Turning schools into communities
Earlier today, I posted about saving California, and I mentioned that one thing that we should do is turn schools into centers of the community. I said that I'd post about that later today. Well, it's later, so here you go.
First, my argument for why we should turn schools into centers of the community: As many of you know, nickel is a teacher. He has discovered that he can increase parental involvement not just in his classes but in -all- classes by calling the parents often, not just to report problems, but to praise students who are putting in the effort and doing well. What this suggests to me is that parents don't check out when it comes to schools because they don't care. They check out because by not communicating with or reaching out to them on a regular and frequent basis, teachers and administration discourage them from being involved.
Think about it: Because of fears of OMG TEH PEDOS RAEP OUR CHIIIILDREN, our schools have become places that are closed off and locked away. It's no wonder that many parents see them as places where their kids go while they're at work, not thinking about what goes on there.
So how do you turn a school into a center of the community?
First of all, a school shouldn't just be an 8am to 3pm place. School should run until later, but the expanded time should be filled with periods of homework help, and an increased number of electives with longer class times, including music, different arts and crafts, and sports. More electives mean that the students would have more things in school that they -wanted- to do (they chose them, after all) and would be more likely to come and sit through the stuff they didn't like. It would also keep them supervised longer, since most parents aren't home at 3:30. A couple periods of homework help would make sure that students did their homework, and would help to break up the crazy schedule of one class after another.
Second, a school shouldn't be a place where only kids are educated. Come evening, free classes would be offered for adults, and for adult/child teams. These classes would include life skills like cooking and finance. They would also include mind-expanding things like languages, literature, and the arts, and fitness things like aerobics, weight training, and yoga. This would get parents thinking about the school itself. They'd see the state it's in (if it's in a state of disrepair). It would open the school to parental involvement by making it -their- school, as well. And by having people around the school until later, it would decrease the chance of vandalism.
Third, several of the electives as per above should be theater performances and music performances, gallery showings, craft exhibitions, fashion shows. Sewing students would make the costumes for the plays. Wood shop students would design the sets, and art students would paint them. Drama students would perform, and maybe in the case of musicals, music students would provide accompaniment. Gallery exhibitions and fashion shows would be dressed up as elegant affairs, with Martinellis, little finger cookies, and people encouraged to come in semi-formal attire. The point would be to get -everyone- involved, so that everyone could be proud of their contribution (and drag their parents along to see and be proud, too).
I'm also of the opinion that struggling schools shouldn't have their funding cut, nor should they have more money thrown blindly at the problem. Instead, they should have more councillors assigned to them (and these people would have to have some kind of formal certification process) and more teachers, to reduce class sizes to something really small, maybe as low as 15 kids. There would be a state mandated minimum level of maintainance for schools, and if they fell below it, instead of just chucking money at the school, the state would send in maintainance workers (possibly contracted) to bring the school up to code. Teacher salaries would be raised and other perks would be offered, to attract the best and the brightest. I know people say that people who teach for the money aren't pure enough or something, but honestly, that's bullshit. People who choose to do other things because there's less stress and more money involved can still be very good teachers. My dad's a great example of that.
All of this would cost a lot of money, of course, but repealing Prop 13 would take care of a lot of it. Affluent communities could have their school funding capped at some point, with all excess taxes going into a state pool that could -only- be tapped to reinforce poorer schools. (I do believe in designating funds for certain necessary things in order to keep politicians from spending the money blindly on pork.)
And in the end, I think that it would give a lot of money back to the state. Crime would be lower, because kids would be kept in school and off the streets longer. The increased employment of people of varying education levels (remember, you'd be hiring more maintainance people as well as more teachers, and retirees could share their life experiences in crafts or other fields in the adult classes, supplementing their income) would help to close the gap between rich and poor. People who are middle class spend more of the money they make, which encourages that money to keep circulating. Circulating money is generally better for the economy than money kept in banks or offshore accounts -- every sale that passes that money back and forth means taxes for the state, and then income is taxed on top of that. And finally, we'd have a better educated population.
