What's Wrong with Education in CT

There was recently a news story here on Patch about Gov. Malloy talking about what's wrong with our schools.  Reading that story, it appeared that our illustrious Governor was saying two things: (1) that we can't blame our educational system failures on teachers and (2) that we can't fix it without the ability to eliminate poor teachers.  I agree with both those points, however, I feel that there is one thing missing from our governor's logic - the system itself seems to be broken.

I have been a teacher in private schools for the past ten years.  I have seen good and bad teachers come and go, but the success of the schools has NOTHNG to do with the ability to remove teachers quickly.  My first teaching job, I was at a school that had been around since 1891.  They routinely graduated an excellent group of students, many of whom got full tuition aid (they were excellent scholars but came from low income families).  These kids had some excellent teachers and some poor ones every year, but most of them stayed around year after year.  What made this school special, and what made the teachers and students want to stay was that teaching there was fun and unique.  There were no standardized tests, students were free to investigate their own interests without worrying about where they fit into the national or state curriculum.  Arts and music were supported along with science, math and language arts.  When a student graduated from the school, they had a well-rounded education as well as a developed base in an area of interest.

This year, I am teaching at a performing arts magnet school.  This school is designed to "attract" students who have an interest in the performing arts (dance, acting, stage lighting/sound, and, strangely enough, creative writing).  I love teaching here - it reminds me of the private schools I taught at, with many of the students passionate about their education, especially the non-traditional areas that the school offers.  Some of the students have come to the school to leave problematic districts, but still benefit from the excellent teachers at the school.

However, being a magnet school in the State of Connecticut, the students still have to go through CAPT testing every March.  Much of the class time is geared towards this required testing and making sure students pass it so they can graduate.  For almost a month, students lose time to pursue their passion and get put into a style of teaching and learning that they have tried to get away from.  The quality of teaching has nothing to do with the students' loss of production - it's the standardized testing they are forced to endure.

Today's educational system is based on the 1950s idea that we need to prepare students for the working world.  However, the working world of the 1950s and the working world of the 2010s are RADICALLY different.  We are in a more globalized economy with technology leading the way we think and live.  The educational system, on the other hand, is still stuck in the world as it was 60 years ago.  It acts like a conveyor belt, pumping out students who are fit in the same mold through standardized tests covering the three R's: Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic.  Other subjects are either severely limited or eliminated all together (arts, music, physical education, even technology as a stand-alone subject are often the first to be eliminated when a school's budget gets tight). 

Gov. Malloy is right - we need to fix education.  But throwing money at lower income schools is not the solution (schools have not always been good at spending their money appropriately - that's the problem when we politicize a system).  Eliminating poor teachers is not the solution (they end up leaving the system eventually anyway, especially in today's climate - there are TONS of teachers looking for jobs and poor teachers rarely get good paying jobs, forcing them to leave jobs regularly).  We need to fix the system which values some topics over others.  In my experience, people learn best when they are motivated to learn.  Whether it is a teacher who is passionate about what they are teaching or a subject matter that peaks a student's interest, they need that motivation.  Taking away from that passion once a year to test them in areas that they may not enjoy is not the way to educate our children to succeed in the world today.

Gov. Malloy, stop attacking "straw man" problems that only touch the surface of the real issue.  If you REALLY want to fix education in Connecticut, go to the root of the issue and make some real changes!  STOP playing politics, STOP saying what you think people want to hear, and make some REAL change in education.