Educated Fail

Out of everything I’ve ever written, this is the most personal to me.  It not only affects me, but it affects my wife.  It’s probably going to be more brash and incendiary than anything I’ve ever written, and that’s due to the closeness of the subject matter.

That being said, this is what I posted on Facebook this afternoon:

Joseph would just like to say that the Mobile County Public School System is the worst public school system in America, their office staff is the most corrupt and most evil system in America, and they can all go fly off a cliff into a fiery abyss.  That is all.

Now, as sharply written as that sounds, I feel the need to clarify my position to speak on this: I’m not from Mobile, but my wife is.  My wife went through the educational system and did okay, but it was around this time where all of the public school systems in America went down the toilet.  Maybe it’s always been crappy, but I wouldn’t know.  Anyway, things got crappy, President Bush initiated – and President Obama continued – “No Child Left Behind,” and then President Obama initiated “Race to the Top.”  Meanwhile, teachers basically work 24/7 365, and they’re among the most underpaid professionals in the country.

First things first, let me talk about “No Child Left Behind.”  For all intents and purposes, NCLB is…well…quite frankly full of shit.  NCLB is designed for those who have well-stocked classrooms, great teachers and administrative staffs, and students who are eager to learn.  Sadly, this isn’t the case for most of the schools in this county.  No Child Left Behind left plenty of children behind, and most of them were in inner-city schools…where most people don’t care.  NCLB has turned the occasional test into a myriad of multiple tests every day, and the children are barely able to absorb any of it.  When I was in school (God, I sound old), I MAY have had a test a week.  These kids are having numerous tests, and they’re not able to retain anything, because the teachers have to sludge through and force feed eleven topics into seven hours.  I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s conducive for learning; in fact, I think that’s more conducive for anti-depressants for children.  In my opinion, if you think NCLB is doing good for the students who will become our future, you’re out of your gourd.

Now, when President Obama took office, people thought that he would finally repeal NCLB and go back to the way the educational system was.  Well, that didn’t happen; instead, he kept NCLB and added Race to the Top.  According to the U.S. Department of Education website, Race to the Top will encompass the following strategies:

• Adopting internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
• Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals;
• Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and
• Turning around our lowest-performing schools.

I have no problem with the first one; anything to help our educational system is better.  I really think the second one will do teachers far and wide very well – if done properly.  The third strategy could work, but they would have to educate a bunch of educators.  The last is very necessary – once again, if done properly.  The lowest performing schools need all the help they can get, because they certainly aren’t getting that help from the local school boards.

This brings me to my problem with the Mobile County Public School System.  Trying to get in touch with someone is like trying to make sense of Tila Tequila’s contribution to society.  My wife has been trying to get in touch with someone about the pay schedule for substitutes for about two months, and she has always been dropped into payroll with no answer.  I’ve tried to get in touch with their payroll, and it’s almost as if I fell into a black hole.  I haven’t had this much trouble trying to get straight answers from anyone since I tried to figure out why T-Mobile still hasn’t brought 3G coverage to my area, even though the county has over 400,000 residents.  These people are braindead morons who have the mental acuity of a rusty thumbtack.  If there was anything that needed to be started over from scratch, this is it.

In closing, to the administrative staff of the Mobile County Public School System, please go to hell in a handbasket with gasoline underwear on and never return.  We’ll thank you for it later.