Facilities Are Instrumental to the Educational Process

Over the course of this past calendar year a number of exciting changes in facilities have
taken place in our districts. Discussions continue about the future of some of our existing
facilities and how they can best serve the needs of our students and the communities as a
whole..

The building in Aurelia that houses the Aurelia Elementary and the Alta-Aurelia Middle
School has undergone an extensive renovation and remodel. This was done primarily to
address handicap accessibility issues and ADA compliance. It also was an opportunity to
modernize the building and make it more functional for 21st century needs educational
needs.

The old permanent bleachers have been replaced with retractable bleachers that have
handicap accessible seating. The gym floor was replaced and six retractable baskets were
installed. The area of the building that was formerly the Industrial Arts shop has been
converted into a ground floor kitchen and cafeteria. An elevator that accesses all four
floors has been constructed in the building. The elevator should be complete and fully
operational shortly after the holiday break.

In Alta, the high school was relocated to the south building that houses the elementary
and formerly the middle school grades. A newly constructed wing was built specifically
for high school facilities such as, Industrial Arts, Band, Art, Family and Consumer
Science, and Chemistry/Physic lab. The move to the new high school facility was made
late last fall.

Currently, the Alta Preschool and Head Start occupy three classrooms on the main
floor of the old high school building. For the time being, the superintendent's office and
business office remains on the main floor of the high school as well. This office also
serves as the office for the preschool. Current operational cost estimates for utilities and
routine maintenance, as the facility is presently being used, run approximately $25,000
annually

The FFA continues to use the east bay of the shop for the tractor restoration project and
one classroom off the shop area is used for FFA meetings and FFA storage. The west
bay of the shop has been converted to the athletic weight room.

Moving forward, the Alta Board of Education has stated that they would like to continue
to maintain and use the old high school gym and shop area. They are in the planning
stages of the future of the old high school building that was built in 1916.

In 2009, the Alta district conducted a study for facility renovation or construction.
Handicap accessibility in that building was something that the district was being forced to
address due the recent Department of Education equity visit. Architects were contracted
and a comprehensive study was conducted. Findings indicated that over $1.2 million
dollars of renovation was needed to bring the building up to electrical, mechanical codes
and meet ADA compliance. At that time it was determined that a newly constructed
addition to the elementary/middle school building was more cost effective and
educationally sound long-term.

Over the past few months, the board has held public forums to discuss the possible future
of the old high school building and to gain feedback from the public. It is important that
the impact on the community be taken into consideration no matter the final decision.
School building often time represent fond memories and have served as the hub of
community activities and as such, they hold a special place in the communities they
serve.

One of the options that has been discussed is repurposing the building. Many ideas have
been brought forward. The cost for renovation, asbestos abatement, electrical upgrades
and mechanical renovations still exists, regardless of the projected use.

Another likely option is to take down the old high school and keep the gymnasium and
shop area. Cost for demolition was a part of the 2009 study, but those figures are now
out of date and the architects have been asked to make available to the board updated
costing for demolition of the building to include any construction cost needed to maintain
the old gym and shop area. We hope to have those figures back to the board later this
winter so decisions can be made based upon current data. Relocation of the current
preschool will also be taken into account in these plans.

As new costing data is presented to the Alta school board, that information will also be
shared with the public. There will be additional opportunities for feedback prior to final
decisions being made.

EdCamp Comes to Iowa!

The information below was forwarded to me by Dr. Scott McLeod:

EdCampIowa, Iowa’s first cross-state unconference! EdCampIowa West will be hosted by Prairie Lakes AEA at the Buena Vista University Forum in Storm Lake. EdCampIowa East will be hosted by Bettendorf High School. Both locations will run on Saturday, February 16, from 8:30am to 3:30pm.

What’s an EdCamp, you say? EdCamps are unlike any other workshop or conference that you’ve probably attended. EdCamp sessions are created by the attendees in the morning. The rest of the day is spent in conversation around the topics identified by participants.

