Invasion of the Education Snatchers

     In the movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, when people fell asleep, their bodies were taken over by alien beings that replicated their bodies. They looked the same, but they were the aliens who had no feelings. Now, I know that people have not been taken over by creepy aliens from another galaxy, but there is one part of the movie that reminds me of the atmosphere that has been created. When these people encountered other people who had not changed, they would point their fingers and use a high-pitched scream to warn the others. This part of the movie reminds me of education at this moment because of the disrespect of opinions, misinformation, and the disinformation.
     I confess; I like the common core standards for the high school level. If we want our students to be successful at the college or career level, then we should teach at a higher standard. Are they perfect? No, I found that out when I analyzed every standard over spring break. They are redundant, they do not include ideas for career readiness, and they are disorganized. They should be rewritten, added to, changed, and reorganized. If I proclaimed my enthusiasm for these standards in front of an audience, I feel like everyone would point their fingers at me and scream. The problem was never the standards; it was the testing and federal control that was attached to them. Even if we get rid of the standards, federal intrusion into Oklahoma education would exist. We do receive federal money for various reasons, and we would have to follow NCLB. We need to think about the repercussions to be ready to give solutions. My solution is to rewrite the standards with more parental and teacher input.
     The misinformation about public education has gotten out of control at the local, state, and national levels. I am tired of hearing talk radio personalities, bloggers, and newscasters ridicule public education and teachers. They  point their fingers at us and scream about  us when they receive copies of common core math problems or writing assignments that do not make sense. They make it appear that all assignments are this way. They help distort the public's perception of education. I suggest they look on the Cache Public School website, go to the Mid-High page, click on my name, and find Curriculum Maps. Then, they will see how the standards can be used to create acceptable curriculum. Another example of misinformation was high school seniors reading 70% informational texts in the ELA class. The truth was that they should read that percentage of informational texts all day long, not just in one class. I went to a conference where the lady repeated the misinformation over and over again. She either did not understand what she read, or she lacked communication skills. My solution is for teachers to create their own curriculum and share their ideas with parents. Teachers have more power when they have autonomy.
     In the world of education, we have to follow the money trail and understand who wants the power. The use of disinformation, the intentional use of false information, has caused an educational chasm to open up across the country. The disinformation transcends the Democratic and Republican parties. An example would be the constant attacks against public schools in favor of charter schools. They are like the body snatchers in the movie when they point their fingers at public schools and screaming about how bad they are. I would like to see the research that supports this. The only research that we see relates to their agenda. My solution is do the research and find out who gets the money and who wants the control.
     Therefore, there will be repercussions to what happens in the next few months. We have to be proactive not reactive. Think about the problems that might happen and develop a plan NOW. We cannot wait! Communication is important with all the stakeholders. Too much misinfomation and disinformation has clouded the truth about education. We are the teachers who make a difference, and we need to work together to find the right path to take.


S. Mellott