A Passageway To Truth

It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child. ~Pablo Picasso

In order to produce something new, you have to return to the original source, to the childhood of mankind ~Paul Gaugin

A couple years ago, my wife and I attended a fundraising event for North Seattle Community College's Parent Advisory Council (PAC). Our cooperative preschool, like most of the hundreds of cooperatives in our area, is affiliated with a neighborhood community college, through its parent education department. The college buys insurance for all the schools, operates officer training for the leaders of our schools, and most importantly provides education to our parents, who are all also enrolled as credit-earning students.

PAC is comprised of a parent representative from each of the some 40 schools in the NSCC system, charged with doing things like hosting ECE speakers, producing a newsletter, sometimes getting involved in legislative matters, and raising scholarship funds. The latter is the reason we all came together that Friday, first in the Seattle Art Museum's sales and rental gallery, then later in the museum itself to view SAM's Gaugin and Polynesia exhibit.  

Northwest painter Kathy Liao was there to discuss her work. During the cocktail portion of the program I found myself talking to her, and as it is my wont in the context of party banter to offer up to new acquaintences some theory or other I've been noodling over, I inflicted this one on her, "Having made art with a lot of young children and a lot of professional artists, I think the main difference between the two is that the professional artist knows when to stop."

I see it almost every day, young children creating great beauty, breathtaking beauty, but it's only a phase they are going through in their process, one which quite often ends in a mucky canvas of what I call "preschool gray." As a teacher, I see the gray as evidence of learning, as a sign that this child has explored and experimented in every way possible. As an artist, I see yet another masterpiece lost to the world.

Kathy replied, "A lot of artists strive to paint like children . . ." then we almost simultaneously quoted Picasso's words from above. She then went on, "You know, when I was in school one of the biggest criticisms from my instructors was that I overworked my canvases."

I've heard that criticism myself, both of me and of others. I said, "You were still a child. Now you know when to stop."

I know a little about the life and art of Paul Gaugin, probably the same things you know: a Frenchman who left it all behind to seek out truth among the "savages" of the South Pacific:

I want to do simple, very simple art, and to be able to do that, I have to immerse myself in virgin nature, see no one but savages, live their life, with no other thought in mind but to render, the way a child would, the concepts formed in my brain and to do this with the aid of nothing but the primitive means of art, the only means that are good and true.  

What he found, of course, disappointed him, as he felt that Europeans, and particularly the missionaries, had already ruined the natives, but still he stayed, striving through his paintings to discover that innocence and simplicity. That we imagine we see these attributes in children and "savages" alike is a testament to our arrogance and presumption of superiority, even as we strive to attain those attributes ourselves or somehow "return" to them.  Like Gaugin, who seemed to feel, at least at first, that he needed to protect these people, especially from the church, so often as adults in the lives of children we think it is our place to protect their innocence from the big, bad world.

The reason we were there on that Friday evening was to raise money for families that struggle to afford even our low tuitions. The children in these families are already accustomed to looking into darkness. All children, even infants, already know that life can be hard and unfair, that pain, hunger, and fear are facts of existence. They know this from the moment they emerge into this world. Adults cannot protect them from this because there is no innocence to preserve, just knowledge to suppress. If anyone is "innocent" in all of this, or perhaps willfully ignorant, it is we "civilized" adults, who strive to push all the icky-ness to the margins, to box it up in the dark corners of our minds, to pretend it doesn't exist. I submit that, indeed, what we really admire in those mythological nobel savages and mythological children is how directly and comfortably they seem to co-exist with the darkness from which we run. When we seek to protect them, more often than not we only succeed in causing them to doubt their instincts about the world, replacing them with our fears.

When a child continues beyond our conception of beauty into the miasma of gray, she is exploring the places where we in our false innocence rarely go any longer. Where we bemoan the "loss" of a masterpiece, the place where professional artists have learned to stop, she is using beauty as a passageway to truth.

