Decisive Views in Education - Todd J. Griffee
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
American society has entered a new phase in polarized opinions. The political environment and Covid-19 epidemic have only added fuel to an already hot topic, and this divide has spread through all facets of society, including our education system. Each side has its interpretation of what public education should look like.
As each state attempts to legislate its vision of education, there seems to be a disconnect. It appears there are legislators who do not have the capacity to see the consequences of their actions. At face value, these legislators appear to have good intentions, but a closer look reveals nothing more than a band-aid on a sucking chest wound. The result of those halfhearted efforts can have negative, unforeseen impacts on both teachers and students.
What is required is an approach that provides measurable goals for teachers and students and is balanced between their technological needs and their forgotten Social Emotional Learning (SEL) provided with art, physical education, social studies, geography, history, and music.
I ran for office in a state with a very powerful teacher’s union that was heavily involved in politics and had no intention of listening to any candidate who represented a political party opposite of the one they endorsed. This union was good for teachers who agreed with the views of the union, but left educators with opposing views without a voice. Many were ostracized if they expressed a view differing from the status quo. This also left students at the mercy of an agenda of a single point of view.
When I attended the University of Notre Dame in the 1980s, the focus of education was learning how to formulate your ideas, articulate them in a logical manner, and respectfully debate the ideas with classmates. The purpose was to learn from all points of view and encourage the concept of thinking creatively. What I observed running for office, was an education system controlled by a single political party/union that alienated anyone who held differing views. The emphasis was on parroting their ideas, rather than learning the art of independent thinking.
My wife has been in public education for over 23 years, and her experiences are different from mine. She teaches in a state where the opposite political party is in power. That political party has reduced the teacher’s union to a powerless entity and changed the State education superintendent from being an elected official to one appointed by the governor. The administration wanted to make teachers accountable, which could be a positive thing, but it really has villainized that political party.
Many business corporations and military entities view their employees as their greatest assets and focus a great deal of time and resources into those ends. In the case of education, the governing party has used standardized testing, primarily in math and English, as their tool for determining teacher accountability. Test scores of students dictate whether teachers are effective, and also affect their pay with a convoluted, subjective rating system. This is especially unfair to teachers in underprivileged school systems whose scores are typically lower.
This is also unfair to students because the emphasis is on math and English and, like their counterparts in the other states, they are missing SEL opportunities and well-rounded courses. Once again,? students are expected to memorize the contents of their curricula, ?rather than learn how to think on their own.
The dilemma within education needs to be broken down into a Communication 101 format. There is a sender of a message, a receiver of a message, and a medium for how the message is transmitted. In our current education scenario, we have senders and receivers simultaneously shouting at each other. If everyone is shouting, then no one is listening. Once again, the art of having a reasonable discussion, in which opinions of all views are respected and debated, has been lost. While each side stays entrenched in its position regarding the dispute, the teachers and students are not treated as valued commodities. They are pawns in each side’s schemes.
The American Constitution is based on individual liberties which imply individual responsibility for our actions. Teachers and students alike should be responsible for their actions. However, parents, politicians, and administrators need to acknowledge their responsibilities to teachers and students. Teachers have a thankless job, yet these educators follow their vocation to provide a priceless service to society. Students are quite literally our future, and to minimize the importance of their education is unforgivable. Both sides need to be quiet, listen, and formulate a plan which focuses on teacher retention and students’ educational success.
Would you like to learn how to be successful in every areas of your life? Then it's time to read Touché!
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About "Touché: A Notre Dame All-American Fencer’s Spiritual Guide to Success"
Touché is a heartfelt, entertaining account of a ten year-old boy’s discovery of God’s purpose for him, then formulating and executing a plan that resulted in his winning two All-American awards for fencing at Notre Dame.
Todd Griffee’s journey includes examples of troubleshooting obstacles that provided life lessons through his life. Touché gives guidance—with the realization that nothing is impossible—to discover your goal, then formulate, execute, and troubleshoot your plan. The desired result is if you can see how God performed miracles in Todd’s life, you can have hope God can perform miracles in your life.
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