An Industrial Model

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

School is the most influential institution in modern society. There are many ways to design an organization that promotes learning and the present industrial model of schooling (emphasis mine)  is not one of them. There are some exciting counter examples, but they haven’t spread. The community, cultural institutions and business have to be involved. We need a broader base of change.

In the eyes of a child, the future is alive. Maybe children need to step forward as leaders.–Peter Senge

The industrial model is a model that I would argue has never worked very well, but it certainly does not work now and hasn’t for a long time.  I have been thinking a lot about this in my work and as I begin to think more deeply regarding my dissertation research (which I am getting ready to start writing–finally!).  This industrial model is something I have taken a stance on before and it really speaks to the idea that those in power–the ones who make the decisions–limit the knowledge given to our public school students.  Walk through an average public school and an average independent school and you will be shocked by the differences.  You will be shocked by the perceptions of the teachers and the type of tasks students are given.  Often in our public schools (I know this is a generalization, but I have been in enough public schools to know it is often the norm) we see students seated quietly in desks, receiving information from teachers and then spitting the info back.  I think this expectation of “teaching” is what made it really easy for me not to return to the classroom when I left to stay home with my children.  I believe this expectation is what leads to so much teacher turnover in our urban districts and within the first 5 years of teaching.

I fought constantly against the idea that it was my job to impart all of my knowledge into the brains of my students only to have them tell it back to me in a formulaic essay of 5 paragraphs and one page. There is no thinking required.  It sends the message that either a) we don’t think your ideas are good enough and b) the teacher is the only one with the answer.

This is why standardized testing is such a problem, it narrows even further who holds the answers and implies that there is actually only one right answer.  Now in math it might be true that there is only one right answer–but there are many ways to come to that answer.

School should be about learning and the industrial model that is so prevalent in our nation is not about learning.  The standardized tests don’t measure learning.  Teachers often are not encouraged to have classrooms that are student-centered.  I still remember one day when I was observed by the assistant superintendent and my principal.  We were having a deep discussion about a theme in Tess of the d’urbervilles.  The students were leading the discussion, I was just moderating a bit and keep them in the same topic space.  It was a great learning moment for students as they were making connections to their own lives and experiences and problem solving.  They then went on to write about the state of women’s rights and discuss how it effects their own life and future.  These were some of the most powerful essays I ever had as a teacher, because they were authentic and while they were about a book, they were much more about the students.

The assistant sup left and told my principal she would come back later when I was teaching something.

That right there is the a huge part of the problem.  My principal told the assistant sup that what I was doing was teaching and he was sorry she didn’t see it.  (That principal didn’t last long in my district).

If students are going to learn how to create their own meanings and their own knowledge they have to be given a space to do that.  All students (pre-school through college) are capable of doing great things and creating their own knowledge and meaning.  If our education system focused more on teaching skills (as opposed to such a content focus) especially in the younger grades, we would see students begin to create their own learning opportunities and develop an understanding that what they know, think, and are curious about matters.

I understand the flip side with accountability and the ever growing focus on test scores and schools feeling the need to keep kids in school for 8+ hours a day to try to make up the learning gap.  I think this focus on remediation is slightly misguided, especially in our early grades.  Students can learn all of their subjects/skills in a meaningful interdisciplinary way.

I keep coming back to the idea of “meaningful.”  School should be meaningful.  Learning should be meaningful.  And the industrial model we have makes learning meaningless.  Learning something to “pass” a test has little value and meaning to kids who are curious about the world.

I certainly do not have all the answers, but I do know that our educational system has to change.  Yet, we continue to do more of the same for more and longer days and wonder why are students aren’t doing better.  We are perplexed when companies claim they can’t find workers they need.  An industrial model of education, prepares kids for an industrial society.  Last time I checked, industry is not a major employer in our country any more.

We have to change our inputs to get different outputs.  I see it at my kids school–where the learning is theme based and the students determine the theme together with the teachers based on class interests.   But this approach takes seasoned administrators, teachers who are able to relinquish control and a belief that what the students can contribute is important.