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artists once he grows up. ~Pablo Picasso

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Safe Enough

I don't know who built this ascending walkway of planks leading from the lower sand pit to the top of the box that was built to hold the half million dollar Calder sculpture. It seemed to appear one day, fully realized.

We have a half dozen of these planks in our outdoor classroom, each 7-8 feet long. These large scale loose parts are in constant use, especially by the older kids who are always finding new ways to use them. 

They are often employed as walkways or bridges or teeter totters or catapults or spring boards or giant swings. We adults tend to see hazard in how they are used, and in all honesty there is often a certain amount of hazard. The stereotype is that children tend to underestimate the risk involved in such things, but from the experience of watching them play with these sorts of things day in and day out, I'm more inclined to conclude that adults are at least as likely to err on the side of overestimating danger. 

I've been watching children engaged in this sort of play for a long time now and I've come to think of it not as risky play, but as "safety play," the practicing of skills and habits that will serve them as they move forward in the world: balance, coordination, judgment, and most importantly, an understanding of one's own physical and psychological limits. And, of course, the gradual stretching of these limits. These are things the will never be learned in an environment full of adults expressing their own overwrought and inhibiting fears in the form of "be careful!" words that tend to plant self-doubt in a garden where self-confidence is more properly grown.

Recently, an adult who doesn't have children enrolled in our school saw our planks where the children had left them, not like this, but as they'd been arranged to cross over gaps between the tree rounds that line the sand pit. She was concerned that they were unsecured at each end, "What if they fall?" It's a question that can really only be answered with another: "What if they don't?"

At bottom, education must be an exploration of the real world, of the physics that govern it, of our own capabilities and limitations within it, of our capacity to manipulate and create it, and, yes, sometimes merely to survive it. It is through this exploration that we develop an honest understand of ourselves "in context," unclouded by those who continually caution us from a place of fear and doubt and stereotype, and instead learn to trust our own judgements. It's from this that we learn to stretch ourselves while being "safe enough," which is always the nature of a life worth living.

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Snake Oil

This video is from a recent professional development session for Chicago public school teachers, the district that was previously mismanaged by current US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

I had to watch it several times to understand what was happening. The only experience I have with repeat-after-me chanting like this is church and political protests. These are professionals, collage graduates, some of whom who have been teaching for decades. Can you imagine this sort of "training" happening with, say, lawyers? Doctors? Architects? Massage Therapists?

The difference between church and protests is that they rarely sound as droning and dour as these teachers, which is, I'm sure, how their students sound when subjected to this dull, degrading sort of experience. They seem either beaten down or to have battened down against the humiliation. It is the worst kind of rote "learning," of mindless repetition, the sort of thing that sucks the joy out of childhood, that makes education unnecessarily arduous and hollows it of thought, which is what ultimately stands at the core of genuine learning. What you see in this video is what is meant by the expression "drill and kill," because it effectively kills natural intellectual curiosity.

Oh, I understand that this clip isn't representative of the entirety of this particular professional development session, or at least I hope it isn't, because otherwise we're looking at a vignette from hell. But here's what I'm asking myself: in what world is this an appropriate way to educate a human being? Even if what we're watching here is merely an experiential "example" of this particular teaching technique, in what world is this considered a valid way to teach anything to anyone, adult or child? What we see here has about as much a connection to education as prostitution has with with romantic love.

When I see this, when I imagine children being taught in this most humiliating fashion, one that demands compliance and debases the essential humanity of children, I see red. It's as if we've replaced the Pledge of Allegiance (which at least has the dignity of being an avowal of unity) and prayer (which at least has the grace of being about connecting with a higher consciousness) with this obedience crap.

From what I understand, this is one of the core teaching techniques employed by many for-profit charter school chains. From what I understand, the person conducting this mandatory "professional development" session is a paid consultant, likely employed by an education corporation, established for the purpose of creating a profit from the labor of our children.