If this sounds strange to you, it’s likely because you’re used to a different model, one in which the agenda and sessions are determined ahead of time. The challenge of traditional workshops or conferences is that you didn’t get to pick the sessions, someone else did. As such, they may or may not meet your learning needs. At an EdCamp, participants, not planners, determine the sessions so they’re much more likely to be targeted, relevant, and timely. ‘Voting with your feet’ also is strongly encouraged, so you can (and should) quickly leave one session for another if it’s not meeting your learning needs. Since all EdCamp sessions are facilitated discussions that tap into the collective wisdom of attendees rather than ‘sit and get’ presentations directed by outside experts, EdCamps always turn out to be incredible, energizing days of conversation.

How do you know if you’re right for EdCampIowa? If these types of questions resonate with you, you’re a prime candidate:

• What if we didn't have class periods?
• How can we help kids think more deeply?
• Are high school diplomas and university degrees still necessary for credentialing?
• What is getting in the way of us changing faster?
• How can preschool and elementary students use digital tools in powerful ways?
• What if we didn't ignore that most of the time students are bored?
• What might school look like if students were in charge of teaching at least 20% of the time?
• Do we really need grades?
• How can we better facilitate school-university partnerships?
• Are tablets or Chromebooks viable 1:1 devices?
• What has to go in order to make competency-based student progression work?
• In a multimedia world, what is the future of reading?
• and many, many more... (see the EdCampIowa web site!)

Register to join the excitment February 16 for an amazing day of discussion and learning. We You will leave with many great ideas, excited to take action back home! Registration is FREE, lunch will be provided, and we’ll have Internet access for any electronic device that you bring along. This is open to everyone! Students, staff, school board, parents, legislators, and community members to participate too. Everyone is welcome at an EdCamp!

More information is available at www.EdCampIowa.org. Sign up soon. They are giving us a 24-hour head start before opening it up to the rest of the state but there will only be 200 slots at the Storm Lake location...

The Importance of Reading to Children

The single most important thing that a parent can do to help their child acquire language, prepare their child for school, and instill a love of learning in their child, is to read to them. Many people do not fully understand the enormous, positive impact that this simple act has on the life of a child. 

When someone reads to a child, they are exposing that child to more than just the words on the page; they are demonstrating proper speech patterns, the basics of how a book is read (i.e., from left to right, top to bottom, etc.), and the excitement that reading can bring. While learning to read occurs throughout the school years, preparing children to read before they start school is better than helping them catch up later. Pre-reading skills, such as reading from left to right, turning pages as you read, and understanding that letters make the words that make up stories, are critical for children to learn prior to their first day of school.

In addition to planting the language seed and preparing a child for school, reading aloud to a child may do something even more important, instill a life-long love of learning and create a bond between the child and the individual who is reading to them. When a child is being read to, there are no other distractions that are taking that adult's attention away. In today’s world where everyone is reachable at all times, it is rare for a child to have time where they are the priority and nothing else matters. 

Reading to a child is a great way to connect with your child and build a bond around learning. One way to do that is to select books that are enjoyable to both the parent and the child. Try reading books that you remember from your childhood. These books can bring back positive memories that you can then pass on to your child while reading. If you are excited about reading to your child, your child will be excited to listen. The more you do it, the easier and more fun it will become. Soon it will be part of your daily routine and it will be the easiest and most fun way to prepare your child for their future.

With all of the information available pointing to the general importance of reading to children, what are some specific recommendations? As long as the reader and listener are interested in what is being read, it doesn't matter what the book is. Even picture books and language in simple children’s books will enhance a child's learning and vocabulary because of the conversations between the parent and the child which take place around books and stories. Some of the best books to read to children are rhyming books because they help emphasize patterns of sounds that are helpful to the child when they begin to sound out words and letters. The greatest and longest lasting benefits have been shown in children who are read to three or more times a week.

Reading to a child can make learning and achieving in school easier. So, with the holidays coming up, instead of a buying new toy that may be played with only a few times, buy them a book that you used to love as a child and read it to them. You will have fun, create a wonderful bond, and help them learn all at the same time.

American Education Week

November 12th through the 16th marks the annual observance of American Education Week.  

Public schools are the backbone of our democracy, providing our young people with the tools they need to maintain our nations precious values of freedom, civility, and equality.  Schools equip our children with the skills and abilities needed for a productive future.  

