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Jumat, 05 September 2014

The Real Decline in Education

The Real Decline in Education

Of late we have had tunnel vision in assessing our broken-down Education System. We are determining our value based on test scores only. The argument to defend this approach is usually the question "well, how else can we do it?"Let's take the results apart.
First we must admit that our results run directly along economic lines. Our wealthiest youngsters are more than competitive, while our poorest children score below world averages. Second we must understand that we haven't been focused on test preparation until the last decade, and now that we have, scores have been steadily improving across the country(slowly but surely). Wether this is a productive educational approach has yet to be proven to produce the Gates',Jobs' or Einsteins that arrived without such a background. If we want to, we can quickly increase overall standardized test scores from our students and move into the top 10 internationally and across the board. But our nation's test scores haven't declined relatively when compared to the previous five decades. We shifted our educational focus in the 1960's and since have been pretty consistent.

The real decline in Education is that of talented, creative, and inspiring Teachers. Since 2007, enrollment in teacher training and education has declined steadily. In many of our States some percentages of decline are alarmingly as high as almost 35% and some as challenging as 11%, in any given year. Overall this decrease simply means less teachers for our schools to chose from. And since, as a country, we currently have no intention of competitively rewarding educators, the idea of supply and demand driving the improved quality of our educators is mute. Nor is it a good idea to capitalize education, as the wealthiest will continue to be educated and more and more poor will not. So who will be teaching our kids in ten or twenty years? Remember, we must teach them all so "our kids" means EVERY child.

Arguably here are some factors that have lead to this real decline: poor economy, lay offs and less teaching positions; attacks on pensions,salaries, and unions; consistent political and social pressure on the profession; relatively low pay for the amount of higher education; decline in working conditions and support. But the reality is simply that we have and will, for a time, continue to have less trained professionals.

Case in point is a law suit that has a purpose of being able to fire veteran teachers in California (this State has had from 13.5% to a whopping 34% decline of enrollment in teacher preparation programs). I doubt that anybody would want truly bad teachers protected from termination, and there in lies the problem. We have no true evaluation system to help us discover, reward, retain, or recruit top educators. The law suit mentioned poses that younger,new teachers are good and veteran,older teachers are bad. This is obviously a poor way to evaluate any industry other than those requiring physical requirements of beauty, strength, speed,etc. Parents with 5 yrs or less experience must be better than the rest of us with ten,twenty,thirty or more years(oops,by then we're grandparents). Surgeons with twenty surgeries must be better than those with hundreds to thousands. Nurses who have helped dozens of people must be better than those who have helped thousands. You get the idea. Let our loved ones be taught, treated, cared for by somebody with more years of positive results instead of less.

So what makes a teacher "good" or "bad"? Our teacher evaluation system needs some tweaking for sure. Instead of standardized test scores, let's go with student growth. Instead of an observation or two by an administrator, let's go with peer, personal and professional observation and brainstorming. And we must absolutely have student input. Nobody knows a teacher's grade better than the student who has spent eight hours or so per week with them from August through June. But please don't forget what you already know and believe. Teachers who motivate, engage and encourage are good. Teachers who are demanding and fair and push our children to be better are good. Teachers who know their subject matter and are able to passionately share it are good. Teachers who care about their charges and have love driving their creative lessons are good.

Additionally we are experiencing tough economic times and this has lead to some slashing. We are very tempted to dump the higher salaried teachers for the fresh,new, younger, cheaper models. Yes, less experienced professionals make less than their more experienced colleagues. Shall we change this model and shall we do it across all professions? Your profession included? And when we need advice and mentoring, shall we ask the rookies? Also, who or what will protect the good, proven veteran(likely more expensive) from the economic fall out? For our kids' sake, I hope that someone or something will.

Let's establish a truer evaluation. This must incorporate at least the three components mentioned above. Let's retain and recruit better teachers. This will require a political and economic shift. Let's stop the real decline in education. This will produce better learners, in and out of class.