This is an affront to children and to anyone who understands that children are not merely incomplete adults or empty vessels or essentially evil beings in need of a firm hand. You don't think children know this is humiliating? Then you haven't spent time with children, which is literally the case with most of those who come up with this garbage. This is snake oil being sold by charlatans off the back of clapboard wagons. The only thing for which it is possibly good is to help kids pass a standardized test, trivia memorized through drilling, then forgotten the moment the bubbles are darkened. How much do you want to bet that the same people who created our standardized tests are are the ones getting paid for these "professional development" sessions?

There is nothing worth learning that can be best taught using this technique.

When I watch this video I do so in disbelief that it is happening anywhere, to anyone, for any reason.  The instinct of education is as strong as any we possess: it is driven by curiosity and joy, the stuff of childhood. To have it stamped down and perverted in this way is heartless: indeed, I detect a palpable hatred of children beating where a teacher's heart belongs.

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The Foundation Of A Good Education

When we enrolled our daughter Josephine in cooperative preschool, I explained how it worked to a friend, telling her that there was one professional teacher in the room and a dozen parent assistant teachers. She freaked out saying, “How can you let amateurs teach your child? I only want professional teachers near my child.” She feared that the parents of other children would somehow damage her child’s educational prospects. So while Josephine spent her 3 years in co-op, her son attended a preschool in which parents were not allowed into the classroom, even to observe.

I could no more have made her decision than she could have, apparently, made mine. Even as a new parent who had no inkling that teaching was in my future, I knew I wanted to be there with Josephine as much as possible, and when I wasn’t I wanted her to be surrounded by the love of a community. I didn’t care about her having a teacher who could teach her how to “read” or identify Norway on map before she was 3, like some kind of circus trick, I wanted her to be in a place where she simply got to play with friends and be guided by loving neighbors.

The more I teach, the better I feel about my decision.

What parents may lack as pedagogues (and, indeed, many of them are masters) they more than make up for by bringing love into a co-op classroom. And as Mister Rogers puts it:

Learning and loving go hand in hand. My grandfather was one of those people who loved to live and loved to teach. Every time I was with him, he’d show me something about the world or something about myself that I hadn’t even thought of yet. He’d help me find something wonderful in the smallest of things, and ever so carefully, he helped me understand the enormous worth of every human being. My grandfather was not a professional teacher, but the way he treated me (the way he loved me) and the things he did with me, served me as well as any teacher I’ve ever known.

My friend also thought that our co-op sounded too much like “play school.” She wanted her child to go to “real school.” Again, as a new parent, my thoughts on the subject were not well-enough formed to answer her with logical argument (not that it would have done any good), but I just knew she was wrong. Today, I know that to undervalue the importance of play for young children is to fundamentally misunderstand how children learn, and, frankly, I think this applies to older children and adults as well. The times in life when my mind has been the most shut down are those times when I felt compelled to do “work” prescribed by others. When I've been playing, however, even if dressed up as hard work, I've learned the most about myself and the world.

Again, from Mister Rogers:

Play does seem to open up another part of the mind that is always there, but that, since childhood, may have become closed off and hard to reach. When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. We’re helping ourselves stay in touch with that spirit, too. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.

It’s love and play that form the foundation of a good education. Without that the rest is meaningless.

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That's Not The Way It Went

One of our most popular toys is a vintage Fisher-Price "Dump Truckers" set. It belonged to my brother and me as boys and when my parents were clearing our their attic a few years back, I claimed it, and my memories, for the school. There are three dump trucks, three payloads (wooden balls), and three garages in which the trucks can load and dump. There are nearly always more than three kids who want to play with it.

When this toy first returned to my life, I resorted to duct taping the thing down to the table to prevent one child from absconding with it. I worried the kids about not losing the wooden balls "because it's an old toy and we can't get any more." I cautioned the parent-teacher in charge of that particular station that they would likely need to help the children manage cooperative play, like turn taking.

