Public Education

<v Nonspeech Dialog>[Chattering in the hallways] <v Host>Most of us remember classrooms like this. <v Host>We recall the creaking desks and learning to diagram sentences. <v Host>The screech of chalk on blackboard and lectures about penmanship. <v Host>Those were our simple views of school during simpler times. <v Host>Our classroom was our universe. <v Host>Our teacher, the center of that universe. <v Host>Today, things are different. The child in the classroom is merely a part of a complex <v Host>system in which bureaucrats, more often than teachers, seem to be in charge. <v Host>Lawsuits, bond elections, teachers' strikes all our parts of the business of <v Host>education today. During this hour, we want to give you a look at this diverse system, <v Host>principally the teachers and students, but also the parents, administrators, elected <v Host>officials and others who make up this complex world of public education. <v Susan Keener>Count them. 1.

<v Students>2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. <v Susan Keener>Good. <v Host>What are today's classrooms like? Most striking are the varieties of teaching techniques <v Host>and subject matter. Students are less frequently conformed to a classroom norm. <v Host>More often, the classroom changes to meet the students needs. <v Host>This begins at the earliest stages. <v Host>Partly due to diminished reinforcement in the children's homes, schools are concentrating <v Host>earlier and more intensively on the basic skills children will need as they <v Host>progressed through school. <v Susan Keener>We're starting them out earlier on the basics, things that we got as children in first <v Susan Keener>grade. We now are having in prekindergarten with four year olds. <v Susan Keener>Take a piece of paper and sit down. <v Susan Keener>We're starting on the basic skills we find the children that do not succeed are those <v Susan Keener>that don't know their alphabet, their numbers, just the bare basic numbers <v Susan Keener>by sixth grade. So we're starting them out at 4 as opposed to 7

<v Susan Keener>on those basic learning skills. <v Nonspeech Dialog>[Students play in front of the camera, interacting with cameraperson]. <v Host>Traditional academic disciplines are not always enough. <v Host>What skills does a student need to be able to compete in the job market? <v Host>Specialized vocational training, coupled with standard classroom requirements, <v Host>is designed to make the public school graduate a marketable commodity. <v Don Boardman>They can go out in the job market and they can compete with <v Don Boardman>other personnel that's, that's equally qualified, same as a student. <v Don Boardman>In other words, when he goes out to the employer, if the employer ask him if he has <v Don Boardman>experience, he can tell him that, yes, he does. <v Don Boardman>The majority of these students seem to really enjoy. <v Don Boardman>And when they get into the actual performing in something they like, <v Don Boardman>they really get into it and they perform very well.

<v Don Boardman>What we did. What do we do? <v Don Boardman> <v Host>Magnet schools draw students from throughout the school system and are designed to <v Host>entice students to remain in the public schools. <v Host>The Arts Magnet School offers a wide range of intensive training in the arts. <v Host>This is 1 element in the competition between public and private schools for the most <v Host>talented students. <v Darrell Chambers>We think the best thing about a program like the Arts Magnet High School is <v Darrell Chambers>atmosphere. We sell a very creative atmosphere here, one where

<v Darrell Chambers>students have the opportunity to work, to <v Darrell Chambers>be creative, to get along with one another, to learn about one another, and to learn <v Darrell Chambers>about the arts. We stress the academic part of it very seriously, <v Darrell Chambers>along with the arts. But we give them the opportunity to use the things that they <v Darrell Chambers>do well in the arts to help them within their academic program also. <v Darrell Chambers>It's a place of mutual respect. <v Darrell Chambers>Students learn about one another. <v Darrell Chambers>They learn about the all the art forms. <v Darrell Chambers>And they learn to be very respectful of the the <v Darrell Chambers>work that it takes to be successful in a fine arts area. <v Painting teacher>Then after you've done a plane in a wash, then you shouldn't paint another one <v Painting teacher>immediately next to it while its wet because the color will come right up next to that

<v Painting teacher>line, it'll bleed into the next plane. <v Darrell Chambers>We're very realistic about our career training. <v Darrell Chambers>We're called a career development center. <v Darrell Chambers>And yet there's not really that many opportunities for all of our students <v Darrell Chambers>to go right into a job related field in in the fine arts. <v Darrell Chambers>In fact, some of our best students, when they go to college, major in engineering <v Darrell Chambers>or science, or one of the areas like that rather than going into a fine arts area. <v Darrell Chambers>But they will always have the appreciation and they'll always be able to enjoy the fine <v Darrell Chambers>arts if they weren't here. <v Host>Not all the changes in the classroom have been generated within the school system.

<v Host>Since 1954, public schools have faced the task <v Host>of ensuring a racial mix among students. <v Host>The nature of the classroom has become an issue for the courtroom. <v Host>Desegregation continues to be a tortuous process. <v Host>Passions run high and education itself can suffer. <v Host>Bussing has become a matter of politics, not merely transportation. <v Host>School system's resources can be drained while attempting to racially balance <v Host>student populations. <v Harvey Wingo>The issue in the school desegregation cases is whether or not <v Harvey Wingo>separate schools for the different races <v Harvey Wingo>violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. <v Ernest Haywood>I think desegregation will come. <v Ernest Haywood>It may plod along to some extent, but I think it will come about anyway. <v Ernest Haywood>I think with changes in attitudes <v Ernest Haywood>as to race. We'll get there eventually. <v Ernest Haywood>I think we'll get there much faster in some areas than in others,

