You Could Run A School Like Ours On This Stuff

My wife and I recently returned from New York City. We were there to help our daughter get settled into her new life as a student at NYU, a campus that must be among the most densely populated in US, located as it is in the heart of one of our most densely populated cities. I'm an advocate for increasing density in our cities on environmental grounds, a position for which I've advocated on these pages. It's a topic that generates more controversy around here than when I take a stand against spanking or guns.

We were staying at a hotel in Tribeca and as is my habit when visiting new places, I was up at the crack of dawn to take long walks. To give you an idea, one morning I walked the seam of Broadway from Canal Street to 83rd on the upper west side. On another day, my wife joined me on a jaunt across the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn. But before setting out each morning, I enjoyed a relatively quiet (by New York standards) stroll around Soho where, daily, I found the most compelling evidence ever for urban density, at least if you're a preschool teacher.

Soho retailers and restaurants leave the best stuff in their curbside garbage piles. If our play-based, cooperative school was located in Manhattan, I would be raiding those piles on a daily basis. I mean, just take a look at the pictures below. These all came from a tour of less than 30 minutes on the morning of the day we flew back to Seattle.

You could run a school like ours on this stuff. Some days were better than others. This was sort of an average day.

One of my mantras is that preschools don't exist to use stuff: one of our major societal function is to finish using stuff.

People ask, "But what will the kids do with it?" I don't need to know. I've been doing this long enough to know that they will find plenty to do with most of it, often amazing things. We have far junkier junk on our playground already. And the few items that lay fallow? Well, big deal, it was already garbage.

I've done a little dumpster diving here in Seattle, but that takes more commitment than just raiding one of these tidy curbside piles. And I'm not the only one; even during the creation of this photo essay, I saw several items go home with happy foragers.

I think this may be one of my biggest knee-jerk aversions to education corporations like Pearson Education. They're making billions off selling new stuff to schools when the best stuff is just lying around, free for the taking. If I were the king of early childhood education, I can guarantee we would do it both better and cheaper.

And just look how tidily the cardboard is packed up. It's a middle class bag lady's dream.

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A Victory!

It's going to take a miracle to avoid a Seattle teachers strike. Tomorrow is the day public schools are scheduled to open and reports are that the sides are still quite far apart on most major issues, even if the district did agree to one of the key union demands that children be guaranteed a minimum of 30 minutes of recess per day, and there has apparently been agreement on substitute teacher pay.

It's always good news when working people stand in solidarity with one another, but of course, as necessary as they are sometimes, strikes are never good news. It will be stressful for teachers and parents, not to mention disappointing to students, many of whom are eager to get back to school.

The other big education news from our state, however, is an unqualified win for public education. In 2012, voters, by the slimmest of margins, approved the introduction of charter schools in our state. Three previous times since 1996, we had rejected charters, but this fourth effort, funded by many of the wealthiest people in the world, finally eeked through. Ninety-eight percent of the pro-charter campaign's $10 million war chest came from just 21 individuals, including Bill Gates (Microsoft), Alice Walton (Walmart), Paul Allen (Microsoft/Vulcan), and Jeff Bezos (Amazon), a dream-team of billionaires apparently hell-bent on turning the education of our youngest citizens over to the private sector.

Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled the charter school initiative unconstitutional:

In a 6-3 ruling issued late Friday afternoon, the high court said that charter schools do not qualify as common, public schools and cannot receive public funding . . . In the lead opinion, Chief Justice Barbara Madsen said the case wasn't about the merits of charter schools, simply whether they were eligible. Citing state Supreme Court precedent from 1909, she said they are not, because they are not under the control of local voters.

This is a victory, not only for public schools, but for democracy. It's unclear what's going to happen to the the nine charters slated to operate this school year (8 of which are brand new and therefore untested, while the one that has operated for a full school year is a mess), but at the very least they are going to have to find a source of funding other than taxpayers. Maybe the billionaires will step up, it would be chump change for them, but I'm not holding my breath. You see, their ultimate goal isn't simply more private schools; their goal is for private interests, and primarily for-profit education corporations, to control public education instead of we the people. The kind of transparency that comes with voter control, that comes with democracy, is anathema to the privatizers. Indeed, secrecy is their calling card.

