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Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Bryce • Tropic • Antimony • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder • Fremont • Loa • Lyman Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville
A NOTE ON PUBLIC EDUCATION ....by This years Utah State Legislature recently concluded and in the end 1203 bills on all topics were passed. Of those bills, 66 deal with pubic education and another 10 concern higher education. This legislative activity brings to mind the great changes that have taken place over the years in public education. The changes have been so commonplace and so great in number we rarely consider the overall impact they have on teachers and administrators in our schools; or, the effects on our children. Jamie Vollmer has explored this issue in great detail. Mr. Vollmer is not a professional educator. He became involved with school reform after careers in law and manufacturing. He worked in the firm of former United States Congressman William Cramer until 1985 when he relocated to Iowa to become director of franchise operations for the Great Midwestern Ice Cream Company. The company was proclaimed by People magazine to make the “Best Ice Cream in America!” He ultimately became the company’s president. Once a harsh critic, Jamie Vollmer has become an articulate friend of America’s public schools. He has spent the last twenty years working with school districts, education associations, foundations, and chambers of commerce across the nation to halt the erosion of public trust and build support for America’s public schools. Jamie wrote what is now known has “Vollmer’s List: The Increasing Burden’s Placed on America’s Schools.” The following is Mr. Vollmer’s document. From the beginning of my journey through the land of public education, I was shocked by how much we had added to the curriculum since the first schools were established. In order to keep track of the additions, I developed a decade-by-decade list of all the academic, social, and health responsibilities that have been heaped upon our schools. I called my work product the “Increas-
ing Burden on America’s Schools,” but it has since become known across the country simply as Vollmer’s List. I found that for a long time we added nothing. The Massachusetts Puritans who started it all assumed that families and churches bore the major responsibility for raising a child. Their mandate to the teachers was simple: teach basic reading, some writing and rudimentary math skills, and cultivate values that serve a democratic society (some history and civics were implied). In the mid 1700s, Benjamin Franklin added some science and geography, but the curriculum remained focused for 260 years. At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, politicians, professors, business leaders, and members of the clergy began to see public schools as a logical site for both the assimilation of immigrants and the social engineering of the citizens of the new industrial age. The policy elite began to expand the curriculum and assign additional duties. That trend has accelerated ever since. From 1900 to 1910, we shifted to the school responsibilities related to: Nutrition Immunization Health (Activities in the health arena multiply every year.) From 1910 to 1930, we added: Physical education (including organized athletics) The Practical Arts/Domestic Science/Home economics (including sewing and cooking) Vocational education (including industrial and agricultural education) In the 1940s, we added: Business education (including typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping) Art and music Speech and drama Half-day kindergarten School lunch programs (We take this for granted today, but it was a huge step to shift to the schools the job of feeding America’s children one third of their daily meals.) Mandated school transporta-
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tion In the 1950s, we added: Expanded science and math education Safety education Driver’s education Expanded music and art education Stronger foreign language requirements Sex education (Topics continue to escalate.) In the 1960s, we added: Advanced Placement programs Head Start Title I Adult education Consumer education (purchasing resources, rights and responsibilities) Career education (occupational options, entry level skill requirements) Peace, leisure, and recreation education [Loved those sixties.] In the 1970s, the breakup of the American family accelerated, and we added: Drug and alcohol abuse education Parenting education (techniques and tools for healthy parenting) Behavior adjustment classes (including classroom and communication skills) Character education Special education (mandated by federal government) Title IX programs (greatly expanded athletic programs for girls) Environmental education Women’s studies African-American heritage education School breakfast programs (Now some schools feed America’s children twothirds of their daily meals throughout the school year and all summer. Sadly, these are the only decent meals some children receive.) In the 1980s, the floodgates opened, and we added: Keyboarding and computer education Global education Multicultural/Ethnic education Nonsexist education English-as-a-second-language and bilingual education Teen pregnancy awareness Hispanic heritage education Early childhood education Jump Start, Early Start, Even Start, and Prime Start Full-day kindergarten Preschool programs for children at risk After-school programs for children of working parents Alternative education in all its forms Stranger/danger education Antismoking education Sexual abuse prevention education Expanded health and psychological services Child abuse monitoring (a legal requirement for all teachers) In the 1990s, we added: Conflict resolution and peer
Thursday, April 26, 2012 • Issue # 941
Nick Reynolds mediation HIV/AIDS education CPR training Death education America 2000 initiatives (Republican) Inclusion Expanded computer and internet education Distance learning Tech Prep and School to Work programs Technical Adequacy Assessment Post-secondary enrollment options Concurrent enrollment options Goals 2000 initiatives (Democratic) Expanded Talented and Gifted opportunities At risk and dropout prevention Homeless education (including causes and effects on children) Gang education (urban centers) Service learning Bus safety, bicycle safety, gun safety, and water safety education In the first decade of the twenty-first century, we added: No Child Left Behind (Republican) Bully prevention Anti-harassment policies (gender, race, religion, or national origin) Expanded early childcare and wrap around programs Elevator and escalator safety instruction Body Mass Index evaluation (obesity monitoring) Organ donor education and awareness programs Personal financial literacy Entrepreneurial and innovation skills development Media literacy development Contextual learning skill development Health and wellness programs Race to the Top (Democratic) This list does not include the addition of multiple specialized topics within each of the traditional subjects. It also does not include the explosion of standardized testing and test prep activities, or any of the onerous reporting requirements imposed by the federal government, such as four-year adjusted cohort graduation rates, parental notification of optional supplemental services, comprehensive restructuring plans, and reports of Adequate Yearly Progress. It’s a ponderous list. Each item has merit, and all have their ardent supporters, but the truth is that we have added these responsibilities without adding a single minute to the school calendar in six decades. No generation of teachers and administrators in the history of the world has been told to fulfill this mandate: not just teach children, but raise them!