<v Ernest Haywood>some areas of the country. <v Harvey Wingo>The constitutional question is whether or not a particular school system <v Harvey Wingo>is a dual system that is segregating the races <v Harvey Wingo>in the schools. <v Harvey Wingo>If it is a dual school system and the dual system as a result of governmental action, <v Harvey Wingo>then there's a constitutional violation, as I said. <v Harvey Wingo>The courts have a duty to remedy that violation. <v Ernest Haywood>I think bussing has proved to be effective, effective <v Ernest Haywood>in moving people from 1 area to another to get a desegregated situation <v Ernest Haywood>when the housing patterns aren't really desegregated. <v Linus Wright>What has happened in the last 25 years that school districts have literally concern <v Linus Wright>at least half of their time in responding to judges <v Linus Wright>needs, federal court needs, federal government requirements, <v Linus Wright>state mandates that they've had a little time left to produce <v Linus Wright>a quality product that is an educated child.

<v Harvey Wingo>The courts not only have a right, but they have a duty to involve <v Harvey Wingo>themselves. If the states and the subordinate governmental <v Harvey Wingo>agencies such as the local district boards or- have <v Harvey Wingo>violated the Constitution. They must step in and provide a remedy for the <v Harvey Wingo>constitutional violation. <v Linus Wright>I feel that eventually the courts are going to get out of education. <v Linus Wright>They've got to. <v Harvey Wingo>I don't think the courts are attempting to run the school system, but they are attempting <v Harvey Wingo>to ensure that all of the children receive <v Harvey Wingo>the benefits of their constitutional rights. <v Ernest Haywood>I think it's the fear that causes white flight, white avoidance. <v Ernest Haywood>I think that once you have stability to where the litigation <v Ernest Haywood>has ended and people know where will be going to school, and once they find out <v Ernest Haywood>that sitting in a class that may be half Black and half white or <v Ernest Haywood>or a third Chicano and a quarter Black is

<v Ernest Haywood>not bad. Once they realize that through experience, then I <v Ernest Haywood>think we'll we'll wind up with the diminishing of white flight. <v Patty Eberstein>I think that they have to do away with bussing and they have to restore <v Patty Eberstein>the confidence of the middle class people who <v Patty Eberstein>are you know so interested in education for their children. <v Unnamed student>I don't, I don't like the bussing, really. <v Nonspeech Dialog>[Chatter in a Spanish speaking class]. <v Unnamed Spanish speaking teacher 1>?inaudible? ¿Por qué no está comiendo? <v Unnamed Spanish speaking student 1>No le gustan las galletas. <v Unnamed Spanish speaking teacher 1>A mí no creo eso. Mira otra vez el dibujo. ¿Por qué no está comiendo? <v Unnamed Spanish speaking student 2>EI dragón no le dan. <v Unnamed Spanish speaking teacher 1>El dra- El- ¡Sí! El dragón no le dan las galletas. No más tiene ?inaudible? <v Host> In many cities, the growing Spanish speaking population poses <v Host>new difficulties for educators.

<v Host>Courts have ordered bilingual teaching programs that cost logistics and teaching <v Host>techniques involved in this process have proved to be great burdens on school systems. <v Host>The results, no one seems sure as yet. <v Unnamed Spanish speaking teacher 2>Mira el título en la parte superior de la página. <v Unnamed Spanish speaking teacher 2>Carmen, tú compartir ?inaudible? con ella? ¿Por qué tú no tienes tu cuaderno? ¿Está en la casa? ¿O ?inaudible?? <v Mary Roberts>I think it is working. I think that it allows the child who's dominant <v Mary Roberts>in our particular, particular situation in Spanish to start learning immediately <v Mary Roberts>in his dominant language. <v Mary Roberts>And I think that when we have teachers that are proficient in that language, <v Mary Roberts>that the child picks up immediately on skills that are important <v Mary Roberts>developmentally, no matter what language it's in. <v Delia Granado>It is 3 o'clock. <v Students>It is 3 o'clock. <v Delia Granado>Si miramos a numero 2. It is 2 o'clock.

<v Students>It is 2 o'clock. <v Delia Granado>Alright, leer ?inaudible? preguntas. <v Delia Granado>The main thrust is to get them into English reading. <v Delia Granado>And what we do is teach them oral English and to read in Spanish. <v Delia Granado>But basically we want them to go in to English as fast as we can. <v Mary Roberts>We do want them to pick up skills that are going to <v Mary Roberts>transfer into English as soon as possible. <v Mary Roberts>And we encourage the transition to happen as quickly as it can <v Mary Roberts>happen, because we do feel that the English is their- going to have to be their dominant <v Mary Roberts>language in this country and they do have to be proficient in it. <v Unnamed Spanish speaking student 3>Las, las vamos a ser muy altas. Ya ?inaudible? teacher? <v Victor Bonilla> Let's teach children to speak English. <v Victor Bonilla>We compete in English. <v Victor Bonilla>And as long as we perpetuate the Spanish, we're going to be behind.

