A Place at the Table

The Fairfax County Schools Snow Day Storm may sound like a tempest in a teapot, but snow days are a big deal up here in Northern Virginia where stay-at-home moms are rare, commutes are long, traffic is horrific, and snow is too infrequent to justify heavy public investment in snow removal equipment.

Thursday, January 17, was school transportation’s worst nightmare -- morning temperatures below freezing and rising into the high 30’s by the middle of the day, with snow starting around morning rush hour and ending sometime in the early afternoon. In the pre-dawn hours, after consulting with Fairfax Superintendent Jack D. Dale, Chief Operating Officer for Transportation Dean Tistadt made the decision to send the buses out and the kids to school.

School superintendents understand (from experience) that the public often assesses their competence based on their ability to call snow days accurately. Fairfax County Schools is cognizant of this, and I was impressed with their thoughtful and thorough effort to address concerns and parents’ need to know. Their website devotes considerable information to emergency information and links to the Department of Facilities and Transportation page. This message from Mr. Tistadt is featured on that page.

This department is committed to delivering quality customer service by being responsive, flexible, innovative, and efficient. We are committed to effective communication to include ensuring that this web page includes up-to-date, relevant, and accurate information. We welcome your feedback and hope you find our web site an easy means by which you can obtain the services and information that you need. I encourage you to e-mail me.

A lot of people, including high school senior Devraj “Dave” Kori, didn’t agree with Mr. Tistadt's decision. During his lunch break at Braddock High School, Dave called Mr. Tistadt to let him know he thought it was a mistake. Apparently he called his office first and, not surprisingly, did not get a response. Dave then did what digital natives do, he moved on to the next level of contact. Dave looked up the home phone number for Mr. Tistadt and called his house. He left a message asking for a response and left his name and phone number because, according to the Washington Post:

He said his message was not intended to harass. He said that he tried unsuccessfully to contact Dean Tistadt at work and that he thought he had a basic right to petition a public official for more information about a decision that affected him and his classmates.

Mr. Tistadt didn’t get home first that night, his wife did, and she returned Dave’s call, leaving a voice message asking “how dare you call us at home,” referring to Fairfax County students as “snotty-nosed little brats,” and telling Dave to “get over it, kid, and go to school.” Dave posted the message for his friends on his Facebook page. When one of his friends turned the message into a YouTube video, Mrs. Tistadt’s message became an overnight Internet phenomenon, picked up and shared by the media across the country.

In Saturday's Washington Post update, Dave offered a partial apology:

"I'm sorry that this led to such embarrassment and harassment" for the Tistadt family, Kori said. He said he's also sorry that "this whole thing has shifted away from the issue of students not having a voice," a cause he said inspired him to doggedly pursue the administrator in the first place.

Dave will be serving a day of Saturday detention for violating the Student Code of Conduct’s cell phone use rules. He has taken down his Facebook page, but multiple YouTube versions of Candy Tistadt’s message, like dark feathers in the wind, cannot be retrieved.

While Dean Tistadt credited Kori for having the "courage of his convictions to stand up and be identified," he also says "There will be no apologies out of my family." He reasoned that while Kori's decision to post the message was "deliberately intended to provoke and taunt," his wife's response was emotionally driven.

There are lots of on-line discussions with opinions that range from “Dave is a brat and the personification of what’s wrong with these kids today” to “Mrs. Tistadt is a psycho and ought to be ashamed of herself.” While no one comes out of this looking real good, I tend to side with Dave. While his call may have overstepped the line between public and private lives, he used a published number. Mrs. Tistadt chose to respond and to leave the message to a call that was made to her husband, not her. But the public debate does raise these questions:

Did Mr. Kori invade the Tistadt’s privacy by accessing the home phone number and using it to leave a work related message?

What responsibility does the media have for turning this into a major news story rather than passing it off as an immature mistake by a 17 year old and an impulsive overreaction by a middle aged woman?

Who is villain and who is victim here? I think Marc Fisher of The Post said it well:

Every once in a while, a story confronts us with just how deeply divided we are -- and how little we realize it.... (T)here are no good guys. There is only a confrontation with the gulfs that separate digital kids from analog parents and new concepts of community from old notions of responsibility.

For better or worse, the world is shrinking in terms of our ability to communicate and expanding in terms of what information is being shared. When we find ourselves on opposite sides of the digital divide I would offer this piece of advice from my goddaughter. Everyone here needs to BMBGOI (Build Me a Bridge and Get Over It!).

Posted by Susan Graham at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Mama Cass recorded “Make Your Own Kind of Music” back in 1969. I was nineteen. Joe Holmes must be about the same age today. Some things hold across generations. In his column in the youth section of the Free Lance Star, Joe writes, "We don’t consider it the “goal” of a song to get to the end." Titled, Formative Years Shouldn’t be Squandered on ‘Preparation he supports his premise by observing

The late teens and early 20s are the basket where almost all of natural selection's eggs lie. We are at the peak of our vitality, at our most robust, and full of vibrancy because all those traits are what are most important for our species to have to survive. In a sense, young adulthood is the most energetic and powerful time of a person's life; why are we being sat in classrooms all day and made to feel helpless?

