, to control, to be safe has brought us much and I am grateful for those advances. But there is still more we do not know, cannot understand, and cannot control.
On a larger scale our nation responded with “doings” after 9/11, after Columbine, after Pearl Harbor. We implemented programs, we fought back, and we sought control. And yet, we still die.
This death was deeply sad. It was tragic. It was scary. It is beyond our kin. We do not need a new program in our schools to make everyone else safe. We do not need to “do” anything. We need to be human beings, not human doings. We need to love, we need to support, we need to experience our feelings whether they are good or bad, we need to have faith, we need to help all those in need, and we need to forgive.
There will never be total safety and total control.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Who Is Accountable and How?
A 60 year old man, who has smoked his entire adult life and has had several heart attacks and strokes arrives at the hospital having trouble breathing. Several scans later the admitting doctor sees that he has stage 4, inoperable lung cancer. Can he be saved? Should the doctor be held accountable for his life to continue to the average age of 72?
A 30 year old woman convicted twice for theft is caught shoplifting on video tape in a jewelry store. Her conviction will send her to prison for life. The jewels with her fingerprints were recovered in her purse and the tape is high definition leaving no doubt that she was the thief. A public defender is assigned to defend her. Can she be saved from prison? Should the public defender lawyer be held accountable for her freedom?
A six year old boy arrives at school. He does not know his father. His mother never graduated from high school and was 16 when he was born. He does not know his letters or his colors. There are no books in his home, he has not been fed nutritiously, nurtured, held, loved or intellectually stimulated. His only model for responding to conflict or frustration is to yell profanities and physically run away or strike back. Can he be taught? Should the kindergarten teacher be held accountable for his learning? Should the teacher be held accountable for his learning on a standardized paper and pencil test?
Why is it so hard to explain to folks of a certain perspective that holding teachers accountable for student performance is at best a loosely linked connection? The doctor knows the patient will die, and will provide comfort in his final days. The lawyer knows his client is going to prison, but maybe the sentence can be reduced to 20 years. The teacher knows the kid is not likely to be academically successful anytime real soon, but maybe the kid can catch up before he leaves elementary school if the kid works hard and the mother supports the effort. The doctor will be praised for his heroic and humane efforts. The lawyer will be lauded for his ability to save a client from a life sentence. The kindergarten teacher will be damned, as will the 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, etc., teachers for the poor performance of the child. Those teachers will demonstrate equally heroic efforts, equally laudable professional practice to save a child from ignorance. But the test results will show, despite the growth, that the child is severely behind. The child was behind before he showed up, much as the patient was doomed and the client was guilty. But only the teachers and the schools will be damned.
Why is it so hard to explain to folks of a certain perspective that holding teachers, schools and school systems accountable for student performance in a judgmental system is so wrong to do?
Amazingly, we shift our assumptions of teacher accountability to the doctor/lawyer model once a student enters college. At age 18 in May it is the teacher’s fault if he does not learn. At age 18 in September it is the student’s fault if he fails. And, accomplishing one of the greatest pieces of mental gymnastics I can imagine, the colleges blame the public schools for not ensuring that the students are college ready!
Teachers exhibit the best professional practice they can given the students they serve. OK, given some doctors are better than others, some lawyers are better than others, we must assume that some teachers are better than others. But, no one fires the emergency room doctor or the public defender lawyer if they lose one as long as they followed standard professional protocols. In fact we are grateful that they perform the professional practice they perform with the patients and clients they serve. We all get that much of the failure of medicine to save lives is based on the life style of the patient, much of the conviction rate is based on the behavior of the accused, and much of the college failure and dropout rate is based on the student’s performance and behavior. Why is it so hard to recognize the same connection with student learning in public schools?
Who is accountable and how we hold them accountable is the real question here. We know how to teach kids whatever their circumstance. No pencil-paper test can measure all that we do much less how well we do it.