<v Victor Bonilla>We have a high rate of low achievers, high, high rate of drop out. <v Victor Bonilla>You name it, the Mexican American has it. <v Delia Granado>De la vuelta a la página 75. <v Delia Granado>A lot of times the parents are not well informed and says they want their <v Delia Granado>students to read English. They feel that they should go right into English, but they <v Delia Granado>don't know that that's going to hinder them. <v Delia Granado>It'll slow them down. Whereas if they're taught every area <v Delia Granado>in the dominant language that they know, it'll make it easier for them to make <v Delia Granado>the transition. And once we have talked to our parents and <v Delia Granado>get them to understand what we're doing there. <v Delia Granado>They're pleased and they see the progress the students are doing. <v Linus Wright>Bilingual education and its present requirements is going to

<v Linus Wright>be almost an impossible task to achieve with the level of <v Linus Wright>qualified teachers available in the various languages, Hispanic being <v Linus Wright>the predominant language. But most school districts have less than half of the number <v Linus Wright>of qualified teachers they need for bilingual education. <v Mary Roberts>We find in most of our children already, if they began with us in kindergarten, <v Mary Roberts>or first grade, for the most part, we anticipate the transition can <v Mary Roberts>happen in the third grade or the end of the third grade, so that when they leave this <v Mary Roberts>particular school to go, to go to the intermediate school, that <v Mary Roberts>we go pretty well they can go into an all English program. <v Host>As part of the expanding mandate of public education, school systems often

<v Host>must find ways to integrate physically and mentally handicapped students into the <v Host>educational mainstream. <v Host>It is not unusual for a large school district to spend tens of millions of <v Host>dollars in developing special education programs. <v Host>Once again, there is debate about whether this is part of the business of education. <v Patti Rea>Good boy. Walk, walk, walk, walk. Good boy. You walked. <v Patti Rea>Again? Our service to these children is very, very important. <v Patti Rea>Without that, many of them would stay home day in and day out and really learn <v Patti Rea>very few things. It's a new field for a lot of these children. <v Patti Rea>So in a sense, I guess it really is difficult at first, but things <v Patti Rea>are working out and we're getting more and more efficient. <v Patti Rea>So I think it's really becoming positive. <v Linus Wright>Special education has in recent years provided a real financial

<v Linus Wright>drag on public education. <v Linus Wright>Yet federal laws said you must provide services for those young people, <v Linus Wright>even though it might mean you have to take it away from some other service. <v Patti Rea>And down, down, down. Down. Look! Down, down. Good. <v Patti Rea>We're seeing great progress in some of the children and pleased families and <v Patti Rea>pleased teachers. We're making more and more progress with severely handicapped <v Patti Rea>children. We're starting to learn more about communication skills for them, and <v Patti Rea>that's really my main interest. And I think that I'd like to see more work done there. <v Linus Wright>Most people feel that many of the services we provide, particularly for the multiply <v Linus Wright>handicapped, are not educational but are medical and do not belong in <v Linus Wright>the public education arena. <v Linus Wright>That's something that's going to have to be re-addressed by the legislature and by the <v Linus Wright>federal government because that tremendous burden has been placed on public

<v Linus Wright>schools and they're not equipped to handle it. <v Patti Rea>It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. <v Patti Rea>I started out to be a history teacher in high school, and when I was exposed <v Patti Rea>to this field, I just decided that it was much more rewarding. <v Patti Rea>Walk, walk, walk. Good boy. That's nice. <v Patti Rea>Finished. Finished. <v Host>Parents watch these changes with increasing dismay. <v Host>Many of them see the public schools as overindulging a social and educational <v Host>experimentation with too little emphasis on quality or on maintaining <v Host>neighborhood schools. <v Patty Eberstein>We have taken the children out of public schools because the school system in our area <v Patty Eberstein>has failed to meet the needs of what I consider the basic needs <v Patty Eberstein>of our children. <v John Johnson>The public education system is doing an adequate job. <v John Johnson>Nothing excellent but adequate, and it could be improved of course.

<v Patty Eberstein>Our wants and wishes were totally ignored. <v Patty Eberstein>They are going to close the schools. We no longer have neighborhood schools. <v John Johnson>I think the basic content of education could be improved. <v John Johnson>The subject matter itself could be emphasized more. <v John Johnson>That's the way I think it could be improved. And also the competency of the teachers <v John Johnson>could be more adequately policed or evaluated. <v Patty Eberstein>If bussing has hurt this or helped it, I'm not really <v Patty Eberstein>certain. But all I know is that parents have pulled their children out of public schools <v Patty Eberstein>right and left. <v Phyllis Johnson>I think I'm just a little bit depressed about it as I see how it's going. <v Phyllis Johnson>If people would simply stay in there and keep their children <v Phyllis Johnson>in public education. It certainly would help, but I'm just a little depressed about <v Phyllis Johnson>it. <v Patty Eberstein>The very people that these school systems look to for support, to raise money, <v Patty Eberstein>the voters that the intelligent, the the people that are <v Patty Eberstein>are well-informed and who do vote soon, they will not vote

<v Patty Eberstein>for these big bond issues for education. <v Patty Eberstein>Why should they? <v Host>Administrators and teachers join in the debate about the importance of parents <v Host>to the schools. <v Linus Wright>Parents' role in education has changed significantly in the last several years. <v Linus Wright>And as we have observed that change, we've also observed a <v Linus Wright>deterioration in the public school system. <v Linus Wright>Part of that is because the change of role of parents in society and <v Linus Wright>a large number of single parent families that have little or no time to support the <v Linus Wright>public education system. <v Linus Wright>Part of it has been a whole changing of values in the family structure. <v Linus Wright>And as we have observed, a smaller percent of parents participate, <v Linus Wright>participating in the public schools. <v Linus Wright>We've seen a change in attitude of teachers and and students. <v Beth Randall>More parents are working at night. <v Beth Randall>I have to a lot of parents work even double shifts, you know, to make ends meet now. <v Beth Randall>So I think it is hard to get parents involved. <v Beth Randall>But if we can get more parent volunteers to come out during the day.

