Concluding Post: A Journey of a Thousand Miles

Concluding Post: A Journey of a Thousand Miles

After now having read from people like Rosen and Rodriguez and about people like Jane Addams and Maria Montessori, I look back on my reactions to the initial video clips of The Wire and wonder how much my viewpoints toward culture, education, and society are shaped from my own life experiences and how much are shaped by my education.  Without going any further, I realize that my comprehensive disposition toward all three is comprised of a mixture of my life experiences and education. I acknowledge that. I think the point, more so, is that my education through the years and throughout the months of this particular course, has enriched my understanding of the world around me, an understanding that has its foundation in my life experiences. Without question, my upbringing, schooling, relationships, and work experiences have given me the information I need to make deductions about things in the world around me. Because of these factors, I am able to make sense of the concepts and intricacies of differing cultures, the role of public education, and how it is all connected in society. Our course readings, in my mind, only add to those factors. This education has essentially introduced itself as another factor leading into my understanding of the world around me. And for that, I am thankful. As an educator as well as a mere citizen in this country, I value an expansive outlook on life and the different cultures in it. This knowledge not only allows me to become a better teacher but also a better citizen.

After having read my initial reactions to the movie clips, the first thing that came to mind was how in this specific culture in the United States, children are not being over-protected and controlled the way Rosen and Sandseter described in their literature. In all of these clips, a raw depiction of urban America is illustrated. We see children fending for themselves without parental supervision. We see children problem-solving in their own way on the streets. We see kids outside on “adventures”. In sum, it is more about what we don’t see. We don’t see helicopter parents. We don’t see the “safety-obsessed” world that Rosen speaks of. We don’t see creativity and problem solving skills being compromised like Sandseter described. We don’t see kids getting coddled or controlled by adults who think they are too fragile to handle the real world. In this culture, in all actuality, we see kids without a childhood. We see them acting almost as adults. This is essentially the opposite end of the spectrum as it relates to our topic from Cycle One. As such, it has its own set of problems. I think it goes without saying that a balance between the two is necessary for anyone trying to achieve real goals.

In Cycle Two we learned about Rodriguez and the internal conflict he felt in perusing a life in academia. His conflict centered on not only what he gained through his noble pursuit but also what he lost. He lost the connection to his past. He lost a familial affiliation with his people. Reviewing the clips, I can’t help but think that most of these young kids would have a similar conflict should they have chosen a life in academia. The reason is because that by doing so, they are leaving the streets. They are leaving a world the values street smarts over book smarts. Without question, if any one of these kids actually listened to Mr. Prezbo and sought out a life on the “straight and narrow”, they would be alienated and most likely mistreated by their peers.

In Cycle Three we focused on schools reflecting the culture of the surrounding community. We asked ourselves just how important that is to the goals of a district. We read about people like Jane Addams and Maria Montessori and their approach to bettering the communities in which they lived. This may have been the most revealing Cycle to me. I feel strongly about a district’s identity, pursuits, and curriculum reflecting the people it serves. At the end of the day, empowering children and the surrounding community is paramount to furthering them in life. In a way, Mr. Prezbo is a lot like Jane Addams. He found ways within the classroom and outside of it to connect to the “clientele”. He was practical in his approach to making a difference. He realized very quickly that a square peg will not fit through a round hole. Like Addams, Prezbo was a visionary in this respect.

