Most people do not realize there are two basic ways in which tests are scored. The scores on some tests are "norm referenced". On those tests the scores of all participants are ranked by number of correct answers. Then the bell curve is superimposed on those scores. In doing this a specific percentage of test takers are given very low scores, average scores and very high scores. These scores are called standard scores since they depend on the test standards that are pre-established. So let's say a person takes a test with a group of other test takers, all of whom are VERY good at what the test is testing. Under the norm referenced system, an individual who missed very few questions could still get a low score because in comparison to the other testers in the group, she was at the bottom of the pile. Most college entrance exams such as the SAT and the ACT are norm referenced. The idea is supposed to be that colleges are interested in how applicants rank in comparison to other high school grads who are seeking entrance. Most achievement tests and aptitude tests are also norm referenced.
Criterion referenced tests establish skills and knowledge that test takers are supposed to know. Then test takers are scored on how many questions they answer correctly. Under this system it is possible for every test taker to get a high score. These tests do not give you the relative standing of one test taker against another. The Common Core tests and tests created by teachers are generally considered to be criterion referenced tests. Common Core tests are supposed to be measuring how much of the Common Core curriculum a child has learned. Whether they do that or not is an issue for another day. On criterion referenced tests we are all rooting for all the test takers to score well. The high score of one student does not impact the chance of another student getting an equally high score. On the norm referenced tests, all students cannot do well no matter how many questions they answered correctly. It is the nature of the beast.
On norm referenced tests we are competing against each other; so if you answer one more question correctly than I do, your higher number correct could kick me lower down on the bell curve.
Both kinds of tests have their purposes and do different things. Of course, neither addresses the over all question of do tests really matter at all. What does either type of test tell us that we didn't know to begin with. When I was a public school supervisor, I would frequently have teachers tell me that they knew in advance exactly which students would do well on a test and which would not. When I asked the question, then why are you bothering to test at all?; I would get a quizzical look. I am still asking that question and still getting that same quizzical look.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
What were they thinking?
Fifteen years ago there was No Child Left Behind and its required annual testing that was supposed to improve the quality of high school graduates and make a high school diploma really mean something. State testing results were all over the map regarding how proficient students were in the basic academic subjects. Some states looked great, but the tests were easy. Other states not so great, but the tests were harder. The governors rebelled. After all education is one of the biggies for governors' bragging rights.
So five years ago, the state governors got together with the state commissioners of education and created Common Core. This curriculum-not a test- would be an almost national commitment to a curriculum. All but five states signed on. Every curriculum needs a test (or not). So two consortia were born. Smart Balance does most of the center of the country and a few costal states. Partnership for Assessment for College and Careers (PARCC) does most of the costal states. States are dropping out of these testing program like innocents leaving the mideast war zones. The latest to vote is Maine which says it wants out of Smart Balance. Maryland, that does not have a formalized method for families to opt out, has the largest rate of opt out by absence of any state in the union.
So here we are, 15 years after NCLB and 5 years after Common Core. Certainly education results have improved dramatically with these great and VERY expensive programs. Fifteen years ago before NCLB, the United States ranked 28th in the world in student achievement. We added Common Core and now we are going somewhere. Indeed the new rankings were recently released. After billions of dollars spent on curriculum alignment and test creation, millions of tortured children taking tests and thousands of teachers wrestling with their consciences on the purpose of the whole mess... Drum roll please!! The United States of American now ranks 28th among the nations of the world. Yep, that was not a typo. No change whatsoever in relative ranking.
What exactly is the point of this whole thing? Beats me.
An organization called Achieve which is aligned with Common Core has issued a report that indicates the gaps between state testing and the Common Core testing. New York is best with only a 5% gap, Georgia is the worst with a 60% gap. No wonder those educators were having to cheat on the national tests.
Problem is no one is asking the question of why are we testing at all. And what are we testing. Other testing shows our kids know next to nothing about how our government runs and these kids will be voters in a few years. Educators, please get up off your very weak knees and take control of your profession and our kids' lives. We are letting politicians run education and you know what a mess they have made out of government.
