Entry #3265: Reformed

I know this is just a silly little link blog, but today I want to tell you a story about why I dislike school standards so much, and No Child Left Behind-type programs in particular. You know, “teaching to the test”.

As a young kid I was trouble. Not trouble like arson, or bullying or any sort of delinquent behavior. I just made life a living hell for anyone in authority. I'd walk home during recess,  hide my jacket at the bus stop in winter just to piss off the teachers when I showed up for school in a tee shirt. I had a smartass retort for everything that was said or taught. I think there was a special bench just for me in front of the principal’s office. That kind of thing. Nothing you could say was really very bad, just endlessly provoking.

During the first teacher/parent conference in third grade my teacher asked my mother if she had any other children. She said yes, a younger son. Here was my teacher’s response: “You might want to start focusing on him.”.

After third grade it was “suggested” that I leave the public schools. So I was committed to a catholic school, which you know just wasn’t going to end well. I challenged everything. Made the nuns defend every notion from catechism to pergatory. I was relentless. I was rude, inconsiderate and as disruptive as I could possibly be, all the while knowing exactly what I was doing. My sixth grade teacher put me at a desk facing away from the class for the whole year. She’d given up on me from the first week of school.

That lasted three years, and then it was suggested that I might want to try going back to the public schools. The principal and faculty had given up on me yet again.

So, in seventh grade it was back to the public schools I go. Now it should be said that during all this time I was bored, so very bored, in class. I didn’t care about anything except for marine animals. All my time, when I wasn’t making life miserable for the adults around me, was devoted to studying these animals. I kept journals, biked whereever research was being done to make a pest out of myself until they let me help, taught myself how to identify and preserve invertebrates and poured over every book I could get my hands on.

Instead of the beach with the normal kids, I would sit under bridges and feed mussels to sea anemones. Chased away kids trying to harm horseshoe crabs, or throwing stones at seagulls. Nothing else mattered, and I resented anything that didn’t involve these animals. I had few friends, not because I couldn't get along with them, but because I pushed away anyone who tried to get close. I didn't need or want anybody. After all, I had jellyfish and sea urchins to deal with. The lack of friends didn't bother me the least bit, yet I'd shed a tear watching the shark derby. Seeing these incredible fish strung up at the docks for no other reason than to have a trophy photo shot.

On the first day of middle school I met Mr. D. He was my appointed science teacher, and my plan was to simply continue to treat this authority figure like I always did. With contempt. The first lesson was to be about animal and plant cells. I guess he saw something, because during the first week of school he pulled me aside, handed me the test he would give at the end of the unit, and said if I passed it I could create my own curriculum. I could basically do anything I wanted for one period every day, as long as it had to do with science. 

I aced it and started a study of echinoderms, while the rest of the class struggled with ribosomes and mitochondria, cell walls and nuclei. Genetics, metric system, ecology and ecosystems all came and went. One by one he would give me the test before starting the subject, and if I passed I could continue with my own curriculum. I made sure I passed. He even gave me full days off, arranged with the principal, to do field trips to the university to talk with oceanographers, shark experts and ecologists to prepare for my personal presentations with him. 

The funny thing was, I started taking an interest in my other subjects as well. I wrote the english papers that a year before I would have written in some sarcastic prose that I knew would infuriate the teacher. I made an effort in art class. I took math seriously. 

At the end of the year Mr. D announced that he never had the same student twice. So going into eighth grade I was devastated. When I showed up the next September I found he arranged an exception for me. And the same thing happened. As long as I could pass the end of the unit's test beforehand, I could do whatever I wanted. My behavior changed. My rebellion ceased, and I even allowed other kids to be friends with me. 

Now onto high school. My science teacher, Mr. M, must have had a discussion with Mr. D, now that I think of it years later, because the same pattern arose. He regularly allowed me to skip class to go sit in on the junior and senior science classes whenever I wanted .

A year later I was not only excelling, I started other activities that I would never have even contemplated before. I showed up in jeans at a track practice I wandered into, and without permission, jumped over a bar on the field. Within two years I made all-state and was ranked fifth in New England in the high jump. I’m only 5’11”, but in the state meet my junior year I cleared 6’6”. 

