Inflammatory statements show ignorance!” says Sue Chisam in her long epistle (Observer?American, March 21). She graduated from college with good grades, she says. Somehow she missed the class that taught, “Don”t Shoot the Messenger Who Brings Bad News!” She”s angry at Darrell Watkins who gave a bad message about low test scores in her school. She wants to save her principal who might be fired.
Apparently, Chisam takes Watkins” message, “The blind are leading the blind at KUSD and everyone has fallen into a great big ditch,” as an extreme personal affront. The message, however, is mostly to KUSD leaders who are most accountable for low test scores.
Thank God, editors at the Observer?American gave Chisam enough rope to hang herself. In her elongated opinion, she opens as though she disagrees with everything in Watkins” message but keeps writing, writing and writing. In the closing stages she agrees. Her school is “falling short of the federal government target.” Unfortunately, she doesn”t say how short.
KUSD test scores are not “bottom-of-the-barrel” low, writes Chisam. Chisam”s own students might tell her she hasn”t done her homework. Everyone in education knows, California measures schools by test scores called the Academic Performance Index (API). Every California school”s API can be found on the Internet at www.api.cde.ca.gov. (Perhaps, parents should do some checking and decide for themselves what schools are bottom-of-the-barrel-low.) Scores can be as low as 200 or as high as 1,000. Eight-hundred and above is acceptable in California. Unfortunately, KUSD is far behind at 659. To make matters worse, Oak Hill Middle School (where Chisam and the principal she”s trying to save work) scored only 620, lowest in the KUSD barrel. To make matters worse than worse, California is 15th from the bottom in national testing. In summary, Chisam”s school is bottom-of-the-barrel KUSD, KUSD is bottom-of-the-barrel California, and California is bottom-of-the-barrel USA. Chisam says her school is not at the bottom of any barrel.
Watkins is also “inflammatory,” writes Chisam. Once again, the messenger is attacked instead of the message. No intelligent person said messengers were “inflammatory” when they announced militant Arabs crashed planes into the World Trade Center. It was the message that caused a firestorm.
Chisam should not blame Watkins for dismal test scores. Test scores that aren”t up to snuff are caused by schools that aren”t making the grade.
Revelations of bombed schools should indeed inflame passions. Those responsible should feel some high temperatures. Local tax payers cough up tens of millions of dollars every year to provide schools for their children. When taxed-to-death parents find out they”re not getting what they pay for they may look for new leadership. Flopped school board members might resign or be recalled. Washout superintendents and principals might look for new careers. Teachers who go-along-to-get-along and preserve the status quo of failure may find themselves teaching in another district.
The “off with their heads” idea also apparently displeases Chisam. Perhaps, without knowing, she puts her finger on a very big education problem in California. Too many superintendents don”t sack principals and teachers for lousy test scores. Private industry fires managers who don?t make production goals and profit margins. Americans have always insisted on accountability and loved winners in business and sports. They”ve never tolerated losers. Sorry to say, some teaching unions tolerate failure. They think they”ve gained a monopoly on teaching. They want taxpayers to go along and accept failing schools. They want to work without accountability. They try to silence messengers who don”t have praise, compliments, and awards.
Watkins” letter has 12 “accusations,” says Chisam as if “accusations” are evil. Most teachers tell their classes about Benjamin Franklin who said, “Our critics are our friends. They show us our faults.” Franklin would say, FALSE accusations are evil, not criticism with merit. If too many KUSD”s kids aren”t bringing their homework to class and their test scores aren”t even acceptable to low California standards, then criticism is fair. Chisam has to admit, in her epistle, these things are all true.
Chisam also strongly disagrees with Watkins? suggestion that KUSD schools return to spanking unruly kids and sending them back to class instead of suspending and expelling so many. Watkins wants to “return to the 1950s and 1960s in which spanking ? was part of the normal discipline,” she writes. Unfortunately, this is disingenuous rhetoric. Chisam makes it sound like spanking was a bad experiment for two decades in America. Spanking, however, has been “normal discipline” in this country for 400 years. What happened to the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s and other decades of the 1900s? Spanking continues to be “normal discipline,” thank God, in the majority of American schools today. Again, Chisam hasn”t done her homework. Suspensions and expulsions are the bad experiment; some say an awful nightmare.
Chisam says she doesn”t listen to Darwinian psychologists. Then she says if you respect children you”ll not spank them. Bible readers roll their eyes and laugh. She also says she”s taken many classes and trainings in “discipline methods.” Then admits, “If you have a system ? to get them to turn in their homework, please respectfully share it with us.” Everyone rolls their eyes and laughs.
Watkins” message gives Chisam a way to get kids to turn in their homework, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.” This is not Watkins” idea. It”s a message from wise men.
Chisam also takes exception to Watkins” message that school leaders who deprive children of an education as punishment are guilty of child abuse. Again, this is not Watkins” theory at all. “Spare the rod and spoil the child,” are words of wise men. Every teacher knows, “spoil” means to ruin and destroy. One who destroys a child is guilty of child abuse. Only fools say spanking is child abuse. Wise men say suspensions, expulsions, low test scores, and leaving children behind, are ways children are mistreated. Chisam suggests some children don”t do their homework and she can”t do anything about it (see the above quote). Wise men say this is child neglect. Spankophobia education policies are not only hurting KUSD but tens of thousands of kids all over California; kids who could be in regular classrooms, completing homework, and raising their hands when they want to say something.
Kelseyville resident Darrell Watkins is a graduate of Pepperdine University School of Education. Mr. Watkins decribes himself as a retired school teacher and a successful businessman in Clearlake.