You can almost feel his engine of life racing and it’s a little scary! They are so young and there is so much they don’t yet know. They are so confident because life hasn’t yet taught them many hard lessons. We mature folk can't help but think: "They just aren’t ready!" I'm sure that is what my parents thought of their idealist daughter who was ready to "sing her own kind of song" back in 1969. They wanted to protect me.

I felt the same way 10 years ago when our son took off for California to join the digital goldrush. His response to our concerns to wait--"If I can't take a risk at 19, when will I be able to afford one? I can always start over if it's a mistake." It wasn't a mistake: he now runs networks around world. In his newspaper commentary, Joe points out the weakness of our well intended desire to postpone our young people’s engagement with life:

That's one of life's biggest problems--a sense of learned helplessness. When you're constantly being told to prepare for life, you slowly begin to think you aren't ready to live it. You need to wait to be taught formally how to do something before you give it a try. But this is at odds with the reality of life.

Does it seem safer to teach them to lip sync our own song? Do we immobilize our children and our students by warning them to wait until they have sufficient information and preparation before they take on “real” life? There is too much information today, and it changes too quickly, for them to master it all. The goal line keeps moving, even as they attempt to get to the starting line.

We want them to have everything, so with good intentions we encourage them to prepare for every possibility, but eventually, they have to choose and too often they find they are prepared for nothing in particular. In over-emphasizing the risk, do we strip them of the courage to take chances? Do we promote postponement until they lack the momentum and motivation to make their own way in the world? Is this a causal agent in "crowded nest syndrome"? Is our culture unwittingly missing this moment of teachability that prepares teens for adult decision making?

Joe asks, “Why don’t we treat life more like a song?” Good question, Joe. Maybe there's a lot to be said for "Sing like nobody's listening!" As a teacher you make me pause to wonder--Have we become so enamored with perfect performances that we've robbed our children of the experience of making their own music and singing their own song? Have we become so involved in getting to the end of the song that we forget to help them appreciate why singing matters in the first place?

Posted by Susan Graham at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It’s funny how one thing leads to another. I’ve been questioning whether college preparation should be the primary goal of high schools, so Kevin Bushweller’s January 9 Motivation Matters blog: Comparing American, Chinese, and Indian Students, caught my attention when Kevin wrote

The economic benefits of being highly educated and having a "safe" career seem to be major motivators for the students in India and China, but not for the Americans.

And that led to Andrew Trotter’s article, Film Depicts China, India Besting U.S. in Schooling, about Two Million Minutes

… an independent documentary film. The documentary, conceived and financed by high-tech entrepreneur Robert A. Compton, suggests that the difference in the way students use their roughly “two million minutes” in high school will seriously affect their economic futures and that of the United States.

Notice that both of these quotes focus on a common theme: “economic benefits” and “economic future.” What these young people from China and India seem to grasp that American young people do not is that the specifics of their education, rather than the extent of their education, will be critical to earning a secure income. We are a nation accustomed to expansion and accustomed to being the economic powerhouse of our world, limited only by our imagination, ambition, and work ethic. But as the world shrinks, we are beginning to feel a little crowded.

Perhaps this outlook on the part of our young is predictable, when so many politicians and policy wonks seem to come up with the same simplistic answer to the "problem." In order to ensure our economic pre-eminence, we need a highly educated work force. And to secure that work force, we must make sure that no child is left behind, therefore every child should go to college. A college education has been promoted as the magic talisman of success, social standing and security. All they need is a degree!

Here’s the reality. While our high schools are “graded” on their success in preparing students for college entrance, most students who enter American high schools never go to college. Far too many never finish high school. They drop out because they need to work or because they don't need the frustration of being marked as failures at sixteen. Being accepted, especially to a “good” college, is a competitive process and for many of our young people winning this competition is what high school is all about. What they intend to learn after they get in college and what they intend to do with that knowledge is vague, but they seem sure that it will result in economic security.

Impossible dream? Maybe, but don't we want to set high expectations for all students? And what if we actually meet our goal? What if we really don't leave a single child behind in the quest for enrollment in a four-year college program? What if every high school student aspires to and achieves a perfect score on the SAT? Where will we find sufficient college placements for them? Who will pay for their post secondary education? And if we enrolled them all and they all graduated within six years, where will they find jobs? Because while there are a growing number of jobs that require a degree, and while those jobs do pay more, there are not enough of those jobs to go around.

College graduates are often disconcerted to discover that the world is not waiting breathlessly for their entrance into the job market. Their degree is not a ticket to a secure career; it is only admission to the competition for professional employment. Many of our college graduates are underemployed either because they lack specific job skills or there is no market for the skills they acquired in college. More college graduates will not fix the problem.

As a real-live teacher, I am touched by the honesty of Robert Compton, the orginator behind Two Million Minutes.

“I don’t consider myself knowledgeable enough to make policy recommendations. I’m just showing you the truth … about high school education.”

The truth is that as Americans we have grown accustomed to preferential seating at the economic table, but globalization has cancelled our standing reservation and economic isolationism is not an option. Nothing will turn back the clock. A college education is no longer a meal ticket because the table is crowded and the competition is now global and fierce.

