Point of view from a teacher- Part 3

Simply stated, we, absolutely need to reopen physical school for the K-5 population ESPECIALLY in the underserved areas of our country. If we had to feed them, they need to be "warming a seat". Kids from abusive households, in any SES, should be going as well. Period.

The one thing I have always appreciated about the United States is access to education. Education is a melting pot.  Education presents an opportunity to explore your mind and heart and soul together. We don't pigeon hole kids as much as most of the world. We pay our teachers well, in general and spend a lot on schools. We value education.

The research states that every three months out of school shows major regression in what was learned. I was on a national research committee about reforming the school year, because there were so many people being left behind. Summer school, Outward bound, and hundreds of other programs are formed to keep kids moving forward.

There is another huge amount of research that the young child's brain (6-13)is the most  open to "sight symbol"  without the interference of other parts. We "hard wire" reading and basic math at this point. Most children are dependent on kinesthetic education.  Yes, teachers are key---the relationship, the touch on the shoulder, the kind passing word.

Guess what? there is almost NO research on how much young children learn through screens. Yes, they are good at Mindcraft. In my experience, more then 20 minutes of "school like" screen time begs a kid to do something else. They are not connected/engaged.

The biggest voices in this fight- and yes it is a fight- are the middle and upper middle class. I don't use this lightly, I see their words as <<PRIVILEGED>> ELITIST>>POLITICAL>>SCARED
Their children might lose some education during this time of virtual. BUT, the can figure out a way to get that "teacher" relationship with their children. Some though nannies or (usually) the female in the house.....so much for Women's movement. Pods are the new thing (five likeminded families sharing an retired teacher).
These have NO idea how difficult it will be to, not only, get kids back in school after they are allowed.
By closing for another year- trust will be so eroded. I fear the loss of an entire group of upwardly mobile kids. Socioeconomic and racial divide will grow--a gap I have worked ALL of my adult life to help close. AGGGG!

My bias is strong.

Three of the schools that I taught at had many (and that is many) students who were abused, attacked, exposed to drugs or drink or porn. School was a time for them to just be for themselves.
I remember teaching a nine year old first grader to read and write. He was the ONLY person in his house who could do that in English. He became the negotiator for the contracts for his family to pick fields---AFTER school.
I have taught older kids to read and do basic math. It is possible. It was a one on one struggle. That is why the standard is if they do not function well be third grade, they need more.

Would I teach during this time- nope. Not in person. I would ask to take a year off and give up my slot for someone who is younger, in better condition. Less likely to catch the virus and be very ill.

I would do this for two reasons. I know that I am older and people will worry. Also, I think that schools will forever be different after this and teachers will quickly become a "thing of the past" and I hate that idea. I see great value of classroom education. This group of parents may find other ways to spend their taxes....


Let me give you background. Why do I do this? You need to know that what I say comes from experience and study.
I had a mish mash elementary education at, what is now considered, an excellent private school. During my third and fourth grade years I had seven teachers. Only two thirds of my eighth grade class went on to high school.
I am a horrid speller. I did not learn to read or do math, properly, until college. 

These experiences set my course for teaching.
No other children should be left behind.
I graduated from a leading program in the US.
 BS Early Childhood Education +70 graduate hours from seven different universities.
I've been on many honor rolls.
My favorite summers were at Learning and the Brain out of Harvard.

My teaching experiences?
Cactus Wren- Phoenix - an "open classroom" 150  first graders, mostly Hispanic, in a pod formation.
Taft Elementary- Mesa AZ. Migrant workers. New class of 30-35 students every nine weeks
Wuerzburg Elementary- Germany- 30 first grade students from every walk of Army life from well run families and two who were "shipped back to the states" for severe mental illness.
Pentagon and Fort Ben Harrison Indiana- Workshops for childcare workers and parents.
Holy Spirit- Annandale VA- 15 Kindergarteners from high income homes
St Mary's- Junction City KS- Preschoolers from middle income families
Iolani School Honolulu- Library- $$$$$
Hong Kong International- 4th grade- $$$$$$$$$$$$$
Saudi Arabian International- 5th grade- mostly upper middle or military officer kids.
Leupp Elementary - Navajo nation- 2nd grade - mostly Hogan living kids
St Mary's - Flagstaff- 6-8th grades- the only snobs I ever taught
Cromer Elementary- Flagstaff- 4th grade. Middle class ranching/Navajo kids
Junction City Middle School- 6th grade/ SPED- mostly kids from either generationally impoverished or solid working middle class.
Saxon Inservice Teacher- 700 schools in 49 states -  middle to lower class or Christian schools. From inner city (be careful not to get shot at) to end of the country Alaska.

