MAIT 402 Response #5

President Obama has called my house -- and after yanking my dad off the phone and apologizing to the President for my dad's bad manners and foul language -- I enthusiastically accept the post of Secretary of Education (It's an election year and my family is politically at odds so I had to make the reference). When asked what my platform is I quickly state, "A 21st Century version of   Republican Motherhood".  America must be reminded that our public education system dates back to our Founding Fathers and their theory of Republican Motherhood. www.ushistory.org/us/12d.asp summarizes this theory best as an idea supported by enlightened thinkers who believed that "...a republic could only succeed if its citizens were virtuous and educated. Who were the primary caretakers of American children? American women. If the republic were to succeed, women must be schooled in virtue so they could teach their children. The first American female academies were founded in the 1790s. This idea of an educated woman became known as 'republican motherhood'." Now, before you go all Women's Lib on me (I am one of you after all) I did say 21st Century version, which shall now be called "Republican Parenthood". In order for education to succeed in America the education process must begin at home and continue in the classroom. And before people get up in arms about the word virtue I would say that in today's world that means "common courtesy". In an effort to make this happen I would make the following five changes:

1) I would provide families who are actively involved in their children's education and school a stipend. Why? Many parents/guardians would like to be more involved with their children's education or even spend more time with their children to help them develop those common courtesies, yet because of financial reasons cannot do so. This would allow parents/guardians to fulfill one of their duties without compromising another -- putting food on the table.
2) Provide translators at all school functions to facilitate communication between parents and teachers. Why? I can't tell you how many times my mother said she wouldn't go to a function because she wouldn't be able to talk to the teacher or understand what was being said at the town hall meeting. Being a "good" student I made her go, but how many students/parents can't, don't, won't attend school functions such as Open House or conferences because of this reason? And, before you ask, yes, students can and often do translate for their parents, but trust me this makes all adults involved uncomfortable especially the parent.
3) Overturn NCLB (Do I really have to explain this one?)
4) Make it illegal to overtly profit from providing schools' supplies and services and cap salaries (Before people get upset the salary cap would be mostly for people making over $200,00 for my reason please read http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/CSU-presidents-get-pay-raises-3714432.php).
5) Pray people don't expect the four things above to be the silver bullets education in America need and to start producing results immediately so I can implement number six accepted curriculum (at least at a state or district level) and number seven informational meetings for parents at every level so that parents who are unfamiliar with the educational system know how to work with and around the system (many parents don't even know what classes count towards college and what classes don't i.e. A-G requirements).

If I have learned anything from Ravitch it is that as an educator I have limitations. This field is a marathon with hurdles not a clear sprint. The best thing I can do for myself and my students is to remember my ideals ( the reasons I chose this career), be willing to change, remember my students come first and to take a summer off every once in a while. Reading her work made me reflect on why I am a teacher, what I can and cannot do and acknowledge that while today I say that I believe in "Republican Parenthood" because I believe an educated and well informed society creates the best citizens that could change and I have to be brave enough to admit it when the time comes.

Given the current state of American education the best I can do is be an informed and involved citizen and create the same in my students. I can also walk into my classroom and give my best everyday.

In order to give my best everyday I need to continue to learn, in other words professional development. I could do this by joining the following or attending events:
http://www.ncte.org/ http://www.cateweb.org/
http://www.cateweb.org/

This has been an intense experience and I can't think about tomorrow let alone the next three years, but here are some of my wishes and wants: I hope that in the next three years more minority authors emerge. I hope people acknowledge that socio-economic factors are a part of the hows and whys of our education system. I want more strong popular fiction, which can be taught in the classroom. I want someone to conduct a study concerning critical literacy so I can have a primary resource for my Lit review. I want to begin and pass BTSA and attend some of conferences to see what else is going through teachers' brains (I will miss sharing ideas and lessons with my KSOE peers -- seriously useful stuff). And I hope that America learns what Europe already knows: the more languages you know, the more fluent you are in many languages the richer, fuller and easier your life can be.