Belling the Cat

How do you change the educational philosophy of a whole state?  I honestly have no idea.

Currently our philosophy is "all students should go to college".  I won't get into the reasons why think this or why I think it's a bad idea, suffice it to say that they do and I do.

Why do I care?  Well, the emphasis to all students is the failure they will become if they don't attend college.  In the eighth grade they are asked to fill out a "High School and Beyond" plan which asks if they are going to go to college.  Predictably most of them do.  This wouldn't really matter except...

around about the 10th or 11th grade they are asked to choose a third year high school math class.  If they have checked the "college" box, they have to take Algebra 2.  If they have checked the "other" box, they can take any math class that fits in with their plan.

This is where I come in.  Algebra 2 is low level college math.  For students who struggled through Algebra, this class is almost impossible.  If you aren't comfortable with linear equations, how comfortable are you going to be with exponentials and logarithms?

Three years ago I pitched a third year math class that would emphasize the math skills you need to be a carpenter, a welder, a plumber, an electrician, a mechanic, a nurse, etc.  I have personal knowledge of the topic because not only was I an engineer, I have spent the last twenty years working full and then part time as a Harley Davidson mechanic.  I know what is needed and I have a love for the trade.

Virtually no one signed up.  We had 9 the first year, 10 the second year, and 1 the third year (at which point the class was cancelled).  The problem is that kids have two choices.  Sign up for Trades Math which requires rewriting their whole HS&B plan or just take Algebra 2 with everyone else.  Which sounds harder to a high school student?  If you guessed the first you would be right.  I have about twenty students this year who are planning on being (fill in trade from above list or other) but are in Algebra 2 because it was the path of least resistance.  Half of them are failing.

Unfortunately in order to make our system (and therefore my class) work, I have to convince the state legislature and the whole educational establishment in my state, to change course.  Throw the helm over on the supertanker and bring it around 180°.  There's a reason, however, that the Nimitz class carrier that I served on didn't pick up their own "man overboards".  They don't turn that easily.  Same reason aircraft carriers run over inflatables full of Greenpeace protestors.  Not because they want to (although to be fair it is sort of fun) but because 100,000 tons doesn't turn that quickly.

Which brings me to my point.  Those students would benefit in every aspect of their lives if they could leave school at 16 or 17 and join an apprenticeship program.  It's what they do every weekend anyway, just mostly not for pay and not officially.  Talked to a contractor yesterday at the gun store and he told me that he is desperate for labor.  People to do grunt work and learn the trade.  He can't hire anyone under 18.  State law.  Meanwhile these kids could be learning a trade and when their high school friends graduate, they'd already have two years of experience under their belts with all the pay raises and seniority that come along with those years.

Objections?  Sure.  Maybe we should make them take a math class and an English class to make sure they have a basic education.  For Pete's sake though, they've been sitting in school for ten years.  Have they learned nothing?  I'd be willing to be they have learned enough to be successful and, if they discover that moving up the ladder takes a couple night classes, they'd be willing to do it.  Heck, I went to bartender's school, Harley's EFI Management Class, and Western's Postbac Teaching Certificate program.  All three of them improved my job prospects at the time that I took them.

Which rolls us back around to the original problem.  How do you change the educational philosophy of a whole state which is geared towards "college, college, college"?  How do you convince a whole legislature, which to be fair has much bigger problems on their plate, that they are failing to serve a substantial minority of the school age population?

I don't know.

Thoughts?

Almost done

As are the kids. 

I had to threaten them today.  "I will not tolerate this behavior.  School does not end for another week and we have things to get through.  From now on there will be no more warning.  Out of your seat and misbehaving and I will just write you up.  This is not acceptable. There are only a handful of you and you know who you are, so don't be surprised when you end up spending your last week in detention."

Ha ha.  Mean Mr. A.  I just want the kids who actually would like to learn this stuff to have a chance.  Right now they are so distracted by the BS that they can't even if they want to.

The Benefits of a Public Education

So my sister Alice goes to stay in our family cabin over in Point Roberts for a week. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Pacific Northwest, Point Roberts is a little spur of land that belongs to the US but, through an accident of geography and politics, is completely isolated from the rest of the United States (insert snide comment about Washington, DC here). To get there you either take a boat or drive through Canada. It is, however, a part of Whatcom County, the same county she in which she lives.

While in Point Roberts, her debit card gets put on hold/suspended/frozen. She makes it through the rest of the week, probably living on frozen peas or something, and then, upon her return to Bellingham, drops by to visit her friendly local banker (are they still called bankers if they work for a credit union? Anyway...)

The advice she is given is...

wait for it...

she should probably contact the credit union before she travels so they don't flag her credit card activity while she's gone.

What? Anyone read the part where Point Roberts is in the SAME COUNTY as Bellingham?

Really. Like the "sugar coated Satan sandwich", you just can't make this stuff up. It's great.