From the retiree point of view - schools ---Part 2

I am a retired teacher
Sixty two
My husband is seventy.

Our friends range in age, but I do have a number of friends who are retired
and I read many, many blogs of retired people.

People are quiet about their real feelings,
but hey, they get their SS and their kids are grown.

I have "heard" all of the things below....

Schools should stay closed
Those children are germ machines
They will infect us all ("Me" is left our because that is selfish. "Me" is implied.)
They will kill their grandparents who care about them.

If schools close, I should not have to pay property taxes.
Teachers should be furloughed and possibly find a new profession.
They are not "working". The computer does the majority of the work and they "check in".
Districts buy programs. Put the money there if you are collecting it.

There has to be someplace to "put" these kids.
I certainly don't want to run over a five year old
on my way to Trader Joe's because their mom and dad are at work.
So maybe we can hire teachers as day care workers?
They can do day care at the empty schools. (This is actually happening at a district in MD.)
I can see that being a good use of my money.

I have even heard the old, "If you didn't want to take care of children,
You should not have had them."

Really? Did the woman's movement not even happen.

I also have friends who still teach, who should be retired.
They are not much different

Kids will get me sick. I have _____________ (name anything) and I will suffer greatly.
I will not be able to hug them or get close to them
so we should not open schools.
Well, maybe two days a week
and we are going to need a day off in between
so four days a week of teaching small groups
BUT no socializing- no food- no cleaning- no singing-no clapping-one way halls- few bathroom breaks---maybe a three hour day....
just the four cores --then "specials" on line.

High school completely on line. Well, maybe we can do video
Just think of how much work those kids could put into the yearbook.

Really, we just should do on line for another year
and I should still make my salary
because I am teaching....sort of.
And Private schools can open, because they are not REAL schools and can be small and have younger teachers....

Just the listener here....think these through.

What it means to close schools from a retiree, teacher, mother and taxpayer. Part 1 statistics

"We are going digital
Everyone will get a computer and a hot spot."

Most countries throughout the world are reopening in person school for children of child care age- the average is fifth grade (10-11) in US standards.  This is true in Asia, Africa, Europe.
The older the child, the less contact they seem to have with brick and morter.
If there is a "cluster" schools will be closed for 14 days, in general.
Most countries the school opening and closing is up to the province.

Let's get some stats:

             
                                  3,911k sq miles.      Western Europe
                                  3,885k. sq miles         Canada
                                  3,797k sq miles          US
                                     137k sq miles.          Germany

Population
Western Europe  196M
      Average Age-  43.9

Canada has        37 M people/      legal immigration 242K per year 
   Average age-  41
        Number of teachers/avg salary.        721K               $40,000

United St has    328M people    legal immigration   954K per year
    Average age- 38.3
         Number of teachers/ avg salary.     3,000K.             $59,000 (117B overall)

Germany has     83M  people/     legal immigration  500k per year.
  Average age-  44 
         Number of teachers/avg salary.       686K.              $50,000

Japan has       128M people/.       legal immigration  71K per year
    Average age- 48
         Number of teachers/ avg salary.     900K                 $44,000

US has 74M   birth - 18 children - close to the population of Germany
 and almost double then the  entire population of Canada.


US has a very young work force- meaning many more parents are in the work force.
70% of female parents work full time/ 92% of male.
61% of households with children have dual working parents.
https://www.gnapartners.com/resources/infographics/working-parents-the-american-workforce#:~:text=Parents%20made%20up%20roughly%2032.7,its%20ranks%20is%20pretty%20high.

Most of the population stats https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/western-europe-population/.
No of teachers/Salaries were from a variety of websites.

Being brutal with stuff

We are moving in about nine months.
As most people our age, we are weeding out stuff.
That whole movement of looking at each piece of something and deciding if it fits
It is tough.

The new house is not going to be small, but the stuff will be very limited.

Very tough.