It's been a few years now and I don't do any of that any more. Each time I bring this toy down from its shelf, I "remember" that it's a challenging thing with which to play, even with good friends, although I then remind myself that this memory is almost solely constructed from a couple incidents and the subsequent story I told myself about how children, mostly boys, played with it rather than a reality.

I brought it down last week along with another popular toy, a space station by manufacturers unknown that features two space shuttles, a "rover," and a sort of clumsy grappling crane. It's about the right scale for the classic Fisher-Price Little People so they go together just fine. My only special instruction, which was given to the kids rather than the adult, was a request to keep track of the balls because "this toy is special to me." Then we more or less just stepped back.

There were raised voices at times and even occasional pushing and grabbing, but we gave them time to work things out for themselves. In between conversations about construction sites and space aliens, I also heard things like:

"Hey, I was using that!"

"You're pushing me!"

"I want the blue one."

All straight forward declarations of fact delivered with sometimes strong, but always appropriate, emotion. 

Then there were negotiations:

"When can I get a turn?"

"But I need to stand there."

"The blue one is my favorite, you can have the red."

And there were solutions:

"You can have a turn when I'm finished."

"Let's turn is like this, then you can stand on on that side and I can stand here."

"We have to take turns with it. First me, then you, then me, then you . . ."

For five days, whenever we were indoors, there was a cluster of heads bent over these two table toys, boys shoulder-to-shoulder, staking their claims, listening to friends, then figuring it out. That's not the way it went back in the days when the toy was duct taped to the table and adults hovered over them, kibitzing, and generally over-reacting when emotions started to ramp up. I'm sure there were moments over the course of five days during which boys between 2-6 played here, with their foreheads together, when an adult stepped in, but I didn't see happen, not once.

And on Friday afternoon all of those wooden balls were back where they belonged.

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Hopefully, They'll Listen

Yesterday I wrote about Chicago teachers, parents, and students opting out of a low-stakes standardized test. But what about high stakes tests, like the new ones mandated by Common Core State Standards? After all, that's really what those of us who opposes corporate-style education "reform" object to.

Well, it appears that Seattle teachers, emboldened by the success of last year's boycott of standardized MAP tests at Garfield High School as well as other schools, are threatening to do just that: refuse to administer the standardized tests that are the centerpiece of the Obama administration's standardization and testing regimen. Last year, the teachers enjoyed widespread support among both parents and students and they're counting on the same this go around.

"People are completely fighting back," says Seattle Schools watchdog-blogger Melissa Westbrook, who says she's heard from parents across the district alarmed by Common Core. The district is wholly unprepared for Common Core . . . Westbrook says: Teachers don't fully understand the standards, the district's computers aren't ready for the new tests, and parents won't understand how to interpret sudden drops in their kid's test scores."

Local support for a boycott is strong, and it's growing nationally as well.

This could be the first-ever teacher boycott of Obama's new standards and testing regimen, with the potential to set a precedent for the rest of the country. Critics say corporate education reform titans like the Gates Foundation developed Common Core without input from teachers. Last week, Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the National Education Association, the country's largest teacher's union, issued a statement calling implementation of Common Core across the country "completely botched." He cited a new poll of the union's teacher-members in which an overwhelming 70 percent said implementation of Common Core is "going poorly."

The NEA is calling for a three-year moratorium on implementation of Common Core in order to properly field test the program using actual teachers and students in classroom settings. As they now stand, the standards and the tests have no grounding in actual research, anecdotal or otherwise: they are merely the best-guesses of political and corporate dilettantes, forcing schools to use their students a guinea pigs in a massive education experiment.

It appears that my very own Seattle is shaping up as the first major battleground as teachers, parents, and students come together to push back in the name of high quality education. If the past is any indicator, the school district will threaten teachers with punishment, even firing, and it's unknown what the Obama administration will do.  Hopefully, they'll listen. 