Schools are the glue that hold communities together.  They bring parents, children, educators, civic leaders and elected officials around a common enterprise.

All the adults in our schools, whether they are teachers, subs, bus drivers, cooks, associates, librarians, nurses or secretaries, work tirelessly to serve our children and communities with care and professionalism. And this doesn't go unnoticed.

We are truly blessed to have such caring and dedicated adults working with our children daily in Alta and Aurelia.

Strengthening School Culture and Climate

School climate is a key factor that determines whether young people will feel safe in school or not.  In the first few minutes of entering any school, you can develop a feel for the school.  What you see on the walls, posters, student work.  Are there rules posted that all begin with the word "Don't"?  How you are greeted (or not) by both adults and students in the hallway impacts your "feel" for the school.  Are they helpful and interested in who you are and how they can help? Do they make eye contact?  This "feel" you develop is and indicator of school climate.

A new student on his/her first day of classes walks into homeroom, looks across the aisle and says to another student, "What's this place like?" The other student proceeds to tell the new kid who the nice teachers are, who the mean teachers are, areas of the school to avoid, which cliques are in power, what events are fun to attend, and what the sports program is like. The student is describing the school culture to an outsider. The strongest influence on how young people treat each other is the culture of the school.

School climate is created by the attitudes, beliefs, values and norms that underlie the instructional practices, the level of academic achievement and the operation of the school.  It is driven by how well the adults, and how fairly the adults in a school create, implement and model these beliefs, values, and norms.  Schools with a strong, positive school climate have adults that model behaviors that strengthen the climate.  Learning student names and greeting them by name, responding to negative behaviors in a respectful manner, are example of modeling that can strengthen a school climate.  

The product of a good school climate is a strong school culture.  School culture is "the way we do that here". or the way "we don't do that here."  This includes "how we do relationships at this school." In a school with a strong culture, any staff or student will be able to explain and demonstrate "how we do that here."

Culture and climate are aspects of an interactive system. Changes in one, produce changes in the other.  School culture feeds back to climate, and climate back to culture. Climate is established by the actions of the adults and sets the tone or feel of the school.  Culture is how students and staff behave in the context of the climate created by the adults.

Culture and climate is something that we, as a shared district, are continually focusing upon and analyzing. Creating a safe and caring environment for our students is at the top of our list. It has an impact on how the students perform academically, and emotionally.

One example of how this is played out in many schools has to do with harassment. All schools have a policy forbidding bullying and harassment by students. If a student reports harassment to one adult at school they may get a wide variety of responses from the adult including being told to, "Ignore it", or "Tell them to stop", or worse, "Boys will be boys". Or, if they report to another adult they may get a swift, direct response including intervention with the perpetrator and protection for the victim from further abuse. Inconsistency or lack of staff response creates a climate of uncertainty and undermines trust between students and staff. This message is instilled in the school culture. Undermining trust affects the culture by creating a less dependable environment and less trust between students and staff.  This is an example that we hope is not played out in our schools in Alta and Aurelia.

Over the course of this school year, you will see or hear about activities in our schools that directly address bullying/harassment, as well as school climate and culture.  Inviting in the Highway Patrol recently to present to students of all grade levels (and parents) on bullying and cyber-bullying is one example.  Continued support of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, Hands and Words Program, Character Counts is critical in developing the norms of "how we treat each other in this school."  Additionally, using older middle school and high school students to mentor or serve as "big buddies" for elementary students creates a culture of sharing, giving and serving as a positive role model.

Teachers are in the beginning stages of being trained in PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports).  PBIS is a framework or approach for assisting school personnel in addressing student behaviors and discipline in a more positive, pro-active manner. PBIS IS NOT a packaged curriculum, scripted intervention strategy. 

PBIS IS a prevention-oriented way for school personnel to manage classrooms, hallways, lunch rooms, playgrounds in a manner that is less stressful, more direct, and incorporates modeling of the positive behaviors as well as reasonable consequences for negative behaviors.

Preventing bullying and harassment, creating positive student-to-student and teacher-to -student interactions are a key to strengthening a school's culture and climate.  It is a cycle of continuous improvement which is always at the forefront of what we do as school system.

