Yo Mista!

Why is the education world obsessed with Finland? Probably because Finnish students have consistently scored the highest on the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), a test often used to determine a nation's education rank. America isn't even in the top ten, yet Finland's core education values aren't too different from what the America's values were some time ago. Sadly, current education reform in the U.S. seems to be pushing us farther and farther away from those core values. Finland is less obsessed with standardized test scores and more obsessed with developing a child's curiosity, ability to think and be creative. It is extremely difficult to become a teacher in Finland, so it's actually a well-respected profession nationwide. Test scores aren't tied to teacher pay. In fact, kids aren't even allowed to take standardized tests until they have at least been through nine years of schooling. There is a national curriculum, but ...

When I was in high school, I knew how to cheat. And if I wanted to cheat, I could get away with it. Back then, I learned how to program words, equations, and complete paragraphs into my TI-83 graphing calculator. The "A-student" cheaters were the ones who didn't get caught. We had developed effective methods with minimal risk. For example, writing out an entire essay lightly on notebook paper the night before and simply retracing our pre-written essay during test time. We would strategically position ourselves next to those who might be marginally better than us during an exam we knew for sure we couldn't ace ourselves. But this new seating assignment wouldn't occur on test day - that's too suspicious. The new seating arrangement would take place weeks before the exam. The list goes on. Some educators may disagree with me on this (from an ethics perspective), but I believe the art of cheating properly requires strategy, intelligence, and intrinsic motiva...

Several kids in my advisory class were discussing the possibility of a fight breaking out between students later in the day. One of the gossipers turned to me and said, "Yo Mista, you seem like the type of guy who has never gotten into a fight." Unfortunately, he was wrong. In the first grade, my mom worked at McDonald's part-time. She didn't have to because my dad was making plenty of dough as an electrical engineer, but she wanted to get out of the house as my father generally preferred she stay inside. My father wasn't all bad though, he allowed her to clean the house 24/7 and cook him three hearty meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and a packed dinner for work (he worked a later shift - 2 PM - 12 AM). Pretty nice guy, my dad. Before becoming corrupted by her own rise to power in our household, my mom felt pretty bad about the conditions I grew up in. My dad was drinking all the time, beating the shit out of her and ruining our weekends. To compensate, my mom d...

I get very angry grading quizzes and papers sometimes. There are times when I teach the same topic to the same student in different ways over a period of many days. And day after day after day, they still don't get it. These are the same students whom I catch doodling or gossiping during lessons. I catch them coming to school late. I catch them cutting my class. For situations like this, some teachers who have grown jaded over time, tend to generalize and think "one size fits all," that is, they erroneously assume all of these students must not care enough to try. So fail them all. I may be growing slightly jaded, but that's just stupid. One size doesn't fit all in city schools. What kind of asshole simply assumes any kid who doesn't do the work must not care? I mean, maybe he/she does care, but not enough to learn. There's a difference. Maybe there are bigger problems they need to worry about: court dates, pregnancy tests, where they'll sleep t...