About Me
- Neal Christian
- Neal graduated from The Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Spanish, a Master’s Degree of Mathematics Education from Georgia State University, and a Specialist's Degree in Educational Leadership from Liberty University. He has taught mathematics on the high school and college level and served as the Academic Support Partner for the Office of Minority Educational Development (OMED) at Georgia Tech. As a former Mathematics Implementation Specialist with the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE), Neal traveled to high schools within the state to assist teachers with the transition from the Quality Core Curriculum to the Georgia Performance Standards Frameworks. Neal has also trained mathematics teachers in several districts throughout Georgia. In 2007, Neal presented on Implementing Mathematical Tasks at the European Teacher Education Network Conference in Liverpool, England. In 2010, Neal was the founding assistant principal of Fulton Leadership Academy. Currently, Mr. Christian is the founding director of Genesis Innovation of Academy for Boys and is pursuing his Doctorate's Degree in Educational Leadership.
The major reason for our schools failing to educate our youth is lack of proper education structure. Schools should be more focused on enhancing students' understanding of basic/core education values. Students should be taught the importance of education and benefits knowledge they would gain rather than how to make A(s). Schools are judged upon graduation rates so every school is focus on how many students graduate each year. Quality is overlook for quantity. Students should be encouraged to try something without fear of failing it. I have learned one thing in my academic career, that it is extremely important to understand the concept than just knowing it. Students do not fail because they do not know the material but they never understood it. Closing schools will not raise standard of education and after all, they are government-funded institutions. If something does not work the way it was intended then we have to fix it.
ReplyDeleteTell me, I’ll forget
Show me, I’ll remember
Involve me, I’ll understand
Hey Patel, you are correct to say that schools are failing our youths is because of lack of proper education structure. It is not only lacking the structure but also are money minded. Some teachers chose the profession just because of money which is not a good thing. If you chose that path, "Money," you are not going to deliver what is required for the kids. I for one cannot stay at a job if I don't like it. You need to love what you do, and if you do so, you cannot fail a child.
DeleteFailing a child is not giving the child a bad grade. Failing a child means you do not teach that child what is right and what is wrong. What material is needed for that class and what needs to be learned for them to achieve their dreams.
There is a lot of politics going on in schools too that has to stop. Some teachers are highered to teach because some "Big Shot" refered them to that school and with limited or no interview, that teacher is highered to teach our youths when they themselves are not ready to teach what is beneficial for the students.
Are these schools required to remain open? That is a good question. The structural adjustment has to come from the top to the bottom. The administrators to the teachers. "No child left behind" presented by our former president Bush, see what it has done to some of the schools. Teachers and others giving a passing grade to students that do not even know how to read. That is not fair for the kids. The teachers where failing the kids because of their own gains. We need the schools to be opened and all bad habits needs to be looked into. Periodic reviews and also unexpected reviews for those schools has to be done with proper care. If these are done, I believe that most schools will adjust with some uncall practices.
In this modern era, I believe it is all about money, success and fame. Certain schools would go through all forms of dubious means to make sure that their students pass certain required examinations without properly teaching them or motivating them to study. For certain schools to be seen as the best, they might end up stealing grades for their students all in the name of publicity. With such activities being performed, such school turn to always lure more students to be admitted which provides them with more money. With more money going to those school, the community in which the school is situated would also benefit. As a result, closing down such a school is not likely to happen.
DeleteI think that often we as parents expect too much from our teachers in many cases. Many teachers who are fresh out of school often are eager to make a difference for his/her students and our public school system but within 5 years in to their career 2 out of 5 will begin to give up on the system especially those who work with inner city youth. As parents it is our responsibility to re-enforce what was learned in school and to pay close attention to our children's behavior. Children, especially young children will act out either when they are not challenged enough or do not understand the work. In my own experience with my 5 y/o daughter for example I am noticing that she is having small behavior issues in school. I know my child well enough to know that she for the most part is well-behaved so there has to be something more to what is going on here. I also know that she has not had any issues with her schoolwork only issues with following class rules and being disruptive. That said in my opinion she is bored with what she is doing in school. Which would make sense because she has been doing Kindergarten work for at least 2 years and is even doing some 1st and second grade work at home. Even her pre-K teacher had warned all of us last year to watch out for behavior issues with our children this year because by the end of last school year she was teaching them first grade work. That said, it my duty as her parent to ensure that she is being challenged in school so I am scheduling a meeting with her teacher and if necessary her school principal to see what we can be done to help her.
