Unequal Schools Threaten Future of U.S.

I spent some time researching my genealogy recently. I uncovered some notable ancestors, a number of quiet heroes and a few interesting characters. I learned several surprising things about the people who contributed to my being here. Discovering what many of them accomplished during their time made me realize I have a whole lot of catching up to do.

In one narrow aspect, this exploration confirmed what I already knew. I’m about as White as a person can be.

I’m not ashamed of my lack of color. I am proud of from whom and where I came. There are some brave slavery abolitionists inhabiting my line and I consider myself open-minded and free of racism. I have come to terms with my country’s checkered history pockmarked with racial inequality and would like to think I have helped the effort to stamp it out during my life. I have been willing to speak up against injustice – most of the time. Plus, I live in 2012, for God’s sake. Sure, racism still exists, but I convince myself the day is within reach when racial discrimination is something relegated to history books.

That’s why I winced when I heard Jada Williams read her essay. The 13-year-old from Rochester, New York had written a book report on The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in which she had the temerity to say little had change from the days of slavery – “just different people, different era” and “the same old discrimination still resides in the hearts of the white man.” Who does this girl think she is?

Williams said this about her mostly White teachers; “they are in a position of power to dictate what I can, cannot, and will learn, only desiring that I may get bored because of the inconsistency and the mismanagement of the classroom.”

My knee jerk reaction was to dismiss Williams as a hothead quick to play the race card, but something nagged me and I listened to her read her essay again. It is well written, but it has the undeniable voice of a 13-year-old, albeit a bright one. She has picked up some education along the way belying the charges she leveled at her school. Then I heard Williams say, “the reality of this is that most of my peers cannot read, and therefore comprehend the materials that have been provided.”

Aha! Surely she twisted a fact to make her point. Quick, to Google to prove she is exaggerating to dismiss her as nothing more than an overly excitable teen.

Unfortunately, old Whitie (me) finds a report about Rochester City School District, School 3 indicating that only 19 percent of the school’s eighth graders were proficient in language arts last year. A paltry 13 percent were proficient in math. Not only is Ms. Williams correct, I am beginning to think she underplayed the problem by saying most of her peers cannot read. She should have said nearly all of them.

A book about Frederick Douglass inspired Rochester, NY student Jada Williams to write a powerful essay.

Something is clearly wrong when a school has numbers like these. Freedom isn’t reaching its potential in a country where large segments of many communities are not learning, not gaining the tools essential for success, let alone, setting a course to self-reliance. Jada Williams knows this.

The Iowa General Assembly has spent much time this year debating education reform legislation and, save maybe a couple of those elected officials, none of them have made a better assessment of what is wrong in U.S. schools than this eighth grader did. As hard as it for me to admit, Ms. William’s jarring assertions are on target, but we should not stop there. Even in this day and age, race remains a factor, but socioeconomic differences play a role as well. The virulent, festering problem of inequality still threatens.

Much of what is said and written during the education reform debate involves testing and screening teachers. Ms. Williams, too, wants to make those who teach accountable, but she seems to know testing has little to do with the solution. America’s ailing schools will not be cured with more testing and additional rules that tie the hands of those professionals motivated to teach. We must establish a system that trains teaching professionals and lets them guide learning free from the micromanagement of elected officials.

We should heed the call of Jada Williams and fan a revolution. Until we change the culture of our schools and turn them from dismal factories processing children through a series of pass/fail assessments to places that inspire students to learn, Jada Williams, her classmates and countless American children will continue to suffer a clear and present life disadvantage.

Our best national investment is in the creation of schools that motivate the next generation of Americans to reach for a potential their ancestors never imagined. Perhaps the opening lines of our next national chapter on social justice and equality may begin with the words of a thirteen-year-old.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com


This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Branstad’s Education Reforms, Social Promotion & My Big Mouth

Last night I joined 40 or so other Iowans in addressing the Iowa House on the topic of education reform. It is somewhat difficult to keep one’s remarks to under three minutes when speaking on such a broad topic.

As are many others, I am frustrated by the partisan gamesmanship played by many in elected office these days. I decided to take part of my allotted time to address this issue by urging House members to seek a higher and better course. Perhaps I wasted valuable time, but it felt good to look some of these people in the eye and say what I truly felt.