<v Beth Randall>Fathers and mothers. And we can get more parents to come and observe <v Beth Randall>their children. Sometimes that makes all the difference in the world as far as <v Beth Randall>how their children do is if- if they feel their parents are participating. <v Charlyn Bacon>In our situation, the 4th through 6th graders are bussed out of the neighborhood <v Charlyn Bacon>for integration purposes. <v Charlyn Bacon>And although the situation has <v Charlyn Bacon>the school to which they are bussed has been good, the parent per- the parent <v Charlyn Bacon>involvement there is not what it is in the neighborhood. <v Charlyn Bacon>My child is bussed to a 4th through 6th school <v Charlyn Bacon>and she's getting a terrific education.

<v Charlyn Bacon>But I am not there as I am in the neighborhood school. <v Charlyn Bacon>I am not physically a presence very often at her school <v Charlyn Bacon>and I think parental involvement is very, very important. <v Jan Wilson>Well, stop busing. I think that's 1 thing that really has hurt the education <v Jan Wilson>system. There needs to be a way, a better way of teaching these kids <v Jan Wilson>and getting good teachers and close to them where I have students that I have <v Jan Wilson>no communication with parents at home because they're so far away. <v Jan Wilson>And this is it. The parents have to work with teachers to help their children. <v Beth Randall>There are few parents that still seem to be uninvolved with <v Beth Randall>their children. They think the school is- that their education should stupid be at <v Beth Randall>school, not at home. I think that's a mistake.

<v Linus Wright>We encourage parent participation and at best, we get <v Linus Wright>probably a 4 or 5 percent response, which is not sufficient to really represent <v Linus Wright>the views of the community. <v PTA Announcer>Present the colors. <v PTA Announcer>Please stand. <v Nonspeech Dialog>[Crowd starts saying the Pledge of Allegiance] <v Host>Parent teacher associations remain traditional mechanisms for parents to make <v Host>their views known to school officials. <v Host>Their deliberations might have no lasting impact on school system administration, <v Host>but PTA do provide opportunities for face to face debate. <v Brenda Tillman>To respond. I feel like people come to me and tell me that they don't think Mr. Chairman <v Brenda Tillman>is doing his job. So I'm going to ask you what you think Mr. Chapman's job is, <v Brenda Tillman>and they come to me and they say, well, I don't think so- this so-and-so teacher is doing <v Brenda Tillman>a very good job teaching my child.

<v Brenda Tillman>I'm going to ask you what you think your child's teacher's job is. <v Brenda Tillman>So then the parents tell me that they think you ought to use the paddle more. <v Brenda Tillman>Do you think that he should use a paddle more or do you think he's used it about enough <v Brenda Tillman>now? <v Brenda Tillman>How many of y'all believe in more discipline? <v Brenda Tillman>How many of you believe in less discipline? <v Brenda Tillman>How many of you think it's all right the way it is right now? <v Dvon Chapman>May I respond? <v Brenda Tillman>Yes, sir. Come up here. <v Dvon Chapman>I think I should use the paddle more on somebody else's kids, but not <v Dvon Chapman>on theirs. That's usually the way that goes. <v Brenda Tillman>Amen. <v Dvon Chapman>I'll say one thing. There's hardly a day goes by that I don't paddle somebody. <v Dvon Chapman>You know, ?inaudible? <v Dvon Chapman>I just give them what they need. <v Dvon Chapman>?inaudible? <v Dvon Chapman>if they're mine or yours. I treat them just like I would if they were mine. <v Dvon Chapman>I think they need a spanking, they get it. <v Dvon Chapman>A lot of parents don't like that.

<v Dvon Chapman>They say, I don't want you spanking my child. <v Dvon Chapman>Well, it's either that or sending home if he doesn't behave because <v Dvon Chapman>we're going to have school. And I won't let 1 or 2 disrupt the learning process <v Dvon Chapman>of the other children in the school. <v PTA Speaker>But he's a good principal, so he has to do his job the best way he can. <v PTA Speaker>Now, that's my opinion and I vote for him. <v PTA Speaker>So everybody else can say something if you don't agree <v PTA Speaker>with it. But we hope he is doing all the things that they say. <v PTA Speaker>You are making sure the toilets are clean, okay? <v PTA Speaker>That's- wwell you have to make sure of that. <v PTA Speaker>If you are doing that then you are doing a good job. <v School administrator>Take those funds and put it into a-. <v Host>Governance of a school system has become increasingly complex. <v Host>A massive public education bureaucracy that combines professional administrators <v Host>and elected policymakers tries to assemble the complicated jigsaw puzzle

<v Host>of court orders, budgetary constraints and personnel problems. <v Host>And lest they be forgotten, the educational needs of the children. <v Host>The process often is highly political. <v Host>Administrators find themselves trying to satisfy conflicting demands <v Host>from various constituencies. <v School board speaker>No matter how large or how small a school is, that each school <v School board speaker>needs to have somebody that is in charge and that somebody should <v School board speaker>be an educator and not a secretary. <v John Martin>That control of education has got to be given back to the people, <v John Martin>out of the courts and out of the bureaucracies and the people have got to feel <v John Martin>responsible for it and people got to feel proud of it. <v John Martin>The people who got to feel committed to it or are we just we're not doing anything <v John Martin>except treading water at best. <v Kathlyn Gilliam>The major question is whether or not this is where we want to <v Kathlyn Gilliam>spend our money. <v Linus Wright>As a general rule, all boards of education in large cities have become far <v Linus Wright>too political.