As Peter Greene points out, the solution to keeping the charter doors open is a simple one -- just agree to be overseen by an elected school board:

I mean -- what's more important to you? Providing a strong educational alternative for those 1,200 students, or holding on to your ability to do whatever you want without having to answer to the public? Is it so important to you that you not be accountable to the public that you would rather engage in time-consuming rewrites of state law, or even just close your doors, rather than let yourself submit to transparent and open oversight by a group of citizens elected by the very taxpayers whose money you use to run your school?

My money is on a contentious, drawn-out process of lobbying the state legislature to re-write the law. In the meantime, the billionaires might prop up the current schools for a time, perhaps an entire school year, but when the legislative efforts fail, as is likely in this state where charters are widely viewed with suspicion, then the charters will just shut their doors, which is par for the course for charters. Over 300 charters have gone belly-up in Florida and one in six of the remaining 650 or so schools are on the verge of doing so. Muskegon Heights, Michigan was left without a public school system at all when it's poorly-managed charter chain decided that running the school system wasn't profitable enough. These are businesspeople: they have no problem leaving families in the lurch in the name of a greasy buck.

And while there are a few shining examples among them, charter schools as a whole are failing right across the country, not just financially, but educationally, legally, and democratically. I mean, if you need any more evidence that the whole charter movement is broken and corrupt, look no further than the fact that the highest paid government worker in America is the CEO of a huge for-profit charter chain that is failing so badly that major universities are refusing to "accept credits" from their schools because of the low quality of the education. But, you know, the chain is so profitable that the CEO took home $4 million in taxpayer money last year, and since money is how you measure success in a businessman's world, it's all good, right? Education in their model is secondary to profit.

Of course, I feel sorry for the Washington state families that took the bait and enrolled their kids in these illegal schools for the coming school year, but I assure you their children will be welcomed into their transparent, voter controlled public schools with open arms. Like all democratic institutions, our public schools are far from perfect, but they are better than the secretive, corrupt alternative of charters. So while this isn't necessarily a ringing endorsement of our public schools as they exist today, I do stand with Seattle's teachers, and public school teachers everywhere, who have your children's best interests at heart and who embody the kind commitment, passion, and solidarity that gives me confidence for the future of public education.

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Celebrating Labor Day

(With the first day of classes for Seattle Public Schools scheduled for Wednesday, Seattle teachers continue their contract negotiations with the district in an attempt to avoid a strike. Over the weekend, I'm happy to report, the teachers have succeeded on securing one of their main points: a minimum of 30 minutes of recess for all students. I know, it still sounds like a pathetic amount of time on the playground for young children, but last year some kids only got 15 minutes for lunch and recess combined. Still, this is a union victory for children. Hopefully, however, most principals will chose to go beyond the minimum.  --TT) 

It's odd celebrating Labor Day in this country given the war being waged against labor by many of the most powerful members of our society, and the outright vitriol coming from elected representatives who malign working men and women as nothing more than selfish, lazy, union thugs. At the beginning of summer, on Memorial Day, you will find no shortage of people stepping to the front to wave their flags in honor of soldiers who gave their lives. But at the end of summer, on Labor Day, these very people actually become the "selfish, lazy, thugs" they condemn, enjoying a three-day weekend of picnics and family time, ignoring the thousands who gave their lives so that they can enjoy a middle-class privilege, brought to them by unions.

Indeed the middle class exists because of the Labor Movement, although it's not surprising that so many Americans are unaware of this fact, and can be so easily manipulated by politicians with anti-union agendas, because most public schools have relegated this vital piece of our civic history to a few paragraphs in text books, if it's taught at all.

And just because you don't belong to a union, don't think that your life is not better because of the long fight in which labor has been engaged on your behalf.

The very weekend you are currently enjoying has indeed been brought to you by people who fought and even died because of the radical notion that families should have time to be together, that children should not burn up their tragically short lives in sweat shops and coal mines, that mothers and fathers should expect workplaces where they won't be maimed and killed, that they should not be beaten, have their wages arbitrarily withheld, or be forced to work 61 hour weeks (the average in 1870, meaning many worked far more hours than that) with no hope of a day off. Oh, these were great times for business owners, but they were hell for everyone else.

