Credibility.

It is something one earns.  

As children growing up, if one’s parent are always telling them somethings that always turn out not to be real or true, then at some point later when they try to advise you on a decision, you are dismissive of there concerns.

Such as:  stand up for yourself, if someone threatens you; don’t say nothing; just punch them in the nose as hard as you can.  After multiple hospital visits a child learns his parents got it completely wrong.

But if their results always turn out in their favor, and the navigate the perils of life with ease compared to their peers, they will have profound respect, often seeking your advice first to expedite matters for themselves…. 

Such as:  there are many ways to handle bullies; most do it because they don’t have attention at home.  If somehow you can bond with a bully while they are still young, you can change them.  Invite him over to play some weekend when I’m here; we’ll make it fun. You do have to let them know, however, that you aren’t scared and if that if they make a mistake and choose to fight you, you will make their life a living hell by involving the school authorities, your parents, lawyers, police, and so on. but do that, only if you don’t win by charm first.  But if he is really crazy and some people are, and does hit you and it is not in a fun way, then aim your fist straight for the nose, and hit it with all you got…. Be prepared, there usually is a small explosion upon contact.

He walks away; wow, mom is really smart after all.

The News Journal got it all wrong on these, the following:

  • Wilmington Port
  • Race To The Top
  • Common Core
  • Smarter Balanced Assessments
  • Charter Schools

I don’t mean the sides they chose; they have that right.  I mean the facts and assumptions they used in each and everyone of these cases which had already been proven wrong….

  • Big ships for the new Panama Canal are too big to come up Delaware Bay
  • Educational scores align themselves ranked solely by poverty. If affluent, higher scores; if poor, lower scores. 
  • Common Core Standards were and are a Federal mandated curriculum governing what students will learn
  • The Smarter Balanced Tests are not even fit for adult consumption, much less determining a child’s progress
  • On average Charter Schools perform worse than public schools at every level of a student’s family’s income.

Each of these facts, were not only left out but their exact opposite was used to promote the very cause they had just been signed on to promote… 

Every opinion piece was based on myth and slogans with the real truth buried under lies….. 

So we shouldn’t be surprised to open our paper and see today’s lie, which is just a white-washed half truth, being used to promote the newest initiative their advertising dollar’s payer, has asked them to promote….. 

Think about that. If anyone thinks that too hard of a climb, consider what is happening in China’s and India’s schools. The children in these six Delaware schools will be competing for jobs with their Chinese and Indian counterparts for the rest of their lives.

Breakin’ it down:

A.  China does not test all its students.  It jealously guards its image and  allows only the Shanghai district to be reported internationally,  Shanghai Law does not allow people who have moved from other regions into their schools. Only those wealthy who have always lived there, are allowed attendance.  Almost all of these students have a private tutor, paid around $40,000 which is hired by their parents strictly to give them excellent scores on these tests.  They are taught to the test, 15-16 hours a day….  In the outer regions of China, the student can barely read and do math.  However against these high scores of Shanghai, we test everyone… from our dumbs to our plums. (and considering all that, are surprisingly close)

B.  Our youth will compete against India and China for jobs but it won’t be over education; it will be over pay rates. Both of those nations will take jobs from us because not of our educational deficiencies, but because our businesses move there for cheap labor.  That is our real competition.  Though China officially puts out more engineers per year now than does the US, those engineers are of considerable lower quality.  As if we put engineering in our VoTechs and called those graduates: engineers. That is why China sends so many students to the US.  To learn what we know.  We have considerable reports from international employers who state that the Chinese employees they monitor are not capable of thinking, but are very good only at following memorized procedures and steps.  When they come to a problem, the entire work process stops while they sit and wait for someone to come in and give them a solution, which is often rather simple or mundane.  They were never given authority to search and develop solutions on their own. 

So although we agree with the News Journal that our children are precious and deserve all we can give them, we disagree that the secret of their success is in making standards higher, tests harder and firing teachers who can’t push their kids to these arbitrarily-set higher standards.  Instead we feel we should focus on children already behind, and to build them up with instruction and confidence so they can live happy and successful lives… 

What the administration is trying to do with pushing these silly tests, is no different than raising a high bar to six feet, and firing the coaches when their third grade kids can’t jump it…  

Raising standards higher for someone not capable of meeting the lower ones, is a waste of time.  The kid looks at the high bar and says, “I guess I have to give it a try”,  runs at it and prays for some type of magic to materialize and gently pick him up and over…. 

We should be using things we know that work, like personal attention, like personal feedback, like rewarding personal achievement, which allow each of those kids to excel as far as they are able.

We, (and one would assume the News Journal as well), are certainly wise enough to know that the only successful schools that new reformers have ever put on paper… is when they cheated on the test scores to say:  look our results are indeed working.  

The believability behind the News journal editorial board unfortunately has now stooped to a level equaling the credibility of those little adds in your weekly mailer which try to convince you to order little pills that are “guaranteed” to eradicate the brownish aging spots on your skin in 21 days…  Miracle Breakthrough the headline touts!  Yeah, that’s why it’s on page 7 in a mailer unceremoniously thrust inside my Thursday mailbox…