{"id":798,"date":"1994-11-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1994-11-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chisnell.www216-119-142-248.a2hosted.com\/chizblog\/?p=798"},"modified":"2017-08-03T01:26:39","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T01:26:39","slug":"so-long-ago-but-still-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/so-long-ago-but-still-true\/","title":{"rendered":"So Long Ago, But Still True"},"content":{"rendered":"

Statement to Representatives of the Michigan State Board of Education<\/em>
\n<\/em>Presented at Public Hearing<\/em>
\n<\/em>Oakland Community College, Royal Oak Campus<\/em>
\n<\/em>November 17, 1994<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I arrived at my school at 7:00 am this morning and left around 5:00, a briefcase full of ungraded papers dangling unceremoniously from my callused and beleaguered hands. I am an educator. I have been an educator for only nine years, but have taught in public schools, private schools, and universities. It is my hope to continue for another twenty-nine or so. And it is my hope to be as active a member in the dialogue on educational reform as I might in the time my career permits. Yet with every fifteen minutes that passes tonight another of the essays written by nearly 120 writing students goes ungraded. A phone call to a parent is not made. A progress report is not filled out. The duties of a curriculum committee, a school club, an administrative edict, a student-intervention report, or a letter of recommendation are left undone. Somewhere in our accelerating culture my Grail is time to consider my profession and its mission thoughtfully, to reflect.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to thank the state for this opportunity to speak for five minutes on how it will mandate change in my life.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I have started on a sarcastic note. Yet I think first and most important the state must recognize and prepare for the dynamic initiated between it and its educators, a dynamic thats breadth stretches far wider than a mere core curriculum. I recognized at this week\u2019s staff meeting –and my life is replete with such epiphany these days–that I and our guest speaker, a guru of North Central assessment techniques, were not speaking the same language. As an educator I felt I spoke the language of human learning, what my colleague described as the attitude of the shepherd, while the guru spoke of random samples and the assembly language of Demming, a quality control expert of the 1960s who taught the Japanese how to beat the U.S. in efficiency modeling. The pendulum of curriculum reform swings again, and the State of Michigan has found its new Sputnik to rally its troops.<\/p>\n

Again, however, I fear I am taking on the role of the curmudgeon. I have spoken for two minutes, and my point is hardly lucid.<\/p>\n

Let me say, then, that I am largely a supporter of the new core curriculum standards as they are written here. I am impressed with their effort to be inclusive of differing belief systems, to encourage the kind of teaching innovations practiced now only at the university level, and with the boldest of good intentions, to demand true critical thinking in all of our students. I hope that, as I continue, my support for this work is not lost as my briefcase spills its papers, as Sputnik at last falls from orbit into a nostalgic pastiche, and as my overwhelming concerns about mandated change absorb my remaining two and one-half minutes.<\/p>\n

\n

We cannot, must not, pretend for a moment that any educational system comes without values or is somehow accepting of all values. There is a moral mission to our state\u2019s mandate for change. <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Our lives, Thoreau said, are \u201clike a German Confederacy, made up of petty states, with [a] boundary forever fluctuating, so that even a German cannot tell you how it is bounded at any moment.\u201d The dynamic of any system is in constant flux, there are no constants, no matter how we may cling to them; no truth can stand overlong. This makes standing still an extraordinarily dangerous pastime; it makes moving backwards fatal; and it means that if we are to respond to change effectively, reflectively, we must be given the time and resources to do so. And I now have about two minutes.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, I will say that I agree with most of the concerns already stated tonight. They are indicative of the citizen who feels she has a voice unheeded and ideas undervalued. They are indicative of the classroom educator, the questing shepherd, who held a revealing minority voice in the drafting of this document. They are indicative of a history of public education where local knowledge and the needs of the student are second to the political aims of a state which insists upon a particular path for socialization: national and economic development, vocational development and, of course, patriotism. I would be curious to know how many of the designers of this curriculum have read both Demming\u2019s work and those of Dewey and Whitehead.<\/p>\n

And now I add my own concern in most plain terms. We cannot, must not, pretend for a moment that any educational system comes without values or is somehow accepting of all values. There is a moral mission to our state\u2019s mandate for change. In all of our dialogue thus far, at every meeting I have attended, I have yet to hear this discussion. But it must take place. For without it, there are two key dangers:<\/p>\n

1) The resistance and frustration that the state will encounter as the new system is finally enforced will be misread by them. It will not come primarily from a resistance to change, but from what educators will consciously or unconsciously perceive as an attack on their humanity, their identity in this democracy. Misread, the state will likely (if it has not already) devise another hard-nosed policy to punish those who seek the same Grail of quality schools;<\/p>\n

2) The language of the standards and benchmarks, as accepting as it is of differing belief systems, is also extremely vulnerable to appropriation by agendas different from those of its designers and ultimate implementors. To make this language more concrete is, perhaps, to exclude possibilities meaningful for learning and incite a fiery revolt. Yet to leave it as it stands without a continuing and significant dialogue by educators and legislators and citizens is to render it one of the most dangerous weapons in this state\u2019s history pointed directly at the students of an essential public education system.<\/p>\n

