"My theory is that when it comes to important subjects, there are only two ways a person can answer. Which way they chose, tells you who that person is. For instance, there are only two kinds of people in the world, Beatles people and Elvis people. Now Beatles people can like Elvis and Elvis people can like the Beatles, but nobody likes them both equally. Somewhere you have to make a choice. And that choice, tells you who you are." Mia Wallace, from Pulp Fiction
I was raised as neither a Beatles person nor an Elvis person, but I came to know Elvis first in college. From his Rockabilly start in Tennessee all the way to his best song, "Suspicious Minds" the famous quote about Elvis Presley sums it up well. "Before anyone did anything, Elvis did everything." In late 2000 I took a trip to Memphis and, of course, visited Graceland. If I didn't love his music before that trip, I instantly came to my senses. That is why it was so hard for me to come around to the Beatles.
The truth is, I have long held a grudge against the Beatles. Their popularity in the States was undeniable, and I suppose I blamed them for being British, but when I learned that one of them quipped that they were more popular than Jesus Christ, I was instantly turned off. That, and I couldn't stand their hair at any point in their American maturation. Beatles songs aired on the radio and recognizing them, I would switch the station. Somehow though I came to recognize that their music held something that I believe hasn't been duplicated since. Whereas Elvis had his "sound" the Beatles seemed to be dynamic, creative, dare I say, influential. For these reasons I hated them all the more.
Then last year in a cruel trick of fate, my planning period was changed from sixth period (last period of the day) to second period. Teach one class, chill for an hour, then teach four more classes. It was a horrible schedule, but it did produce one interesting side note. When nine o'clock rolled around and my students exited the classroom, I would turn my radio on to the local oldies station in the hopes that they would play some Elvis, Purkle Harem, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or something else worthy of my time. But every morning they played what they called a "Beatles Break," two Beatles songs back to back. Too busy grading essays to get up and change the station, I would let the Beatles play on and saw that their musical creativity was in fact brilliant. Elvis might have had a hand in inventing Rock and Roll, but the Beatles took it to the extreme.
The haunting guitar riff in "Something" made me drift off into a daydream. The violins in "Eleanor Rigby" stirred my imagination. "Hey Jude" had me singing along. "Naaaaaa, naaa, naaa, na, na, na, naaaaaa. Na, na, na, naaaaa. Hey Jude!"
So in a moment of weakness last month when I should have been looking for a new Christmas CD, I grabbed a Beatles best of CD. It's been hard to take it out of the CD player since.
So am I a Beatles person or an Elvis person? I like them both now.
After much hard thought, I have decided I am... a Johnny Cash person.
As always, feel free to weigh in.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Moral Education
I have been fuming all weekend long about the shootings of the eighteen innocent civilians by a young, deranged gunman. Investigators have been turning this kid's life upside down to determine whether he acted alone, what his reasons for this outburst were, whether there's some conspiracy. The reason I am fuming is because all of this could be prevented with a little common sense.
It's all summed up in one word: education. Education has been receiving a radical make over for quite some time now. Some of it is good, a lot of it is not. For example, for the last two years I have had to listen to a certain pedagogical "expert" during mandated seminars. His contention is that 1. homework should be abolished, 2. daily work should count for no percentage of a student's grade, and 3. the only thing that matters is how well a student does on a test. There are a few issues I need to take with this. Please be patient and I will get to the point I made in the first paragraph.
1. Homework- he claimed that homework was basically a waste of a student's time. I don't feel that way. Though I have largely eliminated homework, I still assign some because students need extra practice to master a concept. Fifty-five minute periods don't allow for as much learning time as is needed. Also, when a student is assigned homework, he must make a decision: learn the content or X Box. Too often X Box wins out, which is a problem unto its own. Students need to learn the value of hard work.
2. Formative v. Summative Assessments- I agree that the purpose of homework and other daily assignments are to "form" the student's mind, and tests, or summative assignments, grade what a student knows. The problem is that students will get away with anything they can. If there is no grade attached, they feel less value attached to the assignment and are more apt to hit the X Box. There's an obvious problem in this from a "teach them how to act in the real world" scenerio.
Then there's the idea that students should be allowed to retest as many times as they want until they "get it right." Essentially, that it doesn't matter if they master the information in September or May, but that they master the information before the end of the year so that they can promote to the next grade. If this is the case, then the final exam should be the only test that matters, right? I want to give students ample chances to learn the work, but this policy has created laziness. I have students ask me, "Can I retake this test?" before they even take it the first time! My dad always told me to do something right the first time. Many times a student wants to see the test and then try to remember where the answers went on the second try. What is this teaching them? How many bosses want a worker who doesn't want to do things right the first time? Education is a break from the real world, a chance to make mistakes and learn from mistakes, but at what point does education draw the line and say, "Enough is enough. Young man, it's time for you to mature?"
3. Teaching to the test- these four words were as bad as four-letter cuss words when I first entered the teaching profession over ten years ago. The idea is that some company makes a standardized test, the state adopts the test as the scale by which we mark achievement, then the students have to do well on it. The problem is that it all revolvs around money. Districts are told that "no child may be left behind" and hence all students have to score proficient or money will be taken away, and teachers and administrators will be fired. Those in charge of the districts then put the pressure on the teachers to make sure the students have all the information they need to do well on the test.
