Why Kids Can't Read

Of all the issues that are concerns in this next election, education ranks at the top of the list in my book. I am notably disturbed by the lack of importance that has been placed on education during this campaign season. It has been overshadowed by the economy and the war in Iraq. Somehow, it always seems to fall short in the list of governmental priorities- although it is fundamental to maintaining the economy and our national security. The final presidential debate focused on the issue of education briefly, as it would be improper to ignore it completely, but neither candidate had an acceptable answer or platform for the failing education system in our country. I marginally agree with each candidate and, at the same time, scorn the idiocy of our politicians. McCain claims that choice and competition are the answer. I agree wholeheartedly with this. If there is no competition, there is no motivation. Any business owner in the country will tell you that. The FCC, in fact, does everything in it's power to eliminate the possibility for corporations to create monopolies. Why? Because monopolies foster abuse- costs go up and quality goes down. Hold the public schools accountable by creating some healthy competition and let parents choose where their kids go to school by offering vouchers of some sort.

Obama's cure is to give teachers further training, hold them accountable, and throw more money at the problem. Teachers are already required to take additional classes in professional development yearly, simply to keep their certification- a task that is increasingly difficult when one is trying to balance work and family. Bear in mind that teaching is one of the few professions, if not the only one, where the cost of continuing one's education comes directly out of his/her own meagerly filled pocket. Ironically, many of the same politicians who use the phrase "hold teachers accountable" wonder why teachers spend an entire year teaching towards tests and why, at the end of the year, students have actually retained very little information. Case in point- the AIMS test in Arizona. Don't even get me started on the oxymoron that is politicians preaching professional accountability. That's a blog for a different day. I do agree, however, that education is shamefully under-funded, and teachers are shamefully underpaid.
Although, ironically, the United States pours more money into education than any other nation. Apparently it costs a fortune to raise generations of children lacking basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. The problem is that more money, if not allocated correctly will do nothing more than drain the federal budget. Some of the poorest performing schools in the nation receive the most funding. Has anyone tried to determine why this is?

Journey with me into a typical American classroom. Let's propose that a teacher has 24 kids in her class (an average amount-and very low for some schools). Just for the sake of argument, those 24 kids are divided evenly into three different groups of learners- kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. Eight students learn by doing, eight learn by hearing, and eight learn by seeing. The task at hand: teach the class that 2+2=4. In a 30 minute period, the concept needs to be introduced, demonstrated, practiced, reviewed, and assessed using 3 different methods. Now consider that two of those students have been diagnosed with a learning disability and have an individualized education plan (IEP). This adds two new methods of instruction (a total of 5 different ways to teach that 2+2=4). Three of the students have been diagnosed with ADHD. One of whom is so heavily medicated that he is listless and half asleep on his desk. Across the room another student, whose parents are going through a divorce is gazing out the window unaware that instruction is even taking place. A gifted child is so bored that she's acting out, two other students are Spanish speakers, and a visually impaired student is having trouble keeping track in his braille textbook. In the meantime, two kids are in a fight in the back of the room that started on the playground over a ball, a child with an emotional disorder needs to go to the nurse for her daily dose of antidepressant, and the gifted student has now managed to disrupt the entire room by throwing eraser bits at her classmates in an attempt to entertain herself. As the teacher heads to the back to break up the argument, a screeching alarm goes off and she is suddenly reminded that it's fire drill day. At the end of the day, the teacher is exhausted and heads home to grade countless papers, finish her lesson plans for the week, and do homework for her continuing education class. Twenty-four kids go home to play video games and watch television- none of whom know that 2+2=4.

Does anyone care that this teacher graduated at the top of her class? Does anyone care that she passed her education exams with flying colors? Does anyone care that she spends 4-5 hours an evening focused on her classroom? Not at all. Because when it all comes down to it, her school district will reprimand and/or fire her for her classroom's lack of achievement and she will inevitably be visited at some point during the year by 24 sets of parents all telling her how to do her job.

Competition? Money? Teacher training? Accountability? Are these really the answers our education system needs to recruit and retain quality teachers? Will our students really be better off? Inevitably these are the "miracle cures" that our government will throw at education in vain. We couldn't possibly group students according to ability, that wouldn't be fair. Some kids would grow up thinking that they struggle academically and we couldn't possibly damage their psyche. I suppose it's better that they just don't learn at all.

In addition, parents cannot possibly be responsible for the character education of their own children. Isn't it the public school's job to teach kids about respect, kindness, sharing, and self-esteem? And let's not forget about sex education, drug awareness, nutrition, and basic hygiene. We have to make room in our curriculum for these vital life lessons.

Is it any wonder our kids can't read?