In conclusion, to put this simply, this all matters to me because I want to be the very best father, husband, and teacher that I can be. All three jobs necessitate a level of understanding about the world around me. I am better at all three if I can identify the balance between a coddled upbringing and a neglectful one. I am better at all three if I can truly fathom what is gained and what is lost in a pursuit of education. I am better at all three in trying to further the lives of the people around me by understanding who they are and where they have been. It is true that nothing great is accomplished without an understanding of what is at stake and the goals you’ve laid out for yourself to get there. A roadmap after all, although it may deviate, is what allows us to follow through. That is why I have laid out three goals for myself so that I can be the very best at all three of my “jobs.” The first, to be achieved by August 2^nd, 2014, is to identify at least three different ways I can improve my daily life by improving the lives around me. This could be as simple as holding a door open for someone more often to meeting a new kid in my school every day. The second goal, to be achieved by September 15^th, 2014, is to sit in on meetings from a few different clubs at my school so I can better understand kids who may have vastly different interests than me. I think that will only make me a better teacher if I can understand a bit more where these kids are coming from and what they value. Finally, the third goal, to be achieved by September 15, 2019, is to not get “stuck in my ways”. I never want to be a person who makes conclusions about people and the overall world around me. I want to always be someone who allows himself to grow, despite getting older. By 2019, I want to make sure I am still availing myself to personal and professional growth. I want to continue reading, discussing, arguing, and helping people so that I never plateau as a father, husband, or teacher. I think that if I can do these three things, I will be happy with where I am at.

Thanks for another thought-provoking course!

Cycle Three: The Relationship between Schools and Home Cultures

Cycle Three: The Relationship between Schools and Home Cultures

The idea of viewing schools as reflections of our cultural society is an interesting one. Kids come from an array of ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, and degrees of formal education running in their family. Socially, students also fall into a myriad of traditional as well as non-traditional groups based on their interests and acceptance into those groups. Thus, to varying degrees in different schools and different parts of the country, the kids in our schools can certainly be a microcosm of the surrounding community. As such, it only makes sense to take the considerations necessary to reach all of these subgroups very seriously. I liken this very much so to business. A start-up business must take into consideration its clientele. Your business will be based firmly on their wants, needs, preferences, spending habits, and estimated reaction to your business endeavors. To neglect the identity or identities of your clientele would surely risk the downfall of your enterprise. Such, let’s be honest, would be foolish. Why then would a school and/or district do the same? The answer is possibly because they have never acknowledged this necessity as such. Or, quite possibly, the energy to change what they have been doing for some time is much too daunting a task. This would be quite sad. Finally, maybe districts with a transient demographic just have not yet caught up with their own identity. Or their identity is constantly changing. Whatever the reason might be, in my estimation, it is paramount to the mission statement and general purpose of the school to curtail its instruction, philosophies, and goals to the clientele that it serves.

Jane Addams was a visionary. She understood that at a time in America when immigration was at an all-time high, that help was needed to get many of these struggling immigrants on their feet. Opening the Hull House was her attempt to bridge the gap that was ever-widening in society between the “haves” and the “have-nots”, namely, the nativists and the increasing numbers of immigrants from Europe. Had it not been for her efforts and the efforts of all social workers today, there would have been so many barriers between ethnic and social groups in our society that any hope of harmony and sense of community would be lost.

Jane Addams seemingly introduced the notion that institutionally, we can make a difference by bringing people of different backgrounds together. Using herself and her workers as the example, she set forth that notion that their enterprise, comprised of all the different types of people in society, can lead the way as the example that harmony can be achieved. The bottom line regarding Jane Addams, apart from her unrivaled sense of selflessness and generosity, was that she understood that there was a place in society for a public venue to serve the needs of private, seemingly ‘different” underprivileged citizens. She proved that a public enterprise can serve a need in the community by reflecting the community itself.

Like Addams, Maria Montessori was a visionary. Through her extensive research of how the child’s mind learns new things, she realized that given the proper environment and natural stimuli present in that environment, children act as “little scientists” by discovering the world on their own merit. Thus, using scientific observation, Montessori designed learning materials and eventually entire schools that challenged her students in a very natural and organic manner. These were the natural stimuli that she believed were paramount to a child’s intrinsic motivation to learn. The overall classroom environment, too, fostered children’s natural desire to learn in the way people learn in their natural setting in society. Like Addams, Montessori discovered the power of healing, learning, and benevolence when society and public life play a role in a person’s development. In different ways and for different reasons, both women used elements of society, specifically different ethnic cultures, market forces, and social classes to be the backdrop of their educational and social endeavors.