This puts teachers in a peculiar situation. Do they teach only the information that they know will be on the test, even if other skills should also be taught, or do they teach these other skills also and hope for the best? More and more everything else gets thrown out the window, and this includes moral education. Some refer to it as character education, and there's a difference.
I can already hear some parents saying, "How dare you choose to place your own morals on my child! What gives you the right?" I understand this sentiment. I would not want another teacher pushing his set of values on my children. But there's a problem in this. Many of my students in the last dozen years have a home life in which their parents, say, are at the casino all night and sleep in all day. The most important duty a parent has is to his or her children- bringing them up to know right from wrong. When this strong parental figure is missing in a student's life, traditionally the church has picked up the slack. If all else failed, teachers took over.
Unfortunately those who believe that the Constitution of the United States is a living document have argued that the separation of church and state means keeping Christianity out of the classroom when our founding fathers didn't imply this at all. Character education trys to instill the concepts of love and peace in our students but fail miserably because love and peace are the cornerstones of Christ's ministry. Essentially you can't give someone something that you don't have. Education can't teach love if it doesn't know what love is. God is love.
Forsaking the church's role in education has led to a break down of the last line of moral defense. When we as educators look only to teach quadratic equations and pronouns, the students only receive these concepts, and not a primer in living life the right way.
What morals did the shooter possess? Who taught him right from wrong? Now I don't pretend to know the shooter's background, but I think I can safely assume that he is a product of our current system.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Why reinvent the wheel?
God help us.
It's all summed up in one word: education. Education has been receiving a radical make over for quite some time now. Some of it is good, a lot of it is not. For example, for the last two years I have had to listen to a certain pedagogical "expert" during mandated seminars. His contention is that 1. homework should be abolished, 2. daily work should count for no percentage of a student's grade, and 3. the only thing that matters is how well a student does on a test. There are a few issues I need to take with this. Please be patient and I will get to the point I made in the first paragraph.
1. Homework- he claimed that homework was basically a waste of a student's time. I don't feel that way. Though I have largely eliminated homework, I still assign some because students need extra practice to master a concept. Fifty-five minute periods don't allow for as much learning time as is needed. Also, when a student is assigned homework, he must make a decision: learn the content or X Box. Too often X Box wins out, which is a problem unto its own. Students need to learn the value of hard work.
2. Formative v. Summative Assessments- I agree that the purpose of homework and other daily assignments are to "form" the student's mind, and tests, or summative assignments, grade what a student knows. The problem is that students will get away with anything they can. If there is no grade attached, they feel less value attached to the assignment and are more apt to hit the X Box. There's an obvious problem in this from a "teach them how to act in the real world" scenerio.
Then there's the idea that students should be allowed to retest as many times as they want until they "get it right." Essentially, that it doesn't matter if they master the information in September or May, but that they master the information before the end of the year so that they can promote to the next grade. If this is the case, then the final exam should be the only test that matters, right? I want to give students ample chances to learn the work, but this policy has created laziness. I have students ask me, "Can I retake this test?" before they even take it the first time! My dad always told me to do something right the first time. Many times a student wants to see the test and then try to remember where the answers went on the second try. What is this teaching them? How many bosses want a worker who doesn't want to do things right the first time? Education is a break from the real world, a chance to make mistakes and learn from mistakes, but at what point does education draw the line and say, "Enough is enough. Young man, it's time for you to mature?"
3. Teaching to the test- these four words were as bad as four-letter cuss words when I first entered the teaching profession over ten years ago. The idea is that some company makes a standardized test, the state adopts the test as the scale by which we mark achievement, then the students have to do well on it. The problem is that it all revolvs around money. Districts are told that "no child may be left behind" and hence all students have to score proficient or money will be taken away, and teachers and administrators will be fired. Those in charge of the districts then put the pressure on the teachers to make sure the students have all the information they need to do well on the test.
This puts teachers in a peculiar situation. Do they teach only the information that they know will be on the test, even if other skills should also be taught, or do they teach these other skills also and hope for the best? More and more everything else gets thrown out the window, and this includes moral education. Some refer to it as character education, and there's a difference.
I can already hear some parents saying, "How dare you choose to place your own morals on my child! What gives you the right?" I understand this sentiment. I would not want another teacher pushing his set of values on my children. But there's a problem in this. Many of my students in the last dozen years have a home life in which their parents, say, are at the casino all night and sleep in all day. The most important duty a parent has is to his or her children- bringing them up to know right from wrong. When this strong parental figure is missing in a student's life, traditionally the church has picked up the slack. If all else failed, teachers took over.
Unfortunately those who believe that the Constitution of the United States is a living document have argued that the separation of church and state means keeping Christianity out of the classroom when our founding fathers didn't imply this at all. Character education trys to instill the concepts of love and peace in our students but fail miserably because love and peace are the cornerstones of Christ's ministry. Essentially you can't give someone something that you don't have. Education can't teach love if it doesn't know what love is. God is love.
