A cure for all ills
On Wednesday, June 4, 2008, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle published an article by Latoya Manon. The article under the title Teachers cannot teach if students refuse to learn raised several very resaonable questions as to the validity of the comprehensive approach fostered by the NCLB program. Here are a few examples:
# What would you do if you had planned a wonderful lesson, but more than half of your class failed to show up for no particular reason at all? Do you teach that lesson to those in class and then teach it over and over so the other kids get caught up? (Remember, you don't want to leave anyone behind.)
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# What would you do if you had a student on the verge of dropping out or refusing to do any work because he felt that his teacher didn't care about him, and refused to see that his lack of effort and his disrespect for people and rules were actually the issue? "My teacher doesn't like me" was an unacceptable excuse for failure in my home.
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# What would you do if sports became more important to your students than reading, writing or thinking?
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# What would you do if you called parents to notify them of their child's belligerent behavior and they responded, "Well, you must have done something to him because Sam doesn't just cuss people out for no reason"?
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(There is more in the same spirit.)
I received this article through the mailing list of Jerry Becker. The next day, Jerry sent out a response from Mr. Michael Martin (Research Analyst, Arizona School Boards Association.) The response was an unequivocal eye opener that began authoritatively:
Because this essayist seems so clueless I feel a need to respond.
One may wonder what powerful advice Mr. Martin extends to the distressed teacher that would answer all the posed questions. I suggest you sit back and ponder the possibilities before reading further.
Well, based on his experience, Mr. Martin writes, ... most of what this essayist described I recognized immediately as lead poisoning. And the proffered advice is:
In short, in response to this essayist's repeated lament "what would you do" the answer is simple: get rid of childhood lead poisoning.
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