As a teacher in a very diverse high school, a lot of this week’s topic resonates with me. I wonder just how much our curriculum and goals as a district reflect the community at which we serve. I wonder if we took the approach of Addams and Montessori just how different, if at all, our results in the classroom might be. It makes sense to design a round hole for a round peg, but what if you’ve been using a square hole a very long time? What if the forces that shape your goals were made outside the district? How much control do we have? Whatever the answer may be, if we can think the way a business thinks, or the way Addams and Montessori thought, I think we’ll be okay. 

Midterm

Letter

Dear Ray,

            I appreciate you feeling comfortable enough to come to me with this dilemma you are having. You must know, this is a common one that I have seen before, and that you are certainly not the only middle school kid to ever go through it. Your father’s desire for you to play football probably comes from a very good place. He sees it as a chance for you to experience something new, something you might just be really good at, and something that might introduce you to other kids you might really connect with. Ray, it is a father’s job to help open up doors for his children. To me, his pursuit to have you play most likely comes from this fatherly desire to provide opportunities for his kids. One day you might feel the same obligation to do the same for your own.

            Having said all of this, however, it is my advice to you to have a real conversation with your father about this matter. If your reluctance to play is so strong in fact that you really would never consider it if not for your father’s urging, you need to voice this to him. If this is indeed the case, ask him if there are any other opportunities he could introduce you to that better fit your personality and interest. Now, if there is a part of you that is intrigued by the thought of playing, that is, apart from only doing so to please your father, I suggest that you dive in and experience something new if only for the brand new experience.  After all, it is not as if you are signing a lifetime contract. If you do not seem to enjoy the experience, you should not have to continue to play.

            In the end, Ray, all of us want to please our parents. It is a very natural and normal thing to feel. It takes a lot of guts to try new things, particularly when those things are not exactly what you have been accustomed to. Sometimes those new experiences can really surprise you while others can simply reaffirm your original fears toward them. The most important thing is that your and your dad are on the same page, and that he understands where you are coming from one way or the other. In the end, he has to be okay with the choices you make. Good luck buddy.

Analysis

            Without question, this is a sensitive issue for Ray and his father. His father obviously comes from a place that is by some measure, worried about Ray’s social development. While we only have a piece of the information from this scenario, we can assume that Ray’s father holds reservations about the current trajectory of Ray’s upbringing. He must feel that Ray’s intensive focus on academics, lack of participation in extracurricular activities, and being seemingly withdrawn from his peers is at its core a problematic situation. Moreover, one might even assume that the father’s desire for Ray to play football stems from his own selfishness, for lack of a better word, for his son to share in his own interests. Finally, in what would be the worst-case scenario, this motivation from Ray’s father might even come from a place that wishes to live vicariously through this son. This, undoubtedly, would be a disastrous situation that is never in the best interest of the child. If we are to assume that the father’s motivations for his son to play football come from any one of these places, the realization that this could be a very tumultuous situation for the family becomes increasingly present.

            As adults, we can all appreciate a child’s desire to please his or her parents. This desire becomes increasingly prevalent for a father and son or mother and daughter. Both parties naturally want to be able to identify with one another and share in the same interests and experiences. Such is a dream scenario for all parties. The problem is that life doesn’t always play out like that. Sometimes, the chemistry between “blood” doesn’t always match up the way you might think. The situation between Ray and his father seems to be such a case. So what does a child do? What does a parent do? The answer to this dilemma is not an easy one for either party. The answer is communication.

