Nevada’s public education system is a “disaster” says the state’s university chancellor, and Nevadans have no one to blame but themselves. In a remarkable and scathing “State of the System” speech ostensibly to rail against proposed cuts to the state’s education budget, James Rogers calls Nevada’s parents to account.
The state of K-16 education in Nevada is where the public–that is you out there–has allowed it to sink. Your only relationship with the education system is to ship your unprepared kids to school not with the expectation of success, but with the demand that an education system, inadequately funded, develop and/or repair children that you as a parent did not prepare for school or support while your children attended school. If you want a competent and productive education system, tell your Governor and legislators to fund it. They do what they think you want them to do. That’s why they’re called public servants. It is the public–that means you– that has created this disaster of a public education system.
It’s a blistering Jeremiad. Nevadans once hoped to see their kids go to college, but today are satisfied if their children graduate from eighth grade, Rogers says. And don’t blame educators for the state’s poor schools. The founder and owner of Sunbelt Communications Company, which owns and operates 16 NBC and FOX affiliate television stations in five western states, Rogers says when he became Nevada’s chancellor five years ago he came to the job with a sense that education was “an overweight, lazy, unproductive massive intellect, with no direction and little desire to get there fast.”
Well I have looked at the alleged inefficiencies, not only in higher education but in K through 12. The majority of educators work very hard, are much smarter than their critics, and are far more organized and efficient than their critics. If they have a shortcoming it is that they are for the most part not aggressive, mean-spirited people, but are instead caring, concerned individuals who want to teach, not fight….and the success of your children is more important than their own success.
Neither are school administrators to blame, according to Rogers. “I have looked at the administration of the education system,” he notes. ”I find them no less productive than the administrators of the television stations I own or the banks of which I have served as a board member over the last 28 years.”
The state’s Republican party has fired back saying Rogers “owes every caring parent in the state a public apology. For Chancellor Rogers to blame the failure of the government-run education system on parents is nothing short of outrageous.”
Rogers aired his speech on his Nevada TV stations. You can watch it in two parts on YouTube, Part I here, Part II here.
Youch!
While it’s refreshing to hear someone (originally) from the business world poke holes in the notion that educators are to blame for all that ails the public schools, it’s hard to see how browbeating parents as others browbeat teachers will solve any problems. He’s certainly unfair to dedicated and involved parents in Nevada.
I haven’t checked the numbers, but I suspect he’s also indulging in a bit of revisionist history when he claims that all Nevada parents in the 1950’s dreamed of college for their children.
He might do well to take a page from President Obama’s playbook and speak about shared responsibility in more inspiring tones. I guess the threat of a 36% budget cut can make anyone a bit crazy.
My thoughts exactly Claus. Youch indeed. At a visceral level, I think Mr. Rogers will find vigorous agreement especially among those who are drawn to “we’re all going to hell in a handbasket” style screeds (and Lord knows, we’re all prone to that now and again). And you’re absolutely right that it’s refreshing to hear someone from the business community not finding fault within education itself. But while frustration with parents is a hardy perennial, he is painting with a very, very broad brush here. He raises an important point that public education is a function of popular will, but in a spectacularly nuance-averse fashion.
Wow, I didn’t duck quite fast enough! Maybe all those not at fault (legislators, teachers, administrators) could work within their own parent communities to enlighten the rest of us?
This is one of those stories where everyone is telling the truth, though they appear to be contradicting each other. It’s only a paradox: forest fires are good for forests (in the sense that they release nutrients back into the cycle) and forest fires are bad for forests (in the sense that the individual trees perish).
We keep trying to discuss schools in a simple-minded way, which is caused mostly by having politicized them–politics in a democracy is a game of offering simple answers in exchange for votes.
That’s my simple two cents worth. It will change nothing.
Not the Mr. Rogers neighborhood I’ve been used to visiting.
His message might be painted with a broad brush but from the stats he quoted, it sounds as though his concerns have some merit. It’s a bit too Cosbyish; that is he’s a bit too pedantic. If he got away from the lecture approach and attempted to romance Nevadians into wanting to do well in school he might reach a wider audience. Can you catch more flies with sugar or vinegar?
Are all Nevada parents guilty? Of course they’re not. Is it uncool to be smart and do well in school or are all these kids simply determined they’re not going to apply themselves in school? Is this attitude truly sanctioned by most parents?
It would also be interesting to know what percent of these students are minority. Qualify for free or reduced lunch? Non-English learners?
