Euphemization is
not a word (at least that’s what Microsoft Word is telling me its annoying red
underscore). But if “to euthanize” means
to kill something incurably ill, and a “euphemism” is a phrase used in place of
a term that might be considered too harsh, then it follows that “to euphemize”
to refuse to use direct verbiage about something which a person or institution
is in the process of killing in order to deceive others. So pay attention America, because schools are
in the process of euphemizing real education.
I believe what we have is the classic bait and switch. In the newspapers, we celebrate school
districts which meet or exceed preset standardized test scores, and we deride
those schools which fail to meet them.
We publish lists and numbers and statistics and rankings, either celebrating
ourselves or pointing blame (whichever is more convenient and apropos to our
personal circumstances).
The “new thing” is ACADEMIES. To put that in perspective, the “old thing”
was MAGNET SCHOOLS or CHARTER SCHOOLS.
Yes, I realize that both of those are still around, but the educational
march is continually to a new, unspecified drummer in order to keep people
confused enough to be fooled by words placed in new contexts. This renaming of things which were previously
just called SCHOOLS is the first step in euphemization.
To call a school (or a portion thereof) an ACADEMY is to
imply a standard of excellence and specificity; for example, a HEALTH ACADEMY
indicates students will be well on their way to becoming doctors. An excellent choice, indeed, for students who
want to be in the health profession. My
school offers such a program, after which students are awarded a CNA, allowing
them to earn a solid paycheck right out of high school. This seems like a lovely idea for motivated
students who want a more tailored education, as they spend part of each school
day at a local hospital.
But it would be silly to stop there; where there is room for
one ACADEMY, there is certainly room for dozens. We also have an A2B ACADEMY in which students
take specific courses taught by teachers with their subject MA, then graduate
high school with an Associate’s Degree from a community college. To sum up this ACADEMY: students take courses they already would have
taken, pay $25 apiece for each one, and jump over the first two years of
college. Not AP courses. Not Honors courses. Just some courses selected by the
school.
You see, classification is everything. Euphemisms reign in education. People with super-important degrees in
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION or CURRICULUM get paid to create ways for both their
schools to look better on paper and for their students to be better marketed to
society. A win-win, yes? Unless of course we consider the very real
fact that college courses should not be the equivalent of high school
courses. If they ARE equal, then what
exactly is the point of college? An
expensive delay of reality? A huge Ponzi
scheme to separate one of America’s most financially vulnerable demographics
from his or her money? (or to be more
specific, from their parents’ money
via bloated government loans)
We have a ZOO ACADEMY and a LEADERSHIP ACADEMY, which may be
cool and fun, but they certainly don’t churn out zoologists or leaders. But they sure do look good on resumes … and after all, it doesn’t matter what you
learn. This is America – if we can prepackage it and sell it, then we’ve somehow
won (even if no one even know what “it” is).
As a alumnus of the Health Academy, I can vouch that it is a pretty good program, but even the Health Academy is bogged down with similar problems described above. In non-health aspects of teaching the standard is half of what it is at the home high school. The CNA and hospital experience are wonderful, but they are accompanied with little other knowledge. The other academies are a joke. Exactly what you said, they are impressively named, below average programs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I can give an example of how these academies can suck in more money, purely because they are deemed higher level learning. The health academy students all got computers. After two years they replaced the computers with iPads. We never used the computers in class, and I assume the iPads get about the same amount of use. The leadership academy (which I refuse to capitalize) also had iPads. I looked at one member's iPad one day; all game apps. She then told me that they hadn't used them one time in that academy for academic purposes.
Education is a sham. It doesn't have to be, but the higher-ups keep pushing it in that direction. Because if appearances bring in more funding than reality (real education and learning) then they will cater to appearances. Sad.
Reading this and learning that A2B actually came to fruition really irritates me. I'm so disgusted with the entire idea of speeding up the education process that I'm tempted to write a letter, make a video, just do something. But all I'd get in return is burned bridges and annoyed administrators.
ReplyDeleteHigh school was a wonderful time, but I'm really glad to be done and moving on to better things - Especially with the director our school seems to be heading. I understand the publicity rat-race, but why can't we be above that? Why can't we be above the nagging parents and the newspapers?
Perhaps the worst aspect is the sickening feeling of knowing nothing can be done to change what's happening. You can do your part, to challenge students and make them actually work, but to what effect? At this point, think less about the success of your school, and more on the individual success of your privileged students. I'm currently enrolled in a persuasive writing class and I'm very grateful for the knowledge and skills I learned from you in your class. It sucked at the time, and students will complain, but they'll be thankful later. You just have to be above the nagging. Sadly, everyone's always nagging.