I did my first round of clothing.
That was actually easy.
Since we are moving north
Coats make the cut, but shirts and slacks that have not been worn since classroom days
went to the Women's shelter.

I am sorting lamps right now.
Do I just take them all and see what fits
or make a run to Habitat?

I gave away more then half of the toys
the rest will go when we do.
No more little kid kitchens or dolly beds.

The furniture will be super limited.
Our recliners made the cut
and several of the mattresses
but no headboards or couches.

We are taking one set of dishes
My china will find a new home.

But then, I stopped into my favorite second hand store and saw

Really? Do I really WANT to move?

Positive Steps. Renaming Military Bases

Picture from West Point POA

My family has served in most every military conflict in the history of the United States.
Revolutionary War
War of 1812
Civil War
World War I
World War II
Korea
Vietnam
Cold War
Afghanistan
My husband was the first professional soldier in our family
I do have several long serving Navy men.
My daughter was in the Air Force
My son in law a Marine
and
My son is active duty finishing three years at West Point
a university that he attended.

Two weeks ago my son and I got into a discussion about changing names of places.
We both decided we really needed to read up on the people places were named after.

When "we served" as a family, we only lived on one post the entire time.
We lived on Early Street
on Fort Riley Kansas.
 Fort Riley is the home of Buffalo Soldiers
Proudly, strongly.

The "top part" of Fort Riley had been established in the early 1960's
All of the streets were named after Confederate Generals.
I knew that.
I thought nothing of it.
We lived on Early Street.

Early
Early did not approve of withdrawing from the Union,
but strongly approved of slavery.
He fought campaigns to take Washington DC
After the war, with Lincoln dead, he returned from Cuba and waged a
merciless campaign against Grant.
He, basically, rewrote history, the one that is still taught today
that the south was wronged by the north
and that Lee was a hero of states rights
and the war had little to do with slavery.

So this man helped to rewrite the history that children would be taught from the late 1800's through today. I know because American History was my major for three years
and I was taught this version of the war.
Hummm

Fort Hood
Hood was a fierce and wreckless general - Gettysburg, Western Campaign, and others.
Thousands of dead soldiers.
He felt that "Negros were subhuman"
He worked on making Sherman into a butcher after the war.
Sherman was fighting Hood's evil tactics during battles.
Hood's accounts, not Sherman's, live on in history.

Fort Bragg
Sugar plantation owner with many slaves
He was known to both sides as one of the worst leaders in the war.
What a joke that the most prolific fighting machines come from a fort named after this guy in 1918.
My husband is most upset about the renaming of this post
but naming this important post this name is like
naming the inheriting son after the man who tried to steal the wife.

The list goes on and on.

Keeping in mind that most of these men had all attended West Point
at or near the same time as Grant.

Some say naming was in concession for land
"given" to the Army for their posts
Really?

Time to rename some places.
We do not learn about these men in school
History needs to return to "the Union fought and won over slavery".

What a mess.

The only thing I can see remaining of the Confederacy is the cemetery part of Arlington.
Arlington was Lee's plantation
The house was surrounded by Union bodies
All head stone meet the rising sun
Except the 450ish Confederate soldiers
They are buried in a circle.
They face only each other
for they fought only on their own terms and
chose not to stand with the union.
That, to me, is fitting.

Some suggestions for the new names:
Fort Powell
Fort Woodrow Keeble
Fort Grant
Fort Sheridan
Fort Gonsalves
Fort Ruben Rivers
Fort Edward Carter
Fort Robert Pinn
A building at West Point needs to be renamed
The norm is to name after a graduate
How about.Versace Hall?

It is time!

Life lessons

Lessons re learned in the last twelve weeks:

If church was not a community, but only a place to worship,
    before something happens,
     it will not change when something happens.
      No community/ no Communion.
Those who shame the most are often the first to do what they shame others for.
We are part of the "old people" group.
Hair DOES grow.
This President is much like my father
   threaten the stick, but don't actually use it.
   Children move faster to be more independent and vocal.
ALWAYS be kind to those who give you service.
Drop Amazon.
     Billionaires who do not give back should be left to die in their money.
Be careful for big cities.
Life is very short.
      If you are not comfortable where you are
      change
Human touch is essential for sanity.
Only listen to doctors for two week sprints.

Muted and listening