So five years ago, the state governors got together with the state commissioners of education and created Common Core. This curriculum-not a test- would be an almost national commitment to a curriculum. All but five states signed on. Every curriculum needs a test (or not). So two consortia were born. Smart Balance does most of the center of the country and a few costal states. Partnership for Assessment for College and Careers (PARCC) does most of the costal states. States are dropping out of these testing program like innocents leaving the mideast war zones. The latest to vote is Maine which says it wants out of Smart Balance. Maryland, that does not have a formalized method for families to opt out, has the largest rate of opt out by absence of any state in the union.
So here we are, 15 years after NCLB and 5 years after Common Core. Certainly education results have improved dramatically with these great and VERY expensive programs. Fifteen years ago before NCLB, the United States ranked 28th in the world in student achievement. We added Common Core and now we are going somewhere. Indeed the new rankings were recently released. After billions of dollars spent on curriculum alignment and test creation, millions of tortured children taking tests and thousands of teachers wrestling with their consciences on the purpose of the whole mess... Drum roll please!! The United States of American now ranks 28th among the nations of the world. Yep, that was not a typo. No change whatsoever in relative ranking.
What exactly is the point of this whole thing? Beats me.
An organization called Achieve which is aligned with Common Core has issued a report that indicates the gaps between state testing and the Common Core testing. New York is best with only a 5% gap, Georgia is the worst with a 60% gap. No wonder those educators were having to cheat on the national tests.
Problem is no one is asking the question of why are we testing at all. And what are we testing. Other testing shows our kids know next to nothing about how our government runs and these kids will be voters in a few years. Educators, please get up off your very weak knees and take control of your profession and our kids' lives. We are letting politicians run education and you know what a mess they have made out of government.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
We are family!
You know the story. Your kids and their friends just live in typical families. Uhhh, just exactly what is that, this "typical family"? Most of the books we read in school show a mother, father, 2 kids and a dog. The dad brings home the bacon and the mom cooks it. That is so old school. In fact, it is over a half century (1960) since the majority (66%) of our families met this configuration. Things have changed quite dramatically since then. Today only 22% of our families meet this model.
In this economy 34% of our kids are being raised in dual income homes with married parents. The biggest plurality is a mix of single parents, grandparents, LGBT parents. Factually, a "typical" family no longer exists. These changes mean a huge amount to schools.
Schools are still functioning based on outdated assumptions. Parent participation programs are still very often held during the day with the expectation that the none income earning parent will show up. Often parents can't take time off from work to be there so participation defaults to a limited number of families. Language is also important. Teachers need to understand that the old rubrics no longer exist. Questions that ask children of LGBT families, who is the mother and who is the father are meaningless and confuse children. Likewise, gender expectations for children are defeating to children who do not want to be confined by them. Those kinds of expectations also affect how kids develop their talents.
Programs in schools need to be re-titled. Father-daughter events or mother-son teas may unmeaningly exclude large groups of families. Even more importantly these named events make kids without a father present in the home or a son without a mother feel somehow less-than the other children in the community. Changing the names of these events to something like Parents and Pastries is much more inclusive and make everyone feel welcome.
Having kids develop a family tree often causes kids who have been adopted to struggle with how to fill in the blanks. In discussing genetics, make it clear that even biological kids don't necessarily look like their biological parents.
Watch for language in bureaucracy. Lots of married, two gender families still have different last names. Forms need to allow for that and not assume last names are the same. They need to make room for multiple parents, allowing step-parents to also be included. Salutations on announcements sent home can be addressed to Harbour School families rather than to dear mom and dad. It seems like a no-brainer today for posters and books to show a wide variety of family combinations. These are available. Families aren't just mixed race; some are single gender; some have children with disabilities; some are single parent; some have grandparents as the primary parenting people. Posters and books that show these combinations send a visible message that the school gets the new reality and all are accepted.