            For Ray, he must be open and honest with his father about his trepidation to play football. I tried to relay as much in my letter. For a child trying to desperately please his father, this is no small task. That is why the father must set the bar for healthy communication between the two. After all, whether in business, family, or any other context, precedents are always set best in a top-down direction. Thus, it is incumbent upon the father to acknowledge just how difficult this must be for Ray. While he just might have honorable motivations for providing Ray with this opportunity to play football, he must also empathize with him and understand how powerful his own influence and urging is over a child. On the other hand, if his motivations for wanting Ray to play come from a selfish place, he must realize the calamitous path that he has brought them on.

            As I reflect on this situation between Ray and his father, so many points from our readings jump out to me. Ray’s father is obviously of Rosen’s “safety obsessed” viewpoint regarding children, thinking that they are way too coddled these days and that football would, “toughen him up”, as the scenario described. While I agree with some of Rosen’s views, I also lean on the views of others like Sandseter, who believed that children do need adventures and experiences on their own and with their peers, apart from the manipulation of the context by parents, in order to grow freely and organically. In the end, direct and honest communication between Ray and his father, coupled with the self-awareness his father must have in this situation regarding the power he has over his child, is the only way Ray’s dilemma ends as a positive life experience. Ray’s father must find a balance between the “safety-obsessed” viewpoint of Rosen and his own motivations for wanting Ray to play football. In the end, the onus is on the father to ensure that this ends well for Ray.

Cycle 2: Cultural Assimilation and Social Mobility

Rodriguez’s book, Hunger of Memory, forces the reader, at least in my mind, to ask themselves serious questions about their education and educational experience. Specifically, it prompted me to ask myself what all did I gain from my education--elementary school to graduate school--as well as what I may have lost. The former, that is, what one gains from a life of academia, I found to be much easier to answer. Of course I gained a well-rounded understanding of the world around me, having a background, albeit brief in most cases, of every academic discipline from science to music. More importantly, however, academia provided me with the expertise and knowledge-base to sustain myself financially in the job market. As a teacher and coach, my livelihood is completely and unequivocally wrapped up in the knowledge I learned in my schooling. Additionally, the skills of communication and relationship building too were honed in higher education. The latter, then, is much more difficult for me to answer. What might I have lost in my pursuit of a life of academia? I suppose some surface level reasoning would be that I lost a boat-load of money, alienation from a faction of my friends who took to the workforce or military after high school, and the inability to be mobile/transient/spontaneous with my life decisions when I was tied down to East Lansing, Michigan. While I more than enjoyed my stay, don’t get me wrong, I have to admit that I was, like all students enrolled in undergraduate school, unable to move freely for a span of four years.

When I apply my potential “loss” to what Rodriquez examines in his book, I'm left feeling over-privileged and spoiled. As he characterizes the alienation he felt not from his friends but from his very own family, I just could not imagine. His story certainly is one of true gain and loss at the hands of the educational system. Growing up as a white, middle-class male, I simply cannot admit that I have any of the same internal crises about my schooling.  In my upbringing, this path was expected not just from my immediate parents and family but from my school and community. While there may have been a slim chance for a deviation from the expected path, it was just that--slim. As a result, little alienation occurred as a result.

While I say this, however, I do think about my aforementioned “faction” of friends who chose the workforce or military over high education and I can't help but think about the much higher degree of alienation they must have felt as the masses from our school and community left town for colleges and universities. Flipping the situation, in other words, really illuminated this issue for me and brings me closer to what I think was the sentiment Rodriguez was attempting to examine in his book.

Generally speaking, Rodriguez expresses grief that as he furthered his education, eventually finishing a Ph.D. in English Literature, he became progressively alienated from his family. As his academic path furthered, that of his family most certainly remained the same, resulting in a gigantic gap in what they had in common and how they viewed themselves in society. Rodriguez goes on to describe how the cultural values from his ancestry were compromised by the incoming and seemingly all-encompassing world of academia. Thus, he and his family gradually drifted apart. Rodriguez fully expected an educated life to bring him closer to the ideals of the American Dream. He presumed that if could make it from being socially and academically disadvantaged minority to a fully assimilated and educated American male, the sky would be the limit for he and his family. While he thought this would all make him freer, it actually began to close previously open doors in his life, specifically in his past.  So, while he may have achieved the heralded American Dream, it was not without costs.