<v John Martin>Does somebody have a motion we not do it so we can be in order. <v John Martin>I mean, Richard, if you'd have brought this up earlier is we could've been in order. <v John Martin>?inaudible? Does somebody want to move? <v Maria Carillo>The board is supposed <v Maria Carillo>to be accountable to the community, but whether it is or not is another matter. <v Maria Carillo>It's accountable to the segment of the community that elected that particular member <v Maria Carillo>or that particular board. And oftentimes that is the only <v Maria Carillo>segment of the community that the board members are concerned with. <v Maria Carillo>Members of the community can have an impact on how the board operates. <v Maria Carillo>If the members that wish to have an impact are number 1 homeowners, <v Maria Carillo>taxpayers and voters. <v School board speaker 2>I assured the board, it will be a ?inaudible? <v School board speaker 2>Structure. ?inaudible? <v School board speaker 2>Necessary if we're going to find 12 million dollar shortfall that we have to ?inaudible? <v School board speaker 2>To be available to discuss it with you tomorrow. <v John Wiley Price>The school board is not adequately representative of the community to <v John Wiley Price>which they are elected to govern, primarily because minority citizens, citizens, <v John Wiley Price>according to the Department of Census, has the majority of their

<v John Wiley Price>residents under the age of 18. We have more than the Anglo community. <v John Wiley Price>So therefore we have a lot more people in the school system. <v Kathlyn Gilliam>Now, you can sit here and try to play some games, Mr. Martin. <v Kathlyn Gilliam>But I am not interested in your games. <v Unnamed teacher>And the activity that is set for for you today was <v Unnamed teacher>to issue textbooks and discuss the textbook intro. Now when we say the word intro, what- <v Host>While the political battles are being fought, teachers keep trying to do their jobs. <v Host>Teachers usually are underpaid and they often find themselves overwhelmed by bureaucratic <v Host>nonsense. And they tend to be taken for granted by students and parents. <v Host>But it is the teacher more than anyone else in the school system who determines <v Host>the quality of the product of public education. <v Host>Where are new teachers to be found? <v Host>How can their working environment be improved? <v Host>What is happening in the classroom today?

<v Linus Wright>Teaching profession probably is its lowest ebb since post-World War Two, <v Linus Wright>because we have now the problem, the most critical shortage in special <v Linus Wright>areas like math teachers, science teachers, bilingual education teachers, special <v Linus Wright>education teachers. And then more than anything else, we're receiving <v Linus Wright>in the teaching profession, probably the lowest quality of candidates that we've <v Linus Wright>ever received. Primarily because in the past, females made <v Linus Wright>up 80 percent of the teaching profession, and that was the only profession they could go <v Linus Wright>in so we got the very best, the cream of the crop. <v Harley Hiscox>Teachers are not being treated fairly. They're not receiving good salaries for what they <v Harley Hiscox>do and for their preparation. And once they get into the classroom, they're not being <v Harley Hiscox>given the chance to teach. <v Kathy Gerber>The main reason I want to be a teacher is because I love children and I want to be able <v Kathy Gerber>to teach them more than they're learning these days. <v Liz Gay>Teaching is something that I've always wanted to go into. <v Liz Gay>I've always loved children and being around them all my life.

<v Liz Gay>And I think that being a teacher myself, I can possess a lot of qualities <v Liz Gay>that a teacher needs to give to the students to make them feel comfortable and at <v Liz Gay>home in their classroom environment. <v Harley Hiscox>They face a lack of support, a lack of supplies, overcrowding. <v Harley Hiscox>They don't they don't have the respect and the dignity that they need to make their job <v Harley Hiscox>exciting. And consequently, since they don't get money either, it's very difficult <v Harley Hiscox>to to hold them as teachers. <v Linus Wright>And so we're hurt from 2 extremes, or really 3. <v Linus Wright>1, shortage of even going into the College of Education <v Linus Wright>primarily because of money. <v Linus Wright>Secondly, because we're competing with business and industry in other fields. <v Linus Wright>And third, just a lack of shortage in critical areas. <v Linus Wright>So we have a difficult task ahead in the teaching profession. <v Kathy Gerber>My main reservation about teaching is the pay because teachers not only <v Kathy Gerber>are teaching the kids, but they're being a mother and a care for everything that they're <v Kathy Gerber>doing.

<v Liz Gay>And I hope that it's always going to be a you know, the teacher is a warm <v Liz Gay>person for the students to come to. <v Liz Gay>And, you know, I hope it pretty much remains the same as long if they can get a little <v Liz Gay>bit more creativeness in it. <v Linus Wright>I've struggled with a question and trying to find out a reasonable <v Linus Wright>way that in good conscience that I could counsel young people in the teaching profession <v Linus Wright>when now it offers the lowest pay. <v Linus Wright>So you have to appeal to people's good sense of responsibility <v Linus Wright>that it is a profession that provides service, that hopefully the salaries will <v Linus Wright>increase and improve, and that our whole system of government and a whole free enterprise <v Linus Wright>system, our democracy, depends on an education system, an educated <v Linus Wright>people, and therefore we must try to appeal to young people to come into the teaching <v Linus Wright>profession. And there are those who love it just for the sheer ability of <v Linus Wright>loving and serving people. <v Linus Wright>But we're going to have to do more than that. We're going to have to increase the <v Linus Wright>salaries for teachers to professional level.