Educators are big talkers, so it is hard for us to shut up and listen. We can ask some very good questions of families: Tell me about your family. What are the things your family likes to do together? Is there anyone else besides those people in your home who support your child or who help you and your child?
Families are made up of all sorts of incredible combinations. Sometimes they live together, sometimes not. Some families are small, some are large. The main thing about families is that they love and care about each other. As educators we need to support that love however it may appear.
In this economy 34% of our kids are being raised in dual income homes with married parents. The biggest plurality is a mix of single parents, grandparents, LGBT parents. Factually, a "typical" family no longer exists. These changes mean a huge amount to schools.
Schools are still functioning based on outdated assumptions. Parent participation programs are still very often held during the day with the expectation that the none income earning parent will show up. Often parents can't take time off from work to be there so participation defaults to a limited number of families. Language is also important. Teachers need to understand that the old rubrics no longer exist. Questions that ask children of LGBT families, who is the mother and who is the father are meaningless and confuse children. Likewise, gender expectations for children are defeating to children who do not want to be confined by them. Those kinds of expectations also affect how kids develop their talents.
Programs in schools need to be re-titled. Father-daughter events or mother-son teas may unmeaningly exclude large groups of families. Even more importantly these named events make kids without a father present in the home or a son without a mother feel somehow less-than the other children in the community. Changing the names of these events to something like Parents and Pastries is much more inclusive and make everyone feel welcome.
Having kids develop a family tree often causes kids who have been adopted to struggle with how to fill in the blanks. In discussing genetics, make it clear that even biological kids don't necessarily look like their biological parents.
Watch for language in bureaucracy. Lots of married, two gender families still have different last names. Forms need to allow for that and not assume last names are the same. They need to make room for multiple parents, allowing step-parents to also be included. Salutations on announcements sent home can be addressed to Harbour School families rather than to dear mom and dad. It seems like a no-brainer today for posters and books to show a wide variety of family combinations. These are available. Families aren't just mixed race; some are single gender; some have children with disabilities; some are single parent; some have grandparents as the primary parenting people. Posters and books that show these combinations send a visible message that the school gets the new reality and all are accepted.
Educators are big talkers, so it is hard for us to shut up and listen. We can ask some very good questions of families: Tell me about your family. What are the things your family likes to do together? Is there anyone else besides those people in your home who support your child or who help you and your child?
Families are made up of all sorts of incredible combinations. Sometimes they live together, sometimes not. Some families are small, some are large. The main thing about families is that they love and care about each other. As educators we need to support that love however it may appear.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Lifetime Warranty
Oh for the good old days! Becoming a teacher meant you had a job forever AND would get an annual pay increase whether you earned it or not. Well the salary wasn't that great, but the benefits were. Lots of holidays, good health care and not such hard work. And things did improve. Salaries got much better, and holidays and health care stayed great.
Then a funny thing happened. Salaries got so good people began to notice. And then there was this element of kids graduating without being able to read or speak in a coherent sentence. Higher ed began to complain; they were spending too much on remedial education for freshmen.
Then the federal government stepped in. Never a good sign. Students would need to be tested every year to make sure they were learning what really counted-English, science, and math. I won't go there today. Testing wore the students and teachers out. And after 30 years there were no discernible differences in student achievement after the testing than there had been before that very expensive program went into effect. So the next step was to tie teacher evaluation to test scores. Yet another terrible idea.
Good teaching is a lot like pornography. The Supreme Court once decreed that although it could not define pornography, it knew it when it saw it. Every one knows an amazing teacher within the first five minutes in the classroom. Each amazing teacher is different. And being an amazing teacher for one student won't make you an amazing teacher for a different student. Why can't we recognize that reality. Measuring good teaching by student test scores is just plain dumb. BUT test scores do matter at some level.