That is the crux.  The industrial model places the most importance on the output.  In other models, it is the student that is most important.  Until we start talking about students, nothing is going to change.

To Tough Love Or Not

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

Parenting really just gets harder.  When Noah was younger, the answers were pretty clear and easy.  No, don’t put the dog food in your mouth, etc.  As kids grow, the answers aren’t so easy or obvious.  I think it is really important that my kids do something and are part of something.  I think that having an activity is really important and it’s been pretty easy to have the kids active in something.  Noah really likes sports and is pretty athletic.   He loves baseball, soccer, gymnastics, etc.

I have also learned a few things about my son and his personality.  He doesn’t like not being good at something.  He is quick to quit (or want to quit) when something stops being easy and turns difficult.  There were baseball games when hitting was hard and he wanted to quit mid-game.  That just isn’t an option.  I have worked hard to try to reinforce for Noah that quitting when something is hard is not something we do.  I hope that I am modeling that message for him (yet, I wonder–as I just at 3 cookies, I didn’t need and aren’t going to help me get healthy).

Anyway, today he has gymnastics and this morning he asked if he could quit.  My first reaction is No.  I told him that he had to do all of December and then we would revisit it.  I asked him why and his reasons are pretty minor:  When we do forward rolls my head hurts and we have to do them every time.  I don’t like the high bar, because once I fell off.  It’s hard and scary.    While these are valid to some degree, are they really reason enough to quit?  He wanted to quit piano when it was hard.  He still does piano.  He wanted to quit soccer practices when they were boring.  I didn’t let him.

I know that Bill is going to have a different view than I do.  This will take some smooth parenting and some honest discussions and one of us is going to win and one going to lose.  But that can’t matter, we have to do what is best for Noah.  I am not sure that quitting gymnastics because it’s hard is a lesson I want to teach my kid.  We can’t quit when something is hard.  Lots of things in life are hard.

I also want him to know that he as some control over his own life, but at what cost is that control given?

When he was invited into this gymnastics program, we sat and talked about it.  My initial reaction is to have him finish the whole year and then see where we are in May.  I think it’s important to understand commitment.  I also think that he’ll be better able to make this decision and will have given it a whole year of effort.

I also have to ask, why am I pushing him?  Is it for the right reasons?  Am I invested in having him do gymnastics for some other reason?  I want to say that it is about Noah and only Noah.  He is good at gymnastics–really good (better than he is at any other sport).  I want him to excel, but I also want him to be happy.

Sometimes we have to encourage our kids to go things they don’t want to.  Oh the tough choices are only just beginning.

What’s your take?  Do you let your kids quit when they want, or do you encourage (force) them to keep going?

Staying Connected Through Giving

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

I try very hard to keep connected with Ethiopia and to give back as often as possible.  Anytime I can either raise money for or purchase something that directly benefits Ethiopia I do.  There is a great organization that I learned about from the wonderful ONE Moms who went to Ethiopia (whose blogs I read and/or follow on twitter).  You’ll notice if you click on the links to the blogs that you are taken to their wonderfully moving post about fashionABLE.

fashionABLE sells the most beautiful handmade scarves.

Here’s an excerpt from their website

Your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf creates sustainable business for women in Africa.  Our commitment as a non-profit is to the development of people — fashionABLE works with women who have been exploited due to the effects of poverty.  So, when you purchase a scarf you are providing jobs, and then we send the net profits back to holistically rehabilitate more women. This is the beauty of non-profit….
Scarves provide jobs, profits provide restoration.

The first time I went to the website and read the stories of these women and watched their videos, I cried.  When I noticed that one of the woman has the same name as Noah’s birth mother, I cried.  When I read her story and realized how similar is is to the little we know about Noah’s birth mother, I bought 8 scarves.  I bought scarves.  I felt so helpless that I had to do something.  I went back today and bought 5 more.  My purchase is helping ensure the future of these women and the women who will come after them.  It is how I give back to country who gave me the two greatest gifts I have be blessed with.   My kids.