Or, perhaps those of us with a lifetime devoted to teaching kids in public schools should simply acquiesce. OK, you are right, all kid learning, nutrition, fitness, and college readiness is entirely up to us. We alone can do it. We are gods, treat us as such. We can transform all children regardless of their background, their effort, their aptitudes, and their families into high performing, productive citizens. Bring on the tests so we can prove it!
Poppycock and balderdash.
Teachers should be held accountable in the same way other professionals who are dependent on the behavior of their clients/patients/students are held accountable: Do we know our stuff, care about kids, and did we give it our best shot demonstrating that we expected every kid to get it however we measure whether they got it or not.
Period.
A 30 year old woman convicted twice for theft is caught shoplifting on video tape in a jewelry store. Her conviction will send her to prison for life. The jewels with her fingerprints were recovered in her purse and the tape is high definition leaving no doubt that she was the thief. A public defender is assigned to defend her. Can she be saved from prison? Should the public defender lawyer be held accountable for her freedom?
A six year old boy arrives at school. He does not know his father. His mother never graduated from high school and was 16 when he was born. He does not know his letters or his colors. There are no books in his home, he has not been fed nutritiously, nurtured, held, loved or intellectually stimulated. His only model for responding to conflict or frustration is to yell profanities and physically run away or strike back. Can he be taught? Should the kindergarten teacher be held accountable for his learning? Should the teacher be held accountable for his learning on a standardized paper and pencil test?
Why is it so hard to explain to folks of a certain perspective that holding teachers accountable for student performance is at best a loosely linked connection? The doctor knows the patient will die, and will provide comfort in his final days. The lawyer knows his client is going to prison, but maybe the sentence can be reduced to 20 years. The teacher knows the kid is not likely to be academically successful anytime real soon, but maybe the kid can catch up before he leaves elementary school if the kid works hard and the mother supports the effort. The doctor will be praised for his heroic and humane efforts. The lawyer will be lauded for his ability to save a client from a life sentence. The kindergarten teacher will be damned, as will the 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, etc., teachers for the poor performance of the child. Those teachers will demonstrate equally heroic efforts, equally laudable professional practice to save a child from ignorance. But the test results will show, despite the growth, that the child is severely behind. The child was behind before he showed up, much as the patient was doomed and the client was guilty. But only the teachers and the schools will be damned.
Why is it so hard to explain to folks of a certain perspective that holding teachers, schools and school systems accountable for student performance in a judgmental system is so wrong to do?
Amazingly, we shift our assumptions of teacher accountability to the doctor/lawyer model once a student enters college. At age 18 in May it is the teacher’s fault if he does not learn. At age 18 in September it is the student’s fault if he fails. And, accomplishing one of the greatest pieces of mental gymnastics I can imagine, the colleges blame the public schools for not ensuring that the students are college ready!
Teachers exhibit the best professional practice they can given the students they serve. OK, given some doctors are better than others, some lawyers are better than others, we must assume that some teachers are better than others. But, no one fires the emergency room doctor or the public defender lawyer if they lose one as long as they followed standard professional protocols. In fact we are grateful that they perform the professional practice they perform with the patients and clients they serve. We all get that much of the failure of medicine to save lives is based on the life style of the patient, much of the conviction rate is based on the behavior of the accused, and much of the college failure and dropout rate is based on the student’s performance and behavior. Why is it so hard to recognize the same connection with student learning in public schools?
Who is accountable and how we hold them accountable is the real question here. We know how to teach kids whatever their circumstance. No pencil-paper test can measure all that we do much less how well we do it.
Or, perhaps those of us with a lifetime devoted to teaching kids in public schools should simply acquiesce. OK, you are right, all kid learning, nutrition, fitness, and college readiness is entirely up to us. We alone can do it. We are gods, treat us as such. We can transform all children regardless of their background, their effort, their aptitudes, and their families into high performing, productive citizens. Bring on the tests so we can prove it!
Poppycock and balderdash.
Teachers should be held accountable in the same way other professionals who are dependent on the behavior of their clients/patients/students are held accountable: Do we know our stuff, care about kids, and did we give it our best shot demonstrating that we expected every kid to get it however we measure whether they got it or not.
Period.
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