Last week the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools named its teacher of the year and it was West Forsyth High School’s Amy Maxey. Ms. Maxey happens to be my oldest son Michael’s geometry teacher this year and I can honestly say I think having her as his teacher is the best thing that could have happened to him.  The reason is that it’s an honors level class and when Michael struggled with the class I contacted Ms. Maxey to ask if she thought we should move him to the standard geometry class.  Her answer was an emphatic "no" and that she thought Michael simply needed to work a little harder.  That was good enough for me and Celeste so we kept him in her class.

Here’s the thing, at the beginning of the year lots of kids dropped from her class because they found the work too difficult which is what you might expect from an honors level course, especially geometry. I talked to the father of one of those kids and he encouraged his daughter to drop the class so she wouldn’t screw up her record and hurt her chances at getting into a good college, a legitimate concern.  So between the tough course and the grade consideration, there’s often a lot of motivation to move a kid rather than work with them.  Ms. Maxey could have easily told us to move Michael, and it probably would have made her life easier to do so. One less kid to help through the wilds of geometry, a subject that’s eaten many the high schooler alive, myself included, means more time to spend with the students who "get it." Instead she encouraged him to stay and pushed him to attend her before-school tutoring and review sessions that she runs on a regular basis.

So Michael decided to stay put.  Did he one day wake up a whiz at geometry?  Heck no.  He hates the subject and can’t wait to be done with it.  On the other hand he truly likes Ms. Maxey and appreciates how much she’s tried to help him.  Somewhere down the line he’ll also appreciate the side benefit of this struggle; that he learned how to push himself when something didn’t come easily.  Even this late in the year he’s learning how he needs to change his habits to improve, how much harder he’ll need to work, how many more hours he’ll need to study if he’s going to be a great student.  And on top of that I figure he’s probably learned more about geometry by staying put than he would have if he’d moved, which is the whole point. Would his "letter grade" have been higher in the other class?  Probably, but he’s better off working his butt off for a C than he is coasting to a B or an A and you’ll never convince me otherwise.  (BTW, if we thought Michael wasn’t capable of a B or A in honors geometry we would have moved him, but let’s just say we think the kid has yet to reach his potential).

How’s this for a testament to a teacher: one of her students can’t wait for the day he’ll never have to touch her subject again, but already senses that she’s one of the most influential teachers he’ll ever have, and his parents already know she’ll be one of the most influential teachers in his life.  That’s what I call an educator.

This is EOG (End of Grade) testing week at the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Esbee writes of her son asking where his healthy breakfast is because his teacher exhorted his class to make sure they have a healthy breakfast in preparation for the tests.  My kids have been exhorted to eat healthy breakfasts during every EOG week since they’ve been in the school system.  Erin, my lovely straight-A daughter, asked me to show her how to fry eggs on Monday so that she could make them for herself each morning this week.  She’d been informed by one of her teachers that eggs were the best form of protein and that it was essential that she eat them this week so that she could perform at peak level on the tests.  If I’d known they were going to give this advice I’d have invested in some hens last month so that I could corner the EOG egg market.

All of this begs the question of why the teachers aren’t concerned about our kids’ protein consumption the other 30-odd weeks (or whatever it is) of the school year?  Is it not important that our kids have proper nutrition to learn those mundane daily reading, writing and ‘rithmetic lessons?  Are they implying that learning isn’t as important as performing? 

Esbee also writes that she thinks the EOGs put an inordinate amount of pressure on the kids. As you might have guessed I’m in total agreement with her.  I wonder if the teachers and administrators are actually shooting themselves in the foot by putting such an emphasis on the tests.  How many kids do poorly on the tests because they freeze under pressure?  I knew a lot of kids who were much better students than me who did much worse on standardized tests than I did because they tested poorly, and they tested poorly because they stressed way too much about the tests.  In other words I benefited greatly from my laissez faire attitude towards education and my friends who were diligent students often suffered from caring so much.  But in the long run who’s better off?   Let me just say this: my SAT scores were better than my wife’s but she was an honor student while I was a mediocre student.  There’s one person in this house who knows how to apply algebra to every day situations and it’s not me.  She learned, I performed.

While I’m all for measuring students’ progress and holding our educators accountable for their work I think that standardized testing is a hammer being used for a screwdriver’s job.  We’re talking about teaching children, not programming computers.  These are little people trying to learn how to make their way in the world.  Is it fair to judge a teacher who has 30 kids, 20 of whom are from broken homes or have parents working three jobs to make ends meet, with the same yardstick you’re using to measure a teacher who has 30 kids, most of whom come from stable homes with parents that have the time to read to them at bed time and take them to the library?  Is it fair to quantify a year’s learning simply by using test results? Wouldn’t it be better to somehow measure a child’s learning relative to their unique situation and the teacher’s performance relative to their circumstance?  Wouldn’t it be better to somehow reform our education system so that we emphasize continual growth and learning and the practical application of that knowledge in building a better life?  Maybe then we’ll make education relevant enough that 1/3 of our kids don’t drop out of school.

But, I’m a realist so I think I’ll start building a hen house out back.  Anyone know how to figure the area I’ll need?  Everything I "learned" about geometry I forgot as soon as I put down the #2 pencil.   

Esbee points to the Newsweek list of top high schools in the US of A.  Winston-Salem/Forsyth County has two schools on the list: Mt. Tabor at #185 and West Forsyth at #1,294. Our kids are either at West or are headed that way so I’m happy to see them on the list, which is better than not being on it at all.  But of course these kinds of lists are subjective so they need to be taken with a grain of salt. 

Out of curiosity I looked to see the ranking of the school our kids would have gone to if we’d stayed in Northern Virginia.  I believe they would have gone to Forest Park which was ranked 1,019 so not a whole lot of difference.  If we’d not moved from our very first home in West Springfield, VA our kids’ high school would have been ranked #244.

I also looked to see how my old high school (the one I attended before transferring to a small Lutheran H.S.) ranked and Washington-Lee in Arlington County, VA came in at #64.  The other schools I would have attended had I not gone to the small Lutheran school (we moved a lot) were Oakton (#103) in Vienna, VA and Marshall (not ranked) in Fairfax, VA.  Celeste’s alma mater, Potomac H.S. is ranked #562.

Now if my kids are anything like me they’ll pick their colleges based on the list of top party schools and not the Newsweek listing of top colleges by various categories.  Of course my children are much wiser than I’ll ever be.