Teachers Working Together to Implement Iowa Core Curriculum

Over 500 educators from 10 school districts met Friday (Sept. 14) for collaborative professional development focused on improving student achievement through developing deeper understanding of the Iowa Core. Teachers from the districts listed below, engaged with teachers in grade and content-alike peer groups from across the southwest portion of Prairie Lakes AEA:

Albert City-Truesdale

Alta-Aurelia

East Sac County

Gilmore City-Bradgate

Laurens-Marathon

Newell-Fonda

Pocahontas Area

Ridge View

Sioux Central

West Bend-Mallard

Teachers and administrators gathered at three different sites to develop concept-based lesson plans through the Iowa Core. (Kindergarten-second grade teachers were in the Storm Lake AEA office. Third-fifth grade teachers met at the Pocahontas AEA office. The remaining teachers worked at Pocahontas Are High School, the host site for this first meeting.

Iowa’s small rural schools have a long history of working together forming consortiums and addressing emerging concerns collectively.

Just ask any teacher in Iowa what they want for their students and they will tell you they want them to have the best education possible. Bringing rural Iowa teachers together to have the opportunity to develop a common understanding of the Iowa Core Curriculum, in a supportive environment where they can learn and share with their experiences, hopes and dreams for their students, is priceless; it’s true collaboration.

Teachers who teach in small rural schools have a limited ability to collaborate with others who teach the same grade level or content area. Bringing teachers together in grade-alike groups gives them an opportunity to build relationships beyond their buildings across district boundaries. Relationships can, and often do, spill over into the classroom as teachers utilize technologies to connect their students with those across the consortium and beyond. Collaborative professional development creates connections that deepen the learning for all those involved.

As teachers engaged in unpacking the Iowa Core Curriculum, they expand their knowledge and ability to apply the newly gained lessons in their classrooms. Student achievement increases as teachers collaboratively build deeper and richer lessons inspiring each other to stretch their students further.

It is important for all of Iowa’s teachers and students to be successful, not just those in our own districts. Coming together for collaborative professional development not only enriches our teachers’ knowledge of the Iowa Core Curriculum; it is evidence of our local school boards’ commitment to improving student learning. It speaks well of our boards to having the courage to allow for alignment our district calendar with other school districts, and for providing the resources necessary to make this learning opportunity available to our teachers and in turn our students. It is great to see area school districts working together to help everyone achieve success!

Changes in Iowa Law on Stopping for School Buses

As the new school year begins, drivers to remain vigilant as students and school buses return to the roadways. That means: Put the cell phone away, set your cup of coffee down, don't look in your rear-view mirror to fix your hair. Concentrate on who and what is around you. Our ultimate goal is to make sure everyone safely arrives at their destination. Motorists should avoid distractions and obey school bus and school zone traffic laws so we have the safest possible environment for students boarding and exiting buses.  

The bill known as "Kadyn's Law," in memory of Kadyn Halverson, went into effect with the governor's signature March 16, 2012. The 7-year-old first grader from Kensett was killed last May by a driver who had illegally passed a stopped school bus. 

The new provisions increase the penalties for drivers who fail to abide by the law (Iowa Code 321.372) on stopped school buses. Previously, a motorist who passed a bus when the red warning lights were flashing was fined $200. The new Iowa law increased the penalty to at least $250 and as high as $675 for a first offense and up to 30 days in jail. For subsequent violations, a driver could face fines of up to $1,875. A driver who violates the law and causes an injury could face added fines, jail time and license suspension. 

In addition to the situations described below, drivers should never pass on the right. Violations of Iowa's motor vehicle laws should be reported to local law enforcement. 

Scenario 1 – You are traveling on a two-lane or three-lane

• Nearing the bus from the rear; drivers must always stop when either the amber lights or red lights are flashing. Stop no closer than 15 feet from the bus. 

• Meeting the bus from the front; drivers must slow their vehicles to 20 mph when amber lights are flashing. Stop when the lights change to red and the stop arm comes out. Remain stopped until the lights stop flashing and the stop arm is withdrawn.

Scenario 2 – You are traveling on a road with two or more lanes in each direction

• Stop if nearing the bus from the rear when amber or red lights are flashing. Stop no closer than 15 feet from the bus.