I got accepted into every college I applied for, chose the University of New Hampshire after being recruited by the track coach, started a business while in school, driving home to Rhode Island every weekend to make it work. This ended up becoming the Biomes Center. I missed my college graduation because I had to close on my first home. And even though today, at nearly 50, I still live paycheck to paycheck, it’s still me writing those paychecks and I’ve never worked for anyone else in my life.

And the point to all this is this: Mr. D changed my life. And it was all because without standardized testing he was able to size up his students and give them what they personally needed to excel. 

There has to be thousands of kids out there who are just like I was. I was a lost cause, bound to be a drug addict and runaway by the time I was fourteen, as that third grade teacher told my mom. But because of  "teaching to the test",  these kids will never have the chance to change their destiny like I was able to do. 

That’s why I hate standards. I take it personally.

Comments

[Pablo]

Good, enriching story. You have much to be proud of, including your stamina to drive yourself.

Of course, the fire alarm incident exposing violations at the Catholic school is classic irony!

[Lucia]

Have you read Summerhill by A.S. Neill?

[Karen]

There are many students like you. I usually could ferret them out (at least before teaching the test reared its ugly head, and getting to know the kiddos was almost impossible). Those students were my favorites. But I never had the insight of Mr D. What a great teacher.

And above it all - you turned out well. I think most of my tough students did too.

[Mark P]

OK, I hate to have to tell you this, but that is an inspiring story. Maybe it should be required reading by every principal in every school.

[Jen]

That is a beautiful story - thanks for sharing it.

[lee]

wow, ditto what everyone else said. i'm very ignorant when it comes to what works and what doesn't in an educational system, but i do know that what we have right now in this country isn't working. we need people in the education system that think like you do. ever thought about running for the local school board?

[Jim/The Velvet Blog]

That was just plain great.

[Terry]

What George Carin said. Schools are trying to create obedient workers. I see it with our school system. They do not create independent, creative people.

[mary]

I wish my kid had him now. What a difference that would make. He is similarly into falcons and owls---excels when he is allowed to work with them and flounders otherwise. What a great story.

[Julie]

As a RI elementary teacher, we have muliptiple meetings on the new Common Core curriculum, and it's only going to get worse. They pretty much want all students to be robots, on the same page on every subject and every subject area is writing, writing, and more writing.

[Julie]

Here is my FB post from the other night.
I'm bored, so I'm thinking...I remember when I first started teaching and it was a true honor to work for Cranston, it was one of the cities that respected and honored their teachers,(not anymore ). I remember when student growth could have been anything social, academic, or emotional. Not every student was on the same page, and that was ok, because maybe they made a gain in an area that they needed to thrive in before growing academically, and those things counted. You were thought of as a good teacher for making those important steps in a child's life, steps that they needed, steps to a stronger academic future...even if it was just bringing a child that was unhappy to smile, it was important because you were helping the whole child grow.

[C]

Amen! This is why I homeschool my bright, creative, energetic, son. Instill a lpove of learning and give them the space, there is no telling where they will go, but they will soar!

[Shalonne]

Wow - thanks for sharing! It is awful how much creativity is being taken away from teachers. But, as you saw, some don't deserve it either. I too had ONE teacher that made a difference. Imagine if they had all tried that hard? I had SEVERAL who made me feel unliked and worthless. I have a feeling if all teachers actually liked kids and teaching - all these horrid test requirements would have never happened. My experiences with those teachers who had no interest in real teaching are a big part of why I'm homeschooling my own kids.

[Dawn]

Powerful! Thank you for sharing. Very inspiring...and reminder to tune into children.

[Melissa R]

Wow. Thank you for sharing this with us. This is part of why I homeschool my son. Thank you for bring Biomes to us and thank Mr D. for that, too.
Kids don't belong in a box. They don't all learn the exact same thing at the exact same time. You CAN learn algebra at the same time that you are learning to spell house. You CAN do what you were meant to do, if you are given the freedom.

[Eric B.]

Standardized testing needs to go. It helps nothing, and can in fact hurt. How many schools have you heard about where staff were found guilty of changing kids' answers to improve scores? I know of two right here in the RI/MA area.