<v Harley Hiscox>The most important issue, I think, on the on the agenda is that what happens when the <v Harley Hiscox>student and the teacher meet? <v Harley Hiscox>There has to be an environment in which education can take place. <v Harley Hiscox>The basic function above all other functions for the union is to ensure that that <v Harley Hiscox>environment is conducive to good education. <v John Bryant>There are more powerful interest groups and more well financed interest groups <v John Bryant>that come and make a claim on the state budget before <v John Bryant>we ever get to the teachers who, with their lack of ability to give large <v John Bryant>campaign contributions are placed at the end of the line. <v Harley Hiscox>Well, somebody's got to protect the teacher. Somebody has got to look out for the <v Harley Hiscox>professional interests of the teacher. The politicians aren't doing it. <v Harley Hiscox>School board members aren't doing it. <v Harley Hiscox>The bureaucrats in the school system are not doing it. <v Harley Hiscox>And so who's going to look out after the teacher and unless they look out for themselves, <v Harley Hiscox>and the only way they can do that is by banding together. <v Marca Lee Bircher>But you learn. That's when learning takes place, like those tests you get back that you <v Marca Lee Bircher>hate. Maybe someone had the bad grades on it. <v Marca Lee Bircher>What did you learn from.

<v Marca Lee Bircher>You've got to think about the word. Think. <v Sandi Johnson>I love to teach. That's why I'm here. <v Sandi Johnson>I love teaching, I love my students and I would recommend it, <v Sandi Johnson>especially if you like to see faces light up when they learn something. <v Sandi Johnson>I mean, it's frustrating that sometimes they're so, you know, so confused <v Sandi Johnson>and then all of a sudden something snaps and that little light bulb goes on and it's <v Sandi Johnson>real, really you know good for me. <v Sandi Johnson>Makes me feel good. <v Marca Lee Bircher>I teach because I love kids and I enjoy teaching. <v Marca Lee Bircher>Now I think both of those are necessary in order to do well and to <v Marca Lee Bircher>feel good and to spend the amount of time you have to spend in this business. <v Marca Lee Bircher>You do it because you love the kids and because you love what you're doing. <v Roddy McGinnis>I feel like the status of of teachers is really diminished in <v Roddy McGinnis>recent years. <v Pam Brannon>Why? <v Roddy McGinnis>Oh, I don't know, just a general perception, I guess. <v Roddy McGinnis>From, from the media you know there's this this whole idea of, well, we've got a bunch of <v Roddy McGinnis>idiots, teach-.

<v Timothy Seibles>Teaching other idiots. <v Roddy McGinnis>They can't do anything. <v Pam Brannon>Do you think that these kids come to school half of them can't read and they have <v Pam Brannon>a diminished view of the teacher because of the media? <v Roddy McGinnis>No. Well, I don't- It just it was just something this brought on that I've been talking <v Roddy McGinnis>to parents that I've noticed. <v Roddy McGinnis>They seem to- I'm not really sure what they think the teacher is, but <v Roddy McGinnis>I don't know. I just, I just sense from parents that I've talked to their, <v Roddy McGinnis>their feelings toward the teacher. They feel that teachers are not that important <v Roddy McGinnis>or is uneducated or is a fool or something like that. <v Roddy McGinnis>That's that's the impression I've gotten. <v Timothy Seibles>I think ?inaudible? thing from the media, I do think the kids, a lot of kids may not <v Timothy Seibles>get some very deep understanding of what the teaching profession, the- its <v Timothy Seibles>weaknesses and strengths or whether we're brilliant or not. <v Timothy Seibles>But I think the kids do know we don't make that much money, and money is what talks to <v Timothy Seibles>the kids, because they think, why are you a teacher, I'd never be a teacher. <v Timothy Seibles>You can't make money teaching. They do know that from the media. <v Timothy Seibles>And so they do know. And I think that diminishes their respect for us because money is

<v Timothy Seibles>what is respected, not ideas, not the capacity to know a verb or a noun. <v Timothy Seibles>It's that notion of knowing you know, your bank book is, you know, this big <v Timothy Seibles>and contains so many thousands of dollars and so on. <v Timothy Seibles>I was just talking to a kid a minute ago about this, matter of fact. He said3 my fathers <v Timothy Seibles>make 3000 dollars a month. I said, he said, do you make that? <v Timothy Seibles>I said, not hardly. Well why don't you do something you can make more money. <v Timothy Seibles>Then of course, ?inaudible? <v Roddy McGinnis>I'll go along with that because I run into small friends from college, <v Roddy McGinnis>you know? Hey, what are you doing now? I'm teaching high school. <v Roddy McGinnis>Yeah. Right. We'll see you later. <v Linda Budesa>First of all, get rid somehow. <v Linda Budesa>Get rid of those teachers that are only here for the salary. <v Linda Budesa>We need teachers in here that care and don't don't care about salary. <v Linda Budesa>I'm here. I'm very happy. <v Linda Budesa>I'm happy being here. I don't care about the salary right now. <v Linda Budesa>It may change tomorrow. It may change next year. <v Linda Budesa>But right now, we need to get rid of those that are here for just that paycheck. <v Timothy Seibles>But I think realistically, though, if we are to draw the best minds or

