| Book Excerpts 1
The Nightmare That Is Public Education: An Exposé of What Really Happens in Public Schools
by Renato C Nicolai, Ed.D.
 
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The following pages provide you with excerpts from every chapter in my book. However, you need to know, before you get started with your reading, that the chapters are labeled Nightmares because the content of each chapter clearly exposes terrifying or very unpleasant experiences existing in public schools among teachers and throughout their teaching practices. Notice, too, that each Nightmare has a euphemistic title following it. I promised to tell my readers the way it really is in public schools, and so each Nightmare and euphemistic wording of the Nightmare accomplishes just that. Please keep in mind that the quotations in this Book Excerpts section are taken directly from my book and are protected under copyright laws.
NIGHTMARE ONE: MONOTONOUS • BORING • MEDIOCRE
EUPHEMISM: AN EXCELLENT TEACHER
"An excellent teacher is a unique person endowed with a combination of qualities, skills, talents, traits, and aptitudes which most people don’t even come close to possessing, and most assuredly don’t possess in combination. . . . What counts even more dramatically than these traits, in making a person a remarkable teacher, are the intuitive, instinctive, and innate qualities of the teacher’s personality. The key is how the teacher implements these traits with a personality which is inherently in tune with how children think and learn, what these children need to experience at any given moment, what methods are needed at a specific time to stimulate the desire to learn, and so much more." (pp.10-11)
This chapter includes a list of eight essential qualities most teachers don't possess. One is the effective use of voice, and another is keeping student on/off guard. Some of the information I wrote about these two essential qualities is included in the excerpts. If you're a teacher, I think you'll want to read my description of all of them. If you're a parent, you'll want to know and understand them because they will assist you in determining the quality of your children's teachers.
"The voice is a powerful and unique musical instrument that can be wonderfully effective if used with dexterity and skill but totally ineffective if not used properly. Most teachers simply talk in their normal voice, day in and day out. Perhaps, once in a great while, they might show excitement and enthusiasm through the use of voice, but normally they talk in a monotone and bore their students unmercifully. They don’t know how to use their voices to show sadness, happiness, enthusiasm, disappointment, approval, and a host of other feelings. The first-rate teachers I’m writing about know how important voice is and work deliberately to include its use daily in their teaching. They also know how to use it effectively either intuitively or as a result of studying how effective it can be. These teachers know when to whisper or shout, when to vary their pitch, and how to use prosody and melody to affect emotion. They know when to inflect their voices, how to resonate with vigor and fullness of voice, how to draw out and quicken their voices, and how to use breathing and pauses to gain attention and a teachable moment." (pp. 12-13)
"Keeping students off balance means that the teacher asks penetrating questions, makes students think about the answers they give to questions, and challenges students to take firm stands about answers they give. It also means that the teacher makes the students feel uncomfortable and uneasy on occasion, forcing them to concentrate on the topic being taught. These astute teachers sometimes try to convince students that the answers they give are incorrect when in fact they really are correct. What they hope to accomplish is the development of the students’ self-confidence by encouraging them to contradict and challenge their teachers with knowledge and logic. They strive to engender independent thinking so that students will base their answers on what they know, not upon the teacher’s opinion. When this on/off guard method is exercised with skill, resulting in students saying confidently that their answer is the correct one and supporting it with a cogent argument, the teacher is overjoyed. More importantly, real learning takes place, and the student is very proud and satisfied. When the student isn’t sure and doesn’t respond correctly, the teacher has a unique opportunity to reteach the idea or concept that’s misunderstood. So, the on/off guard approach is not intended to trip up a student or to force a student to answer incorrectly but, rather, to summon up the student’s courage to give an answer and support it with knowledge. When the student fails to do that, the teacher reteaches the concept using different methods until it’s understood. In cases like this, the on/off guard method has resulted in the teacher discovering that the student doesn’t understand what is being taught and needs additional instruction." (pp. 16-17)
NIGHTMARE TWO:
DIRTY • DISORGANIZED • UNSAFE
EUPHEMISM: A CLASSROOM'S LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
"Yes, indeed, the environment of a classroom can be designed and organized to significantly improve learning; it can and should be integrally related to the learning process. Then, why is it that most classrooms at the upper elementary and secondary levels of education don’t even come close to utilizing the classroom’s environment to promote more efficient and exhilarating learning? . . . The reasons are as manifestly true as they are shocking and as culturally motivated as they are outrageous. One of the main reasons is that teachers have convinced themselves they are so miserably underpaid that many of them won’t do anything they consider to be “extra” work or not specifically written in their collective bargaining contract, including preparing their classrooms as a learning tool in the way I’ve described. Oh, they will do the minimum required to make the classroom look presentable (at least some of them), but they will not put in the time and effort to design a truly effective learning environment.
