Re: Reich on one size

[William Cala <wcala@ROCHESTER.RR.COM>]

Susan,

Correct.  In NY SED is doing everything possible to dismantle vocational
education.  Not only do kids have to take the 5 Regents exams if they are in
vocational education, they also must pass a competency test in their
vocational field.  Bottom line is they are held to a different standard.

Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Harman" <susanharman@IGC.ORG>
To: <ARN-L@listsrva.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 5:50 PM
Subject: Reich on one size


Hes right about everything but where our rejects go. There ARE no
vocational tracks anymore. The shop teacher in my neighborhood middle
school has no wood, so they talk about carpentry. The 50% of kids whove
been pushed out of Chicago and Texas high schools arent in anybodys
vocational track. Three guesses where most of them wind up.

> >In our headlong rush toward "accountability," we seem to be
> > veering toward two extremes -- either expecting every child to pass> >
the same test or assuming that certain children are uneducable,> >
relegating them  to a vocational track.

--
Susan



Evans Clinchy wrote:
>
> TAP: Web Feature: One Education Does Not Fit All. by Robert B. Reich.
> July 11, 2000.
>
>                        advertisement:
>
> All:
>
> Here's new version of Reich's position on education?
>
>
>            One Education Does Not Fit All
>            7.11.00
>            by Robert B. Reich
>
>            The New York Times
>            Thomas Lepuschitz, one of 46 Austrians recruited by New
> York City to
>            help ease the shortage of math and science teachers, told a
> New York
>            Times reporter recently that he thought it strange that the
> state
>            required even the slowest students to take math and science
> in order
>            to graduate.
>            It's different in Austria. "Our school system divides
> people who can
>            do certain things and people who can't," he explained. "The
> people
>            who can't are not lost; it's just a slower track."
>            Mr. Lepuschitz has touched a raw nerve. Standardized tests
> --
>            increasingly linked to grade promotion, graduation, even
> teachers'
>            salaries and the tenure of principals -- are the single
> biggest
>            thing to have hit American education since Sputnik.
> Responding to
>            the understandable demands for more "accountability,"
> almost every
>            school in the land is morphing into a test-taking factory.
> Both Al
>            Gore and George W. Bush have touted proposals linking
> federal
>            dollars to scores on standardized tests.
>            There are obvious benefits. Uniform tests present clear
> goals and
>            give students, parents and schools ways to measure progress
> toward
>            meeting them. But standardized tests are monstrously unfair
> to many
>            kids. We're creating a one-size-fits-all system that
> needlessly
>            brands many young people as failures, when they might
> thrive if
>            offered a different education whose progress was measured
>            differently.
>            Paradoxically, we're embracing standardized tests just when
> the new
>            economy is eliminating standardized jobs. There's one
> certainty
>            about what today's high school students will be doing a
> decade from
>            now: They won't all be doing the same things, and they
> won't be
>            drawing on the same body of knowledge.
>            Jobs in the old mass-production economy came in a few
> standard
>            varieties (research, production, sales, clerical,
> managerial,
>            professional), but this system has fragmented. Computers,
> the
>            Internet and digital commerce have exploded the old job
> categories
>            into a vast array of new niches, creating a kaleidoscope of
> ways to
>            make a living.
>            Musicians, artists, writers and performing artists are
> discovering
>            multimedia outlets for their talents. Tens of thousands of
> people
>            are starting their own Web-based businesses and auction
> houses.
>            People who had been clerks and secretaries are turning into
>
>            spreadsheet operators, desktop publishers and Web-based
> inventory
>            control managers. Salespeople are becoming specialty
> technicians,
>            finding or creating products to meet particular customer
> needs.
>            We're also seeing an increasing demand for people who
> provide
>            personal attention and comfort. There's an upsurge in
> advisers,
>            counselors, coaches and trainers. Physical and occupational
>
>            therapists are needed. Home health-care workers, elder-care
>
>            assistants and child- care workers are all in short supply.
> And we
>            have a chronic need for teachers at all levels. Success in
> these
>            jobs doesn't depend on mastery of one uniform body of
> knowledge as
>            measured by standardized tests. Instead, many of them
> require an
>            ability to learn on the job -- to discover what needs to be
> known
>            and to find and use it quickly.
>            Some depend on creativity -- on out-of-the-box thinking,
> originality
>            and flair. Others depend on the ability to listen and
> understand
>            what other people are feeling and needing. Most require
> "soft
>            skills" like punctuality and courtesy, although some geeks
> succeed
>            wildly without even these rudiments.
>            Yes, people need to be able to read, write and speak
> clearly. And
>            they have to know how to add, subtract, multiply and
> divide. But
>            given the widening array of possibilities, there's no
> reason that
>            every child must master the sciences, algebra, geometry,
> biology or
>            any of the rest of the standard high school curriculum that
> has
>            barely changed in half a century. Nor is it necessary that
> every
>            child graduate from high school ready to qualify for a
> four-year
>            liberal arts college.
>            This doesn't mean that "slower students" should be
> relegated to
>            trade schools, as they are in much of Europe. In the new
> economy,
>            specialized vocational skills soon become obsolete.
> Besides, the
>            whole notion of faster or slower learning is irrelevant
> when there
>            are so many new options for how and what to learn.
>            In our headlong rush toward "accountability," we seem to be
> veering
>            toward two extremes -- either expecting every child to pass
> the same
>            test or assuming that certain children are uneducable,
> relegating
>            them to a vocational track.
>            Our challenge is to find different measures of the various
> skills
>            relevant to the jobs of the new economy. It's our job not
> to
>            discourage our children, but to help them find their way.
>            Robert B. Reich
>            Copyright © 2000 by The American Prospect, Inc. Preferred
> Citation:
>            Robert B. Reich, "One Education Does Not Fit All ," The
> American
>            Prospect Online, July 11, 2000. This article may not be
> resold,
>            reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind
> without
>            prior written permission from the author. Direct questions
> about
>            permissions to permissions@prospect.org.
>

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