Forsaking the church's role in education has led to a break down of the last line of moral defense. When we as educators look only to teach quadratic equations and pronouns, the students only receive these concepts, and not a primer in living life the right way.
What morals did the shooter possess? Who taught him right from wrong? Now I don't pretend to know the shooter's background, but I think I can safely assume that he is a product of our current system.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Why reinvent the wheel?
God help us.
Monday, January 3, 2011
The Saddest Day of the Year
It's sadly ironic that the "Most Wonderfull Time of the Year" is directly followed by the saddest time of the year. Families reuniting, mountains of presents, and bountiful feasts are replaced with goodbyes, stacks of new underwear, and new year's resolutions, like...the dreaded diet. The good news is that I've already lost seven pounds in three days. The bad news is that I could stand to lose much, much more. Still, this isn't why yesterday was the saddest day of the year. Yesterday we took down the Christmas decorations.
Yesterday afternoon, decorations that took a month to put up were neatly stacked in the attic in the space of two hours. Christmas CDs were put back on the shelf for another eleven long months. Some I didn't even get around to listening to, like Pavaratti and Harry Connick, Jr. Some I wore out like Trans Siberian Orchestra, Elvis, Sinatra, and of course the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. The same applied to DVDs. I watched It's a Wonderful Life three times, Miracle on 34th Street four times, and The Polar Express at least ten. All that has been put back in the cabinet.
It's always such a saddening time right after Christmas because there's such a great build up to the big day and of course the night before. It seems like in the month prior to Christmas, my family had one Christmas activity per night, and to see it all come down like an axe to a redwood is more sobering than I care to think about.
There was the mistletoe above the office door under which I planned to ambush my wife, but never had the guts. The stockings hung limply on the wall. The Christmas calendar on the wall was devoid of candy in all of the days' pouches. The Christmas village sat peacefully on top of the entertainment center, the one-horse sleigh plodding through the snow by the two Victorian hotels on its way to the skating pond and the backwoods cabin whose light had burned out. Even the Christmas tree was depressing. We had dubbed it "The Leaning Tree of Ponca" because it just wouldn't stand up straight anymore. We had already bought a new and bigger one at Wal Mart when they went on sale for 75% off, so this was the last year we were to use our family's first Christmas tree.
So down it all came. We took time to meticulously box up all the Hallmark ornaments and carefully wrap the rest in toilet paper. We played the "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" ornament one last time. I carefully wrapped my Grandpa Jule's fly-fishing fly pendant, one of only two items I have by which to remember him. The star fit awkwardly in its old packaging. The salt dough ornaments which will probably crumble over the summer. The string of popcorn and cranberries to the trash. Memories of Midnight Mass becoming just that: distant memories. Oh the sadness.
So today our living room looks bare, empty. I recall last May when school was letting out that I would rather it be the Christmas season than summer break, and I think the opinion is still valid. Now school is about to open its doors for the spring semester, and the next thing to look forward to is...Valentines Day?
Yesterday afternoon, decorations that took a month to put up were neatly stacked in the attic in the space of two hours. Christmas CDs were put back on the shelf for another eleven long months. Some I didn't even get around to listening to, like Pavaratti and Harry Connick, Jr. Some I wore out like Trans Siberian Orchestra, Elvis, Sinatra, and of course the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. The same applied to DVDs. I watched It's a Wonderful Life three times, Miracle on 34th Street four times, and The Polar Express at least ten. All that has been put back in the cabinet.
It's always such a saddening time right after Christmas because there's such a great build up to the big day and of course the night before. It seems like in the month prior to Christmas, my family had one Christmas activity per night, and to see it all come down like an axe to a redwood is more sobering than I care to think about.
There was the mistletoe above the office door under which I planned to ambush my wife, but never had the guts. The stockings hung limply on the wall. The Christmas calendar on the wall was devoid of candy in all of the days' pouches. The Christmas village sat peacefully on top of the entertainment center, the one-horse sleigh plodding through the snow by the two Victorian hotels on its way to the skating pond and the backwoods cabin whose light had burned out. Even the Christmas tree was depressing. We had dubbed it "The Leaning Tree of Ponca" because it just wouldn't stand up straight anymore. We had already bought a new and bigger one at Wal Mart when they went on sale for 75% off, so this was the last year we were to use our family's first Christmas tree.
So down it all came. We took time to meticulously box up all the Hallmark ornaments and carefully wrap the rest in toilet paper. We played the "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" ornament one last time. I carefully wrapped my Grandpa Jule's fly-fishing fly pendant, one of only two items I have by which to remember him. The star fit awkwardly in its old packaging. The salt dough ornaments which will probably crumble over the summer. The string of popcorn and cranberries to the trash. Memories of Midnight Mass becoming just that: distant memories. Oh the sadness.
So today our living room looks bare, empty. I recall last May when school was letting out that I would rather it be the Christmas season than summer break, and I think the opinion is still valid. Now school is about to open its doors for the spring semester, and the next thing to look forward to is...Valentines Day?
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