DAVCO BUILDING THE SNUGGLE INN......................................................836-2898 55 South Main, Loa ( www.thesnuggleinn.com ) Conference Rooms - meetings, socials, business, reunions, shower rooms, etc. TOSCONOS PIZZERIA.................................................836-2500 Hours: Open: Mon - Sat: 11-8pm ~ Closed Sundays. Sandwiches, Paninnis, Pizzas,Wraps, Salads, Pastas, Breadsticks, Cin-A-Stick w/Frosting, Smoothies and Specialty Coffees CREATIVE SPIRIT GALLERY & GIFTS..................836-2898 www.giftscreativespirit.com MANE-E-ACS HAIR SALON .....................................836-2602 Kimber Wood (Walk-ins, Hair Cuts, Perms, Colors, Pedicures, and Hair Extensions & Jewelry.) PACE TAX SERVICE.....................................................836-2218 Tax Preparations, Refund Loans, IRS E-Filing, and Tax Planning.
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THE WAYNE & GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER is owned and operated by Snapshot Multimedia and is distributed weekly to all of Garfield County. Its purpose is to inform residents about local issues and events. Articles submitted from independent writers are not necessarily the opinion of Snapshot Multimedia. We sincerely hope you enjoy the paper and encourage input on ideas and/or suggestions for the paper. Thank you for your support.
STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT THEIR NATIONAL MONUMENT
Everyone loves to discover something new, and learning is most enjoyable when it is taught by skilled professionals who are excited about their field of study, and when students participate in the leaning experience through handson activities. This is the type of educational experience that the Grand Staircase Escalante Partners (GSEP) provides in communities -- from Page, Arizona to Boulder, Utah – surrounding the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM). On March 15th, students and teachers from Big Water Elementary were invited to visit the Kanab Visitor Center. GSEP staff, Monument personnel, and GSEP volunteers set up field stations in archaeology, fossils and geology, and native cultural arts. At each station students were participants in learning and encouraged to ask questions, handle 75-million old fossils collected from the National Monument, and learn to throw an atlatl (a spear-throwing device that pre-dates the bow and arrow). These types of learning events offer a tangible sense of the prehistoric worlds and cultures that once existed at the National Monument. On March 23rd and 28th, learning events were presented to over 170 students, teachers, and parents from Escalante and Boulder. In these programs, GSEP held school assemblies at the Escalante Elementary School and the Escalante High School. A special feature available at both assemblies was a presentation by GSENM’s paleontologist Dr. Alan Titus who discussed the varieties of dinosaurs that 175 million years ago roamed where the students now live. For his presentation at the schools, Dr. Titus brought along molded representations of dinosaur skulls that have been discovered at GSENM, and he invited students to participate in a hands-on encounter with Deinosuchus (a dinosaur-eating alligator growing over 40’ in length), and Diabloceratops (a creature with devil-like horns). As part of the learning event in Escalante, trained paleotechnicians and volunteers set up a table of fossils and dinosaur parts for students to handle and rouse their curiosity. The students seemed most fascinated by the rocks that had impressions made by the skin of dinosaurs. The response to the assembly at the Escalante High School was enthusiastic: students asked presenters to return, and the dinosaur skulls remained at the school so students could bring their parents to see them. Escalante Elementary School Principal Sue Bassett commented that the program involved student learning goals. “We are very pleased that the presentations addressed state education standards and objectives.” GSEP’s outreach to schools is made possible by Bureau of Land Management educational funding provided to GSENM. GSEP’s success in stirring a sense of wonder in the minds of young learners is due to the knowledge and enthusiasm of GSENM staff and GSEP’s volunteers. To schedule an event at your school, contact GSEP’s education coordinator Wade Parsons (435 644 1302). GSEP provides numerous programs for volunteers to participate in; call the GSEP office to discuss a volunteer activity that is right for you (435 644 1308).
Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. Sir Winston Churchill Wayne Phone: 435-836-2622 Garfield Phone: 435-676-2621 Fax 1-888-370-8546 PO BOX 472, Loa, Utah 84747 snapshot@live.com ALL content for THE WAYNE &GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER must be submitted on FRIDAY BEFORE 5:00 PM to be included in the following Thursday edition of the paper.
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PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID LOA, UTAH PERMIT No. 5