It was my intent to support Governor Branstad’s proposal to cease passing students to fourth grade who do not meet the minimum standards in reading and other areas. I have long opposed the process known as social promotion. However, making a student repeat the same grade without providing intensive instruction to get him on track may be no better than passing him along and hoping he catches up later.  It is one thing to hold a kid back and another to provide the support he needs to achieve.

I may have fallen short in delivering my message about social promotion, at least I did for those who wrote the account for the Des Moines Register. The fault is mine - the pressure of the ticking three-minute clock did not help. Radio Iowa and the Quad City Times had a slightly different take on my comments. You can judge my remarks for yourself as I include below the notes I used last night when I spoke.

Notes for Iowa House Education Hearing, March 5, 2012
Governor Branstad articulated a vision for our schools and has done much to foster the debate about the best way forward. No other government program is as important to Iowa’s future as education. While I favor some of the Governor’s proposals, I am skeptical of others and I firmly object to a number of them; but he did what a governor is supposed to do. He focused the debate and brought a thorough proposal to the General Assembly for consideration. I thank Governor Branstad for that.

So, that brings us to the proverbial ball landing in your court. You write the rulebook by passing laws and you alone carry the checkbook to fund Iowa’s government. It is an arduous and, all-too-often, thankless task.

However, if a need for gratitude was what motivated you to stand for election, you are likely to be among the most disappointed people of all times. There are many differences between elected office and pee wee soccer – for one, only in the pee wees can every participant expect a trophy just for showing-up. Here you are expected to make the tough choices and you will often be widely criticized when you do. I know something about this as a former Des Moines School Board member.

The pervasive destructiveness of modern politics has driven too many of you into the bunkers of your party caucuses. The laser focus on trying to add to your party’s ranks in the next election is shallow and shortsighted. A successful democracy’s solutions are not found by producing a unified drumbeat to drown out the voices of other party, but by rising beyond the perceived comfort of those you agree and seeking common ground with those across the aisle – do that and great things can happen – do that and the petty politics perpetuated by your leaders will dissolve.

The education of Iowa’s schoolchildren is that common ground. For the sake of Iowa’s future, lay down your partisan banners and find areas in Branstad’s proposal on which you can agree.
I’ll mention two. The first is a minimum standard for elementary students – call it a ban on social promotion or retention for those who do not meet minimum achievement benchmarks. Too many students are pushed through and out of schools because programs are not designed to meet their needs. It is Iowa’s great shame. But, a law that only penalizes fails the student by making him repeat the classes and lessons that did not work for him the first time compounding the problem with humiliation and convincing the student he is a failure.

Pass a law to create and fund alternative programs that ensure struggling students get on-track to a successful future. The cookie-cutter style education systems in this state, most painfully obvious during the middle years, need to be scrapped in favor of programs that teach based on models designed to help each student find her individual success

Last, and most important, stop trying to micromanage the classroom. Treat teachers like the professionals they are. It’s OK for you to set standards for performance, but no law or rule or criteria can be written that will fit every school, every class and every teacher/student combination in our state. It is quite popular these days for legislatures to pass laws that sound good in a campaign stump speech. In reality, they bind professional teachers’ hands and make it harder for them to advance learning. Stop making teachers jump through standardized test hoops and start giving them the resources they need as professionals to do the critical job of educating.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important topic.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

What if the Democrats hide and nobody looks?

I kind of feel sorry for the Democrats in the Iowa House this morning. With a great flourish theyfled to an undisclosed location to protest two gun measures their Republican colleagues plan to debate today.

What if nobody looked for the hiding Democrats?

The House Democrats going into hiding is a little silly. Nobody needs to look for them. The Republicans hold a 60 to 40 seat majority and can debate these measure whether the Democrats are present or not.

One must assume the House Democrats borrowed this play from their Wisconsin colleagues’ 2011 playbook and are hoping to win similar praise for their courage. They shouldn’t get any credit.

The gun bills are questionable and those who oppose them should make their voices heard.  Now is not the time for game playing, Democrats.  Now is the time for reasoned debate.  Go back to work.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.