Another main reason is that teachers’ unions have, over the years, consistently destroyed the altruistic feeling of giving service as a value and made it appear to be old-fashioned and out of touch with the real world. They have brainwashed teachers into believing that every single service they perform necessitates remuneration. You should ask your local school district to give you a copy of its collective bargaining contract with its teachers. You will see what I mean right away. Other reasons include lazy teachers, weak principals, and ingrained attitudes like this one: “The kids and parents don’t appreciate all the work I already do, so why should I do any more?”
"High school classrooms are much worse. They are, generally speaking, terrible places in which young people are compelled to learn. In some cases, they are so repulsive, unhealthful, and disheveled that they serve a purpose opposite from their intended use and existence. Instead of promoting enthusiastic and inspirational learning, they advance apathetic and dreary indifference. My experience has confirmed the reality that most high school classrooms don’t contribute to the learning process at all. Rather, they stifle learning with their lack of organization, profusion of clutter, and dearth of classroom environmental learning strategies. They are, in two words, disgracefully reprehensible." (pp. 41-42)
NIGHTMARE THREE:
LOW EXPECTATIONS • UNATTAINED STANDARDS
EUPHEMISM: WE'RE DOING THE BEST WE CAN
"The central theme of expectations is rather simple: expect students to do better than they have in the past, and they probably will." (P.50)
"It was this concept of expectations that was a career-long, dominant theme of my philosophy of education. I believed in it so strongly that my public school teaching experience convinced me that without practicing expectations in the classroom, most teachers could not be as effective as their potential would allow. I’m not saying that other methods of motivating students to learn should be cast aside; rather, I believed that, if teachers were trained to radiate the idea of expectations in everything they did while teaching students, their students would rise to the level of those expectations more often than not. As a result, they would learn much more effectively than they would without such an approach." (pp. 49-50)
This chapter includes a seven page description of the most important strategies used by teachers who truly understand how to teach high academic and behavioral standards. I've listed two of the ten strategies I explain in the book.
"What the Teacher of Standards Does
1. The teacher who understands how to teach standards meticulously plans a lesson. This lesson plan is a carefully thought-out and thoroughly preparedapproach to teaching every aspectof the subject matter. It also takes into consideration methods, appropriate materials, the ability level of the students, and a host of other details to maximize the potential for learning. The standard itself and the skills necessary to master it are at the heart of the planning. There is nothing more important in teaching standards or in teaching in general than planning.
What Many or Most Teachers Do
Most teachers are conscientious about planning their lessons when they student teach and first start teaching full time. Then, after a couple of years or so, they fall into the bad habit of presenting lessons from their experience. They have convinced themselves that they know the subject matter so well that writing a plan is a waste of their time. Even those teachers who continue to write and implement lesson plans sometimes don’t truly understand how to organize their presentations by focusing on the content of the standard and the skills needed to understand it." (pp. 67-68)
"What the Teacher of Standards Does
7. The teacher who understands how to teach standards completes the same assignment the students are assigned.This is such an important strategy to use in almost any class, with almost any subject matter, and for almost any assignment. The teacher completes the same assignment the student is responsiblefor and then shares the finished assignment with the class, challenging the studentsto evaluate it using the rubric. The confident teacher of standards is now in the powerful position of being able to say: “See, I’m not asking you to do anything I haven’t already done myself. If I can do it, so can you. You presented me with some valid suggestions about how I can improve my work, so I will revise it accordingly. You can do the same thing for yourselves and your fellow classmates. We can all learn from each other.