You can thank labor for your employer-based health care coverage, your living wage, your paid sick leave, vacations, and holidays. Without a Labor Movement you would not have workers compensation for on the job injuries, unemployment insurance, pensions, anti-discrimination laws, or family medical leave. You would have no "due process," living at the mercy of your employer, who may well be a good guy, but just as likely is not.

Wages and the standard of living, even for non-union workers, in states with laws that support unions are higher; states with union-busting laws have lower wages and lower standards of living. That is a simple fact.

I've heard people argue that unions are somehow anti-capitalism (as if that's an inherently bad thing). Of course, I see how a strong union might cut into corporate profits (which are currently, even in this struggling economy, among the highest in the history of the world, in real dollars) but from where I sit unions are pure capitalism. Why can't individuals with a service to sell, be it teaching or steel working, ally themselves together to negotiate the best deal possible? I mean, it's certainly democratic. And isn't that what corporations do all the time with their mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships? If capitalism is just for those with capital, then it's clearly and fundamentally anti-democratic and should have no place in our society.

I've heard people argue that unions are somehow selfish. I find that a singularly silly assertion. Really? Selfish? People getting together for the common good, sticking together, sticking up for one another, acting in the best interests of "we" instead of "me." That's selfish? Yet somehow a corporation seeking to  squeeze every nickel out of the hide of it's most lowly worker isn't selfish? Please.

I've heard people use anecdotal arguments that union workers are somehow lazy. I have no doubt that there are actually lazy union workers, just like there is laziness in every aspect of life. But you've got to do better than anecdotes to convince me. The actual research shows that unionized businesses are made more productive through reduced worker turnover which leads to lower training costs and more seasoned workers, which results in not only higher productivity, but better quality. Actual research shows that higher paid workers force managers to actually do their jobs of more effective and efficient planning.  Actual research shows that employers who involve union workers in their decision-making process see an almost 10 percent increase in productivity. Companies like Costco with a high percentage of its workforce unionized enjoy 20 percent higher profits per worker hour than anti-union bottom feeders like Walmart. Productivity statistics put the lie to the claim of laziness.

And as for the argument that union workers are thugs. Look at the history of the Labor Movement and tell me who the real thugs are.

I'm writing about this on my education blog because of the hits teacher's unions have been taking lately, in places like Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, and Michigan, but really right across the country. In fact, more than just hits, they are under full-on assault, and not just from politicians, but by the corporate "education reformers," who seem to find, without any evidence, that those rotten union teachers are the cause of our "educational crisis" (which in itself is largely a myth made up solely to serve their agenda of high-stakes testing, privatization and the de-professionalization of the teaching profession).

I am not a union member, nor have I ever been, but I'm waving my flag today not only for abused and hard working teachers, but for all of my brothers and sisters who work for a living, who continue to fight for their fair share of this democracy, and who envision a better more egalitarian and democratic future for our children.

Union! Solidarity!

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They Are Doing It For Your Children

Seattle's Public School's are scheduled to open their doors for the 2015-16 school year next week, although it looks very unlikely that it will happen. Our teachers have been bargaining with the district all summer over a new contract, yet the district waited until the waning days of summer to reject all of the teacher's proposals, making a teachers strike all but inevitable. Indeed, they have already unanimously voted to do so.

The union proposes scraping all standardized tests other than those that are federally mandated. The school district remains staunchly in favor of retaining the dozens of standardized tests that have increasingly come to comprise the curriculum of our public schools, forcing children to spend their time in test prep rather than actual education.

The union proposes ending the widely discredited practice of tying teacher evaluations to test scores. The school district remains staunchly in favor of evaluation methods that are demonstrably unfair and unreliable.

The union proposes tripling the amount of recess time for young children, demanding a minimum of 45 minutes a day on the playground (a number that this reporter still finds abusively low). The school district remains staunchly in favor of keeping the kids in their seats, even arguing for longer school days, a cruelty I can hardly stomach.