Top 5 Keys To Not Losing Your Job

Top 5 Keys To Not Losing Your Job

There is a lot of talk about how to get a job but how do you not lose your job? What does it take to keep your job? What sort of person do you need to be? What things do you need to do? #Careers:The Next Level
Based on my experience in working for companies and studying people at all levels, these are my top 5 keys to not losing your job.

1. You Need to Have Drive
If you were a car, what kind of car would you be, a 1962 Mini, a 1960 VW Kombi, a Mustang, or a Porsche? Although Minis and Kombis are cute and good for cruisin', to not lose your job, you need to become a Mustang or Porsche. It’s the people with drive, torque, and power and who work harder, achieve, come early, leave late, make the highest number of calls, sales, and complete projects on time who are most likely to keep their jobs.

2. Always Say YES
Be willing to do anything that you are asked to do by management with the utmost enthusiasm. No matter what your manager asks you to do, say yes. There is a famous proverb I live by: “Be faithful in small opportunities and one day you will be given large opportunities.”
I can speak from experience and say that the door of Asia was opened to me when I was only 28 years of age because of this principle.
What happened? For years, I said yes to everything that my senior manager asked me to do: small jobs, small projects, small assignments, small training opportunities. I did them all with enthusiasm and dedication. Did I like them? No. Did I always want to do them? No. But I acted like they were the most important things in my life.
One day, when my manager was supposed to be going to Malaysia to speak at a leadership conference, he phoned me and explained that he'd had a health scare and said, “Chris, I need you to go to Malaysia for me and speak on my behalf at a leadership conference.”
That opportunity changed my life. It opened the most amazing door into Asia for me. On that trip, I made life long friends with politicians, business leaders, trainers, and professionals. Today, I have a network with the most amazing people through Asia because I was willing to be available, to say yes.

3. Make Friends with The Right Crowd
Just like at school, work has the “cool group,” the “critical group,” the “loser group," and the “high potentials group”; however, you are not at school.
There is a great principle in life: "The people you mix with you become like." If you want to improve your tennis or golf skills, you don’t play with the losers; you play with the high achievers.
If you want to be a high achiever at work, then you need to mix not with the critical, the losers, and the lazy, but the high achievers. When you mix with the best, you will become the best.

4. Become a Generalist With a Key Specialisation
Learn all you can about your area of business by reading, learning, and listening, but above all else, set your mind like flint to become a guru at one thing.
Years ago, I set myself up to be a guru at speaking and presentation skills. To do this, I had to overcome nerves, stuttering, and freezing up under pressure where I couldn’t speak. To overcome these challenges, I would go to auditoriums and speak to the empty seats as if they were full.
I recall one time I was to speak to 4,000 people and I hadn't spoken to that many people before and to be honest was pretty nervous. I went to the auditorium alone a few times and stood at the podium, and I went through my complete presentation—stories, jokes, everything. The day that I spoke, I was confident, and the presentation flowed like a river. At the end, I received amazing feedback.
I learnt keys; for example, I would type comprehensive notes onto my computer and have them highlighted in different colours to help me to find the desired notes anytime. My stories and jokes, especially the punch lines, were in BOLD HEADLINES in case my mind froze under pressure.
That specialization has taken me around the world, before CEOs and politicians, and opened amazing doors.

5. Be Kind to Everyone
Wilson Mizner once said, “Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet them on your way down.”
I like to take it further than that and say, “Be nice to everyone no matter who they are, what job they do or whether they can do anything for you.” Take time to speak to the cleaners, garbage collectors, concierge and assistants. It’s amazing how people talk, and if you think you are too high and mighty to speak to the lowliest person, then you are missing an opportunity to give a little kindness.
One of the great keys that I have found in getting to the key people is being respectful and kind to all people—the receptionist, the EA, or the concierge in the foyer. They are people, they speak, and they have power you may not realize to influence key people.
Life is an amazing thing. What you give comes back to you but not always in the way you expect.
If you put yourself in the best position of being the person who makes things happen, willing to take on the tough projects, mixing with the crowd that are moving things forward, have specialisations and are kind to everyone, then you are most likely to keep your job.