Re: America's Single Greatest Challenge? - You Choose '08

[aushnakilops]

Mr C!

It's Georgia from your S1 class at Broughton in '06.

I have since moved to a private school and can honestly say that if you ever feel the urge to leave your beloved Red Sox one more time, you are most welcome at George Heriots. My obsession with black holes reigns on and I still find myself checking the pbs nova website that you introduced me to find another video. A gifted artist, brilliant physicist and utterly awesome human being: you are a God in my eyes.

Ride on Mr C!

woop woop!

[aushnakilops]

MR C!!!

It's Georgia Sinclair from your S1 class at broughton when you filmed this. Hopefully you remember me - me and Kate that is-

I can tell you

[Invad3r]

I recently graduated from the drudgery that is public high school, and I wish I'd had more teachers like you. Rather, I wish I'd had teachers who could afford to deviate from teaching the test. My school was a "target school" under NCLB. Improvement definitely doesn't start with meaningless multiple-choice tests--that is, it starts from the bottom up. Better training, better pay, better teachers. Sounds simple enough, but why can't we get it right?

[everscamp]

Hey Mr.Colarusso, its weird to see you on youtube. (its Noah, from lexplorations two summers ago)

[aushnakilops]

what is wrong with you?

[friendsofthefruitsof]

To fix Education is simple: Pay the teachers well. a real Competitive rate, Shrink class size to no more than 20. and make completion of High School mandatory.

Emphasize Reading Writing and Arithmatic- and spelling :P.

[abpianoman]

I completely agree. If we pay teachers more, education will gradually improve

[nigelartist]

yeah...spelling...arithmetic!

[SCOOTERBALLUSA]

David your Holy Cow pension is over-rated.

They took the airline pilot pension and they won't stop with your pensions. CD-Rom education and motivations, getting kids thru the crime scene called the education institution.

GED them early circumvent the dummies from the failures and get them thru the drudge called High School Crime cells......

[thetruth073]

Here is a good book to read for a teacher or a parent "The Underground History of American Education" By Former New York State & New York City Teacher of The Year, John Taylor Gatto.

This is why they do not give a financial education in the system. So no one knows how it works besides the few selected. Search for "Federal Reserve Fraud" on Google Video. You will see why the Education system was designed to fail. It is to keep society dumb so corporations and government can control!

[thetruth073]

So why would Ron Paul make the Best President

for America?

- He will Stop The War Immediately

- He Will Change Foreign Policy

- He will Eliminate the IRS

- He Will Eliminate Corporate & Political Corruption

- Retore Rights to the People that have been stolen by the Corporations and corrupt politicans!

- Unite Americans

What has Dr. Ron Paul done? find out

ronpaul2008 . com / about (remove spaces)  LIVE FREE OR DIE! Vote RON PAUL 2008

[KamikazeKoscki]

Some how we need to restore honesty, character, conscience, and courage!

[KimKinMIA]

I totally agree with you and hope the future holds new promise for dedicated educators. I'd like to add to your discussion the need for a bifurcation in our education system. Not every student is cut out for college or desires to go. We need to prepare them for their futures as well with life skills,internships,training etc The world will always need good mechanics, plumbers,etc and the system should respect this and prepare them as well. Many children are being "left behind"

[Sobekain]

Our public educational system definitely needs a lot more support from our government!

[Mattes50A05]

The problem with the public school system is the government got too involved with it. Like you said beurocrats with no teaching experience are making decisions in the education system. Also the reason private schools and universities in America are so renowned is because there is actually competition for jobs and teachers are paid based off of ability and credentials. This isn't true for public schools. The only way to fix public schools is through government deregulation.

[xiaosainzboy]

I agree, we need better schools. I am in middle school and in a gifted program, but I am surrounded by many failing people. These people will go on being only semi successful or failures and this needs to be changed.

[red5llaw]

David, I wish my kids had teachers like you. My Wife and I have had to work hard to "supplement" the public education my kids are receiving. I am proud to say my 3 Kids are in the top 5% of their school academically in a school of over 1000 students. My Son has been chosen for the advanced (Extension) program at high school having one the Academic Award on graduation. Education is PARAMOUNT.