The union proposes establishing "race and equity teams" to help identify and address the institutional racism that leads to such inequalities as black children being four times more likely to be suspended than white children. The school district remains staunchly in favor of looking the other way.

The union proposes implementing case load caps for overworked and overloaded school counselors and psychologists in order to begin to adequately address the mental health needs of students. The school district remains staunchly behind inadequately funding this vital student lifeline.

And finally, the union is demanding a raise after six years without any, in the face of a skyrocketing cost of living in our city. The school district, despite receiving nearly a $100 million in new money, would rather continue to pay for-profit testing and curriculum companies than their teachers. In fact, the district wants teachers to work more hours without compensation.

The union's positions all seems reasonable to me. For more details, I'll steer you to teacher, writer, and activist Jesse Hagopian's excellent piece on his I Am An Educator blog.

No one wants a strike, of course, and most of the families I know are behind the teachers, many actively so, because they know that the teachers are really just asking for better schools. None of these proposals are outrageous and they are all long overdue. The district, on the other hand, is behaving very badly in all of this. It's almost as if they want a strike. In fact, their behavior suggests they're banking on a strike, especially a drawn out one, in the hopes of sparking an anti-teacher backlash to erode the currently strong parent and citizen support, 

Sadly, they might not be wrong. Teachers have become a punching bag profession. Leading politicians, even Presidential candidates, regularly seek to score political points by teacher bashing. Despite polls that show that Americans hold teachers in high esteem and that more than 80 percent would encourage their own children to pursue a teaching career, the anti-teacher rhetoric continues. Part of that is a result of the whole corporate education "reform" campaign, which has overtly used teacher bashing as a tactic in their longterm plan to fully privatize public education. Stand-offs in places like Seattle illustrate that those in power do not share the opinion that teachers deserve professional respect or adequate compensation.

I admire and respect teachers like Jesse Hagopian who are willing and able to stand up and lead, and while every teacher I know supports the union in this negotiation, every single one of them will also be heartbroken when schools do not open on time. You see, for most of us, teaching is more a calling than a vocation. Most of us would still do it even if we were paid less. We would do it even if our working conditions were worse. We would show up to teach every day no matter what, because we don't do it for the money or the prestige or the security -- we do it for the children. This is what makes our profession great, of course, but it is also a lever that our opponents use against us which is why we need our unions and our activist leaders. It's also why we need parents to stick with us, even when it's inconvenient like it is when teachers strike. Most of us, most of the time, are doing it for your children.

Whatever happens in the coming days, please know that: they are doing it for your children.

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Seize The Day!

We start back to school a week or so later than most. It's by design. As a cooperative, we run on parent power and these first couple weeks of September can be distracting and stressful for families, especially those with older children attending public schools. The idea is to give those families a chance to ease into the year without preschool obligations adding anxiety to what has already become an anxiety-ridden time of year for families of school-aged children. We've found that parents appreciate the time and space to get one child settled before turning their attentions our direction. It's also nice for families to extend their summer into September a little, providing a window for a final vacation or so-called "stay-cation" during which to take uncrowded advantage of all our area's family offerings. 

Of course, the downside of this approach is that most of our preschoolers are chomping at the bit, at least those starting their second, third, or fourth year with Woodland Park and who already know what to expect from our democratic, play-based school. Whereas the stereotype is of children mournfully counting down the final dreadful days to the first day of class, our families report the opposite phenomenon, with preschoolers awaking each morning eagerly asking if today is the day. Indeed, it happens all year long with kids complaining when they awake on the weekend or during holidays to discover there is no school.

This is how it ought to be. There is no greater gift we can give to our children than a day-to-day life with which they are eager to engage. Isn't that what we all want: this feeling, this enthusiastic embrace of life, one that doesn't require "happy talk" or motivation or an extra cup of coffee to get us out the door, where "Seize the day!" is not a command, but a natural reaction to our lifestyle? 