New York state has stepped into the breach with a plan of its own. Teachers will now be evaluated by both test scores AND observations. And at least one of those observations must be done by someone from another district. Teachers cannot be scored about the second lowest ranking unless students are making satisfactory achievement growth. What is satisfactory achievement growth varies by student, so we will need to see how that word "satisfactory" winds up being defined. Here is the wonderful element. No student may be assigned for two consecutive years to a teacher who has been rated "ineffective". Tenure now require four years experience and that teacher must be ranked "effective" or higher for three of those four years. WOW! just living and breathing is out the window to get tenure. The turnaround period for teacher dismissal is now reduced to 90 days for the process and school districts must move to dismiss teachers who receive three consecutive years of ineffective ratings.
Teachers and districts aren't the only ones who will be held accountable. Graduate level and leadership training programs will need to have stiffer entrance qualifications, a minimum score on an entrance exam and a 3.0 grade point average. There is some leverage on the grade point average. If fewer than 50% of the graduates fail the licensing exam, the program will be suspended.
New York state is getting serious about the quality of its education programs. And Governor Cuomo is considered a liberal Democrat. Lucky for the unions he isn't a Republican or things could really get tough. Unions are up in arms. Always a good sign that something is good for schools and kids. Yep, it is looking more and more like that lifetime warranty once a teacher, always a teacher maybe showing some cracks. Or maybe lifetime is not as long as it used to be.
Then a funny thing happened. Salaries got so good people began to notice. And then there was this element of kids graduating without being able to read or speak in a coherent sentence. Higher ed began to complain; they were spending too much on remedial education for freshmen.
Then the federal government stepped in. Never a good sign. Students would need to be tested every year to make sure they were learning what really counted-English, science, and math. I won't go there today. Testing wore the students and teachers out. And after 30 years there were no discernible differences in student achievement after the testing than there had been before that very expensive program went into effect. So the next step was to tie teacher evaluation to test scores. Yet another terrible idea.
Good teaching is a lot like pornography. The Supreme Court once decreed that although it could not define pornography, it knew it when it saw it. Every one knows an amazing teacher within the first five minutes in the classroom. Each amazing teacher is different. And being an amazing teacher for one student won't make you an amazing teacher for a different student. Why can't we recognize that reality. Measuring good teaching by student test scores is just plain dumb. BUT test scores do matter at some level.
New York state has stepped into the breach with a plan of its own. Teachers will now be evaluated by both test scores AND observations. And at least one of those observations must be done by someone from another district. Teachers cannot be scored about the second lowest ranking unless students are making satisfactory achievement growth. What is satisfactory achievement growth varies by student, so we will need to see how that word "satisfactory" winds up being defined. Here is the wonderful element. No student may be assigned for two consecutive years to a teacher who has been rated "ineffective". Tenure now require four years experience and that teacher must be ranked "effective" or higher for three of those four years. WOW! just living and breathing is out the window to get tenure. The turnaround period for teacher dismissal is now reduced to 90 days for the process and school districts must move to dismiss teachers who receive three consecutive years of ineffective ratings.
Teachers and districts aren't the only ones who will be held accountable. Graduate level and leadership training programs will need to have stiffer entrance qualifications, a minimum score on an entrance exam and a 3.0 grade point average. There is some leverage on the grade point average. If fewer than 50% of the graduates fail the licensing exam, the program will be suspended.
New York state is getting serious about the quality of its education programs. And Governor Cuomo is considered a liberal Democrat. Lucky for the unions he isn't a Republican or things could really get tough. Unions are up in arms. Always a good sign that something is good for schools and kids. Yep, it is looking more and more like that lifetime warranty once a teacher, always a teacher maybe showing some cracks. Or maybe lifetime is not as long as it used to be.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
What language do you speak at your house?
Ok, so I am often chastised for talking too much. Guilty as charged. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing and if I had an infant in my house it would be a good thing. The single most important element in academic achievement is language ability. Children growing up in homes where language is used often and in positive ways are much more likely to do well in school and to be high achieving in life.
