April 27, 2006--Why Johnny Can't Call
At a time when New York has the third lowest high school graduation rate in the country, just above Arkansas and Mississippi, what are school leaders in New York City focusing on? Cell phones.
According to the NY Times (see article linked below), the Department of Education has instituted random searches to cut down on the number of weapons kids bring to school; and while making them pass through metal detectors, they are also uncovering cell phones—which students are not supposed to take to class. The City has had a sort of don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy in regard to cell phones; but now that they are being detected, since they are not permitted, security staff is confiscating them.
This has students and their parents in an uproar. In post-9/11 New York, in case of a terrorist attack, everyone wants to be totally connected all the time. Other parents are worried about child predators. Without a cell phone, what happens if . . . ?
The school Chancellor is hanging tough, claiming that the reason cell phones are banned is because so many of them include cameras and thus kids are using them to take pictures in locker and bath rooms and then posting them on the Internet. Others, he claims, use the phones to cheat on exams and, through text messaging, round up friends to start riots.
The kids respond, saying that if you have a long commute, without the music available via these phones, it makes the trip “really, really boring.” For others, cell phones are a form of attire, what with them clipped alluringly to the hip. One student said, “Electronics are part of the fashion statement.”
All the while, Johnny and Jamie can’t read or do math, and many fewer than even who enter the 9th grade graduate on time. In addition to all this fuss about phones in the schools, with students bored and languishing, teachers and administrators continue to wage war over how to teach reading—should we use Phonics-based approaches that help students sound out words; or should we teach via the Whole Language method, where while reading “real literature,” it is claimed children learn whole words in context.
When I call this a “war,” I am not exaggerating—Phonics and Whole-Language educators literally hate each other and have been know to get into physical fights at reading conferences. Again, while the kids fail. Few look at the evidence of what works for the children—which methods produce the best measurable results. It’s all about belief and even ideology—“liberals” believe in the Whole Language approach; "conservatives" in Phonics.
I for certain am more of the liberal persuasion, but in this battle I stand with the conservatives—there are more data that show Phonics works much better.
But rather than confront the real problems and solve them, which we can, let’s be sure to confiscate those phones—that will get the job done.
Footnote—In New York City, as you might image, they use Whole Language methods.
According to the NY Times (see article linked below), the Department of Education has instituted random searches to cut down on the number of weapons kids bring to school; and while making them pass through metal detectors, they are also uncovering cell phones—which students are not supposed to take to class. The City has had a sort of don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy in regard to cell phones; but now that they are being detected, since they are not permitted, security staff is confiscating them.
This has students and their parents in an uproar. In post-9/11 New York, in case of a terrorist attack, everyone wants to be totally connected all the time. Other parents are worried about child predators. Without a cell phone, what happens if . . . ?
The school Chancellor is hanging tough, claiming that the reason cell phones are banned is because so many of them include cameras and thus kids are using them to take pictures in locker and bath rooms and then posting them on the Internet. Others, he claims, use the phones to cheat on exams and, through text messaging, round up friends to start riots.
The kids respond, saying that if you have a long commute, without the music available via these phones, it makes the trip “really, really boring.” For others, cell phones are a form of attire, what with them clipped alluringly to the hip. One student said, “Electronics are part of the fashion statement.”
All the while, Johnny and Jamie can’t read or do math, and many fewer than even who enter the 9th grade graduate on time. In addition to all this fuss about phones in the schools, with students bored and languishing, teachers and administrators continue to wage war over how to teach reading—should we use Phonics-based approaches that help students sound out words; or should we teach via the Whole Language method, where while reading “real literature,” it is claimed children learn whole words in context.
When I call this a “war,” I am not exaggerating—Phonics and Whole-Language educators literally hate each other and have been know to get into physical fights at reading conferences. Again, while the kids fail. Few look at the evidence of what works for the children—which methods produce the best measurable results. It’s all about belief and even ideology—“liberals” believe in the Whole Language approach; "conservatives" in Phonics.
I for certain am more of the liberal persuasion, but in this battle I stand with the conservatives—there are more data that show Phonics works much better.
But rather than confront the real problems and solve them, which we can, let’s be sure to confiscate those phones—that will get the job done.
Footnote—In New York City, as you might image, they use Whole Language methods.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:10 AM
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