Snow Days 2015

 Check out the article today on CNN online- " Why Schools Hate Snow Days."

 If you are at home today due to the snowstorm in the Northeast, please let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment. Stay safe and keep warm.

Choosing School Textbooks- The Debate Rages on

Who should be choosing the textbooks that are used in America’s public schools?

Should it be the state department of education for each of the states? It is in the state of Texas where the same books are used at every grade level throughout the state. Should it be the federal government? That is a difficult question to answer because the Founding Father left the education issue out of the Constitution and relegated it to the individual states. That would have been fine until Common Core came along and the federal government is now dictating what is to be taught in mathematics and Language arts in America’s school curriculum. Is federal textbook selection next?

The state of New Jersey has been in a somewhat unique situation. There are over 600 independent school districts that are controlled by either elected or appointed school boards. These boards had the responsibility of approving textbook selection for its schools. So it was entirely possible that districts near to each other used very different books for the teaching of certain subject. Board members tried to choose texts that would mirror the sentiments of the community.

In other states, the decision is left up to each county where the county superintendent is the chief school administrator and oversees book selection.

But the issues of bias, political agendists and book banning have crept into the decision process. What should children be exposed too and who should in truth, should make the decision?  When I first started teaching middle school social studies in the 1970’s, the school principal allowed me to select the books and she went ahead and approved them for use in my classroom. Of course political correctness was not an issue then. Today it is. That is one reason I enjoyed teaching in the college classroom. The university allowed a high degree of academic freedom for textbook selection. Where a basal text was required, the professors were permitted to require ancillary books of their own choice- often ones that they wrote. In courses that professors created, there was complete freedom. Other professors presented an array of supplemental books and allowed the students to choose which ones they wanted to read.

This issue is not going to disappear. Concerned parents, teachers and community leaders should keep a watchful eye on the textbook selection process.

c.2015 J. Margolis

High School/ College Combinations- Can They Work?

Is it possible to take college courses while still in high school? The answer is a resounding yeas and it seems that more and more school around the country are creating options for students complete course work and even degree requirements simultaneously. The benefits are significant. Students, who say they are bored or not sufficiently challenged, can now take course work that is more rigorous. Students can investigate courses not offered in traditional high schools that may be of interest to them. A number of years ago I met a young lady who was a high school junior in Miami, Florida. She was already taking community college courses through her high school. She expected that when she graduated from high school she would also have attained her associate’s degree from the local community college. Florida Atlantic University. Located in Boca Raton, has a high school where students can pursue a Bachelor’s degree while completing their requirements for a high school diploma.

Indiana University in Bloomington had a program a few years ago that trained high school teachers to teach college level undergraduate courses, for credit, in her home high schools.  In short, the opportunities are out there.

The other significant benefit is a financial one. The cost of a four-year traditional undergraduate degree program has become prohibitive to many students and their parents. The opportunity to save the cost of two (or four) years of a college education is a major incentive.

The social implications of some of these changes can also be significant. Can a 16 year old be comfortable living away from home at a university where all of his or her “peers” are two are three years older? What about a 17-year-old college graduate? Graduate school may seem like the easy option but at some point a young graduate needs to enter the work force and the real world.

This topic certainly is one for discussion throughout the academic community and educators, students and their families need to assess such a venture.

C.2015 J. Margolis

Public Education- It’s STILL About Socio-economics

An articled that recently appeared in the New York Times chronicled the trials and successes of the Mott Hall Bridge Academy in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Their school, which has currently just under 200 students enrolled, has 85% of them enrolled in federal free and reduced school lunch program. The academy is a public chartered middle school and is regarded as a safe haven in a bad neighborhood. The school has a tradition that is quite symbolic. Every year the six graders walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan- a place -while only a few minutes away- where many of the students have never been. The walk symbolizes that there is much more to life than Brownsville and the world outside of their neighborhood has much to offer.

Students can take a course in entrepreneurship and many of the students opt to go to high schools elsewhere in New York City.

Mott Hall is not without its problems. Student test scores, while showing improvement, are below New York City standards. Additionally, it has been extremely difficult to engage parents their their children’s education, especially getting the to attend parent-teacher conferences.

Unless we can narrow the socio- economic gap, and unless we can convince the parents that education is the way of the of poverty culture and drug and crime culture, then we will be dealing with these same problems decades from now, wit no better success rates.

I know that this is a tall order for a New Year’s resolution and most such resolutions are broken in the first eight days of the New Year, but this is a resolution that we cannot afford to break. The stakes are too high.  We need to find leaders who are willing to take their students over Brooklyn Bridges everywhere and show them the marvels that exist out there so that they can find a path for a better tomorrow.

c.2015 J. Margolis