Once again, Arnold, call me, day or night.
First, my argument for why we should turn schools into centers of the community: As many of you know, nickel is a teacher. He has discovered that he can increase parental involvement not just in his classes but in -all- classes by calling the parents often, not just to report problems, but to praise students who are putting in the effort and doing well. What this suggests to me is that parents don't check out when it comes to schools because they don't care. They check out because by not communicating with or reaching out to them on a regular and frequent basis, teachers and administration discourage them from being involved.
Think about it: Because of fears of OMG TEH PEDOS RAEP OUR CHIIIILDREN, our schools have become places that are closed off and locked away. It's no wonder that many parents see them as places where their kids go while they're at work, not thinking about what goes on there.
So how do you turn a school into a center of the community?
First of all, a school shouldn't just be an 8am to 3pm place. School should run until later, but the expanded time should be filled with periods of homework help, and an increased number of electives with longer class times, including music, different arts and crafts, and sports. More electives mean that the students would have more things in school that they -wanted- to do (they chose them, after all) and would be more likely to come and sit through the stuff they didn't like. It would also keep them supervised longer, since most parents aren't home at 3:30. A couple periods of homework help would make sure that students did their homework, and would help to break up the crazy schedule of one class after another.
Second, a school shouldn't be a place where only kids are educated. Come evening, free classes would be offered for adults, and for adult/child teams. These classes would include life skills like cooking and finance. They would also include mind-expanding things like languages, literature, and the arts, and fitness things like aerobics, weight training, and yoga. This would get parents thinking about the school itself. They'd see the state it's in (if it's in a state of disrepair). It would open the school to parental involvement by making it -their- school, as well. And by having people around the school until later, it would decrease the chance of vandalism.
Third, several of the electives as per above should be theater performances and music performances, gallery showings, craft exhibitions, fashion shows. Sewing students would make the costumes for the plays. Wood shop students would design the sets, and art students would paint them. Drama students would perform, and maybe in the case of musicals, music students would provide accompaniment. Gallery exhibitions and fashion shows would be dressed up as elegant affairs, with Martinellis, little finger cookies, and people encouraged to come in semi-formal attire. The point would be to get -everyone- involved, so that everyone could be proud of their contribution (and drag their parents along to see and be proud, too).
I'm also of the opinion that struggling schools shouldn't have their funding cut, nor should they have more money thrown blindly at the problem. Instead, they should have more councillors assigned to them (and these people would have to have some kind of formal certification process) and more teachers, to reduce class sizes to something really small, maybe as low as 15 kids. There would be a state mandated minimum level of maintainance for schools, and if they fell below it, instead of just chucking money at the school, the state would send in maintainance workers (possibly contracted) to bring the school up to code. Teacher salaries would be raised and other perks would be offered, to attract the best and the brightest. I know people say that people who teach for the money aren't pure enough or something, but honestly, that's bullshit. People who choose to do other things because there's less stress and more money involved can still be very good teachers. My dad's a great example of that.
All of this would cost a lot of money, of course, but repealing Prop 13 would take care of a lot of it. Affluent communities could have their school funding capped at some point, with all excess taxes going into a state pool that could -only- be tapped to reinforce poorer schools. (I do believe in designating funds for certain necessary things in order to keep politicians from spending the money blindly on pork.)
And in the end, I think that it would give a lot of money back to the state. Crime would be lower, because kids would be kept in school and off the streets longer. The increased employment of people of varying education levels (remember, you'd be hiring more maintainance people as well as more teachers, and retirees could share their life experiences in crafts or other fields in the adult classes, supplementing their income) would help to close the gap between rich and poor. People who are middle class spend more of the money they make, which encourages that money to keep circulating. Circulating money is generally better for the economy than money kept in banks or offshore accounts -- every sale that passes that money back and forth means taxes for the state, and then income is taxed on top of that. And finally, we'd have a better educated population.
Once again, Arnold, call me, day or night.