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Chicago Teachers, Parents, Students Opt Out Of Standardized Test

In a principled move early last year, and with widespread support from parents and students, the teachers at Seattle's Garfield High School unanimously refused to administer a state mandated standardized test, saying the test wastes time, money, and school resources. 

In encouraging news this week, the teachers at Chicago's Saucedo Elementary Scholastic Academy, inspired by the 320 families who have already opted their children out of the state-mandated Illinois Standards Achievement Tests (ISAT), voted unanimously to refuse to administer the tests. Families at 38 other Chicago schools have also opted out of the tests, leading to hopes that the bold move will spread to other schools.

This is how it is going to happen, one school at a time, one school district at a time, one state at a time: a revolution of teachers taking a stand on behalf of education, supported by students and parents fed up with the insanity of the testing regimen that is increasingly coming to dominate our schools, a trend that is only going to ramp up in coming years as the US Department of Education strong-arms Common Core State Standard implementation, complete with a number of high stakes tests.

In this case, as in the case of Garfield High School, a low-stakes standardized test has been targeted, rendered so by the district's decision to drop the ISAT after this year, which is not aligned to any Chicago school curriculum and will not be used to measure student progress, school performance, promotion, or for any other purpose. Essentially, this is a test that steals eight classroom days from students and teachers, not to mention prep time. And while the test serves no purpose, educational or otherwise, the school district is threatening disciplinary action against the teachers. 

This is the level of insanity to which the standardized test crowd has sunk. Despite any data or research or field testing to support their theories about drill-and-kill education, and plenty of evidence that shows their approach is narrowing and weakening our schools, they persist in demanding obedience even when they admit their tests have no value. When you have to resort to bribes (which is essentially how Common Core is being implemented through the Obama administration's Race To The Top), threats, and punishment to get your way, if that's all you've got, then it's highly likely that your way sucks.

It should be interesting to see what happens should the district follow up on its threats, given that the teachers seem to have significant support from the rest of the high school's community as well as the Chicago Teacher's Union (CTU). It could shape up as a classic confrontation between those who believe in local control of schools and those pushing to impose standards from on high. It's an American fight, one I hope to see spread through Chicago, Seattle, and right across the nation.

Here is the text of the press release from the CTU:

CTU SUPPORTS TEACHER BOYCOTT OF LOW-STAKES ISAT

CHICAGO – The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) supports teachers and parents at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy who announced today their intent to boycott the Illinois State Achievement Test (ISAT). Teachers have collected more than 300 opt-out letters and the student council voted to encourage all students to opt out of the exam. Should these courageous educators face disciplinary charges by the district, CTU vowed to mount a strong defense of this collective action.

Saucedo’s action stance against the ISAT could spark a teacher and parent-led movement to “opt-out” throughout the Chicago Public Schools system.

“The Saucedo educators have taken a bold step in refusing to administer a test that is of no use to students and will be junked by the district next year,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey. “Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has already said the ISAT will not be used for selective enrollment, and therefore this serves no purpose other than to give students another standardized test. We know that parents all over the city are opting their children out of this unnecessary test, and we commend them for doing what is in the best interests of their children.”

The ‘low stakes’ test is expected to be administered over the course of eight days in all elementary schools starting March 3rd. Formerly used to help qualify 7th grade students for selective enrollment high schools. The district recently issued a memorandum to teachers stressing the value of “rigorous, high-quality assessments,” in measuring student progress. The ISAT, however, is not aligned to any CPS curriculum, and in Chicago, it is no longer used to measure student progress, school performance, promotion, or for any other purpose.

For the last decade, since the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the ISAT test has been the primary lever used by CPS for its destructive, destabilizing policies of closures and turnarounds. System-wide, the ISAT has infected the vigor and breadth of curriculum as teachers and students became stymied by the requirements of a narrow test-based approach to learning. NCLB has now been panned as a broad failure, but with the transition into more new tests, CPS threatens to double-down on the failed policy of standardized-test based accountability.

I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!

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