I was quite surprised to find myself classed with the
”
ilk
”
of Doug Meier and the Alliance for Academic Excellence in Gilroy
High School math teacher Wayne Scott’s broadside published Monday,
May 3
– especially since I had just written a piece which was quite
respectful of math teachers.
I was quite surprised to find myself classed with the “ilk” of Doug Meier and the Alliance for Academic Excellence in Gilroy High School math teacher Wayne Scott’s broadside published Monday, May 3 – especially since I had just written a piece which was quite respectful of math teachers.
I wrote that higher math was hard, that students need to concentrate and to be prepared. I wrote that administrators need to support teachers in the discipline area, so that teachers can focus on teaching. For that, I am “ilk?”
Not that I mind being classed with the AAE. We have our differences of opinion, but the Alliance is a marvelous group of parents thoroughly dedicated to improving Gilroy schools. I admire them very much, and wish them all the best in their crusade.
What troubled me was being castigated on the heels of a particularly conciliatory piece. Then I noticed that Mr. Scott’s submission predated the publication of my column. So his letter was not alluding to my column, but to some prior communications.
I delved into the archives of www.gilroydispatch.com , searching on “Wayne Scott” and “scores,” in an attempt to unearth what might be at the root of Mr. Scott’s letter. I found enough information to form an opinion.
Background: Mr. Scott is a math teacher at Gilroy High. He teaches, or has taught, AP Calculus and AP Statistics. In his calculus class last year, 58 percent of his students passed with scores of 3 or higher. His statistics class fared not so well: only 17 percent of his students passed.
More background: As of Sept. 18, 2003, CAT-6 test results showed that 45 percent of GUSD students were at grade level, scoring at the 50th percentile, in math.
Only 32 percent qualified as proficient, scoring at the 66th percentile. GUSD is applying for a waiver to the requirement that all graduating seniors complete a year of algebra.
Those are facts. I conclude that GUSD is not doing very well teaching math. It needs to improve.
Having read Mr. Scott’s previous missives and his remarks to reporters and the school board as reported in The Dispatch, I conclude that Mr. Scott does not like to be criticized.
He wants no one to criticize the school district: not columnists, not the AAE, not parents, not other teachers. He says criticism is bad for his morale. His last letter is a wild fling at anyone who has had the temerity to criticize, and he closes with a wild dare: “If you don’t like what we are doing, then teach!”
I cannot speak for every member of the AAE, nor for Doug Meier, but I believe most of them to be gainfully employed. Some are, in fact, teachers. Doug Meier and I are opinion columnists. We are all taxpayers, paying your salary, Mr. Scott. That fact alone entitles us to criticize the district.
Furthermore, Mr. Scott, I am doing just as you suggest. I do not like the job the district is doing.
Therefore, I teach my own kids at home, and I teach math to other homeschooled students whose abilities have outstripped those of their parents. It is only a solution for a small part of the problem, but it is a terrific solution for that small part.
I will not be applying to the district. First, I am not qualified, as I have no credential. Second, I do not tolerate bureaucracy very well. Third, I would have to send my youngest to school if I taught for the district, and I would as soon throw her into a piranha pool.
Last, I do not have a passion for teaching, unlike Kim Lemos, who just found out what her scores are for students passing the exit exam this year at Live Oak.
Kim has four sessions of regular sophomores and one class of intervention students. In her intervention class, 14 out of 16 students passed on their first try. In two of her other four classes, all the students passed.
In the other two classes, she had two students fail in one class and three fail in the other. Her overall pass rate was 96 percent. She is bringing Live Oak’s rate up. Live Oak’s gain, our loss.