Sadly, when it comes to traditional school, we have instead created a stress-fest. As Peter Gray writes over on Psychology Today:

Imagine a job in which your work every day is micromanaged by your boss. You are told exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. You are required to stay in your seat until your boss says you can move. Each piece of your work is evaluated and compared, every day, with the work done by your fellow employees. You are rarely trusted to make your own decisions. Research on employment shows that this is not only the most tedious employment situation, but also the most stressful. Micromanagement drives people crazy . . . School, too often, is exactly like the kind of nightmare job that I just described; and, worse, it is a job the kids are not allowed to quit.

No wonder children mourn the end of summer, and don't get me started on the nasty jokes about parents "celebrating" as if off-loading their kids to the workhouse is a glorious emancipation, especially in light of the psychological toll it takes on children. This is serious business. As Gray points out, emergency psychiatric visits for school-aged children rise dramatically during the school year and fall during the summer. In Japan, a nation with a school system toward which our political leaders seem to want to push our schools, the first day of school is, horrifyingly, also the day in which teen suicides spike.

We really can't go on this way. For many children, even summer has become a highly scheduled, pre-programmed regimen of camps, classes and lessons. The opportunity to play, freely, has been on the decline for decades now. Psychologists know that the freedom to chose, the opportunity to exert  control over our own fate, is the greatest way to inoculate humans against anxiety and depression. We know that a lack of free play in the name of "education" is doing great harm to children and, in fact, ultimately threatening their academic and psychological prospects. 

As I sit here this morning, not preparing myself for class, I'm aware there are Woodland Park preschoolers complaining that they have to wait another week and a half for the first day of school, wishing for the big day to arrive. And I know there are parents wishing the same thing, not because they want to off-load their kids, but because it will be the first day of school for them as well, and they can't wait to play, to seize the day. And you know what? I feel the same way.

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A Culture Of Inclusion

When our daughter Josephine was a preschooler, she would complain, "I wanted to play with her, but when I asked to play, she said, No." This wasn't a once or twice complaint, but one she voiced almost daily, and more often than not she was being rejected by her best friends. 

When I asked her teacher (and my mentor) Chris David about it, she replied, "If you want to play with a preschooler, sometimes the worst question to ask is, Can I play with you? The answer is almost always No." And while I've found this characterization to be a bit of an exaggeration, it is true for most kids some of the time and some kids most of the time. These are years during which children experiment with power and there are few things more powerful than telling someone No.

Instead of asking to play, Chris suggested to "just start playing." If it's dollies, then pick up a doll and start playing too. If it's blocks, start building. If it's painting, then paint. And before long you're not just playing beside someone, you're playing with them.

Entering into play with another person can be a very challenging proposition at any age. Some kids are naturals at it, and if you take the time to observe you'll find that most of these "master players" do it just the way Chris suggested I coach Josephine. Perhaps they take a moment to survey the scene, but typically it isn't very long before they've dropped to their knees and gotten busy. They don't try to change the game in progress, they don't try to get their hands on a toy that's already in use, and they definitely don't ask for permission.

When I suggested this approach to Josephine, however, she answered, "But I have to say something!" I've since found this to be true of a lot of children. It might just be temperament or it could be that they've internalized some adult social conventions, but whatever the case, there are some kids who seem constitutionally incapable of simply dropping into the midst of things. They feel the need to announce themselves or their intentions or to otherwise make themselves heard as they enter into play.

So Josephine and I strategized what kinds of things she could say that didn't present a yes or no option.

"What are you playing?"

"You're playing with blocks."

"My dolly is your dolly's best friend."

Or the line I use to this day when role modeling how to enter into play, the straight-forward assertion of fact, "I'm playing too." 

I don't expect every game to be open to all comers, sometimes you have something going with your buddy and there isn't room for one more, but we strive, as a general rule, to create a culture of inclusion in our classroom. It starts with the adults, of course, and since in our cooperative classrooms about a quarter of the bodies in the room belong to grown-ups, that gives us a running start. As adults, we almost always respond positively to attempts to enter into play with us. After all, that's why we're there, and when we can't, we explain why (e.g., "I'm helping Billy with this puzzle right now"), then let them know when we will be able to accept the invitation (e.g., "I'll play with you as soon as I'm done"), then we follow through.