[nsc5]

Mr. Colarruso, do you feel prosrams like No Child Left Behind might be effective if incentives were geared toward rewarding successful teachers rather than penalizing already failing schools? Do you think teacher oriented incentives could stave off the malaise that seems to set in over a teacher's career and help reverse the downward trend we see in so many districts around the country?

[guslingus]

Access to information, or Education, is now worldwide. Those who have ability and the drive can now educate themselves. The world is becoming a level playing field and the ones to be hurt most will be the ones at the top. Only military influences or restrictions to resources will stop this trend. Ten points for you passionate concern for the topic.

[guslingus]

further to previous... Source materials and equipment and find global markets all from a tiny run down office. It is the hunger for a better life that drives them like no other group i have seen.

[guslingus]

I think that Global information technology, is in many ways, reducing the power of formal education. I have worked with people in China who have successful busines's developed, almost entirely, from gaining the specific knowledge they require from the internet. They see an opportunity, study the latest specific information they need.

[disneydiva21]

you are wonderful .. i wish i had a teacher like you when i was in highschool hugs

[leopold007]

Wages are low for overage professors, but nothing holds you back to be above overage or change occupation. Move to schools like Harvard etc and you get 6 digits. You do not qualify, well then qualify or stop complaining. It's all supply and demand. To hope for more just because you are a teacher will not work in a free market and is unfair to the others. There is a non monetary benefit or the number of teachers would decrease increasing the wages of those left. Supply and demand my friend

[dcolarusso]

This is part of my concern, these incentives (market forces) are for the most part absent from secondary public schools. There is effectively no difference in salaries between mediocre and magnificent teachers. Universities may not have this problem, but secondary schools do, and I hope you're not insinuating my good-faith suggestions stem from a lack of economic mobility on my part, esp. considering you mentioned an alma mater of mine in your post. Address the argument, not the man.

[leopold007]

This barrier causes inequity - crime bye illegal immigrants can not work but need to survive (prostitution, drugs, etc.), high medical cost do to barriers for experts, hate toward US for not share its wealth and expensive wars to silence those objecting. If immigration were balanced by FREE MARKET government (higher tax income) as well as citizen (lower prices of services and goods) would benefit. Less wars and more money could be spend on education.

[leopold007]

I see a small bias here -you are a teacher. Schools are a problem, but not the biggest. They are more or less regulated by free market (you say we have the best and worst). Immigration however is different being an artificial barrier put in place by the government and in itself a violation of a basic human right (right to freedom).

[dcolarusso]

I think that's a psychogenetic fallacy. It's worth noting I became a teacher to work on the central problem of our time--the maintenance of an educated electorate capable of deliberative democracy. That's what PUBLIC education is about. Additionally, I disagree about the market forces at play. Since there is no precise quantitative measure of educational quality, schools have a hard time operating in a market. They are a business with an ill-defined bottom line.

[mally777]

I completely agree. We should encourage the young people to expand their mind and gain knowledge, not bog them down with tests that prove nothing. I would love to see different classroom of different learning styles, traditional, hands-on, visual, audio, etc. I love your ideas.

[NunyaBinis61]

This week at my Daughters school Star testing is being held. Again as wizkid2000 stated, don't even get me started, however with this gives me a great idea, if the school has become interested in a childs development because of the money it will receive, why can't this be passed on to teachers individually. I agree, give the teachers the tools they need to teach the way they feel is right, and make them individually accountable for the results by way of their compensation

[dcolarusso]

I agree this is the right direction, but it's not a trivial problem. It can't simply be based on test scores, as there are too many variables to be considered, such as prior student preparation/history, innate ability, etc. Thequietkid10 makes a good suggestion about including peer evaluation in such a process. It's worth looking into.

[patd316]

i hate to tell you but imo schools shouldn't give standardize testing it takes away from true learning take history for example it is not the date that matters or even the people there! it is the meaning of what happened and why it happened that are truly important critical thinking not cramming for a test just to pass

[evee700]

education is so important. Great points.

[Gemm73]

Excellent points!!

