From Jorge: “Training kids to fail in the world that works.”

We don’t need no edgukashun!

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Doug, 

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Another great article on how schools are training kids to fail in the world that works. The source is Education News.

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This is the introduction:

For many urban youth in poverty moving from school to work is about as likely as having a career in the NBA. While urban schools struggle and fail at teaching basic skills they are extremely effective at teaching skills which predispose youth to fail in the world of work. The urban school environment spreads a dangerous contagion in the form of behaviors and beliefs which form an ideology. This ideology "works" for youngsters by getting them through urban middle and secondary schools. But the very ideology that helps youth slip and slide through school becomes the source of their subsequent failure. It is an ideology that is easily learned, readily implemented, rewarded by teachers and principals, and supporting by school policies. It is an ideology which schools promulgate because it is easier to accede to the students’ street values than it is to shape them into more gentle human beings. The latter requires a great deal of persistent effort not unlike a dike working against an unyielding sea. It is much easier for urban schools to lower their expectations and simply survive with youth than it is to try to change them.

The “ideology” taught in these urban schools is:

• Nowness.(What is the unit of school learning time?)
• Showing Up.(What is the minimum standard of satisfactory work?)
• Make Me.(Who is accountable for what students learn?)
• Excuses.(How often can you be late or absent and still be passing?)

• Non-Cooperation.(Should you have to work with people you don’t like?)
• Respect.(On what basis does one gain or give respect?)
• Authority.(How should you deal with the people in charge and with the rules?)
• Peers.(Who are the people you should care most about pleasing?)
• Messing Up.(How often should people be given another chance?)
• Explaining Success.(How should students account for doing something well?)
• Relevance.(Should people have to learn things that are irrelevant?)
• Purpose.(Is it reasonable to expect work to be fun?)
• Staying on Task.(How often can people come and go and still be considered working?)
• Ignorance.(Who bears the responsibility for knowing the rules?)
• Investment.(Whose school is it?)

The Implications of the Ideology for Future "Workers"

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The "successful graduates" who carry this urban school virus are unlikely to get a job or keep one. In order for an individual infected with this ideology to actually work the job would have to be characterized by the following conditions:

• There is no screening process for getting the job beyond showing up.
• There is no previous training required. Whatever the job involves can be explained in a few minutes–certainly less than 45.
• There is a "boss" who will watch what you do and see that you do it.
• The "boss" is always there.
• The "boss" is responsible for what you do.
• You can come and go as much as you want and still keep the job.
• If you are late or absent, you can simply start working again without having to make up for or even know what you missed.
• You don’t have to talk to or work with anyone you don’t like.
• You don’t have to listen to anyone but the boss.
• There is nothing to do to prepare to come to work.
• There is nothing to do after quitting time.
• You get paid for the time you spend at work, not for what you accomplish.
• No matter how long you work, the job never changes.
• You can get a raise because of the length of time you have "worked."
• You don’t have to really respect anyone who can’t hurt you.
• It won’t matter if the place is successful or the work gets screwed up; that’s not your problem.
• It won’t matter how many mistakes you make; you’ll get another chance.
• The work is fun.
• You don’t have to remember or follow the work rules if no one tells them to you.
• You don’t have to work (i.e., stay on task) more than a few minutes an hour.

It’s quite an article.  It’s also frightening because it is so real.

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Jorge