Probably the biggest loser of the November 6th Oklahoma elections were the teachers. They had so hoped that Drew Edmundson would win and return them to the glory days of “just show us the money.” Here in Tulsa, Tulsa Public Schools closed for the day to get out the vote and drive persons to the polls.
The teacher’s arguments and threats are proving hollow. Actually, Republicans gained seats in the Legislature. Who would raise cane for more money when student performance is so bad? The results are in and only 16 percent of Oklahoma high school graduates in 2018 are college ready. The national average is 27 percent. What a terrible indictment of Oklahoma’s teaching professionals.
If you were fixing flat tires and only adequately repaired 20 percent of them, you would be fired. This goes for all other professions too, but not in education.
Actually, as I have written in the past, all major education stakeholders have failed Oklahoma’s public school students.
Today, many parents are awful. We need strong families that do not depend upon schools to provide safe spaces, laundry and three meals per day. We’ve already spoken about the teachers and now on to the third stakeholder; the communities across Oklahoma. Most rural towns and cities do not tax themselves to improve education. They wait for money from the state to fund education.
Actually, State Question 801 was on the ballot and came closest to solving the problem. The Legislature proposed lifting the constitutional restrictions on the permanent school millages. Currently those monies must be spent on operations, construction and maintenance of buildings. SQ801 would have allowed 15 mills to be spent how the districts wanted.
SQ 801 failed. Proponents and supporters wanted budget flexibility. Opponents saw no reason local school districts should pay a penny more. It’s always someone else responsibility. Teachers were most vocal against it.
The fourth failed stakeholders are the district superintendents. They know, and we know there are “way too many” school districts in Oklahoma. As long as people will buy “if you consolidate districts, we will lose the school and then the community,” nothing will be done. This is furthest from the truth.
Any consolidation is expected to save a minimum of $60 million per year. The last failed stakeholder is the Legislature. They have all the power and waste their time on mundane issues like the Ten Commandments monument. Hopefully. Governor-elect Kevin Stitt will show them how to concentrate on what’s important.
The New York Times recently ran a section on Learning under the technology banner. Here in Oklahoma, with our terrible outcomes, maybe technology will prove to be the better way of learning. What they say is schools are finding new ways to use and create, technology to increase students’ engagement and success.
Most of the examples used dealt with community colleges and higher learning, however there was one example that caught my eye.
It was called, “Making Education Inclusive.” The story starts with a volunteer mother noticing how hesitant the kindergarten children were to play with toys they didn’t recognize.
“I can’t do that: I’m not good at that,” they would say. Even at 4 or 5 years old, there was already a “be perfect, don’t fail” attitude. So, Ms. Kaneko started bringing in blocks, clay and let the children play and mess up as they saw fit. There was no instruction only imagination.
What has evolved is a “maker” program across America. The largest maker fair draws 200,000 people annually. Some who attend are educators who want to learn; some are students who want to show off their maker projects.
When teachers are accustomed to airtight lesson plans and scripted lectures, many students do not learn. What the maker world has done is advance science and math in the classroom. Students use their imagination to solve real world issues. Education should be and can be fun. Hopefully, somewhere in Oklahoma education there are teachers following their instincts for a better tomorrow.