[sciencemadefun]

Some great points, I like how you don't claim to have all the answers! Great to finally put a face to the name :)

[wizkid2000]

Interesting Video. As a "good" teacher then, do you support honest evaluations of teacher's performance and termination of "bad" teacher? The way I see it one of the main obstacles of education reform are the teacher unions, who vigorously rejects such proposals.

[z2u]

I second wizkid2000 no need putting anymore money in unless that changes

[dcolarusso]

I agree that "bad" teachers are too hard to remove. However, I have seen good teachers intimidated/threatened because of their vigorous advocacy for students. Unions and practices such as granting tenure serve a valuable purpose. It is a difficult problem. I agree with the need for HONEST evaluations, but I would warn that this is a difficult problem for a profession that is not yet a science.

[wizkid2000]

I see your point of view and total agree that good teachers need to protected from such political or bureaucratic nonsense. However, I believe that tenure is contrary to the very idea of merit based recognition. The high attrition rate of burned out teacher could be the result of teacher realizing that no one seems to cares about there sincere efforts and the system won't treat them any different than bad teachers.

[dcolarusso]

You are right. This frustration you cite is a big reason teachers leave. Tenure does, however, serve a real purpose, but in secondary schools unlike universities it or its equivalent are granted too easily. Tenure should be one part of a merit-based system. Again, however, I'm at a loss as to how to measure these things. In universities you have research and publications. As for secondary schools...? and I don't think test scores are sufficient, nor is the 500 character limit imposed here. ;)

[wizkid2000]

I think that's a great point. Tenure in and of its self may not be the problem, but rather it's flawed application to the undeserving which is causing the real problem. I am unsure how to fix this problem but fix it we must. I believe you're right, this is the biggest challenge facing America because without an educated electorate what future can any democracy have.

[wizkid2000]

Please don't get me started on the madding impossibility of articulating anything substantive in under 500 characters. Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm too verbose. :)

[russfloyd]

Your verbosity IS the problem wizkid! Just kidding :P

As to tenure: If a teacher is good, they don't need "tenure" for "protection". More to the point: If the precariousness of a person's professional viability serves as such a reliable motivator - as our society believes it does in EVERY case, why should there be only TWO exceptions: Public School Teachers and Supreme Court Judges.

[dcolarusso]

This exception is a protection against firing for political reasons. Additionally, a teacher's tenure in public schools is not absolute. It's contingent upon doing ones job. In Massachusetts, for example, it is simply an agreement that one cannot be fired without cause. It requires schools have a reason for firing teachers. Before this "professional status" is grated, a teacher can simple be let go for no reason. If you read my response to wizkid, you'll find I have problems with it myself.

[wizkid2000]

OK, I'll try and keep this short. I think you make a good point. At the end of the day, should teacher have more job protection than people in the private sector who live or die by there performance? I think the public school system is so mired in self protectionism that the only viable solution is the free market concept of school vouchers. I know many out there will disagree but I don't see how meaningful change can occur when even reasonable incremental proposals are aggressively blocked.

[russfloyd]

"There is no predictive model of human learning"

...interesting. Wait - not "Interesting". I meant "Untrue".

"Professionals, who know the student best, find their hands tied"

..."Professionals" better be your elaborate way of saying "parents". And you're right: Parents are, indeed, drowned-out by the self-righteousness of Teachers, of "Public Education" in general.

-

So which is it:

Provide Centralized Guidelines;

or avoid Monolithic Curriculum?

...are you even listening to yourself?

[dcolarusso]

As for the predictive model of learning, I mean there is no good quantitative model of human learning. You can see this reflected in the delineation between the social and hard sciences. We can not predict human behavior, and learning is a subset of human behavior.

As for parents, I firmly believe that they have the most important job in the world, and they are best positioned to advocate for their children. I don't, however, see this as in conflict with teachers or public education.

[russfloyd]

'Theoretically', there is no "Conflict between Parents and Public Education". But in practice...

And your firm belief is not (unfortunately) dictating the modes of public education.

As to Hard vs. Soft: Certainly, "hard sciences" are invariably more stable...when argued from a bias towards them.

E.G.: Which would most people, today, say:

1. "Anti-Incest mentality is inherent"

2. "Anti-Incest mentality is taught"

[dcolarusso]

I am curious; do you see parents and public education as necessarily in conflict? If so, why, and don't you think we should work towards reconciling this?