I have to imagine this book resonates strongly with minority groups in America. While it made me truly think about my upbringing, the ingrained expectations of my family, school, and community, and the educational experience as a whole in our country, the book leaves me feeling left out of the true experience of feeling alienated as a result of a life’s pursuit of academia. I believe that to be a good thing, however, I'd be lying if I wasn't still thinking about what my life would have been like without the “losses” accrued during my educational journey. Did I need all that education to be as happy as I am right now?

SHARING

1. NY Times Article on recent Affirmative Action News

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/a/affirmative_action/index.html

While I somehow was not able to tackle the Rodriguez-prompted affirmative action discussion, I certainly meant to. This is a topic that my high school students constantly want to talk about. The tough part is finding the right resources online with real, unbiased information. This Times article does just that.

2. Article from the NY Times on the “Assimilation” effect of the US Educational system

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/15immig.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The previous article forced me to stumble upon this one outlining the unique affects that education can have on the assimilation of our youth today. From Hispanic-born immigrants to those from the Middle East, this article from the Times is a rich account of how our educational system is also unintentionally assimilating them.

3. Article ESL Partyland

http://www.eslpartyland.com/teaching-esl-student

This article is a good read for anyone teaching or who is interested in teaching students where English is their second language. While it has great strategies for how to do so, I think you will read the article in a new light after having read Rodriguez’s book for this week. For me, it raised questions about non-academic growth for these students. Specifically, how ESL teachers can help them socially and with their speech, all while keeping the bridge to their past--something I am sure Rodriguez would appreciate. 

Cycle 1: The Culture of Childhood

REFLECTION

When I think back to my childhood, much of it was set apart from my parents’ “adult” world. Especially during the summer months, my neighborhood friends and I would set out on adventures through the woods and to the lake for hours on end. I suppose being a middle son of five kids to two hard-working parents provides such an opportunity. Thinking back to those times raises so many questions in my head. How did we fill all those hours each and every day? Wasn’t anyone ever worried about us getting hurt miles from the house? Will I let my future kids ever have such unsupervised adventures?

As I think about these things and all the nostalgia I can take invariably sets in, I wonder just how different kids are raised today. It appears to me that my aforementioned adventures are probably happening less and less. Kids are busier than ever with year-round sports, clubs, and camps. Parents are much more cautious with all the evils of the world out there. As Rosen puts it, today there is an extreme case of “safety obsession”, where the idea is …”that children are too fragile or unintelligent to assess the risk of any given situation.” Generationally, parents just might be different than their own parents. They may perceive time with their kids much differently than past generations. As a result, we have some degree of the “helicopter” parents who always seem to hover around their child, unintentionally affecting their development. Whichever the case might be, my initial perceptions of the culture of childhood today is one that is highly supervised and regimented.

Provided this, as a teacher and a soon to be parent, I worry. I worry about how kids might be coddled these days. I worry that problem-solving skills will be quelled by the use of technology and parents present to complete the task for them. I worry about communication skills and the ability to be well-versed socially. Is this supervised and regimented world suppressing the natural growth of our youth? Are creativity, imagination, and resourcefulness being compromised in the name of keeping our kids safe or always nearby? As Sandseter described, “When they are left alone and can take full responsibility for their actions, and the consequences of their decisions, it’s a thrilling experience”. With respect to kids’ development today, I believe adults have the responsibility to understand this point and to also ask themselves such questions and more.