• When meeting the bus in one of the opposite two lanes (or more), you do not need to stop even if the bus has stopped with lights flashing and stop arm out. The bus is not permitted to load or unload children who must cross this type of roadway unless there are official traffic control devices or police officers present.

The Education We Need

At the end of the Second World War the average American needed only a fourth grade education to be in the 50th percentile in salary. In the 1990’s, a twelfth grade education was necessary to reach the same level. Today, a college graduate earns more than twice as much as someone with less than 12 years of education.

As our graduates prepare to take that step into the next phase of their lives they are entering an exciting world.  A world where society is being recreated. Knowledge will be its key resource, and knowledge workers will be the dominant group in its workforce. Peter Drucker, a writer, teacher and consultant, identifies three main characteristics of the knowledge-based society:

•Borderlessness, because knowledge travels even more effortlessly than money. •Upward mobility, available to everyone through easily acquired formal education.

•The potential for failure as well as success. Anyone can acquire the “means of production”, i.e., the knowledge required for the job, but not everyone can win.
Together, those three characteristics will make the knowledge society a highly competitive one, for organizations and individuals alike. Information technology, although only one of many new features of the next society, is already having one hugely important effect: it is allowing knowledge to spread near-instantly, and making it accessible to everyone. Given the ease and speed at which information travels, every institution in the knowledge society—not only businesses, but also schools, universities, hospitals and increasingly government agencies too—has to be globally competitive, even though most organizations will continue to be local in their activities and in their markets. This is because the Internet will keep customers everywhere informed on what is available anywhere in the world, and at what price.

It will not be “how much you know” that will be the key to success in this society, but “can you access the knowledge needed?”  Do you know where to find the information and do you know how to apply that information?  We often speak about the life-long learner.  In a knowledge-based economy, continuous learning will be essential to success.  If our graduates could take from our schools only one learned trait, I would want that one trait to be the ability to be a continuous, life-long learner.

In our school systems, children begin the job of being formal learners when they enter kindergarten.  For our graduates it seems like a long time ago when they enter that phase of their lives.  For us parents it seems only yesterday that we sent them off for the first day of school.  It was a time of joy, apprehension, excitement and fear for both the parents and the child.  Graduation brings back some of those same feelings for both. As I think about our graduates and what they will need to be successful in an ever-changing world, I am reminded of a story a number of years ago about what we learn in kindergarten and how important those lessons are to leading a successful, rewarding life.  I don’t know the author, but the words remain true.

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life.
Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. 
Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.


The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation; Ecology and politics and sane living. Think of what a better world it would be if we all, had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Filling Their Packs

John Dewey said, "Education is not preparation for life. Education is life."

     There are few professions where you can see the impact of your work so vividly. There aren't many jobs where hero, friend and mentor are part of the job description. There are few careers that have such a lasting impact on an entire generation.

     I like teaching. I like learning about teaching. And I especially like reading others' teaching philosophies. I love it when teachers select analogies that explain, instruct and inspire. , such as, "teaching is like lighting a bonfire," or "teaching is like giving students wings"

     For me, teaching is a little like stuffing a backpack. You know the ones I mean, the heavy-duty, oversize backpacks that students shoulder down the halls of our schools. In these metaphorical backpacks, students carry with them the knowledge and skills they will need for their journey through life. When students enter our classrooms, their backpacks have already been partially filled by families, life experiences and other instructors. The backpacks are deep and sometimes it's hard to see what they are carrying in there.

     Through our teaching, we attempt to place items in our student's backpacks. All children do not arrive to school with a backpack full of the same experiences, nor are they all equally full. When students first enter our classrooms we must determine what is in the backpack and begin filling from there. We add the foundations of language, reading, mathematics, the mechanics of writing and skill development. We pack in sharing and caring, character development, listening skills. Art, music and physical wellness are placed in the pack as well.

     By this time, the students' backpacks are pretty full, but we're not done yet. Our next job is to expand their backpacks so that more will fit in them. We do this by asking them to analyze, question and think.

     As children grow and mature, we ask them to look at what is in their backpacks and apply the items to real world situations. Sometimes, we can actually see their backpacks grow in class as they experience new ways of thinking about an issue. And sometimes students have to discard something from the bottom of their backpacks that has lain there, unexamined, for many years to make room for a new idea.