Buying these scarves and publicizing them is one way I can give back.  I will probably own one of every scarf in every color at some point in the future, but it will be worth every penny to potentially help other women be able to support and care for their children.  The woman (who shares a name with Noah’s birth mother) hopes to someday have enough security to adopt many children who are orphans due to HIV/AIDS.  I cannot think of another purchase I have ever made that has meant so much to me and to my family.

If you have women (or teachers) to buy for, please consider purchasing one of these scarves.  It will make and impact and a difference in the lives of someone.  Not just the bottom line of a corporation.  I bought more scarves today to give to each of my children’s teachers.  We always try to give gifts tied to Ethiopia.  They scarves are selling out, so go now…click here…and please tell all of your friends.

From the publicity from the ONE Moms trip–they added 3 new women.  That is 3 more women they help provide a better life.  Three more women they enable to change their destiny.  Let’s help even more.  Go order now!

Race Still Matters

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

What if the teens had been white?

There is a pervasive and toxic stereotype in our country–Black Males are DANGEROUS.

I will admit that as young white girl raised during a difficult racial period in my own city (desegregation of schools), I was taught/socialized to be more “aware” of black males.  That is painful for me to admit.  But I have to.  We have to.  We have to understand and acknowledge that racism is so deeply ingrained in the fabric of who so many of us (white people) are that we can’t see it.  We are ashamed to admit it.  We are afraid to admit it.

Until we admit it, we will never grow or change our views. My views changed drastically when I took my first teaching job at a school that was 98% African American.  It was not until I became a teacher and interacted on a daily basis with black males, that I began to realize that they were not a group to fear.  There was nothing scary about them.  But it forced me to admit the bias I was raised with that I didn’t realize I was raised with until I did a lot of honest (and extremely difficult) examination of my own beliefs and behaviors.

Let me be honest, I said I began to realize.  Erasing a life’s worth of ingrained racism and racial stereotypes is not easy.  Not for me or for out society as a whole.  To this day if you watch my local news–99% of the people shown as criminals are black.  Those are the stories that make the news.  These all have an impact on what we think of other groups (be it ethnic or religious or life-style choice based).

Now (10-years after I first stepped into that classroom full of a group of people I was taught to fear), I am the mother of two black children.  Now, when I see a group of black boys/men walking down the street, I see my son.  My son who everyone things is cute and great, but will that be the same when he is 16 and picking up someone’s daughter?  Will it be the same when he is out being a teen with his friends and mouths off to a grown-up?

My children already know that if a policeman stops them ever “we stop and let him see our hands and DO NOT Move.”  I was never taught that lesson.  I never needed to be taught that lesson.   Now, do I need to add middle-aged random white man to that list with policemen?

At what point does the responsibility shift from my black son and onto those whose ingrained stereotypes cause often deadly reactions based in “fear.”  I can hear the voices of 3 teenaged boys talking shit to a middle-aged man who asked them to turn their music down.  I know–because I know what I would have said to my friends in the car, just loud enough that the guy could hear.  He claims he thought he saw a gun.  Would he have “seen” a gun if the three teens were white–but still talked shit?  I have a hard time believing he would have pulled out his gun and fired 8 or 9 rounds.  We have to admit that race is a factor.  What if it had been 3 girls–white or black?  Same reaction?

He fired 8-9 rounds but they claim, when he is compared to George Zimmerman and his shooting of Trayvon Martin.

“That’s ridiculous. Michael is not a vigilante,” the attorney said. “He’s a brilliant software developer. It was never his intention to kill anyone.”

How is it not someone’s intention to kill someone when they a) pull out a gun, b) fire the gun, and c) fire 8-9 shots at close range into a car?

Again, we have to admit why these things happen and have honest discussions about them.  He claimed he saw a gun.  What he saw was three black teens, talking shit and he had no idea what it meant.  I hope he does some deep soul searching (along will all of us) and considers how the scenario might be different if the teens in the car had been white.

We do not live in a post-racial society.  We live in a society that that has convinced itself that race no longer matters.

Tell that to every parent of a black son.

Tell that to Jordan Russel Davis’ parents.  They buried a son that was shot because race absolutely still matters.