[dcolarusso]

As for my hard science distinction, I see the hard sciences as those which make precise quantitative predictions. Physics for example can tell you exactly what forces are necessary to send a rover to a predefined location on Mars. Social sciences, however, can only make generalizations about populations. Your incest analogy is beside the point. We can't predict with great accuracy how people will respond in any given situation. We may reach some level of accuracy, but we aren't very precise.

[russfloyd]

I agree with "We may reach some level of accuracy" - and I say that that level is, in fact, "Great". And, apart from what Darwin would tell you (and he would): Aversion to incest is not innate - it is instilled. And it is predictable.

As to models:

To paraphrase Harry Emerson Fosdick (and commandeer the application of his quote): "The Man who says there are no effective, quantitative models for predicting human learning...is usually interrupted by someone applying one."

[dcolarusso]

Yes the incest taboo is a near universal evolutionarily advantageous behavior, but that's a pretty wide brush stroke. We're far from understanding human attraction on the order of individuals. Why exactly didn't it work out with Jane? I'll never know. I didn't say our models were ineffective only qualitative. Can you test a 5 yr-old and tell me her future job or HS GPA with only 5% error? A quantitative predictive model must make numeric predictions with small error bars. We're not there yet.

[russfloyd]

"Can you test a 5 yr-old and tell me her future job or HS GPA with only 5% error?"

That'd be, even if 'possible', just a huge bit too Orwellian for my taste.

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[russfloyd]

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My guess to define the general stratum (and this'll probably sound hippy as all hell): 'Goodness' gradations would come from encouragement of critical-thinking, optimism, compassion, and honesty (broadly speaking).

While "Badness" gradations would manifest (lazily speaking) from the antitheses.

The margin of error would consist only of certain forms of mental retardation.

Of course, until such research would benefit "Crest" toothpaste, et al. - it won't be done ;)

[dcolarusso]

I agree, but the fact remains there is no quantitative model of human learning. In the absence of one, the best way to prepare for a test is to teach to it. When faced with finite resources, this comes at the expense of something else. The key is in balancing this, and my frustration with current trends in testing is simply that policy makers rarely seem aware of this.

[dcolarusso]

My distinction between "centralized guidelines" and a "monolithic curriculum" was carefully chosen. My fear is that a monolithic curriculum will micromanage the classroom, effectively disallowing the freedom to follow student interest. However, avoiding this does require every teacher to develop their own curricula from scratch. They should work within a structure, a set of guidelines. The difference is that between de facto dictates and guidelines.

[russfloyd]

And isn't the fear of some that "centralized guidelines" micro-manage classrooms?

And should they "develop their curricula from scratch"...or "work within a structure"?

And if the matter is delineation, more specifically semantics - what is the difference between "Dictates" and "Guidelines"?

If there is no allowable deviation from a "Guideline", it is a "Dictate".

[dcolarusso]

Oops that's a typo. It should have read "...avoiding this does NOT require every teacher to develop their own curricula from scratch." You are correct in saying that guidelines which disallow deviation are dictates. However, my distinction was between such guidelines (de facto dictates) and "actual" guidelines, i.e., the denotation of guidelines. The point behind guidelines is so teachers need not develop curricula from scratch yet they remain free to experiment/follow the interest of students.

[russfloyd]

In that case, I very much agree: Teachers should have minimum guidelines, while having flexibility to think creatively as to teaching.

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[russfloyd]

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As far as I know...that is the current practice.

What, for example, is "No Child Left Behind", if not legislation to hold teachers accountable for living up to their role in imparting the minimum guidelines prescribed by the federal government? (That's not me being smug - I don't know a whole lot about "No Child Left Behind"; but that is my understanding of the legislation.)

[dcolarusso]

Oops, there's a big typo in the third sentence. It should read: However, avoiding this does NOT require every teacher to develop their own curricula from scratch.

[russfloyd]

AH! That's QUITE a typo!

*I've been there before ;)

It's amazing - the power of a misplaced (or unplaced) "Not"! :P

[Climbatizecombat]

well said Mr. Data

[InternationalIdol]

Teachers are the biggest and best strategic planners for the nation, the world, and you are the start. Great, you are a treasure. Youtube is where we want you. International teacher. A, B, C or D?