     The good thing about stuffing a backpack is that it's a lot of fun! We also know that as soon as students are out of our sight, they dump things out of the backpack to lighten the load. With these characteristics in mind, we can't just force items into the backpack. We have to get students to want to carry our backpack stuffers around. So we try new things in teaching. What do students discard? How can we get items to stick around longer in the backpack? Will this exercise expand that backpack or not? Mistakes are okay, because we can always try again. In addition, we find that the students might not notice how heavy the backpack has become if the stuffing process is interesting and even entertaining.

     As our students prepare to graduate, they leave us, their backpacks full. Our sincere desire is that they journey farther than we have, see more, and achieve more. And somewhere along the way, they'll pull something out of their backpacks and think of a teacher who placed it there.

Schools across the country bring iPads to the classroom | McClatchy

Schools across the country bring iPads to the classroom | McClatchy

Nostesia

This edition of Focus on the Future features an article by Jamie Vollmer, reproduced with permission.  Enjoy!

Nostesia

By Jamie Robert Vollmer

Millions of Americans argue, often vehemently, that today’s schools are dreadful compared to the temples of learning that existed in our golden past. In their view, we all would be better off if schools could just be the way they used to be.

These people are suffering from a debilitating mental condition that I have named nostesia: a hallucinogenic mixture of 50% nostalgia and 50% amnesia that distorts rational thinking. 

I have created the following equation to quantify the severity of an individual’s delusion:

A x O = NQ

A represents a person’s age. O is number of years he or she has been out of school. Multiply these together and you get NQ - the Nostesia Quotient. The higher a person’s NQ, the more advanced the disease and the less likely the person will respond to reasoned argument.

Mitigating factors exist that can reduce a person’s NQ. Aggravating conditions exist that can increase it. If, for example a person works in a school, or actively volunteers, we can divide his or her total NQ by 2. On the other hand, if the person is running for political office, multiply by 5.

One of my earliest exposures to nostesia came during a talk I gave in western Nebraska. I had just reviewed public education’s history of achievements, and listed the challenges that lay ahead, when a big fellow stood up and said, “You know, I listened to all your talk, and as far as I’m concerned if schools could just be the way they used to be around here, everything would be all right” 

“Yes sir,” I said. “What year would that be?”

“1953. Those were the really good schools.”

“The dropout rate in Nebraska in the early fifties was fifty percent,” I said. “In fact, in those days dropout counseling consisted of principals encouraging certain kids to drop out.”

“No,” said an elderly woman in the front row, “you have to go back to 1939 for the really good schools.” 

“Ma’am,” I said, “the dropout rate in the 1930s was 80%. Today, your schools have that number down to single or low double digits.”

Immediately, the big man proclaimed, “Oh, that’s not true. Everybody I graduated with graduated!”

Priceless.

Of course, the nostesia pandemic is not new. Each succeeding generation of young people is regarded by their elders as academically challenged. Written expressions of doubt and disapproval regarding “these kids today” and “these schools today” go back as far as Plato. My brothers and sisters in the magnificent boomer generation are no different. The same people who once said, “Never trust anyone over thirty,” now insist that today’s young people don’t know as much or work as hard as we did when we were young.

Every nostesiac has his or her rationale. Some are convinced that schools in the past were better because everybody got a job. They forget that most of those jobs - now gone - required little more than a strong back and a willingness to work. Some people are alarmed because “these kids today” don’t know the same things that they know, especially historical facts that they consider essential to being a good American. These adults forget that most of what they know they learned after they got out of school. They also fail to see that it’s not possible for today’s students to learn everything their parents and grandparents learned plus everything that has happened since—especially in a school year that has not added a minute in decades. Some nostesiacs parrot the dreary assessment of public schools offered by media pundits; they don’t want to admit that they have been duped by people on the radio they trust. Some adults cling to the fantasy because they refuse to believe they’ve been surpassed by new generations of kids. This is especially pronounced among the college educated. Finally, there are those who are CAVE people: Citizens Against Virtually Everything. No amount of reasoned discourse will eradicate their disease. It’s genetic.

