CCTA Watchdog Report -Craven County Board of Education "Connections (formerly DACEE) Meeting- 11 April 2013
CCTA has had so many worthwhile events that have kept us all busy that I'm a little slow getting out my watchdog reports. Please forgive me. I'll try to keep this one brief and hit the important highlights.
Craven County Board of Education (school board)
Raynor and I attended the "Connections" meeting at Havelock Middle School on 11 April 13. The school went all out to make a good impression, and they surely did make a good impression. Students and faculty were all well dressed. The students were models of politeness and grace. We were greeted at the entrance by a large band playing beautiful music and well dressed student guides to show us to the meeting room.
Once in the meeting room, we (about 25 or 30 people in attendance other than school staff) were welcomed by Dr. Lane Mills, Superintendent. He gave an overview of what we were to see and do. This would include tours of the Early Collage East Lab, and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Lab (STEM). Then Dr. Annette Brown, Assistant Superintendent for Education, would lead a discussion of Common Core.
Dr. Mills said there would be time for questions and answers, but that apparently did not apply to me. Instead he asked to meet with me at some time in the future. Of course, I would be glad to oblige.
Our first tour was the STEM lab. They had students at workstations for robot technology, engineering, and solar energy production, and a couple of stations I did not make it to. It was very impressive to see such young students being introduced to subjects that I had not been really introduced to until college (engineering school). We had been encouraged to ask questions of the students.
At the first workstation, I watched a student with a remote getting a robot to drop a golf ball into a hole. I asked the student what she was doing, and she said she was programming a robot. I asked what computer language she was using, and if she had to program in vectors or coordinates to direct the robot where to drop the ball. She said, "No," and added that she just had to follow the directions on her computer screen. I asked if I might read her directions, and she said, "Yes." Her directions instructed her to first position the robot's arm in such a way that if it dropped the ball, the ball would fall into the hole. She was then instructed to push a key on the remote. The next instruction was to move the arm to another location, then push a key on the remote, and the robot would return to the position from which the ball would fall into the hole and release it. NOW I ASK YOU, IS THAT PROGRAMMING A ROBOT? Had this child been instructed to tell us she was programming a robot at her tender young age? I wondered, so at the wrap-up session, I asked the briefer what computer language was used to program the robot? I got a toe tap answer that included that a computer language is a code (no kidding).
At other workstations in the STEM lab, I asked students questions to determine how extensive their knowledge of the subject matter was. A student told me he was designing a bridge. Wow, I had some problems with that assignment when I worked in a bridge design office after obtaining a degree in civil engineering. So I asked some questions. He was actually building a model truss with balsa wood with an underlying guide. That is hardly designing, or building, a bridge.
A student studying solar energy with a very technical looking computer display was doing something about as complicated as starting a fire with a magnifying glass. She had never seen a solar generator, not even a solar panel.
I think the students were getting wonderful exposure to engineering subjects, but the accomplishments of this $2.4 Million dollar expenditure of taxpayers' money (DOD Grant money) was being way overstated by school board staff.
We were told that students had to win in a lottery to be selected to study in the STEM lab. I was flabbergasted! I asked if a young Einstein wanted to study in the STEM lab, but did not win in the lottery, would he be allowed to do so. The ANSWER WAS, "NO!" Dr. Ipock, Chairman of the Board of Education, quickly told me that we have to be fair to the underprivileged children who might want to advance their learning to qualify for jobs in technical fields. I THOUGHT WE WERE A COUNTRY WHERE THE INDIVIDUAL COUNTED FOR MORE THAN THE COLLECTIVE. WHEN DID THAT CHANGE? You mean to tell me that a student who does not study hard or try hard should have an equal chance as one who does to attend STEM lab? THIS IS NUTS!
The students in the Early College East lab who explained a project they had done on the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and more recent attempts at genocide in other parts of the world faired better. The boy and two girls who participated each read his or her description of a segment of the project well. Each gave informed, thoughtful answers to questions. They seemed to blame Hitler as the cause of the atrocities in Germany without holding private citizens accountable for not trying to stop what was happening. However, upon being questioned, the young man said he would have tried to help the Jews to the extent he could without bringing the wrath of the Nazis down on himself. This struck me as an answer by someone who had given it some real thought and had come to an honest conclusion. Interestingly, it reflects what many Germans actually did.
Then came the Common Core lecture and lesson on text based questions during lunch (YES, I SAID DURING). Dr. Brown explained that students are to be encouraged to read non-fiction writing and then answer questions based on the text. The idea is that the answers to questions asked on the test can be found in the preceding text. She asked us to read a pink sheet of paper entitled "North Carolina Common Core State Standards," and then answer the question, "What statements are different from what I have heard about the Common Core State Standards?"
I announced that I would like to answer that. I begged to differ with the statement, "The standards are not a federal curriculum." I stated flatly that it is. Dr. Brown informed me that the sentence that preceded the one I questioned answers that by saying, "The National Governors Association started working together in June of 2009 to develop the common set of standards." WELL LA-TE-DA! WHAT ABOUT THE MILLIONS IN FEDERAL DOLLARS THAT ANY STATE WOULD FORFIT IF THEY DID NOT ACCEPT COMMON CORE? Do they think we are dumb as oysters? Are students to be indoctrinated this way? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE NON-FICTION WRITING?
The Common Core "standard" that English classes be based on the reading of only 30% fiction and 70% non-fiction materials, and the Common Core "standard" for math that changes the way math is taught are both straight out of Washington, D.C., and they are being urged on States with typical carrot and stick tactics. They may (and do) play games with semantics, but this is Unconstitutional interference by the federal government into what and how North Carolina students will study.
Let me share one additional thought. When one is reading, whether fiction or non-fiction, a critical thinker is always asking himself, or herself, do I recognize the truth here? Is this author to be trusted? What do I know about him, or her? Have things he, or she, has written in the past held up to questioning and close scrutiny? Do I agree with this, or don't I? Why, or why not? And so on. The "pink sheet" was introduced as "gospel," but has no "byline" and does not reference source documents. I hope North Carolina children are not being encouraged to accept "non-fiction" materials unthinkingly and unquestioningly.
Needless to say, we have much work to do in the education of our children.
Respectfully submitted,
Hal James, Watchdog Committee Chairman
Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association
No comments:
Post a Comment