Socrates and DeTocqueville posit (if I remember correctly) that in a democracy, everyone kisses up to the demos (the people). No one dares criticize it. Rogers does. So now no one will touch him with a ten-foot pole. I wish more leaders would occasionally upbraid the masses…but, oh, I’ve forgotten my programming…the American people are good, they are wise.
A fair point, Ben, and it’s also possible America is in the mood to be told to eat its vegetables. He’s also validating the opinions of some segment of his audience, I’m sure. That said, Rogers may be overplaying his hand and thus dulling his impact. There *is* validity to what he’s saying. And one simple word — “if” — would make all the difference. “IF your only relationship with the education system is to ship your unprepared kids to school,then you’re the problem,” he might have said, but didn’t. “IF you as a parent did not prepare for school or support while your children attended school,” etc.
We’re very conditioned, I think, as educators to state the standard homily that schools can and will overcome all deficits. But spend five minutes in any faculty lounge and you hear opinions like Rogers. To hear it spoken by someone in his position is remarkable. and his support of teachers and administrators was refreshing. It would have been more powerful were it not so over the top.
I find the indictment of “the public” more convincing than the indictment of parents — though there are plenty of parents who could be doing better.
But parents are a minority of voters, and generally pretty supportive of education. The challenge for public schools is to get the support of non-parents — they are the people easily swayed by the arguments about lazy teacher and top-heavy bureaucracy. I really don’t think many parents think that an 8th grade education is enough for their own kid. But it does appear that an awful lot of people aren’t bothered by someone else’s kid dropping out — particularly when that kid is of a different race or class.
Robert, I agree that his jeremiad was impolitic, too broad brushed, and likely to make many people dig in their heels rather than heed him. But, God, it’s a rare treat to hear a leader speaking fearlessly and frankly to the Masses.
Rachel, I agree that most American parents nominally support education. A big problem, however, is that many don’t SUBSTANTIVELY support education. They may sincerely believe in the importance of doing well in school, but they don’t (for whatever reason) actually help their kids study, organize family life to put academics first, vote for bond measures that would pay for foreign language programs, etc. I think we need leadership –cultural and political –to reform mainstream American culture so that it’s more like the mainstream Jewish and Asian cultures where family life, talk, and action give robust support to academic achievement. A lot of well-meaning American parents seem to lack the cultural “software” –the know-how –to turn their kids into academic achievers. I’m actually fairly hopeful that Obama will start to remedy this problem; I get the sense that he’s attempting a sort of cultural uplift.
There are points to both sides, but in my experience, the schools themselves are at fault. I am a concerned parent, attended school board meetings to try and make education better, but was shut out. Educators in our area do not care what parents think. They want you to keep quiet and out of the way. Many educators think because they have a degree it qualifies them to know better. Not the case, many teachers that I know (in my family included) barely passed their classes and graduated with a low C average, and I want these people to teach my kids? I don’t think so…we have moved to home schooling because WE KNOW we can do a better job than the liberal, indoctrination machine called public education. People send their children to school to be educated, not to be bullied, impregnated, and to play sports! Where is the reading, writing and math?
If the schools spent more time focusing on education instead of “feel good” activities our country would be prospering in the areas of science and math. Frankly, our prosperity with the rest of the world is not a concern. My main concern is instilling within my children a strong work ethic and strong morality that will allow them to be self sufficient. Competing on a global stage is ludicrous, there are only so many parts to play, and it is more realistic to give your child a hand up to survival, then a spirit of competitiveness that starts with the fight between educators and parents. Educators should realize that they ARE NOT the parents, and have ZERO say in the raising of our kids, just educate them with the necessities, not the fluff.
Educators cannot have it both ways regarding parental involvement. Parents have been told for years that they are unqualified to educate their own children and should leave it to the experts. I have some opinions about how expert many of them really are, however, the real point is that when parents did leave their children to the experts, the experts then started whining that parents were at fault for not being involved enough. The “experts” took over all parenting functions – feeding, teaching morals, clothing, and educating – and raised a generation that believed that is how it should be done. There is a sense of government ownership of your children and an idea at the root of liberalism that they can do it better than you. Obviously they can’t, as is shown by the dismal state of education in the US. So, look to yourselves, educators. You created the monster. And maybe it is time for parents to take back control of the education of their children.