<v Timothy Seibles>some of the best minds toward the teaching profession, we have to pay him. <v Timothy Seibles>Because my roommate started with Texas Instruments at 30,000 a year. <v Timothy Seibles>And when I first was here, I think it was 8. <v Timothy Seibles>You know, he's living in a condominium, you know, and realistically, people aren't going <v Timothy Seibles>to be non materialistic. Not in America, probably not in the Western Hemisphere. <v Timothy Seibles>So we'll have to compete somewhat. <v Colleen Kelley>Because you talk to people that are your friends, people that understand the situation, <v Colleen Kelley>they'll say, yes, what is more important than educating the children that are going to <v Colleen Kelley>grow up and then be taking on the jobs and other responsibilities. <v Colleen Kelley>And when society thinks that it's more important to pay thousands of dollars <v Colleen Kelley>to someone who perhaps does an hour's worth of work on Sunday afternoon <v Colleen Kelley>or something, great. <v Timothy Seibles>Exactly. <v Colleen Kelley>And that's you know where our principles. <v Timothy Seibles>We're talking millions of dollars for guys who are hitting baseball. <v Timothy Seibles>And you couldn't find a teacher anywhere that made a 50,000 a year. <v Colleen Kelley>I'm not saying that those occupations aren't needed, either. <v Timothy Seibles>No I see what you're talking about, the priorities are so completely screwed up. <v Colleen Kelley>The priorities are screwed. <v Pam Brannon>I think they ought to pass a law that no coach teaches a content area class. <v Timothy Seibles>I agree.

<v Pam Brannon>Another way to improve education. <v Linda Budesa>Just let them be coaches, that's all. <v Interviewer>What do you like best about your teachers? <v Unnamed student>They dress up good. <v Unnamed student>I like them. They're pretty. <v Host>Going to school is a day to day matter. <v Host>Students constantly discover new challenges, things they like or dislike. <v Host>And new avenues to the future. <v Host>School is a mix of the traditional and the innovative, formal classroom disciplines, <v Host>and extracurricular activities. <v Host>It is this mix that creates a child's education. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Spelling student 1>L-E-A-T-A-R-D-E. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Spelling student 2>Leotard, L-E-A-T-A-R-D. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard.

<v Spelling student 3>Leotard, L-E-A-T-A-R-D-E. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Nonspeech Dialog>[High school choir singing "New York, New York"] <v LaDaska Bradley>Well, I'm learning more, you know,

<v LaDaska Bradley>this get me ready for college you know because I want to go to college. <v LaDaska Bradley>It's getting me ready for the <v LaDaska Bradley>things I want to do, want to be. <v unnamed mythology student>Permission. So he went out. <v unnamed mythology student>And he sailed the black sail and he said that, you know, if he came back victorious, <v unnamed mythology student>he would wear- he would put up a white sail. <v unnamed mythology student>So he went over there. And when he got to Crete, he would <v unnamed mythology student>he fell in love with Minos's daughter ?inaudible?. <v unnamed mythology student>And she wanted to not for him, no one knew that he was going to kill <v unnamed mythology student>the Minotaur, so, so she wanted to free him. <v unnamed mythology student>So she went to Dedalus and he told her that she should carry a string.

<v Nonspeech Dialog>[Kids interacting with cameraman]. <v Spelling student 4>T-R-E-D-E. <v Unnamed English teacher>No, leotard. <v Spelling student 5>L-E-A-T-A-R-D. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Spelling student 6>L-E-A-T-A-R-D-E. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Spelling student 7>L-E-T-A-R-D. <v Linus Wright>The problem is we're receiving a student in a high school reading at a <v Linus Wright>2nd, 3rd, 4th grade level and then offering them a curriculum which for 10th, 11th or <v Linus Wright>12th grade level and then very little they can comprehend in a curriculum <v Linus Wright>like that. <v Pam Brannon>All right. Let's look and see what we come up with for finance. <v Pam Brannon>Okay. I think we have to start with the whole paragraph rather than the <v Pam Brannon>sentence saying simply because you get a better feeling

<v Pam Brannon>for what the author is telling you about Madam- Madame Wassail. <v Pam Brannon>She was simple. Not being able to adorn herself. <v Pam Brannon>But she was unhappy as one out of her class. <v Pam Brannon>For women belong to no caste, no race, their grace, <v Pam Brannon>their beauty and their charm, serving them in the place of birth <v Pam Brannon>and family, their inborn finesse, <v Pam Brannon>their instinctive elegance, their suppleness of wit are their <v Pam Brannon>only aristocracy, making some daughters of the people the equal <v Pam Brannon>of great ladies. Now. <v Linus Wright>The problem with allowing young people to reach a high school level and still being <v Linus Wright>functionally illiterate as almost a sin, because it very little you can do <v Linus Wright>with them once they reach that level, unless you can instruct them on a one on one basis, <v Linus Wright>which is impossible financially. <v Pam Brannon>We had when I was growing up, I would've been mortified to go <v Pam Brannon>into class and not have my homework, but I was taught that it was important.