I have had this exact conversation with a friend before. This friend has a teenage son and another who is nine. He too raised a lot of the same apprehension about our youth today. He gave some insight that I found to be quite interesting and reflects some of the social differences between generations. He told me about a conversation he had with his mother. She told him about how when he was a kid and she was carting him and all his friends around town to either go to the movies or to the beach, or wherever their destination might be, that the car was so loud and bustling with conversations that she sometimes had to ask them to quiet down. Now, she explained, when she does the same type of carting around with her grandchildren, the car is silent due to the intensive use of smart phones. He told me how he has asked himself numerous times how this type of virtual communication--whether it be text, Twitter, Instagram, etc.--will impact his kids as they enter adulthood. He obviously is not the only one asking such questions.

I loved the concluding line to the Tobin, Hsueh, and Karasawa article, “Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited.” It read, “Dealing with tears, fights, and hardships are normal aspects of a healthy childhood that children in contemporary Japan are seen as being at risk of missing out on as a result of shrinking family size, a loss of opportunities to interact spontaneously with other children in neighborhood settings, and parents who are either anxiously overprotective or narcissistically too self-absorbed to give their children attention or opportunities for play with others.”  A strong and comprehensive quote for our topic for Cycle one this week, I thought it spoke volumes for what I estimate will be the crux of everyone’s blog posts. In the end, in parenting or in teaching, awareness of this issue must be understood by the adults in charge. We don’t necessarily know or understand how this “sheltered” or “safety obsessed” or “enabled” culture might manifest itself when our generation of youths are adults, however, I think I speak for most when I say that being pro-active is a much better route than being reactive down the road.

SHARING

1. Article from Slate.com on “Helicopter” Parents

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2014/02/motivating_teenagers_how_do_you_do_it.html

I thought this article was quite thought-provoking for anyone who wants to not only read up on what “helicopter parenting” is, but also (and more importantly) how to prevent it. The article proceeds to discuss the potential “destructiveness” to children’s imagination from helicopter-like behavior by parents, as well as how it stifles kids’ desire to be intrinsically motivated.

2. Article from Telegraph.co.uk on “Safety-Obsessed” Culture

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/9221203/Obsession-with-safety-is-risking-our-childrens-well-being.html

This article emphasized the point that over-obsessing on kids’ safety implants a psychological fear that they will carry with them through life. Fearing everyday life and the unknown is obviously a trait that would inhibit any adventurous or imaginative behavior in our youth.

3. Article from ChildAlert.com

http://www.childalert.co.uk/article.php?articles_id=322

This article was about the necessary evil that is cell phone use today. He argues the point, are cell phones a necessity for mainstream culture today, a social media addiction, or both? Such a topic is right to the point and in my mind, right on point as well. An interesting read, the article really makes your question your own beliefs about the arrival of cell phones and the systematic use of them in our culture.

TE 822 - Introductory Post

Hello there fellow educators, my name is Kyle Jewett and I am currently a high school social studies teacher. I live and teach in Muskegon, MI at a Class A high school. Specifically, I teach AP US History, an elective called Character Building and Leadership, as well as a Strength and Conditioning course. I graduated from MSU in 2007 and have been working in my current job ever since. I am currently married without kids. Travelling, the outdoors, football, and MSU athletics are just a few of my favorite things. I am taking TE 822 to fulfill my requirements for my Master’s Degree. I should be finished in the spring of next year.

In the first clip from the series, The Wire, what immediately came to mind regarding the institution of public education was just how differently some areas of the country approach the institution itself from a mental standpoint. While some places see students eager, anxious, and excited for the first day of school, others, like those portrayed in The Wire, shows how students do not approach schooling as a serious matter, but rather an obligation. Moreover, I think this initial clip shows how teachers must be adept at handling the mental approach of the students in their particular location. We see Mr. Prezbo stumbling and uncertain of himself mainly due to his lack of experience in educating the culture of youth at this specific school. Conversely, we see an older woman who works at the school (possibly the principal) who is very adept at handling the culture.

In the second clip I think we get a good look at the circumstances surrounding a lot of troubled kids’ lives. We get a little bit of the back story of a boy named Michael that provides reason to why he missed detention and why he is a troubled kid. I think this is so important to remind ourselves of as educators. There is always more to the story than what we see for 50 minutes at a time while they are in our classroom.