ReplyDeleteRather than try to just address a behavior problem or punish a child for bad behavior we should figure out what is causing the behavior problem since more often than not there is some underlying issue. Instead of doing that many parents will not take the time to do it. I understand that some of us may work or be inundated with the responsibilities that life gives us but the fact still remains that we chose to be parents and in that choice we signed on to do what is best for our children. It is very seldom an easy job but is ALWAYS worth the hard work in the end.
On the flip side of things we as a society often take the easy way out in terms of diagnosing children with learning disabilities. For example many children today are diagnosed with ADHD when really they may have another condition such as autism or asperger's syndrome. Rather than investigate further and give an accurate diagnosis the child is stamped like an assembly line production as ADHD.
If a business fails its safety standard or produces inferior products, eventually that business will be out of business. So logically, if a school is not performing to the standard and has been proven to be actually failing to educate, then it will eventually be closed. However, it seems that American public schools do not follow this logic and unfortunately, the reasons are not as simple as it seems.
ReplyDeleteFactors such as the Teachers Union, Department of Education Bureaucracy, budget cuts, current regulations, and many others, make it nearly impossible for failing schools to actually closed. One factor that I find to be very interesting is this particular survey result. According to the Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes toward the Public Schools, most Americans would prefer improvements to the education their children receive at their present school (74%) rather than transfer their child to a different a school (25%) (McMurray, 2003).
I think it is kind of absurd that most Americans would hold to this false hope that their children’s school will get better rather than to look for a better school. There is this huge denial tendency or possibly ignorance among Americans that seem to think that our public schools are doing just fine. I would like to re-emphasize that there are no simple answers to the question of why failing schools are allowed to remain open. However, when parents are not caring for the quality of education that their children receive, it is definitely one of the reason why failing schools allowed to remain open.
References
McMurray, C. (2003). Failing Schools: Public Prefers Fixes to Transfers. Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing, 1.
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DeleteMost students who attend public schools within the inner city ride the school bus, which means that most parents do not have their own transportation. Transportation could be a major factor when it comes to transferring a student to a school outside of the zone. Parents have the options near the end of each year to transfer their children to another school, but when the school is not in the district, parents are responsible for getting their children to school on time. Most parents may not be able to afford this extra expense. Also, if the student successfully transfer to a new school and is repeatedly late, they risk the chance of being sent back to their zone school because of the excessive tardiness or absences. Therefore, this may be the logic behind why some parents would prefer to improve their zone schools because it is cheaper or less cost effective, and much closer to their homes.
DeleteParents may also be reluctant to allow their kids to remain in a failing school because they may incur attendance issues if they transfer their child to a school far away. In the APS school system, if a student has 10 or more unexcused absences, the parents may be sent to Tribunal (court), and if they are found guilty of educational neglect, they could face a fine of $200 or spend 30 days in county jail. Therefore, parents turn a blind eye to a failing school system, and just go with the flow because of the fear of possibly doing jail time.
DeleteI believe that the government has a demonic agenda to keep dysfunctional school systems open. There are many schools that are so bad that they deserve to be shut down. We must do the math in this instance. It's simple, the more schools shut down, more parents will be forced to home school their children. We can not be that foolish to think that the government would even promote that! I believe that they are forcing children to attend school under terrible conditions so that they will grow up and have issues! Research provides great insight on the children taking anxiety pills, depression pills etc. We must stand up and draw the line at some point!
ReplyDeleteAre most parents qualified to home school their children?