So, if a college degree for everyone is not the answer, what other strategies might help secure the next generation a place at this increasing crowded table? Are there other ways to win?

Posted by Susan Graham at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Emperor in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale, The Emperor’s New Suit, parades naked through the street as the court and the people admire his non-existent finery.

“But he has nothing on at all,” said a little child at last. “Good heavens! listen to the voice of an innocent child,” said the father, and one whispered to the other what the child had said. “But he has nothing on at all,” cried at last the whole people. That made a deep impression upon the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought to himself, “Now I must bear up to the end.” And the chamberlains walked with still greater dignity, as if they carried the train which did not exist.”

Do educator policymakers, like the chamberlains, find themselves too deeply committed to a plan of action and too fearful of being proved unfit for the role of the emperor’s advisors that they will not admit we may all be deluding ourselves? Have we all been part of a collusion that promises our young people an Emperor’s New Education when we insist that success, fulfillment, security and happiness can only be cut and stitched from the fabric of a four-year college degree? And are we, the general public, just like the citizens who are unwilling to acknowledge what we see?

Understand, I am not saying that college is a scam. But have its rewards been misrepresented? In my last entry I asked readers, “Why do we want them to go to college? It's a $100,000 question that all too often begs an answer." Marvin commented, “Perhaps the very rich can be blase about the financial fruits of higher education but for many of my generation, making more money was an urgent and positive driving force.” And Amitra said, “You've articulated something that I've been struggling with for some time now. I was one of those students that went to college because it was "expected" of me, and had no idea what I wanted to do. Now, I am stuck with a very large student loan debt that I'm not sure when I'll be able to pay off, and a job that pays a lot less than some vocational jobs that I wouldn't have had to go into this much debt to get.”

Are there other viable options? I spent hours noodling around the US Department of Labor’s Bureau for Labor Statistics website. In the Occupational Outlook Handbook for 2008-09, all of these jobs offer median incomes above $48,000 and below $60,000.

• Registered Nurse
• Medical Sonographer
• Railroad Engineer
• Anthropologist
• Funeral Director
• Surveyor

And now some questions:
1. Which occupations require a four year college degree?
2. Which careers offer the least promising prospects for employment?
3. Which do not require some kind of license or certification?
4. Which has a well defined career ladder to advance in skills, responsibility and income?
5. Can you rank the jobs by median income reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics?

Here are your answers:
1. While undergraduate degrees in nursing and surveying are options, only the anthropologist is locked into a four year degree for an entry level job. The other careers listed may require an associate's degree, an approved technical school program, industry certification, apprenticeship, or on-the-job training.
2. Unfortunately, the emergent anthropologist faces the weakest job market and will have to compete against other job candidates who hold advanced degrees. Health care fields continue to offer more new jobs than any other career strand. Creation of new positions for railroad engineers, funeral directors and surveyors is somewhat flat; but many of these jobs are held by workers who can be expected to retire in the next 10 years creating job openings for existing positions.
3. With the exception of the anthropologist, all of these jobs require either a license or certificate.
4. Registered nurses have the option of a bachelor’s degree, an associate's degree, or a diploma from an approved nursing program. Advanced degrees and specialty nursing certificates allow nurses to move into administration, teaching, and areas such as nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist.
5. You may have figured out that I already ranked the jobs by median income. The median income for registered nurses is the highest and nursing is predicted to have excellent job opportunities.

Did I stack that information a little? Sure, because I wanted to support my position. Yes, the median income for all occupations requiring degrees is higher, but the prospects of landing one of those jobs is lower because there are fewer available. That is why your restaurant server tonight may be a college graduate. And while the median income of college graduates may be higher, the difference between earnings in technical and degreed positions may not be as great many people assume. People do not earn more because they hold a degree. They earn more because they possess specific knowledge and skills that are marketable.

My concern is that a well intended effort to prepare everyone for college may result in limited job preparedness. If most jobs require post-secondary training, but the most common form of post-secondary training is on-the-job, then we have a disconnect.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Tomorrow’s Jobs actually projects:

For 12 of the 20 fastest growing occupations, an associate's degree or higher is the most significant level of postsecondary education or training. On-the-job training is the most significant level of postsecondary education or training for another 6 of the 20 fastest growing occupations. In contrast, on-the-job training is the most significant level of postsecondary education or training for 12 of the 20 occupations with the largest numerical increases, while 6 of these 20 occupations have an associate's degree or higher as the most significant level of postsecondary education or training. On-the-job training is the most significant level of postsecondary education or training for 19 of the 20 occupations with the largest numerical decreases.

Our students need post-secondary education. But there are many fields where the necessary knowledge and skills can be acquired with a more modest investment of time and money. We don’t tell our kids that. We tell all of them, "Go to college. In four years you'll get a degree and you'll get a good job and you'll make a lot of money." We rob them of other options by implying that any other path leads to failure.

I always felt kind of sorry for the Emperor. While he may have been a little shallow and gullible, he deserved honest answers and hard truths from trusted advisors. Don't our young people deserve as much from us?

Posted by Susan Graham at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)