WHAT Are They Teaching?

In 1976, I started kindergarten in Middle Country School District.  It was a full day back then.  By 1979, when my sister started kindergarten, they had gone to a half-day.  In 2002, we came full circle and my son was the first kindergarten class in Rocky Point to have a full day, though it has completely changed since 1976.

            Things are a bit sketchy from back then.  My memory is good, but we are talking over thirty years ago.  And though I don’t remember every detail, I do remember bits and pieces… the important bits and pieces.  I distinctly remember NOT being taught to read.  We learned our letters, yes, and the sounds they made.  We learned how to spell our names, but we were not taught to read.  Other things were more important.  For instance, how to make/draw/create/write those letters that we would eventually need to make those words that we would eventually read.  And we learned to write them neatly.

            I spent my days, in Mrs. Schmitz’s kindergarten class, painting, drawing, building, learning to be social and occasionally churning butter.  In first grade, the concept of reading was introduced, though spelling and penmanship still had the floor.  They were of the utmost importance and, as a student, I understood that.  In second grade, reading earned equal stature with spelling and penmanship.  And by third grade, they each had their place and cursive writing became the norm by the middle of the school year.  Cursive, it seems, has now become optional and some teachers are opting not to teach it at all. 

In Rocky Point, cursive writing is supposed to be taught in third grade.  Not all third grade teachers teach it and not all forth grade teachers expect students to know it.  However, if you have a third grader who is not taught cursive, who then gets a teacher in fourth grade who expects them to know it, that student is now behind the rest of the class.  I suppose it is up to me to ask the obvious… why is there no standard for penmanship? 

My oldest learned to read before his kindergarten winter break. Though he continues to struggle with spelling and he’s in seventh grade.  I know I am not the only parent dismayed by this.  My child’s handwriting is atrocious, his spelling is “inventive” and his grammar is undetectable.  He receives 100% on most of his spelling tests, or should I say 15/15… a grading scale I hate.  (A grading scale that, I believe, was invented because teachers don’t want to/can’t/are too lazy to do the math.)  But when he sits down to write in the paragraph, it all goes out the window and he has yet to have a teacher who cares about this.  They would always say they do.  Oh, I brought it up at every parent/teacher conference, but there was no follow through and his spelling still stinks. Not a huge deal now that he’s in middle school and can type everything, but when you spell “want” as “wont” the spell checker won’t catch it because “wont” is a word.  “So, what will happen when he goes to college?” you ask.  I will tell you.

            As an English professor at Suffolk County Community College, Dowling College, and the University of Phoenix, I see, all too often, the result of this kind of learning.  Learning where the emphasis is on literacy and not on English as a language results in apathetic readers and students who cannot put an original thought together on paper.  It seems the only reason they have learned to read and write is for the many (too many in this author’s opinion) tests they must take. 

            There is no purpose, or function, or pleasure to learning anymore.  It is all about doing well on standardized tests and making the school/teacher/administration look good.  Well, I see the true result of this kind of learning.  Suffolk has always offered remedial classes.  My sister had to take some, but that was because she never went to class in high school.  (The cafeteria sucked her in.)  That’s what community colleges were for; to give the less learned a leg up.  Those students that were tracked into general instead of honors, or whatever tracking system your high school had, were expected to go to community college and catch up with the rest of their classmates.

            Now remedial classes at Suffolk are packed and more sections have to be added every fall for the influx of students who do poorly on the placement test.  Dowling now requires a placement test and, though remedial classes are not the norm, they do require students who do poorly to go to the tutoring center for a certain amount of hours per week. 

Parents should be outraged that their school districts are not doing what they are supposed to.  And, because of that, the parent or student is left to foot the bill for yet another senior year; an entire semester of math, English and reading classes for which the student receives no credit.  

            I have just about everything I’ve ever written; from my 4^th grade report on Samuel Adams (American hero turned brand of beer), to the novel I recently finished.  I look through these things and see a child/adult who can communicate clearly and authentically.  I was no special child.  I had the same spelling problem as my son, perfect scores on the tests, but terrible in the paragraph.  The difference?  I was made to rewrite until I got it right.  Remember typing on a typewriter?  Remember making one mistake, not being able to line it up and having to retype the entire page?  Not to mention if you wanted to add a line or a quote.  Did this make me a better writer?  Probably not.  Did it make me more conscientious?  Yes. 

            I was forced to write out a rough draft to make sure when I typed it, that it was what I wanted to say.  Do I still use a typewriter?  No.  But I have that need, as a writer, to communicate clearly and authentically.  How do we help our children/students to want to do that?  It is no secret that one misspelled word or grammatical error can send your resume into the round file.  Employers want, and these days can demand, employees who pay close attention to detail.  If you cannot do that in your own resume, the very thing that represents you in the job market, then it can be assumed you will not do it on the job.

            Writing is communication.  If it is not clear, misunderstanding will pervade.  Today, students write blogs instead of keeping diaries.  They send text messages and emails instead of writing letters.  Contrary to what many think, writing is still an important form of communication.  They have a desire to communicate their own ideas through words.  This is not encouraged in today’s high school classroom.  Students are stifled and not allowed to be creative because creativity is not graded on the SAT.

            This problem is bigger than the teachers.  They teach what and how they are supposed to.  It’s even bigger than the district.  It is a state, even national, problem.  English has been turned into English Language Arts or Literacy by some geniuses in Albany, and is no longer taught like a language but instead is taught as a requirement for testing.  This is why my non-native, English-speaking students have a better grasp of grammar than my native speakers.  My ESL students learn English NOT English Language Arts.  English is not an art form (not in the hands of the unskilled, anyway); it is a language, with rules and exceptions that are no longer being taught in general education. 

Why?  My best guess is that general education teachers find grammar uncomfortable territory and secondary English teachers, teach for the SATs.  Lest we forget there is no English textbook for grades K-5.  Teachers go to school to learn how to teach.  They are education majors in college.  This, I believe, is fine for grammar school (the newest oxymoron).  For secondary education, where a teacher is supposed to specialize in a subject, I do not think they get enough of that subject.  Middle school and high school English teachers should have Master degrees in English NOT Education with an English minor.  In some colleges, you only need twelve credits to declare something a minor!  That’s only FOUR classes!

I cannot teach in New York State public schools, K-12.  I am not certified, nor do I wish to become so.  I live a happy life as an adjunct professor.  I am, however, an expert in my field.  I have an A.A. from Suffolk in Liberal Arts, a B.A. from Dowling in Psychology and an M.F.A. from the now defunct L.I.U. Southampton in English and Writing.  I know grammar and I know English, but I cannot teach on the high school level because New York State says that I am not qualified.

I am, however, qualified to pull a high school graduate, who was taught by many people approved by NYS, out of the writing muck and into the land of clear and precise communication.  I love what I do and I love my students.  Their success is why I do what I do.  I don’t know why other people teach, but I do know the methods used in many states today are not working.  But I’m here to help all those students who are willing to work at it and so are many of my colleagues. 

If only our education system would get on the ball and fix the problem.  Re-implement some of the old methods and integrate them with the new ones that work.  Allow teachers to teach to their classes rather than for the test.  I’d so much rather teach Creative Writing than Developmental English, but remedial is where the students are, so remedial is where you will find me… hopefully not for too much longer.