I tell the adults that it's their job to role model inclusive behavior, to always seek to find a way to add one more child to whatever it is they're doing. If it's a puzzle, invite a second or third child to help. If it's a board game, go ahead and stretch and bend the rules to accommodate one more. If it's playing princesses in a castle, find another throne, make another crown, or suggest another gown.

When a child complains to me, "They're not letting me play," my stock response is to reply, "I'll play with you, come on." We then head right over to the kids who have somehow given the impression they don't want to play, sit down beside them, and say, "We're playing too." I don't want to boss or guilt anyone into playing with anyone else, but if I'm going to understand the dynamic of this particular exclusion, I figure I need to get right in the middle of the play, rather than the middle of a fight about play. Most of the time, this is all it takes, the exclusion was accidental or the result of a misunderstanding, and once I've helped break the ice, the game is on, everyone finds a role, and I can begin extricating myself.

Sometimes, however, by putting myself in the middle of things, I learn a little more about why things aren't working out. Sometimes I discover that the child is being excluded for a valid reason. For instance, "She keeps knocking down our buildings." I then turn to the child and restate their objection, "They don't want you to knock down their buildings. If you want to play with them, you can't knock down the buildings. If you want to knock down buildings, we can play that game over there," setting up a couple of concrete options, giving the child a chance to weigh out what is most important to her.

Sometimes I'll find that there is already an intense game in process, one that doesn't currently have room, for whatever reason, for another participant. I'll say something like, "We want to play with you," and give them an opportunity to explain why their game is a two person operation, to which I'll reply, "Oh, then we'll play with you later. Come on, let's do something else." We then set up shop nearby, often playing the very same game they're playing. Not always, but often then, the two games easily merge into one.

Of course, often I'll see that it is a clear case of exclusion, something done simply as a way to exert power at the expense of another child. This is usually the domain of a group of three or more kids. In this case I might, as a last resort, invoke our rule, You Can't Say You Can't Play, reminding the children that this is something to which they've all agreed. If nothing else, it's a way to start a conversation.

There are times when I find myself coaching children the way I did Josephine, but at least as often, it's about the role modeling, inserting myself into the play again and again, not commanding the other children but just dropping to my knees and getting busy.

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"I've Seen Macbeth"

 

"Life . . . is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." ~Macbeth

When our daughter Josephine was eight, our family spent a month in New York City. For my wife, it was a long business trip, but for Josephine and me it was a vacation and so we spent our days riding the subway, checking out the sites, and eating in restaurants. One weekend we got out of the city and caught a magnificent production of Macbeth at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, one of the bard's darkest tragedies. A few weeks later we were back in the city, exploring, when we were hit with a deluge which drove us into the lobby of a movie theater. When it became apparent that the rain wasn't going to end soon, we contemplated the screen offerings, only to find that they all bore an R-rating. She pointed at a poster for a movie called King Arthur, saying, "What about that one?"

I answered, "I don't know, it looks pretty violent. It might give you bad dreams."

Without missing a beat she answered with a line that has become family legend, "Papa, I've seen Macbeth."

On the weekend, my wife and I helped Josephine move into her dorm at NYU located just a couple blocks from that theater. She's enrolled in the Tisch School of Dramatic Arts and aspires to become a professional Shakespearean actress, a dream that she connects back to that trip and that production of Macbeth. It's hard not to see destiny at work.

In a couple days, her mother and I are flying home to Seattle, leaving our girl here. The mixed emotions, of course, are a topic so clichéd as to be not worthy of discussion. It's something built into being a parent; the job is not to raise a child, but rather to raise an adult. In a very real sense, that job is now done. It doesn't mean we stop being her parents, but the simple fact of geography now makes it a different thing. I'm proud of our girl, our woman, apprehensive, but mostly excited, which is, I think, a feeling she shares. We've done everything we knew how as parents, teaching her, loving her, and letting her see Macbeth.

Beginnings and ends are all the same and destiny is a myth. We're here to make memories, to create stories to tell to one another, and this is the chapter we've now come to. It is a tale told by idiots with all our sound and fury, but I'm here today to say that Macbeth is wrong, it signifies everything.

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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