One of the most famous studies is 20 years old this year. That study followed 42 infants who were just learning to talk. The families were 13 middle class families, 10 professional families, 10 families of working class backgrounds and 6 families on public assistance. The results were staggering. It was not just the huge difference in the number of words the babies heard per hour- 2,150 for professional families, 1,250 for working class families, and only 600 for babies in families of people on welfare. There were also huge differences in the quality of both the words and the language.
Children in professional families heard more unique words. But even more importantly they heard encouraging words and sentences that asked their opinions. From simple things like, "What flavor ice cream do you want?", to more complicated questions, "why do you like that flavor best?". Children from families on welfare heard mostly disciplinary language, "don't touch that", "stay put".
When these children were followed into early elementary school they were found to have discipline problems in school more often than their peers with better language skills, were unable to express themselves with language and lagging in all the language arts. Their interactions with other children were often negative and constrained by an inability to express themselves.
The children from the higher language homes did better in school and tested higher on IQ tests. We don't know if the language facility of these children led to their higher scores or if they were just inherently brighter. We do know that their language skills would improve performance on these language based tests.
Just talking more is a very simplistic solution. We need to help parents to use more complex language in speaking with children. We need to help parents have conversations with their children. Lecturing a child on his/her behavior is not a conversation. Giving direction orders is not a conversation.
Playing games with a child is a great way to engage in the give-and-take of a conversation. If we think of language development much like a game of catch. I throw the ball to you and you throw it back to me. I ask you a question and you answer me. Then you ask me a question and I answer you, pretty soon we have a conversation going. Then we add some adjectives and adverbs and before you know it we are enriching our language to the point that we are both expressing how we feel. If we want to play major league ball, we can add a metaphor or simile. The language spoken at my house is like a salmon swimming upstream, you need to fight the waves of language coming at you from all sides.
One of the most famous studies is 20 years old this year. That study followed 42 infants who were just learning to talk. The families were 13 middle class families, 10 professional families, 10 families of working class backgrounds and 6 families on public assistance. The results were staggering. It was not just the huge difference in the number of words the babies heard per hour- 2,150 for professional families, 1,250 for working class families, and only 600 for babies in families of people on welfare. There were also huge differences in the quality of both the words and the language.
Children in professional families heard more unique words. But even more importantly they heard encouraging words and sentences that asked their opinions. From simple things like, "What flavor ice cream do you want?", to more complicated questions, "why do you like that flavor best?". Children from families on welfare heard mostly disciplinary language, "don't touch that", "stay put".
When these children were followed into early elementary school they were found to have discipline problems in school more often than their peers with better language skills, were unable to express themselves with language and lagging in all the language arts. Their interactions with other children were often negative and constrained by an inability to express themselves.
The children from the higher language homes did better in school and tested higher on IQ tests. We don't know if the language facility of these children led to their higher scores or if they were just inherently brighter. We do know that their language skills would improve performance on these language based tests.
Just talking more is a very simplistic solution. We need to help parents to use more complex language in speaking with children. We need to help parents have conversations with their children. Lecturing a child on his/her behavior is not a conversation. Giving direction orders is not a conversation.
Playing games with a child is a great way to engage in the give-and-take of a conversation. If we think of language development much like a game of catch. I throw the ball to you and you throw it back to me. I ask you a question and you answer me. Then you ask me a question and I answer you, pretty soon we have a conversation going. Then we add some adjectives and adverbs and before you know it we are enriching our language to the point that we are both expressing how we feel. If we want to play major league ball, we can add a metaphor or simile. The language spoken at my house is like a salmon swimming upstream, you need to fight the waves of language coming at you from all sides.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Racketeering Teachers
The latest and greatest fall out from the stupidity of high stakes testing now has teachers and administrators in Atlanta Georgia sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison serving seven of them behind bars. Educators were convicted of falsifying test results on Georgia's high stakes testing. The district attorney charged the school employees with racketeering because the higher test scores earned bonuses for the teachers and administrators. He believed they conspired for financial gain. The judge in the case urged defense attorneys to come to a deal with the district attorney. However, to do so, the defendants would have to give up any right to an appeal. A deal the defendants didn't want to take. People who took the deals got weekends in jail or a year of home confinement.