[KeyWiiGS]

You look a little like Conan O'Brien. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[gregarious24]

Conan O' Brien?

[afranco158]

no, it's the prime minister of finland.

[BkNy06]

arent you from the UK ?

[dcolarusso]

I am representing the American educational system abroad on a one year Fulbright teacher exchange to Edinburgh, Scotland. My home school, however, is just outside Boston, and I was born in Amarillo Texas. ;)

[luzchristina]

Well stated. Although the "incentive for teacher preformance" angle can be a slippery slope. What can we do to help teachers stay idealistic, what causes them to burn out? Also, how about some accountability on parents and family for student success. "Incentives" for them could also be an option.

[MaximilianAusBerlin]

Great thoughts. "accountability on parents/family", absolute key factor. Their incentive however should be to raise a child to be independent and successfully productive in life.

[thequietkid10]

very nice work.  As a future teacher I've pondered what you have mentioned about accountability, and how there is no incentive for teachers to excel. Perhaps the standards of the indidual teachers needs to be determined by the teachers themself. What if there was some sort of self policing policy among the teachers, a sort of "teachers court" perhaps?

[ReluctantRedneck]

Good points.

[tryingtoteach]

Thanks David. I'm not quite fully in the educational trenches. The school just brought me in to teach one class this quarter. Keep up the good work, I agree with much of what you said about education.

Good idea to plug the EFF too, they've been doing good work protecting our rights online and keeping an eye on how emerging technology and policy intersect.

Cheers!

[falsificationism]

VERY well done! You should run!

[citizentube]

i agree... innovation is critical for our country. seems that's part of Romney's message too. what do you think of the Governor's platform?

[dcolarusso]

I believe he's sincere in his wishes to foster American business innovation and competitiveness. However, I worry he may approach education like a business, when the hard truth is it has no bottom line. To paraphrase Rafe Esquith, the measure of my teaching isn't how my students perform on next week's exam but how they perform in life. Until that can be tested, we have to remember teaching is an art.

[sctld]

You hit the nail on the head with your comment about there being no incentive to teach well. There seems to be no competition in the American system. The Belgian system is built on competition. Schools get shut down if they don't reach attainment levels on national tests, and pupils can choose which school they want to go to.

[dcolarusso]

Thanks. However, I remain agnostic on how best to do this. See my comment to citizentube below. Tests are important but better test scores don't necessarily mean a better education.

[MadMasterNeil]

It means the student with the higher mark had a better understanding and grasp of the subject being tested.

[sctld]

Your point about standardised testing failing to keep up is a bit of a trick. I sat physics at S-Grade and as well as learning about the B&W TV, we learnt too about colour television (which is essentially B&W with three times the equipment), and I think also radiology. Obviously the tests can't be at the cutting edge. You need to crawl before you can walk; but standardised testing is not a problem for the highest achieving countries in terms of education such as Belgium.

[dcolarusso]

The Standard Grade curriculum is based around units explicitly designed to engage students by intersecting with their lives. The telecom unit doesn't mention text messaging, flat screen TVs, gaming stations, or Web Apps. Instead it has B&W TV. This is in the process of changing, but it is slow, and you don't have to study the operation of an atl atl to learn about a compound bow. The physics may be the same, but when you are trying to be current, it helps to actually be current.

[bamkablam]

Your eloquent reply to Governor Shit Romney sums up the preposterous dilemma that teachers in America face. In Japan, a starting public school teacher is paid more than $60,000 US. Your intelligence is breathtaking, but you are defy the norm with regards to the caliber of new teachers being drawn into America's flailing public schools.

[sctld]

"barrows"?

[dcolarusso]

Oops, may bad. Darn late-night/early-morning typos. Too bad I've adopted a "leave all comments addressing my post" policy, or I could sweep my abominable spelling under the rug. ;)

[sctld]

Actually, thinking about it, "barrows" does work in this situation. You've put your blog in a barrow and taken it to YouTube for dumping.

[dcolarusso]

Cute. For those of you not following this, I originally had in the description that this video "barrows" from a recent blog posting of mine. I meant to say "borrows."