Nostesia can be cured, but it must be aggressively treated. The most effective treatment includes direct exposure to students and teachers in schools—the more interactive the better—coupled with regular, powerful doses of good news about our schools

I have found that the best way to break the spell is to provide a little context.

Today, one of the hot button issues of the “back-to-the-past” contingent is the seemingly large number of college freshmen who require remediation. This subject receives a lot of press, and is offered as positive proof of failing schools. In this context, I offer the following quote. It appeared in the Los Angeles Times attributed to Professor Theodore M. Greene of Princeton University.

I know of no college or university in the country that doesn’t have to offer most or all of its freshmen courses in remedial English, beginning mathematics, beginning science and beginning foreign languages. Consequently, we give two or three years of college [courses] and the rest is high school work.

Most people agree that this is a perfect example of the declining quality of our schools. The problem with the argument, however, is that Professor Greene uttered this statement about the poor quality of high school graduates in March 1946. And when he spoke, he became part of a long line of complainants. Thirty-eight years prior, a 1908 Carnegie report discovered that large percentages of America’s high school graduates were being admitted to elite colleges with “conditions,” i.e., in need of remediation. Further back, in 1900, when only the top 2 percent of high school graduates went on to college (compared to 62 percent today), 378 of America’s 450 colleges reported that incoming freshman needed remedial work. Eighty-four percent!

There never was a time when remediation of a significant percentage of new students was not required.

A curious thing about the people afflicted with nostesia is that when they are cornered on one issue they quickly skate to the next. For example, high on their list of complaints is the rank ignorance that “these kids today” display regarding the most basic points of American history and geography. This really rattles people. Listen to the audience nervously laugh and groan as Jay Leno wanders the streets of L.A asking pedestrians seemingly simple questions concerning past and current events. It is a funny bit, but it is not new.

In 1943, The New York Times and Columbia University did their own version of “Jay-walking.” The results were just as pathetic. A large percentage of the people questioned could not identify the names of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, or Theodore Roosevelt. Only 6 percent could identify the thirteen original colonies. Abraham Lincoln was identified as our first president, and he was said to have “emaciated the slaves.” When asked to identify the great American poet, Walt Whitman, hundreds said he was a bandleader, apparently confusing him with the jazz musician, Paul Whiteman. Their understanding of geography was equally thin. Most had no idea what America or the world looked like and could not correctly place our major cities on a map.

On its surface, this 1943 exercise does much to refute the notion that previous generations of Americans were more knowledgeable, especially about the “important stuff.” Look below the surface, however, and it gets worse. The interviewees were not a random sample of Americans. They were all college freshmen, America’s finest high school graduates. The Times and Columbia had not just exposed cultural illiterates, but elite cultural illiterates.

Nostesiacs howl in protest when I tell them this. They refuse to accept it, and one word makes it easy to see why. Television. We are daily exposed to a frightening array of fatuous, vain, half-naked specimens of America’s youth. How easy it is to unfavorably compare this horde with the clean-cut, well-mannered TV kids of yesteryear. But the comparison is false. Until quite recently, only a certain kind of young people were allowed to talk on TV: the ones who were taught how. Adults carefully scripted every line spoken by the kids in the old sitcoms. The only young people speaking extemporaneously on TV were the teens on Bandstand (“I like the words but not the lyrics.”), or those who wore jackets, ties, and dresses on the General Electric College Bowl. (Oh, those thirty point bonus questions!) Absent were the muddled freshmen quizzed by the Times and ordinary kids from the neighborhood. Now, their modern counterparts display their “brilliance” on reality shows and Jerry Springer’s stage fifteen times a day. This might be a statement on the sorry state of television, but it says nothing about the relative strength of our schools.

Every issue nostesiacs are likely to raise can be placed in historical context. Whether social promotion, lack of discipline, basic literacy, or dropout rates, there is ample evidence that it was no better in the past. No matter how far back I look, I can find no evidence of the golden era when we were “a nation of learners.” Nor can I find a time when parents were better educated than their children.

There is no doubt that America’s schools need to change to better serve the needs of the time, but not by going backwards. The vast majority of public schools are doing a better job now of educating America’s youth than they have ever done before.