"Most Likely to Succeed" screening to benefit FLAMCO

Here's a documentary no educator should miss -- Most Likely to Succeed. Here's its description from the filmmakers:

For most of the last century, entry-level jobs were plentiful, and college was an affordable path to a fulfilling career. That world no longer exists. The feature-length documentary Most Likely to Succeed examines the history of education, revealing the growing shortcomings of our school model in todayʼs innovative world.

 Directed by documentarian Greg Whiteley, the film has been named “among the best edu-documentaries ever produced” by Education Week. The Huffington Post stated that Most Likely to Succeed “delivers a message Americans need to hear, and desperately.” Film Threat said, “This film should be a required course for all parents and educators.”

A special screening Wednesday will benefit Foreign Language Association of Monterey County, FLAMCO. Proceeds will go to further fund various cultural and educational programs.

When: From 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Wednesday, November 4th.
Where: Maya Cinemas Salinas, 153 Main St., Theater 14. 153 Main Street Salinas, CA 93901
Cost: $10. Students are FREE with official school ID. Educators will host a panel discussion after the movie.

You can purchase your tickets here.

See you at the movies!

Of segregation and education

This is a map that's been making the rounds. It shows a dot per person in the United States, color coded to show race: orange for Latinos (don't ask about the color decision) red for Asian, blue for whites, green for African American. A comprehensive story about the map can be found here.

Scroll over to find Monterey County. No surprises there: the Salinas Valley is Latino, the Monterey Peninsula is white.

And this is relevant to my education beat because the schools with highest achievement also tend to be in the Monterey Peninsula, and schools where children are struggling in the Salinas Valley.

We all know this already -- that is, if you're not hiding under a rock. Still, to see from this perspective is eye-opening.

We're so segregated in this community. Unfortunately, the segregation translates into the type of education children get. I wonder if the new funding formula, which is supposed to give more money to low-income schools, will begin to change that. 

Does education in the United States need a complete overhaul?

A sweetheart reader told me she liked the story I wrote about the dual language program that will be expanded at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. Children need to begin learning multiple languages when they're young, she said. And education in this country needs to be overhauled, beginning with how we treat our teachers.

I will agree with my reader about the need to value our teachers more.What I'm not so sure about is the need to completely overhaul the education system.

Yes, I know the complaints are abundant and loud. And I don't believe the system is perfect.

But -- I've said it before and I'll say it again -- it's not a failure either. Just last week it was announced that graduation rate in the United States is near 75 percent, the highest it's been since 1973. And according to an analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, the most notable gains come from traditionally underserved groups --namely Latinos and blacks. For more on the topic, click here.

 Do we need to improve our educational system? Absolutely. Do we need a complete overhaul? I doubt it. There are signs that things are already getting better, specially in California, where a new school funding formula proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown is likely to have won legislative approval as we speak.

If things aren't broken, you don't fix them. That doesn't mean they don't need fine tuning and maintenance.

Of Bill Gates, the four C's, and privitazing public education

The League of Women Voters of Monterey County hosted today a very well attended talk about ongoing efforts to privatize public education. The topic has been on my radar screen for a while, but it's one of those really hard to tackle with a news story.

I'm writing an article about the presentation for tomorrow's paper (I'll link to the story when it's finished) but one of the issues presenters discussed was the growing influence of corporations in public education. The Common Core Standards, for instance, was developed by a consortium of states and top industry leaders. Same with the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, whose early efforts were led by Apple Computers, Cisco Systems and the like.

By the Bill Gates of the world and their "charitable" foundations.

I wrote about the Partnership a couple of days ago, and a New York State teacher had some issues with my coverage. He wrote a thoughtful letter that I'll share with you here, because he asks some provocative questions not being asked elsewhere. Questions that seldom can be well addressed in a news story. I'm posting it also because they go to the crux of the privatization matter.

Here's the letter. Enjoy!

I am a New York State teacher who recently read your article "Schools partnership aimed at helping teachers." I noticed that you didn't quote any teachers in your article, which doesn't mean of course that you didn't talk to any, just that they didn't make the final draft of your article. Your article put me in mind of a speech that Bill Gates gave in 2005. As you probably know, he has been instrumental in spearheading education reform in this country. The speech was about his years at Lakeside High School, an expensive private school. Below is a link to it. Notice in the text his references to learning, or his 3C's, and ask yourself some basic questions as you do so:

1. Why is it so fantastic that Lakeside had a 16:1 student to teacher ratio, while reformers like Mr. Gates continue to say that class size doesn't matter?

2. If his definition of rigor is having teachers demand that he read their favorite books, why is it costing him a billion dollars in educational philanthropy to bring rigor and change to American schools?

3. If "unleashing" him and Paul Allen worked so effectively, why can't public schools try this method, and unleash students to pursue their talents as Lakeside did for him. Instead Mr. Gates advocates for tough standardized tests and simply harder curriculum, which will require by definition more seat time for students and thus more direct instruction, leaving little or no time for student self-directed learning?

Surely the answer can't be that public school students are somehow, by nature, intellectually inferior and can't be trusted to follow their own muses and pursue their dreams (as they apparently can for 28,000 per year at Lakeside). But if not that, then what's the answer? What is truly driving education reform in the country, when great schools like Lakeside seem to possess the right ingredients already, ingredients that could be transferred to any school with little or no added cost?

Thank you for reading this and have a nice evening,

Dave Smith

Speaking of the education reform movement

I found a really good opinion piece about it. Here's the link.

In essence, the article talks about how reformers and those critical of them are not talking to each other. Unfortunately, reformers tend to be policy makers and lightning rods a la Michelle Rhee. The critical folks are teachers and people in the trenches.

They should be talking to each other, and they aren't.

The issue would be helpful to keep in mind for those who are going to discuss the efforts to privatize public education (I see them closely linked.) The League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula is having a discussion on the topic at its monthly meeting in March. You can find more information here.

Is public education being privatized?

Here's a timely and provocative topic, one that will be discussed by the League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula at its monthly meeting.

“Is public education being privatized? What does that mean for schools, students and democracy? The two guest speakers are James Gutman, a 23-year public school educator and consultant for the California Teacher’s Association and Melanie Billing, former high school history teacher.

The meeting free and open to the public.

Wednesday, March 13, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 490 Aguajito Road, Monterey.

Luncheon available for $15. Reservations required. Free program begins at 12:30 p.m. Call Lorita Fisher at 375-8301 or email at GLFisher@redshift.com. Reservations deadline March 9.

A must-see documentary on Michelle Rhee

Anybody who's interested in the state of public education should know about Michelle Rhee, the controversial former chancellor DC of public school.

Rhee was determined to reform the failing schools --and she did.

A few years later, investigations put into question whether those astronomical gains were even real.

Rhee has since founded an organization call "Students First" which is advocating on school reform based primarily on reforming unionized teaching. She wants states to abolish tenure and add similar measures often rejected by organized labor.

Today, student's first issued a "report card" that grades California with a "F" based on whether or not the state follows the reforms the group is advocating for. Find the report card here. And find a related article by the New York Times here.

A very timely Frontline documentary on Rhee will air starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. at local PBS stations. Check it out!

Watch The Education of Michelle Rhee Preview on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.