DeleteIn order to examine why so many schools fail to educate our youth and yet remain open, we have to consider many factors. A schools performance, which is not solely based on CRCT test scores or QCC’s, we have to take a closer look at the schools truancy rates, the area in which the school is located, the training of the teachers, the constant use of substitute teachers, discipline and behavior issues, the lack of parental involvement, the lack of corporate partnerships/sponsors, the PTSA, and the lack of adequate resources such as text books, computers, and supplies. Schools also fail to educate our students because; the ineffective or bad teachers don’t get fired. Bad teachers just simply get transferred to another school. The problem teacher is never disciplined, the problem gets recycled, and our children suffer. Education is the only profession that I know of, in which a person can fail to meet production standards, and yet have a never ending life-long contract with pensions, benefits, bonuses, and the whole nine yards. In the private sector or in Corporate America, if a person continuously failed to meet production standards, eventually that person will become unemployed. The first step to ensuring that our students are properly educated is by simply firing educators who are ineffective. One county’s school system will begin in the 2014-2015 school year to give educators raises based on performance as opposed to tenure. Hopefully, the other cities and counties will get on board to ensure that our students are receiving the highest quality of education possible. The best interest of the students should always be the focal point when it comes to properly educating our children.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of ideas, from my personal experiences with teaching and having teachers as close friends and in my family all of my life- maybe they might make sense to some.
ReplyDelete1) Schools teach for tests, not for understanding. I've seen and heard of many instances where teachers are being required to teach for standardized tests, sometimes including information that may or may not be pertinent to their respective curricula and may not work toward actually furthering a child's education. These teachers have, in many cases, been told that the students need to remember information in order to rattle it off at a moment's notice, but rarely are the teachers encouraged to ensure that their students actually UNDERSTAND the information they are being given. When information is taught in this fashion, it is very, very rarely retained past whatever test the students are preparing for (if it holds on even that long!). Because of this, any classes taken later that build upon the knowledge attained in the previous year(s) can tend to have a higher rate of failure among the students. -- During my years of teaching, as well as managing two stores that primarily hire kids ages 16-18, I've noticed this quite a bit. Every day, I see instances of terrible spelling, improper grammar and, more than anything else, I have kids who can't even do simple addition or subtraction without a calculator! I am sure a bit of this could be due to apathy on the part of the student, but I truly believe it goes far beyond that.
2) The curricula for many classes is not only vague, but incredibly vast. This makes it next to impossible for any teacher to cover everything they need to cover with any depth. Sure, they could absolutely get to every topic on their curriculum, but that would leave exactly zero time to be able to explain anything properly, and most concepts of any topic would be either lightly touched upon, or left out entirely. So teachers have to compromise and prioritize, basically quickly explaining everything they can in the short time they have. But doing this puts even more pressure on the student, as they now have to fill in all of the blanks themselves before they can move on, and try their very best to understand a multitude of concepts, data, etc., in such a short amount of time. Such quick learning makes for a confused student who will forget all of this information as soon as they are no longer being quizzed on it.
-After having thought on this for quite some time, I have come to believe that charter schools, who can tweak their curricula in ways that public schools aren't allowed to, seem to be the best fix for this problem.
Basically, more and more is expected of students and teachers daily-- with too little time and too much to teach, a system that measures success by test scores and the ability to rattle off information, rather than measuring actual comprehension, and very little regard for what is actually going to work best for the students in the long run. It's a wonder that it's taken this long for schools to start doing so poorly.
As for why these schools are allowed to remain open, I can guess for days and days, but I wouldn't truly know.
Let's face it! We live in a terrible system. We also make terrible decisions and choices! "We" meaning African Americans. I specify African Americans because our race has issues that other races don't have. One of those issues is in regards to our school system. I personally know a few teachers that work in terrible schools in fulton county and dekalb county. Many schools that are labeled as "failing" or "bad" are schools in which resources are lacking as well as qualified staff. Yet according to these two educated teachers, the biggest problems in their schools in the parent involvement. The parents are not showing up to PTA meetings. They don't show up to conferences. They apparently are not disciplining their children and they sure as well don't seem to care about their learning patterns of their children. I know this to be true and it's quite obvious in the black community. I'm not saying that all parents are like this, but a large percentage are! I'm also not saying that this is the only reason for the failures of schools. But hey, it starts at home right? RIGHT!
ReplyDeleteThe school systems in the United states have been plagued with government personal because its they are running a business through our schools. Even when the students are failing which makes the schools fail they are keeping it open.This has a very negative impact on our future and the future of the United States Of America.
ReplyDelete