Across the country there have been multiple other cheating scandals with high stakes testing.
In every other situation, the guilty parties have lost licenses to teach, been put on probation and/or lost their jobs. Only in Georgia have the guilty parties been subject to jail sentences. Surly these people are not a threat to society so what is the point of putting them in jail. Doing so wastes taxpayer money and significantly disrupts lives. One of the teachers is due to give birth in July and then she will be sentenced in August. Did these people do something very wrong? Absolutely they did. But does the punishment fit the crime, absolutely not.
In my view the DA is simply being a big bully and the judge is going along for the grandstand ride. The judge went on a tear about how this act was not a victimless crime and even stated that because the students were passed along from grade to grade without learning what they needed to learn, the kids grew up and landed in jail. That was quite a leap of logic from cheating on one test exam! The tests had nothing to do with passing or failing the grade. Guess the judge missed that point. If the judge really believes the school system is failing kids, then why not bring the whole system up before the bench to answer for the poor education the kids are getting. Better yet, how about bringing the legislators before the court for failing to put enough money into the school system.
High stakes testing has been going on for 30 years since the first installment of No Child Left Behind. Evidence has shown that the U.S. is no further along in improving its education outcomes relative to other countries than it was before we had high stakes testing. Colleges are doing just as much remedial work as they ever did. It is wonderful that the district attorney and the judge got to rattle sabers and sound the clarion call for punishing test cheaters. But surely there are real racketeers in Atlanta. Maybe it would be good for these tough guys to go after real bad guys.
Across the country there have been multiple other cheating scandals with high stakes testing.
In every other situation, the guilty parties have lost licenses to teach, been put on probation and/or lost their jobs. Only in Georgia have the guilty parties been subject to jail sentences. Surly these people are not a threat to society so what is the point of putting them in jail. Doing so wastes taxpayer money and significantly disrupts lives. One of the teachers is due to give birth in July and then she will be sentenced in August. Did these people do something very wrong? Absolutely they did. But does the punishment fit the crime, absolutely not.
In my view the DA is simply being a big bully and the judge is going along for the grandstand ride. The judge went on a tear about how this act was not a victimless crime and even stated that because the students were passed along from grade to grade without learning what they needed to learn, the kids grew up and landed in jail. That was quite a leap of logic from cheating on one test exam! The tests had nothing to do with passing or failing the grade. Guess the judge missed that point. If the judge really believes the school system is failing kids, then why not bring the whole system up before the bench to answer for the poor education the kids are getting. Better yet, how about bringing the legislators before the court for failing to put enough money into the school system.
High stakes testing has been going on for 30 years since the first installment of No Child Left Behind. Evidence has shown that the U.S. is no further along in improving its education outcomes relative to other countries than it was before we had high stakes testing. Colleges are doing just as much remedial work as they ever did. It is wonderful that the district attorney and the judge got to rattle sabers and sound the clarion call for punishing test cheaters. But surely there are real racketeers in Atlanta. Maybe it would be good for these tough guys to go after real bad guys.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Jobs stop bullets
If these young adults had a job to go to every day they wouldn't be robbing convenience stores and/or selling drugs. If large corporations paid a living wage to full time employees the tax burden on the rest of us would be a great deal less. If Americans were willing to do jobs that required hard work we wouldn't need to import so many Hispanics to do those jobs. That is a lot of "ifs" and if is such a small word.