<v Pam Brannon>A lot of our kids were not taught that it's important. They think nothing about failing a <v Pam Brannon>class or not having their homework done, of missing, <v Pam Brannon>missing school. They miss school all the time. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Spelling student 7>L-E-A-R-D-T-R. <v Unnamed English teacher>You're not listening to your friends spell it ?inaudible? Leotard. <v Spelling student 8>Leotard, L-I-L-D-T-A-R. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Spelling student 9> L-E-A-R-D-T <v Colleen Kelley>I think that our teachers are becoming more aware of the needs of the students and

<v Colleen Kelley>they're realizing that they don't, as Tim said, have to go into a profession <v Colleen Kelley>where they will have to know every bit of subject matter that they've been taught. <v Colleen Kelley>And I think that's helping. I don't know if they'll all be able to <v Colleen Kelley>survive in the world as we would want them to. <v Colleen Kelley>But I do think that they are getting the basics that we have felt are necessary. <v Colleen Kelley>We've been trying to stress not being able to get caught at something where <v Colleen Kelley>they have had problems in the past. <v Colleen Kelley>Those kids that can't master math skills, we're trying to make it so that they don't get <v Colleen Kelley>gypped out of, out of their money, that they don't get taken when they are purchasing <v Colleen Kelley>appliances or a car or something like that. <v Nonspeech Dialog>[Choir singing "New York, New York"] <v Shannon Gause>And in this program, we can take the smartest

<v Shannon Gause>students and let them go at their own self-pace, which is usually <v Shannon Gause>much quicker than the normal student. <v Shannon Gause>I think education will probably be turning to this throughout the nation <v Shannon Gause>because we have such a vast difference between the educational <v Shannon Gause>rooms of students and it's necessary to have a place for the bright ones <v Shannon Gause>to work. <v Margaret Ferrell>I think the main thing with students is to present all the options, all the alternatives, <v Margaret Ferrell>so that they can make their own decision but ore of an educated decision <v Margaret Ferrell>rather than haphazard. <v Margaret Ferrell>They must know their options, their alternatives, what they can realistically do.

<v Margaret Ferrell>And then they can make that decision. <v Jan Wilson>I think because of television, the kids are aware of a lot more things than they were <v Jan Wilson>when I first started teaching, I taught for 17 years. <v Jan Wilson>So I know I can see where the children know a lot more about <v Jan Wilson>what's going on in the world than I did when I first started my teaching. <v Margie Hardwick>Well, I like the extra curricular activities. <v Margie Hardwick>And I think that's the best part. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard.

<v Spelling student 10>L-E-A-T-O-R-D. <v Unnamed English teacher>Leotard. <v Spelling student 11>L-E-O-T-A-I-E. <v Spelling student 12>L-E-O-T-A-R-D. <v Unnamed English teacher>Oh, good for you. <v Unnamed English teacher>Spelled it correctly. L-E-O-T-A-R-D. <v Unnamed teacher 2>Undeneath education if you will put the first school you attended. <v Host>Where do we go from here? Even though the management of the public education system <v Host>grows increasingly difficult, most people don't want to abandon it. <v Host>It seems that everyone has his or her pet theory about how the system <v Host>might be saved. <v John Martin>Public education has got to get back its constituency. <v John Martin>It's got to get back a concerned group of parents and citizenry. <v Charlyn Bacon>The neighborhood school is is very important to the community. <v Charlyn Bacon>The neighborhood school is is what the people want. <v Linus Wright>We know that there is a direct correlation between student achievement and <v Linus Wright>parental motivation and parental support, parental understanding and support

<v Linus Wright>of the schools. When we achieve that kind of support, again, you will see <v Linus Wright>an automatic and immediate upswing of student achievement. <v Beth Randall>Well, I would like to see smaller classes. <v Beth Randall>You I would like to see a better teacher pupil ratio because <v Beth Randall>I feel like the classes are too large and we don't have a chance to individualize as <v Beth Randall>much as we could. <v Patty Eberstein>In my children's future I do not see public school education as an alternative. <v Pam Brannon>Number 1, neighborhood schools. <v Pam Brannon>Number 2, you cut down the pupil teacher <v Pam Brannon>ratio. You can not educate 28 wild <v Pam Brannon>little bodies. <v Linda Budesa>Especially if none of them speak English. <v Pam Brannon>If none of them speak English, or if they don't read. <v Timothy Seibles>[crosstalk]. But that's a, that's a money problem. <v Harley Hiscox>Probably. I don't think we're going to have quality in the classroom until we can bring <v Harley Hiscox>dignity into the into the classroom. <v Harley Hiscox>You give the teacher dignity then you're going to attract the very best and

<v Harley Hiscox>hold the very best. Then you're going to see quality. <v John Bryant>Do we want to let the public school system be where where the public school system is a <v John Bryant>system where the poor people send their children while the rest of us send our children <v John Bryant>to private school? I think that would be a disaster for that for America <v John Bryant>and we'd be wrong. But I think that we're facing that possibility unless the legislators <v John Bryant>begin to take responsibility for it, for financing public schools adequately. <v Linus Wright>Simply at that age, you reap <v Linus Wright>what you sow. And if we're not giving anything to public education, we can't expect <v Linus Wright>anything in return. We can't afford to leave education to educators. <v Linus Wright>Education is a total community responsibility. <v Host>And so we've come full circle. <v Host>The classroom remains the center of the universe of public education. <v Host>But that universe is ever expanding. <v Host>The problems our schools face grow ever more complex, but they can be solved. <v Host>Public education can succeed.

<v Host>The first steps toward that success are a renewal of faith and a reaffirmation <v Host>of excellence in educating our children from beneath all the layers of bureaucracy. <v Host>Underlying all the often shrill debate about education policy, there remains a <v Host>fundamental treasure. The curiosity of the young. <v Host>The unquenchable thirst for learning that is the true beauty and joy <v Host>of public education.