Basic skills testing: What’s in a number?

Education has been on my mind a lot lately. But then, I live with a teacher and student, so it is always front and center at my house.

The past week, my daughter has been sharing about the annual run-up to basic skills testing. We’ve shared conversations about the importance of the tests, how the results affect not only her, but her teachers, school and, by virtue of the school being one of the largest employers, our entire community. We’ve searched the house for pencils to be sure she has a ready supply to thoroughly fill each answer bubble. And it’s been early to bed with a healthy breakfast every morning.

But this year, as I do every year, I wonder what my daughter and her teachers are missing out on while they go through this data-collection process? How many irreplaceable opportunities to experience the joy of learning are missed in the quest for some numbers?

In addition, I’ve been tracking our Iowa legislature as they debate what the governor has termed his education “reform” package and, once again, missed the deadline to pass funding for the next year. This deadline was missed not just because of disagreement about how much the state can afford. It’s also because the governor tied his reform plan (which is really just a repackaging of things many schools are already doing) to the money in an effort to push it through. Some of this plan includes which assessments or tests we’ll be using to evaluate Iowa schools.

That’s when I came across an article comparing our military and education systems. Written by Professor William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, and entitled “Why Johnny Can’t Read or Win Wars,” this article took a closer look at the misperceptions created when we reduce the results of our actions to numbers. His example compares the use of the body count during recent wars to the new penchant for test scores in education.

“What’s missing is the old-fashioned sense of education as a public good, as essential to democracy,” he writes. “ . . . Instead, today’s ultimate metric of educational success is not empowerment but rather employment. Education is reduced to training and success is measured by a post-college paycheck. Call it another form of body count: the number of (student) bodies who graduate with jobs. Never mind the ideals or morals of those students. Never mind their virtue. Those qualities can’t be readily measured, so we’ll ignore or dismiss them.”

I read this a week after I watched my daughter’s teachers and older school mates band together to provide for the immediate necessities of a student who lost everything in a house fire. What’s the measure for that?

As Astore concludes, it’s up to us to decide whether we want to churn out workers for jobs or people who can think critically, solve problems and lead.

Will guns protect us from government?

Since the events in Newtown last December, I’ve engaged in a number of conversations about public safety, specifically about how to responsibly regulate gun ownership. And I’m always amazed at the people who are convinced we need those guns to protect ourselves from our own government.

First, if we are truly a democracy, “we the people” are ultimately the government. So to paraphrase a Frank Zappa song, “If government is the problem, then we’re the problem . . . and maybe even a little ugly on the side.”

Next, these folks never seem to acknowledge that weapons rarely have been the key to resisting government tyranny. Plenty of bloodless coups have occurred via the use of other means. And I propose that, to some degree, folks who are paranoid about our government have already missed the boat.

Why? While they were watching FOX News, a handful of mega-wealthy corporate moguls bought up our press and rigged our system via campaign contributions and lobbying and have already taken over the government.

And to add insult to injury, via groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), they’ve been taking citizens’ membership and purchase dollars to write laws that further decrease our ability to get ahead and lead a secure life. Not only do we serve their interests when we unquestioningly consume the information they present, but we pay the bill for them when we pay our dues or purchase their products. How’s that for a deal?

Government is just the straw man they’ve set up to take the blame while they shift our tax dollars to offshore accounts and steal our resources. We’ve been lulled to sleep with their slogans and infotainment, and we mutely accept that nothing we do can change it.

Poppycock!

The power of people uniting for action has always countered these powerful minorities. Why do you think corporate powers hate unions?

As one reader noted in a response to an earlier column, less than 10 percent of workers belong to unions today. But when media repeats the same tired stories of egregious union workplace requirements without providing the context of labor history in this country, people come to view unions negatively. The more isolated workers feel, the easier it is for business to limit wages, benefits and health and safety regulations. If workers fear losing their job, they’ll be easier to control. And these lowered expectations then extend to other workers in non-union industries.

So you can holler about keeping your guns to fight the tyranny of the government. But I say you’ve already lost the battle to the real power in the U.S. – corporate special interests. And your guns won’t protect you from that – only a united and well informed populace willing to speak up will.