A job is very important to our identity. It is often the first question we ask when we meet someone new. "So what do you do?" We are asking about the person's job. Mostly people respond with the job title or job function, or admit they are between jobs. Generally people do not announce they are law breakers. But in order to have a job the employee must have a skill that contributes to the employer's bottom line. Businesses are money making organizations. Employees need to know how to do something. A business is not going to hire someone just because that person would like to work. Unfortunately our schools are not teaching kids how to earn a living. We are testing people on algebra skills. How many of us use algebra on our jobs? We are testing people on English skills. That is important but we are not testing on the language skills that are needed in the workplace. Those would be speaking skills and the ability to make an argument in writing. Even with all this testing, the majority of 4th graders are not reading on grade level. We are NOT testing people on soft job skills such as showing up on time, responding to supervision, having good attendance.
Corporations are getting by with paying full time workers the minimum wage. But you cannot support a family on the minimum wage. Consequently, full time working families are using food stamps, medicaid and income tax credits. That means the rest of us taxpayers are subsidizing Walmart, McDonalds and Home Depot. I, for one, don't want to do that. These companies make huge profits, they need to pay their workers before they pay the top brass and the stockholders. Recently some corporations have announce hourly rate increases to $9 or $10 per hour. That comes out to about $20,000 per year at $10 an hour for 50 weeks, at 40 hours per week. A family cannot live on that. We need to make everyone, including our legislators, understand that these safety nets are really subsidies for big business. A decent living wage would attract more people to these jobs and save the rest of us a great deal in taxes.
Then there is the other issue of hard work. People who run farms, landscaping businesses, poultry or seafood processing plants- all complain that Americans will not do this hard work even for $16 an hour. The business owners want to import seasonal workers from Mexico who are willing to come to this country and do this work for the season and then return to their native country. But our Congress and the Immigration Department are preventing these workers from coming here under the guise of saving jobs for U.S. residents. Except that U.S citizens don't seem to want these jobs and the safety nets are making sure they do not need to take them to survive.
Jobs stop bullets, but the situation is not all that simple. There are so many ifs...
A job is very important to our identity. It is often the first question we ask when we meet someone new. "So what do you do?" We are asking about the person's job. Mostly people respond with the job title or job function, or admit they are between jobs. Generally people do not announce they are law breakers. But in order to have a job the employee must have a skill that contributes to the employer's bottom line. Businesses are money making organizations. Employees need to know how to do something. A business is not going to hire someone just because that person would like to work. Unfortunately our schools are not teaching kids how to earn a living. We are testing people on algebra skills. How many of us use algebra on our jobs? We are testing people on English skills. That is important but we are not testing on the language skills that are needed in the workplace. Those would be speaking skills and the ability to make an argument in writing. Even with all this testing, the majority of 4th graders are not reading on grade level. We are NOT testing people on soft job skills such as showing up on time, responding to supervision, having good attendance.
Corporations are getting by with paying full time workers the minimum wage. But you cannot support a family on the minimum wage. Consequently, full time working families are using food stamps, medicaid and income tax credits. That means the rest of us taxpayers are subsidizing Walmart, McDonalds and Home Depot. I, for one, don't want to do that. These companies make huge profits, they need to pay their workers before they pay the top brass and the stockholders. Recently some corporations have announce hourly rate increases to $9 or $10 per hour. That comes out to about $20,000 per year at $10 an hour for 50 weeks, at 40 hours per week. A family cannot live on that. We need to make everyone, including our legislators, understand that these safety nets are really subsidies for big business. A decent living wage would attract more people to these jobs and save the rest of us a great deal in taxes.
Then there is the other issue of hard work. People who run farms, landscaping businesses, poultry or seafood processing plants- all complain that Americans will not do this hard work even for $16 an hour. The business owners want to import seasonal workers from Mexico who are willing to come to this country and do this work for the season and then return to their native country. But our Congress and the Immigration Department are preventing these workers from coming here under the guise of saving jobs for U.S. residents. Except that U.S citizens don't seem to want these jobs and the safety nets are making sure they do not need to take them to survive.
Jobs stop bullets, but the situation is not all that simple. There are so many ifs...
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