Monday, February 4, 2013

It might be as simple as A-B-C…


This post is sponsored by the letter “B,because as many of us were preparing to watch the National Football League’s (NFL) Championship game (called “The Super Bowl” by most) yesterday, I found myself thinking about the educational opportunities afforded the participants: players, coaches, organization personnel, etc. I consider myself very fortunate to have had various educational experiences.  Photo (left) is from last month: student-athletes from BHS during 60's getting together.
Bruce & Karin Newlin
My maternal side of the family-tree has generations of teachers and educational leadership associated with it. Plus, due to our kennel locations I went to public school in Arleta/Los Angeles, Santa Monica (Malibu didn’t have any secondary schools then), and Burbank (twice). I also had “Uncle Bruce” (Newlin) that taught at the private John Thomas Dye School (Bel Air); he took a group of his young pupils to UCLA on Saturday mornings for athletics & games. I got to join in when schedules aligned. Bruce is an emeritus professor of education management at UCLA, and his spouse Karin (Krueger, USC) has an impressive curriculum vitae in that area as well. Before I became a National Park Ranger I taught in northern California. I’ve long valued the educational process.
            Once while watching a NFL playoff game I quipped about my desire to see a return to student athletes, as in bygone eras. Pat Haden was quarterbacking the L.A. Rams, and he’d been a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford (Rams got clobbered by the Cowboys as I recall). Al Krueger, Karin’s dad, was watching too. He’d been a USC Rose Bowl co-MVP in ’39, and went onto play in the NFL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Krueger  Even before I met him, I’d heard of him: what Southland (SoCal) sports fan hadn‘t? I’d also played baseball for the Burbank Bullets, and was a teammate of Scott Nave, whose father (Doyle) had thrown that famous touchdown pass to Al (Photo). So, I was all-ears: let’s just say, he gave me “the rest of the story” about the heritage of collegiate athletics, student-athletes and priorities. (Al’s theme was later corroborated by Mike Greenfield [BHS ‘65/LBSU]: he played a different sport, at another school, in a latter era.) Sure, there are schools that put academics #1 for their scholar-athletes, but very few are like Georgetown or Stanford. Most end up taking additional time to complete their studies, and of course very few end up playing on a “Field of Dreams” as a pro. Maybe more on that next time; what I really wanted to talk about today is the overall educational system in the USA.
SFHS sisters
            We’re preparing to vote on school bonds (not sure why they are NOT part of general elections that would be cost effective and get a better voter turn out), and I just about always support them with a “YES.” Many equate facilities and dollars spent with educational success, but that isn’t always the case: per capita expenditures don’t uniformly jive with achieving what is traditionally used as benchmarks: test scores, graduation rates, higher education, etc. I know the District of Columbia often gets used as a negative example for spending-to-results ratios, but that is probably unfair- they might just be following the local model provided by Congress: spend a lot, achieve little. OK, that was a “cheap shot” generalization, but they make it so easy. Some interesting data can be found on-line, and I know that stats are often manipulated into whatever you want them to say; I’ll let you read and make your own conclusions:  
I see that my home state (NM) ranks well, below the national average of $55+K for teacher salaries (and many other facets of the educational picture), and #2 per capita in non-instructional personnel.
Outside Xian
In supporting education I feel it is not only a reflection of what we are, but also what we will be (priorities). Again, I feel fortunate to have had my educational opportunities and what they’ve afforded. I’ll bet many of us can, and would, say the same. I also will forever wish I’d applied myself at an earlier stage (and wish I’d diagnosed Gilbert Syndrome sooner for some corrective actions that might have helped in the classroom and with athletic endeavors).
Fiji
For the complex issues of how-to-fix or meet our challenges, I’ve recently heard that the hurdles range from: management not listening to the teachers or their unions; that there is not enough fiscal support (like every public institution in history; I read this morning that State Monuments are under funded: “well duh”), to school districts now “being run by attorneys”. I’ve long been a proponent of the need for parental (and grandparent) support to be successful, and know that when education is valued the next generation of students “get it” and achieve at a higher lever. Yes, “no place like home” to learn the value of an education.
Allison Morris read one of my previous posts and brought the progress of Finland to my attention. Interesting; some of the reasons that I’ve been told by professionals that this model won’t work here are listed in those hurdles above; but I’ve also heard that “we’re too big” (like Frodo’s journey), “too different” (ah, paradigm change), too multi-cultural (acculturation is un-PC). Of course, the USA is not Finland, but we’re not Norway either (yet, we share some educational similarities with the latter). As I think about some of the school groups and classrooms I’ve visited in China, Fiji & Jordan I realize we need to have and maintain hope for the future…
OK, boys-n-girls, tonight’s homework includes these readings
(Oops, Finland doesn’t have homework)
(THANK YOU to ALLISON MORRIS for providing the above, and Ken Whiton for the following)
Why Finland?    
Their outline:
                  A recent article (New Republic)
            And, another point of view

...and here is to everyone trying to make a better future: glad it works for Finland...

No comments:

Post a Comment