A recent visitor to the ol' cyber homestead critiqued my quick (and frankly, fairly sloppy) posting on the recent dust up at Celerity Nascent Charter School. I glibly entitled my post "What Good Education Means Today" and connected the incident to the No Child Left Behind Act, one of my favorite whipping boys. The visitor writes:
No Child Left Behind has nothing to do with this incident. If you had even the slightest idea what this school is about you would not use the words "drill and skill" to describe them. I am a teacher, not at Celerity, but at a LAUSD charter and teachers are well aware of their "at-will" contracts. We come to charter schools well aware of the hiring and firing process. You don't like it go teach somewhere else.
Creativity at charter schools is welcomed, but when teachers decide to abuse that freedom they should not be allowed around impressionable children. Usingthe classroom to promote one's political views is inappropriate. Students need to know how to question authority without being threatening and angry. They ned to know how to present their black istory in a positive way that celebrates the race's accomplishments. Reliving violent and ugly acts in black history in front of children ranging from 2 and up is self serving and irresponsible. The teachers got a very important lesson. The teachers lacked creativity in getting their message across. They must have not been willing to compromise...shame on them for abusing their positions!
In the spirit of academic dialogue, I am very willing to admit that I did not parse out my analysis very well in the previous post. So, here we go.
1. I am not against charter schools per se; I think there are many interesting and effective examples of charter schools living up to their expectations as pedagogically innovative and intellectually vibrant centers of K-12 learning. Among others, Frank Smith of Columbia University's Teacher's College has written abotu many of the advantages of charter schools. I also have a number of friends who teach at very interesting and progressive charter schools. I celebrate those schools that let teachers approach their material creatively and innovatively. I also share many of the concerns about the ways in which charter schools weaken public schools. I also see a direct connection between charter schools and the privatization of American public education, something I vehemently oppose. But, this isn't really a "pro" vs. "con" charter school post. However, I disagree with the "at will" contract system used by many charter schools specifically because of what happened in this instance: teachers were fired for objectionable content. In a country that espouses the free exchange of ideas, that's not okay.
2. My main problem with the incident at Celerity centers on the comments quoted in the LA Times article by the Celerity co-founder, Vielka McFarlane. "We don't want to focus on how the history of the country has been checkered but on how do we dress for success, walk proud and celebrate all the accomplishments we've made." To be very clear: we don't create a better tomorrow by whitewashing yesterday's history.
Let me begin with the absurbism of the situation: to suggest that at risk students in a poor community can't have access to their own history is to suggest that the entire purpose of education is foppery. McFarlane's view seems to be, it doesn't matter what young black children learn as long as they look nice. McFarlane says, "we don't want to focus on how the history of the country has been checkered but on how do we dress for success..." The purpose of public education should not be about dressing for success. It should be about critical thinking, writing, reading, and access to the whole world of ideas that await in the classroom and in the world.
Education=Fashion?
Secondly, and more seriously: we do not adequately prepare students for the world of tomorrow by making them poor students of history. Students need to learn the good, the bad, and the ugly so that they can also learn how to initiate change. This kind of Pollyanna approach to American history suggests that kids don't need to learn about: the erasure of indigenous American cultures, any of the wars in American history, slavery, the civil rights' movement and the list goes on. Of course American history can be rewritten as the fantasy of a perfect nation. But that fantasy invalidates the lives of everyone living and working to make the story of the United States an amazing, intricate, funny, proud, angry, and sad narrative. School officials have no business erasing the parts of history they find objectionable. The last time I checked, this country still held dear the idea of freedom of speech. Connected to that is the free flow of ideas and information that support the development of ideas and arguments. Kids don't need to learn how to parrot the "triumphs of the nation" without being able to put those triumphs in appropriate historical context.
3. Don't use poetry for evil purposes. The students were inspired by Marilyn Nelson's poem "A Wreath for Emmett Till." This was a clear case of censorship and the school administration's very poor handling of a topic of interest to students. You don't teach students how to be better students by shutting down original research and a desire to learn. Nelson, writing in defense of the teachers, says:
I suggest, Ms. Canada and Ms. McFarlane, that your firing Ms. Alba and Mr. Strauss has taught the students of Celerity Nascent Charter School one of the most important lessons to be learned from the study of Black history: that people in power often wield that power unjustly and unwisely, and that it is our responsibility to speak truth to power and to resist injustice. Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Mamie Till Mobley would have been proud of your students’ passionate and clear view of your decision to cancel their program. They would have signed the students’ letters of protest, too. You have accelerated the original injustice by firing teachers who encourage your students to think. Thus you commit injustice against both teachers and students.
4. How is this related to No Child Left Behind? Well, my visitor is right on this one. It's not ostensibly related; this incident had nothing to do with high stakes testing. I just get awfully damned agitated when it comes to the state of our public schools. And so I would argue that at least on the surface this has nothing to do with NCLB. But what lurks beneath? Much of what the No Child Left Behind Act has done is to force standardized curriculum on schools. This has led to the drill and skill mentality now prevalent in many public schools as children face batteries of tests. Now, some charter schools, by virtue of their exemption status from particular laws guiding public schools, have a different relationship to mandated curriculum. However, what No Child Left Behind has done is to eradicate individual teacher's abilities to make choices about their classrooms and their curriculums. Instead, everyone follows the master plan for grade level. In a school ostensibly set up to allow teachers greater freedom, as my visitor notes, these teachers should have had greater autonomy over their classroom curriculum. Instead, their content was deemed inappropriate to the mission of the school; this shares a certain intellectual connection, if not a direct connection, to mandated curriculums.
Now, I've provided some links below for further reading and listening. I've also provided a link to an on-line petition to rehire to Marisol Alba and Sean Strauss. I'm not sure if Alba and Strauss want to be rehired at Celerity Nascent, but the petition is at least one way to take concrete action (might I also suggest sending LOTS of books to the local library on important historical subjects so that kids have alternative access to information?):
Two local public libraries near the school, which I'm sure might appreciate donations of books on any topic, include:
and
And finally, I'd like to thank my visitor for stopping by and raising some good questions. I think it's clear, at the outset, that we don't agree, but I am always happy for well thought out critiques and comments on my posts. Thanks!
Read On! Celerity Nascent Charter School Controversy
Erin Aubrey Kaplan's Op Ed in the LA Times
The Cool Justice Report (with Nelson's letter)
Fire Dog Lake
Edwize and Edwize Update
Take Action!
Sign the petition
Listen! Marilyn Nelson's "A Wreath for Emmett Till"
Read On! Charter School Controversy
Center for Education Reform (Pro Charter Schools)
ERIC Digest: Perspectives on Charter Schools
Charter School Debate (CNN.com)
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