What Many or Most Teachers Do
Most teachers don’t use this effective strategy for a host of inappropriate reasons:
• They are not confident in their own ability to accomplish the
assignment according to the rubric.
• They have the need to project a sense of perfection while
teaching their charges and would never risk the possibility of
making an error.
• They can’t stomach the idea of students evaluating their workand
offering suggestions for improvement.
• They view themselves as superior to students and so would never
lower themselves to doing what students are assigned.
• They don’t believe in the standards movement and wish it had
never come upon the educational scene." (p. 72)
NIGHTMARE FOUR:
WASTED TIME • INEPT INSTRUCTION
EUPHEMISM: TEACHING MISTAKES
"A tremendous amount of time, energy, and learning is lost forever when a teacher tries to conduct a lesson over the din of a noisy classroom and is repeatedly forced to quiet a class when talking takes place at the change of an activity. Even more valuable time is lost when teachers allow students to stop work and get ready to leave the classroom with five, ten, or even fifteen minutes remaining. When teachers ask questions incorrectly, more time is wasted as well. One of the scary realities is that the time is wasted in every period. It doesn’t make a bit of difference what the subject is: English, science, mathematics, history, foreign languages, or electives. Of course, if the class is a required course for graduation, one needed for college entrance, or one recommended by four-year colleges and universities, the lack of learning due to the loss of instructional time caused by student noise is at least significant and, at worst, severely damaging to a student’s education.
Let’s analyze the time lost in a typical high school class. Many high schools throughout the United States use a scheduling system that provides for classes which are approximately ninety minutes in duration. Depending upon the period of the day, the time will fluctuate a few minutes under or above ninety minutes. This ninety-minute class will make available enough time for a full semester course if it meets daily. A teacher who allows excessive noise, talking, disruption, early stoppage of work, and lining up at the door with five or more minutes remaining in class will easily lose twenty or more minutes of instructional time every day. Yes, twenty minutes of instructional time out of ninety minutes every day! You’re right, that’s an incredible and absurd amount of lost instructional time.
I want you to understand the reality of this loss of time. Work stoppage toward the end of class, and lining up at the classroom door with five or more minutes to go in class, can easily waste ten to fifteen minutes alone. Ten additional minutes can also be lost, without a doubt, when the teacher is forced to quiet the class down at the start of the period, during changes in activities, and when the students are generally noisy. A full twenty minutes are potentially lost in these ways. You’re right again! In a ninety-minute class, twenty minutes of instructional time lost equals an astounding 22 percent of the classroom instructional time." (p. 92)
NIGHTMARE FIVE:
DISRUPTIVE • INSOLENT • DEFIANT
EUPHEMISM: STUDENT DISCIPLINE
"Whether you're a parent aiding in a classroom, a school administrator observing a teacher’s performance, or anyone else visiting a teacher in a classroom, don’t allow that teacher to send a student out of the room to stand or sit outside. This is, by far, one of the most imprudent and unsafe methods of discipline ever practiced by educators. It was so repugnant to me personally as an educator and a parent that I pursued my goal to eliminate its practice in the elementary school district where my youngest son was a student. I insisted that the principal of the school not allow her teachers to implement this practice. To my astonishment, they had been using it daily with children as young as seven and eight years of age and with special-needs students as well." (p.98)
"Sending a misbehaving student to stand outside the classroom door, as a means of discipline even for a short period of time, is, at best, idiotic. If teachers would only stop and think of what they are doing and the possible consequences of their decision, they would cease this foolhardy practice immediately." (p 99)
This chapter also includes a ten point explanation of my personal "Educational Philosophy for Control of Student Behavior." I believe strongly that all teachers should base their disciplinary decisions upon a set of principles which are well thought out in advance. I've listed two of these princples below. I think teachers will find these two and the others to be well worth pondering.
