No Excuses

I have been thinking long and hard about a comment left on one of our blogs. A reader chastized me for saying that European and Asian students out-performed American students on the TIMMS (an international math and science test administered to students in grades 4 and 8). I could have blown it off, but I can't, because it is an important issue facing our children, one on which Americans should make their voices heard. We are settling too often for ideas and programs that are irrational.

The reader commented that special education and English language learners are tested the same as students in the regular classrooms on End-of-Instruction tests and this brings our overall test scores down in the U.S. I tend to agree, since it seems like if special education students could score satisfactory or advanced on an EOI exam, then they probably should not be classified as special ed.

But, I want to just counter that argument with a couple of points. We have reached the phase of EOI testing in which students are mandated to pass a requisite number of exams, Algebra I being one of them, or something as of yet ambiguous will happen to them, like they cannot get a diploma, only a certificate of attendance. Already, if a student does not pass the 8th grade reading test, he/she cannot get a driver's license until it is taken again and passed. That's fine - everyone has had plenty of opportunity to build on achieving an 8th grade reading level before the 8th grade, and everyone in Oklahoma should read on the 8th grade level.

Passing Algebra I is a little sketchier, probably because I have an aversion to math and I'm also not sure our pre-algebra methodologies from 4th to 8th grade have hit their stride in America yet, making students truly ready for the test. That said, I passed the math sections of every standardized test I took back in the late 60's/early 70's, and I was only an average student in math, so I know it can be done. I don't think any new algebraic discoveries have been made that would make algebra any harder since I was a student.

So I am in agreement with what the reader said, but I do want to ask another question. When did it become allright that special ed or ELL or minority students receive an inferior education? Saying our scores are low because we have this or that special population is a cop out. Consider the following:

1. Special education denotes a variety of conditions, many not even regarding mental acuity. ADD, eye-sight, learning disabilities and many other learning problems have nothing to do with a person's being able to achieve, except that it is harder. It is harder, but not impossible. By allowing both the individual and the community to accept low scores for these students we are short changing both the student and the community into which he will be an adult member someday. I do agree, though, that testing severely mentally handicapped individuals and expecting them to pass the test would be verging on insanity.

2. ELL students are a little different. Can you imagine your child having to pass a test in a school in France, given in French, when you had just arrived there a year ago for your new job? As humans our immediate reaction might be to protest vociferously at first or be in denial that it can't be happening. But an alternate response would be that you know your child has to take this test in French....it will be hard and require extra study, but if you want your child to be successful, you do it. Is it possible we are not trying hard enough with our ELL families to get across the reason why these tests are important? I understand the agony - as a child I lived in New Mexico and met many old people who spoke only Spanish. I also saw many students come to my fifth grade class from the reservation knowing only their native language. But children are very adaptive and are quick learners. To allow them to stay as they are is to short change them and their community in the long run. It is hard, but not impossible to reach them.

3. You often hear people say, "Well, you have a lot of 'those' children in your school, what do you expect?" Yes, the statistics are stacked up against schools that have more of "those" children, whoever they are, making it harder, but not impossible to achieve at certain levels. Since when did it become okay to try less hard? To settle for excuses? To let "those" people slip into the cracks? "Those" children, whoever they are, are not dumb - it is just a diffucult job. Since when did we become a nation of excuse-makers and wimps afraid to try hard?

Kudos to those teachers who go into the classroom everyday to fight the good fight. The year has only just begun, but already their focus is on raising the bar in the high stakes testing arena. They need the help and appreciation of the federal and state government, schools and parents. Their job is hard, but they do it.

We can't settle for excuses anymore - kids' lives depend on it. The idea that everything will be easy is irrational. Students and parents need to be trained less in feel-goodism and more in the proven principles that allow for success in life. Let's approach education with more compassion for the struggle to achieve and a more logicical approach to the problems while accepting fewer excuses.