The third clip shows Namond, a troubled teen, trying his hardest to get suspended from school simply so that he does not have to go. He relies on the “rules” of the building to get him out of the aforementioned “obligation” of public education. 

Clip four shows the power of relating curriculum to kids’ everyday lives. When Mr. Prezbo finds a way to relate his subject area to something the young boys can understand, he receives the type of reaction he had most likely yearned for in the weeks prior. He does this yet again with his use of the dice. Such is one of the most powerful things a teacher can learn as a skill: The ability to make their content relatable and valuable in the kids’ eyes.

Finally, clip five reminded me of just how different everyone can be who shares the same school and/or workplace. Schools are filled with varying cultures, families of different socio-economics statuses, and mental approaches to the institution of public education. To me, the clip reinforces how our buildings must be comprised of self-less individuals looking to take on the challenge of providing all of these different people with a rich experience. To me, that is not only what makes the job so difficult, but also what makes it the most rewarding. 

TE 823 -- Final Project

TE 823 -- Final Project

Dear Mr. Superintendent,

            I am writing this letter to you in reference to my growing concern over what appears to be the disintegration of certain aspects of our students’ character in our district. As you know, we have wonderful kids in our community with the power to make positive changes in the world once they leave us after graduation. I merely want to open a line of communication with you that might just force some changes for the betterment of our kids before that graduation date is upon us.

            The nature of my concern is regarding the district’s policy of “A-B-Not Yet”. As you are well aware, our students, in the name of achieving mastery over any particular subject matter, are able to take and re-take tests and quizzes until they are able to achieve an A or a B. Although I understand the rationale, I do believe it is attempting to solve one problem while creating another. Whether the intended goal of mastery is achieved or not, I believe this policy sets a bad precedent for the character-building of our students. I fear that they do not, and never will until they leave us after graduation, fully fathom what it means to fail. Failure, in my opinion, can be one of the greatest catalysts for one’s eventual success. It is a necessary part of life. It is about the growth in one’s character that emerges after having gone through something, failed, and then persevered to a better outcome. This is why I believe we need the “A-B-Not Yet” policy reformed district-wide.

            For most people, save socioeconomic status, the most telling linkage between one’s childhood and their adult success is intelligence. Today, we measure that intelligence by how well our youth do on standardized tests. We measure them from as early as kindergarten on admissions tests to the ACT s in junior year of high school. In each case, the resounding theme is the same: those who score high on tests achieve the greatest amount of success. Naturally, the intention of the policy of A-B-Not Yet is to aid students in their ability to score higher on said standardized tests in order for them to have the greatest opportunity at success. But what if test scores weren’t the primary indicator of adult success? What if instead it were something ingrained into their character that garnered the highest possibilities of success? In How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character than anything else. Tough references skills like perseverance, self-control, curiosity, creativity, and diligence as being vital tools in one’s character that are far more important to attaining success than high marks on standardized tests.

            Moreover, Tough contends that it is not failure itself that helps us succeed. In truth, repeated failures can be quite demoralizing to a child's confidence and development. Instead, what Tough stresses as crucial on the road to success is learning to cope with failure and manage adversity. At its core, How Children Succeed offers the idea that I believe could change our children’s futures for the better: that character—not cognition—is fundamental to success, and that character can be taught in our school district.

            One of Tough’s most compelling research was conducted on James Black Jr., an African American student from Brooklyn, NY who is now on his way to high school. James comes from a low-income neighborhood and has also had the unenviable experience of seeing many of his siblings spend time in prison. In addition, James has never been a great test-taker while in school. Despite his best efforts, he routinely scored average to below average on tests determining cognitive aptitude. Yet, James ranks as one of the most accomplished adolescent chess players in the nation. Naturally then, James was the perfect target for Tough. The objective was to determine how this kid was so successful at such a seemingly cognitively-challenging activity despite not apparently being cognitively-strong in school.