As an educator and shepherd, as an active researcher and theorist in composition, as a citizen who will one day place my own children in the public schools, I demand that this dialogue continue longer than the thirty seconds I have remaining or the meager minutes allowed Michigan citizens tonight. I demand that it continue for the life of my career and beyond. I have listed numerous ways to contact me so that I may be included in such a dialogue. Even so, I have found that listing my address on every survey and response sheet I could find has, in the past, brought me too little satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\n

I demand that it continue for the life of my career and beyond. <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And what happens to those who feel excluded? In my last few seconds, I wish to recall Thoreau\u2019s essay on Civil Disobedience. \u201cWhat I have to do,\u201d he said, \u201cis to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn. . . . I have other affairs to attend to. . . . A man has not everything to do, but something . . . and if they do not hear my petition, what should I do then?\u201d It is my sincerest hope that my career as an educator will continue and that I will not meet a core curriculum changed at the last moment by an ignorant legislature nor one tagged with penalties for my gradual, resource-famished efforts to meet change effectively.<\/p>\n

Thank you for granting me these\u00a0seven\u00a0<\/em>minutes of reflection.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nSteven R. Chisnell<\/p>\n

Postscript: As of July 2015, 21\u00a0years later, the MDE has still not contacted me for further dialogue.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Statement to Representatives of the Michigan State Board of Education Presented at Public Hearing Oakland Community College, Royal Oak Campus November 17, 1994   I arrived at my school at 7:00 am this morning and left around 5:00, a briefcase full of ungraded papers dangling unceremoniously from my callused and beleaguered hands. I am an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,262],"tags":[263,316,317,318],"class_list":["post-798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chizblog","category-education","tag-common-core","tag-curriculum","tag-thoreau","tag-values"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/1994\/11\/Henry-David-Thoreau.jpg?fit=847%2C844&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":822,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/jidoka-for-kai-sen-toyota-corporations-lessons-for-american-public-schools\/","url_meta":{"origin":798,"position":0},"title":"Jidoka for Kai-sen: Toyota Corporation\u2019s Lessons for American Public Schools","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2002 Aug 3","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2002 I earned a Toyota grant to explore Japanese culture and business, part of the inspiration to build a non-Western literature course, among other things.\u00a0 Here is one of the essays I wrote at the end of that trip, appropos today, as well. ----- Toyota founder Sakichi Toyoda said,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/toyota-proto.jpg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":789,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/key-education-objectives-should-remain-amidst-reform-measures\/","url_meta":{"origin":798,"position":1},"title":"Key Education Objectives Should Remain Amidst Reform Measures","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2015 Feb 6","format":false,"excerpt":"The following op-ed was written as the first of a series for The Oakland Press, part of my work as an EdVoice Fellow. \u00a0 Is it possible for a teacher of nearly 30 years to change his thinking about what he teaches? When I was going to school in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/07\/063.jpg?fit=980%2C690&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/07\/063.jpg?fit=980%2C690&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/07\/063.jpg?fit=980%2C690&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/07\/063.jpg?fit=980%2C690&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1723,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/a-new-caste-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":798,"position":2},"title":"A New Caste System","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Jun 19","format":false,"excerpt":"One week in Nepal and I can\u2019t help but think of words like inequity, justice, and literacy. As Murari mentioned to me at lunch today, there is a new caste system coming to Nepal. I wonder if the country can survive it. We spent the better part of today at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/DSC_0300.jpg?fit=448%2C298&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":788,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/the-challenge-of-finding-wisdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":798,"position":3},"title":"The Challenge of Finding Wisdom","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2015 Jan 24","format":false,"excerpt":"A response to Michael Godsey The following post was written in response to an article in The Atlantic. Unfortunately, that publication rejected my response, citing it as too complex. \u00a0Really? \u00a0I mean, really? \u00a0 In Plato\u2019s Apology, we learn that many who claim to have wisdom actually know far less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/01\/classwisdom.jpg?fit=448%2C295&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1683,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/1683-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":798,"position":4},"title":"Joplin Ahead","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2011 Jun 18","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is a republishing of my blog post from The\u00a0Royal Oak Patch\u00a0on June 18, 2011. Local Voices Interact's trip to Joplin, Missouri, will be a unique and powerful experience for us! On\u00a0Sunday we leave for our fifth disaster relief trip\u00a0with National Relief Network (NRN), it will be the fastest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/030209_0334_MeasuringSe5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1725,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/savita\/","url_meta":{"origin":798,"position":5},"title":"Savita","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Jul 2","format":false,"excerpt":"Savita must carefully unpack her single school uniform from her tattered backpack each morning at 5:00 am, one of the only places she may keep the cotton blouse, tie, and gray wool skirt clean after she has scrubbed it and aired it dry each night.\u00a0\u00a0She is any student in Nepal,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/nepal.jpg?fit=401%2C298&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1385,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions\/1385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}