I have been a teacher for 35 years. When I started teaching, the children I taught were eager to learn, respected me, and other adults, had manners, and worked hard. Now, I have children who do not do homework, who have no bedtimes, who talk back, who have little or no desire to actually get an education, and who do not understand the values of hard work or accountability. I have exceptions to this, but most have parents who would rather blame me when their child does not do well than actually raise that child. Educators did not voluntarily take over parenting responsibilities, but had these thrust upon them. It is teachers who deal with the child who comes to school sick because she wanted to, and the parent did not say “I am the parent, you are sick, you stay home.” It is the teacher who teaches the child to have some respect and some work ethic because the parent says, “I can’t do anything with him!” (This about a child who is five years old.) It is the teacher who says, “You need to work, to study, to behave if you want to succeed in life!”, because the parent is not even talking to the child, let alone encouraging or working with him. Yes, there are good, caring parents out there, but there are also many who are not raising their children, and when disrespectful, misbehaving, even dangerous children are in almost every classroom, it is quite difficult for teachers to teach, and children to learn. And when every decision an educator makes is questioned by a parent who would rather blame the teacher than teach his/her own child to be a good, caring human being, it makes being an educator quite difficult. Yes, there are teachers who are not quality, but, in my experience, they are a small minority, and the majority spend 10 – 12 hour days, and often more than five days a week trying to make classes interesting and worthwhile, and provide the best education possible for each child. Most parents, myself included, are not qualified to teach every subject. I am an elementary teacher, not a higher math or science teacher, but I made sure my children did their homework, behaved at school, contributed to the class, knew what was expected of them, and did it. All teachers appreciate parents who do this. All teachers appreciate children who are prepared for school every day, and the parents who make sure this happens. Mr. Rogers had a very valid point. Education begins at home, and teachers cannot teach children who are unable or unwilling to learn.
The lack of respect is true, I see it all around me, but while the parents have some part to blame in this, if you send your child to public school, the school does to….after all, it is the government run schools who tell the children that they have rights, when they don’t. It is the public school system that prevents parents from adequately disciplining their children and actually parenting. It makes it very hard, when the administrators and teachers complain about a lack of respect and discipline, but are the ones who undermine a parents role. I can’t tell you the number of times my eldest son came home from school, and would tell me he didn’t have to do something because he had been “educated” at school about his rights. I had to re-education him and tell him that he only had the right to eat and the right to breathe, that at the age of 10 he wasn’t a legal citizen until he could vote at the age of 18. I had to remind him that my home is a dictatorship, not a democracy. I am the parent, and I am in charge, period.
My opinion on educators comes from the other side that there are a FEW good teachers and administrators, and more of them are seriously lacking in ability and motivation. If schools stuck to educating, instead of parenting, I’d be much happier. My children will NEVER attend a public school again. I cannot trust that the educators have my children’s best interests at heart. And parents are the BEST qualified to teach their children in EVERY way. The only exception to this is if someone is mentally or physically incapacitated, but that would be a minority. The problem is that parents have been taught to believe that only a certified teacher is an expert. I’ve learned differently. In my entire educational experience in public schools, I can count on one hand the number of good teachers that I had, ones that listed to me, motivated me, and that I actually learned from. These were teachers that expressed an interest in their students abilities, and were not just interested in turning out robot after robot who toed the line and followed ALL the rules. Yes, parents have the responsibility, and not only should it start at home, it should remain at home. Even when my children attended public school, I insisted on constant communication with the teachers, a copy of the lesson plans, and reviewed and objected to certain curriculum. That is my responsibility as a parent, but I cannot even tell you how many times I was told that I didn’t know what I was talking about, and that I was “too involved” and just needed to send my child to school. If there was a problem, then the school would let me know. I don’t think so…..this is why they will ONLY be home schooled from now on, because I am the MOST qualified person to teach them.
Educators did not voluntarily take over parenting responsibilities, but had these thrust upon them.
Not true in my town!
Here we’ve got “character education” 24/7, and the superintendent has told parents that our town culture is “sad” because we parents “pressure” our children. Any number of parents have asked the school to focus on academics & leave the parenting to us, but no such luck. Our new 20-page Strategic Plan includes character education & excludes college preparation & SAT scores.
All teachers appreciate children who are prepared for school every day, and the parents who make sure this happens.
Nope.
In these parts, that’s a sign of grade-grubbing, which is yet another sign of pushy, over-involved, helicoptering parents.
The social contract between schools and parents is broken. That’s the long and the short of it.
Spend time in a town with actively involved parents and you’ll find administrators & teachers who are just as angry and unhappy as Anne.
Dear Anne:
What a closer! Enough said.
Best,
Jim
Guess he never heard of public choice theory.