Hades in a hand-basket (Part II)

Hello again, blogfans!

Today, we'll begin to examine the current culture in education that has been developed during the "Mister Rogers" or the "Everyone Gets a Trophy" era in our society. The bottom line: we've developed a generation of illiterate and ignorant young adults who feel really good about themselves but have no marketable skills and don't seem to see why that's a problem!

Since this is ostensibly a Christian society, let's start with the words of Jesus:

Matthew 25
14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' 21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' 23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' 26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

God gives us all some form of ability or some abilities, and He expects us to use them! The flip side of that coin is that some people have more talent than other people and some people don't have much at all! What this means is that some people are good students because they've been gifted academically, while others are not such good students; they're gifted elsewhere. We've got to get this concept down and realize it in actuality so that it's reflected in what we do in our schools! Some folks are just not cut out for advanced education, but they're really good with their hands, or they have sterling personality, or they can sing/dance or whatever. When are we going to stop trying to cram square pegs into round holes, all the while proclaiming our education system a failure, when it's being set up for failure simply by the students we include in classes they have no need for and have no desire to partake in?

In 1975, Congress enacted the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), legislation that was reauthorized in 1997. Basically, IDEA was developed to ensure that people with disabilities had equal access to education; a good and worthwhile concept. However, the law and the regulations that accompanied it soon morphed into something that was never intended; a catch-all excuse for any student who didn't want to work and still wanted to pass his classes! What am I talking about? Well, when I think of "disabled," I think of people who have some physical malady that prevents them from ambulating normally or precludes some other normal life function such as speech, or sight, or hearing, or whatever. That was before they invented Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Now, any kid who can't sit still for more than 10 minutes is "disabled" and has all the protection of law intended for people with actual disabilities! People who've been diagnosed with some form of learning disorder also fall under IDEA. Heck, we might as well throw in morbid obesity and yellow toe fungus so we can classify ALL of the students that way! It's ridiculous!

Anyway, part of IDEA states that students who are classified "disabled" under the law must receive their education in the "Least Restrictive Environment," i.e., they must be in a regular classroom whenever its possible. Last year, I had one class with 28 kids: 10 of them were either Special Education or 504 (Learning disability); 6 of them were ESL (English as a Second Language); 10 of them were "regular ed" (no alphabet soup for them!); and 2 of them were GT (Gifted and Talented). Uhhhh......how do you present a lesson in a class like that so that no one gets bored and no one gets left behind? Each of the "IDEA" kids has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) that must be adhered to or its big trouble! IEPs contain "modifications" that are designed to make education more accessible for those who receive the mods. What a joke! What this becomes is a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for any kid with an IEP. I don't care how careful you are; somewhere along the line at some point you're going to fail to perform one of the provisions of a kid's IEP and, if someone wanted to document your failure, the district must take action (or risk loss of Federal funding for these programs). A child who has not been "served" according to his/her IEP CANNOT FAIL!!! What this means is that a teacher who wishes to fail a kid with an IEP MUST document every instance of that child's failure to perform DESPITE receiving modified work (or accommodation in the case of 504s). This is a nearly impossible task and one that, I'm sure, doesn't transpire very often! The bottom line is this: kids who aren't doing what's necessary to pass a class are passed anyway because of the restrictions imposed by this ridiculous legislation and the "gun" of Federal funding that's held to our collective heads! "Passing Johnny" is a game that's played every year for as long as he's in the system, which is why Johnny eventually finds himself walking across a stage wearing a cap and gown, carrying a diploma that he cannot read! He has no marketable skills and few, if any, prospects for the future. It's a tragic disservice to him and one that is TOTALLY unnecessary and avoidable!

What's the outcome? Well, as I said, Johnny gets the shaft because he got left behind even if he thinks he was getting over all those years. What's WORSE in my mind, is the fact that he was in a regular ed classroom all of those years dragging down other students who DID want to learn and who had just as much a right to a "free and appropriate education" as he did! Educational, governmental, and industrial experts bemoan the fact that our students are falling behind those in other parts of the world, but THOSE SAME "EXPERTS" are the ones who are creating the situation in the first place! In India, students who are not academically gifted don't go into higher education; they go into a vocational track and learn a trade! The same is true of these other countries that are constantly cited as outstripping us academically! They realize the wisdom of Jesus; not everyone has the same gifts, but we have the command to accentuate and develop the gifts we DO have rather than try to develop those we weren't blessed with!

What needs to happen here? IDEA needs modification! Students with IEPs should be educated with their peers so they can follow along at their own pace. Part of the process for them should be aptitude testing so their abilities and proclivities can be determined and cultivated. Many of these kids just don't have the ability to do higher level work in education; they should be taught what they DO need to know for their future! Many "504" kids are very intelligent and can do "on-level" work if given enough time. No one minds helping kids like this out because they are motivated and do their very best to overcome their disability. When the tool to help becomes a crutch and is used as such, the system is broken and needs to be repaired or replaced! IDEA was initially a good concept; include those in our society who've been shunned and give them what they need to succeed. What it's become is a joke! This situation needs to be addressed and it needs to happen sooner than later, or the "everyone gets a trophy" generation is going to take over and the only trophy we're going to get is a Chinese-English dictionary!

I have a feeling that our collective self-esteem won't be that important anymore!

Tomorrow, we'll look at why "No Child Left Behind" ought to be called "EVERY Child Left Behind!"