1. "Having high expectations for excellent behavior is of paramount importance.If I expect my students to behave well, with few exceptions they will. The implementation of the self-fulfilling prophecy is a powerful motivator. When students are expected to show respectful for their classmates and their teacher as well as to demonstrate courtesy and obedience, they will because they want to please me, their teacher, with their good behavior.
Student Behavior
By making it known clearly at the start of the school year that I expect my students to be courteous, cooperative, and well behaved, the stage is set for them to act just as I expect.
Teacher Shortcoming
Many teachers don’t use the strategies necessary to implement good behavior expectations:
• Student contracts
• Written expectation policies prepared for students and parents
• Verbal descriptions and explanations of behavioral expectations
• Posters, signs, and other written reminders placed around the classroom
• Praise and appreciation for good behavior
Sadly, many teachers don’t know how important it is to have high expectations, promote them through their teaching, and then follow through on implementing them." (pp. 103-104)
4. "My students are not my “friends.” I’m friendly toward my students, but they are not my friends as certain adults are my friends. I want very much to be their teacher and to assist them in learning, but I don’t have to be their friend to accomplish this.
Student Behavior
When it comes to controlling a classroom filled with adolescents and deciding upon what disciplinary action I need to take, friendship should never enter into the decision-making process.
Teacher Shortcoming
Teachers who consider their students friends are setting themselves up for potentially serious interpersonal relationship problems. They run the risk of breaching their professional and ethical responsibilities."
NIGHTMARE SIX:
VICTIM • BABYSITTER • SURVIVOR
EUPHEMISM: A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER
"Although the lack of discipline is a serious problem in many public schools, for substitute teachers it’s a monumental disaster. A substitute teacher should enter a classroom at the middle school, junior high school, and high school levels of education with a large, bright, black and yellow, bull’s-eye target printed on the front and back of the teacher’s jacket and shirt. Of course, I don’t mean this literally; but, figuratively speaking, a substitute teacher is fair game, a victim—in short, a target for student disrespect and insolence." (p. 120)
"Why do preadolescents and adolescents in 6th through 12th grade act out so disrespectfully toward substitute teachers? The answer may sound too simple to be accepted; but it is, nonetheless, true—because they are allowed to and therefore can. The crux of the entire student behavior dilemma for substitutes, as well as for regular teachers, is encapsulated in those words and reveals a significant and reprehensible attitude which permeates public school classrooms. They are allowed to act like this with little or no consequences; therefore, they continue the behavior as a norm." (p. 122)
"What you read next may sound unbelievable but is nonetheless true, with no exaggeration. Using my own personal experience, let me start by saying that, instead of using the term lesson plan to describe what the regular teacher wanted me to do as the substitute, I could very well have used the expression “time-filling plan.” When it comes to substitute teaching, the term “lesson plan” is a misnomer! It’s supposed to be a plan of action for a substitute teacher to follow to bring about learning in a specific curricular area of study. In reality, it’s usually a set of instructions on how to occupy the time students have in a specific class.
Often, all I did as a substitute was play a VCR tape or a DVD disc. I’ve viewed To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Great Escape, World War I videos, and numerous sports DVDs to the point of nausea. ... If I didn’t show a video or a DVD, then the next most popular activity for me as a substitute was to administer a test. Of course, sometimes I did both.
Rarely was I ever called upon to teach! In my experience as a substitute teacher, 95 percent of my substituting was filling-in time with assignments". . . (pp.125-126)
"Many substitutes are notorious for lying. I could have written that they exaggerate or tend to bend the truth when reporting to the regular teacher. I could have said they are predisposed to embellish the positive aspects of their substituting experiences and to understate the negative aspects. There really isn’t any other way to honestly portray what they do, however, when they report in writing to the regular teacher that their substituting experience was nearly perfect.
Most of them paint a rosy picture of what happened that day in the classroom, regardless of the reality of their visit, to assure themselves of continuing substituting assignments." (p. 130)
"During my entire substituting career, I was never formally observed by a principal." (p. 132)
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