Swimming in the Pensieve

I just this moment submitted the following ‘Letter to the Editor’ of the Long Beach Press Telegram…

[See: http://www2.presstelegram.com/speakout/ci_3086891]

The person, who might actually be a teacher, was referring to this ‘Letter to the Editor’; the author of which I’m certain you will easily recognize as my beloved:

I doubt that Rich Arbold, or his designated donzel-du-jour, has the professional cojones to print my offering. It smacks too much of the truth that some LBUSD teachers are the lion’s-share of the problem–along with Steinhauser and his cadre of tail-wagging, table-scrap-begging principals.

The usual rejoinder to our position is that “the teachers are the victims” in this district game of obsession with benchmarks and API scores; and we do admit that the teachers are being victimized to a certain degree. They are, however, very willing victims. Victims of both a deplorably-ignorant district leadership structure, and their own apathy.

What we, in Long Beach, are seeing take place is a sustained war between district higher-ups and the classroom teachers. Both sides are battling for their own desires; and the children are caught in the middle–each year less educated than the next. Each year high school graduates make a bid for entrance into post-secondary institutions, still in need of the very basic education which would facilitate their success. Each year, more and more of these hopefuls are turned away by colleges and universities as unprepared for higher education.

The district is worried about meeting their budget constraints, while granting monetary perks to administrators that, largely, contribute little to the quality of education–if not actively engaged in the thwarting of such a goal. The district is a despicably ignorant political animal, headed by a board of education which happens to believe that perception–along with their selfish commercial interests–is everything.

The teacher’s union is obsessed with giving the teachers more of what they want, while refusing to police their own ranks. Incompetents abound in front of LBUSD classrooms. Incompetents whose best hope for increased pay is to join the ranks of the mindless, political automatons, hoping to grasp the next rung in the ladder–moving up.

Californians for Justice is obsessed with the fact that the CAHSEE is required, and has been making a bid to relieve students of such a requirement for graduation. The CAHSEE is less than what is should be, and very few of the players in this war are saying what my wife and I have openly stated–the schools need to hire and retain teachers with real qualifications instead of paper conformity with standards which do nothing to insure the quality of teacher your child is exposed to.

Intelligent, involved parents are sidelined into fundraising activities, where their “interference” can be channeled into what site administration feels is a positive direction; and everyone is happy as long as nobody mentions the fact that the children are learning essentially nothing of long-term value. District benchmarks, the SAT-9 tests, and the unethical short-cuts implemented to obtaining favorable scores are all that matters to the large stake-holders in this shell game.

We have been involved with the education (non-education in LBUSD) of our children for years, and have arrived at the conclusion that a child is best educated by those who care most about the child themselves–the parents. Given proper concern for the best interests of the child, something that LBUSD decidedly lacks, successes like this are possible.

To the self-aggrandizing teacher who tendered the low-brow response, I have only this to say:

I have met only one Kindergarten teacher who actually taught her children according to their needs. She obtained 5th grade reading pull-outs for our daughters, to accomodate their advanced reading skills.

She lamented that LBUSD makes it “so difficult to do what is right for the child!” as she asked us to conceal the fact that she was doing what is right for our children. She stated that she feared that her job would be forfeit, should some LBUSD administrator learn that she was doing what is right for the child; instead of teaching to the lowest-common denominator of her class.

That is a teacher who teaches. I have yet to meet her equal, and I doubt that you are even qualified to lick the soles of her shoes.

The unvarnished results declare that LBUSD does not teach children what they need to know for college entrance - period.
You, my dear, need to button your little lip until the day that you truly learn to teach.