Sparking Interest

President Obama kicked off his latest educational initiative, Educate to Innovate, this week. He plans to bring corporate America together with scientific organizations to promote science and math education. Obama will bring scientists to visit the White House to make them equal to the star athletes that visit. Time Warner, Sesame Street, and the Discovery Channel all plan to incorporate science orientated programming. A National Lab Day is in the works and gaming companies including Sony are joining the effort.

This all sounds exciting except for the fact that the efforts will be focused outside the classroom. My disappointment was voiced in the New York Times article ; Mark Schneider, a vice president of the American Institutes for Research, made the point that while the effort was headed in the right direction, "it is missing more than half of what needs to be done," he continues, "it has nothing to do with the day to day teaching."

I can't predict if Educate to Innovate will be successful, Obama hopes to close the achievement gap between American and Asian/European students in STEM areas over the next decade. I hope it does. In 1986 government officials were more realistic when they chose to fund Project 2061. That project produced the book Science for All Americans, and a revised set of Benchmarks against which to measure scientific literacy. those participating in Project 2061 has declared at least 25 years would be necessary to put America back on top in the world of innovation. The project is in its 23rd year.

I'd like to say our inability to excite students to learn math and science is a problem of funding. Sally Ride identifies funding as falling short. Maybe it's teacher preparation and deficits in content knowledge. The Education Commission of the States makes that argument in their August 2009 report on the progress of educational reform. I don't know. I do know that young children love to explore the world of science and my middle schoolers report hating science. My "gut feeling" is we've taken the fun out of science. After elementary school science often becomes a pen and paper class that requires the memorization of the periodic table and the characteristics of phyla. If we're lucky, national Lab Day will promote the return to experimentation as a method of learning science. Sony's donation of PlayStations will get students interested in programming and a renewed interest in discovery will follow.

Food fight! Blog 12

Last week 25 students were arrested following a food fight at a Chicago middle school. the food fight, however it started, escalated to the point where the school's resource officer had to call for back-up to get the situation under control. three students were injured. Twenty-five students were pulled from school and charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct charges. Was it necessary to arrest these students? I reluctantly say yes for a variety of reasons.
Parents of the arrested students are angry that their kids will possibly have a juvenile record. the parents feel a record will have negative effects on the students' ability to get jobs or gain entrance into college. Well, yes, your child made a made choice and there will be consequences. the local fast food spot probably doesn't want to hire a teenage employee with a history of throwing food. Students competing for college spots and financial aid shouldn't lose out to a student who purposely, and accurately, threw an apple at someone else.
We also have to look at the worst case scenario. It may have started with a cookie, moved to an apple, but it was reported that someone threw a cafeteria tray. Now one student is out of ammunition; what's left- the cafeteria chair? three students were injured. One may assume these injuries were minor because the press made little of them, but you can't rule out the possibility that someone could have been seriously injured.
Perhaps the biggest reason that it was necessary to bring in law enforcement was the fear of litigation. I learned a new term while researching this blog; defensive teaching. I think this is a good example of how schools have to view situations as potential lawsuits. I can see the headlines if arrests were not made; "Student sues over fear of cafeteria," Cafeteria worker awarded worker's compensation for inhospitable work environment," and yes, "Teacher sues district for dry cleaning bill resulting from food fight." These may sound silly but in our litigious society I think anything is possible.
Some of the comments, (warning language in some comments could be offensive) found online call the food fight a "right of passage." I don't remember ever having or hearing about a food fight while in school. Others felt the discipline was too extreme and the school should have handled it in house. the fact that schools have resource officers says a lot about the ineffectiveness of detention or suspension to discipline students. of course there were comments bashing the teachers on duty. Although I make the claim, I really don't have eyes in the back of my head. I have lunch duty with one other person and 85 or so students. We can't catch everyone who is contemplating throwing food.
It's sad to say but I do agree the arrests were necessary. perhaps the court will throw out the charges, maybe not. I'd be interested in other opinions, should the school have handled this in house or was it inevitable that the courts would get involved?