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A package arrived in the mail this morning that gives me one huge indication as to why 80 percent of DeSoto High's students can’t read at grade level. It’s a memo to the school board from a concerned citizen who researched and documented recommended Internet sites that the high school’s library – ahem, “media center” – has been offering to students.
The superintendent’s reading material for the district’s D-rated high school includes Oprah magazine, Fitness Mind Body Spirit, and Teen Cosmo. The citizen researcher discovered these lightweight materials regularly feature very adult sex advice (a sex-workout to control weight, why birth control might dampen sex drive, how celebrities stay thin during pregnancy – this last one from the Encyclopedia Britannica, of all places -- and more, more, more of this sort of drek).
The memo writer showed the superintendent and school board members this week that high school librarians have allowed, for years, Internet links to pop-music Web sites that feature the worst kinds of slang to describe sexual characteristics of famous actresses. The high school’s “course links” page on the superintendent’s Web site has featured, for years, a nubile youngster, bare-shouldered, spaghetti-strapped, gazing deeply into the eyes of the camera; the book she leaned over was a prop to hide her breasts instead of an item of actual academic endeavor.
Back in the media center, “algebra” links to a commercial site selling a $60 software package so students don’t have to do homework the “old way” (whatever that is). Links to an Internet dictionary, atlas and encyclopedia all take students to the ad-driven “Info Please” site where they are told this “is all you need to know.” Info Please sites that purport to be atlases, thesaurus, and encyclopedias feature side-bar ads of female torsos (headless – objectifying women) in string bikinis to promote (1) weight loss (2) vacation resorts (3) fitness programs (4) dating sites.
The concerned citizen’s memo asks the superintendent and school board if the high school’s library Web site furthers “academic, vocational and civic scholarship” among our youngsters. When asked the question, no one answered.**
My own questions are:
--- Why did not one of the $25,000-a-year school board members not find this and correct it years ago?
--- Where has the $131,000-a-year superintendent been while an entire generation of students perused car ads, half-naked women, and sales-pitches for homework helpers in the school library at his recommended Web sites?
What in this picture says academic, scholastic, vocational, or civic education?
My favorite links on this "student" page are ones that encourage teachers to visit a site in order to download lesson plans and worksheets. No wonder students hold teachers in such low esteem.
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**The offensive sites have been taken down; in fact the entire high school media center page has been deleted. However, the evidence of what DeSoto County students have been given to read in their library time is readily available. I will be glad to e-mail the citizen's memo with working links to every one of the sites to anyone upon request: barryfresco@gmail.com
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Barry, send me a copy of the whole sorry package: nanerwin@gmail.com
ReplyDeletethanks.
Barry -
ReplyDeleteAfter your initial, vivid descriptions of various parts of the high school's web site you asked two questions. Because the possible answers are intuitively obvious I can only surmise that you asked these from a rhetorical perspective. The only possible/plausible answers are as follow:
a) didn't know the website existed (which begs the logical question "why not", given these individuals' capacity and putative responsibilities in the school system.)
b) do not care (self-evident - simply look at the high school's performance = D-rating).
c) too many other important issues to worry about (Duh - FCATs, AYP, D-rating).
d) not enough time (which begs the question - why do we pay these individuals?)
e) all of the above
For the answer I would circle 'e'. What would your answer be? By the way,if you know the messenger, please extend my thanks. Sadly, it only confirms what I know all to well.
Mickey the Dunce
I read the DeSoto Sun's report of this school board meeting (july 31, arcadian page 1). I was there and it's pretty obvious that the reporter, named Mel Jackson, didn't hear or failed to understand the importance of Ms. Tranowsky's report. No. More likely he's another reporter whose afraid to report against the superintendent.
ReplyDeleteMy multiple-choice exam format would have included "it was a computer glitch" as a possible answer. However, this would not have changed the final answer: "All the above."
ReplyDeleteIn today's society, no one seems willing to hold themselves accountable or responsible any more. Instead, they blame an inanimate object such as a computer. If that doesn't settle the dust, then they employ the "Abu Ghraib technique" - blame a serf in the system or, at the very least, do not allow the fallout to reach the emperor or any member of the inner circle.
In stark contrast to this deceitful approach, we have a graceful "mea culpa" from one of our very few honorable, elected officials, Katherine Hill (published in Peace River Shopper, July 28, 2009, p 28):
"The tax collector along with the staff will have to take the blame for what the legistlature has done because most people will have the perception that the fees increase were imposed locally but were not..."
Although she and her staff are not even remotely responsible for this caper by the state, she is willing to accept even misguided blame. That, my friends, is character in public service!
It is obvious that neither Katherine nor her staff would fit well in our toxic school administration system. In that unhealthy environment, the head of information technology for our school system should be held responsible, or at least offer an explanation.
Nothing yet. And do not expect it either, except perhaps to blame the serfs. But what else would you expect from an arriviste whose strongest qualification for this position is in having the same cultural narrative as the emperor and others in his chattel system?