            Upon Tough’s investigations, he admits that he truly believed at the outset that chess was the quintessential IQ-driven game. After following James for nearly a year, however, Tough discovered that many accomplished chess players disagreed. They contended that success in chess has more to do with personality traits than purely one’s level of intelligence. Elizabeth Spiegel, James’s chess teacher, also agreed that the development of students’ non-cognitive skills (i.e. personality traits tied to one’s character) are central to one’s opportunity at reaching success.

            In the case of James Black and many others’ that Tough examines in How Children Succeed, non-cognitive skills trumped cognitive skills in determining the success of the student. While these cases are certainly compelling and to most people hold a certain degree of veracity, others might still disagree. Others could easily argue that while Tough’s research has many aforementioned strengths, it also has weaknesses. For example, in the case of the A-B-Not Yet policy, many of its advocates argue that mastery of course material throughout the school year is central to performing well on standardized tests, which is central to opening as many doors as possible upon graduation. To a degree, this is hard to refute. In fact, the way the education system is set up today in America, it would be difficult to go against the grain, so to speak, if it leads to the overall detriment of your students’ futures. Thus, I see the need on your end to continue with the policy, despite its apparent compromises in characters, as a means to provide our students with the best chance at success once they leave us.

            In the name of finding a middle ground, however, I do believe Paul Tough would agree that at minimum, a focus on developing students’ non-cognitive skills needs to be implemented alongside the A-B-Not Yet policy. It cannot just be all about achieving high marks. As a teacher in your district, I can tell you that I have seen the negative repercussions of that. Students lose their sense of accountability, creativity, and diligence when it becomes all about the grade and not about developing well-rounded human beings. The case of James Black is proof that for many students, particularly those who struggle on formal assessments, success can be in their sights too if they are just given the opportunity to perform to their strengths. Thus, it is my belief that A-B-Not Yet needs to be reformed so as to provide the opportunity of success to more than we have in the past.

            Reflecting Tough’s beliefs in failure as a vehicle for future success, I believe that the first thing that needs to be reformed is the number of times students are able to re-take quizzes and tests before the grade becomes final. In my mind, although mastery is the intention, limits on chances provides the necessary checks and balances we need in place in order to salvage a degree of accountability in the students. Accountability and diligence, after all, are major non-cognitive skills that our kids need to develop. Moreover, instead of leaving it up to the classroom teacher to determine when that particular student will be re-taking their test or quiz, thereby essentially making the teacher arguably more accountable than the student, a blanket time and place rule needs to be implemented so as to place the onus on the student to make up the test. This adjustment, in my opinion, emphasizes the point that students need to have a stake in their own futures. Since the implementation of A-B-Not Yet, it seems that students have begun to expect the teachers to ensure their mastery of the material instead of taking ownership of it themselves. These adjustments might just remedy that problem.

            In addition, I would like to see the district implement a “character” grade on students’ report cards. These character grades could be on the same 4.0 scale as all the other classes and could be a cumulative score from each of the students’ five to six courses. Thus, each teacher would be given a set curriculum that would determine the character scores for each of his/her students. This curriculum could range from everything from turning assignments in on time and attendance, to respectfulness in the classroom, to degree of accountability in the A-B-Not Yet test-retaking program. This, naturally, is the more radical dynamic of my proposal. That does not, however, mean that it is radical in nature. At the very basis of this letter is the need to get back to molding well-rounded, hard-working, resilient young men and women. This addition to the over-arching curriculum, unquestionably, is a definitive step in that direction. At the very least, it will provide students like James Black the opportunity to excel in school when they never have in the past. It will emphasize the importance of character in one’s own success. It will make our district a pioneer in the movement to gear our instruction back toward kids’ character. I ask you, Mr. Superintendent, to please consider this course of action research to improve our district. I know you will be glad you did. Thank you.

With hope and resolve,

Kyle Jewett