Big Picture Learning

I was talking to Surly the other night at the fights about his photography work (he shot Jimmy's fight and several others) and his new camera. With any new tool there is always a learning curve and trying to master a skill like low light action photography will of course take some time. He mentioned how non-professional photographers have been known to say "I could take that same picture" but of course, they didn't. The old photographers had the saying "f8 and be there", meaning have your camera ready and show up where the action is. I found a similar thing at the Big Picture Learning blog.

In order to learn you needed to hang around the other musicians. You needed to persist. You had to be in the right places and keep your eyes wide open. And you had to develop your ownstyle that translates to personalizing standards. - Jay McShann

If you want to be good at something, you have to devote the time and effort. You have to learn the basics of the trade before you learn the tricks of the trade. If you stroll down on the above link to the entry dated October 30th, you'll see a graph of the attendance rate of New York City schools. It's absolutely pathetic. How are you going to learn if you're not there?

The answers to the problems America is facing with its educational system are out there. Unfortunately, the politicians keep looking in the wrong place. You can't mandate performance. If my pay rate is going to be determined by student test scores, the little darlings had better be showing up on a regular basis with a good breakfast in their little tummies and a good night's sleep under their belt. To find what works, you need to take a page out of the Jay McShann book. Hang out with the other musicians or in this case, check out the Big Picture schools or the one started by Thomas Bloch of H&R Block fame, or look to Finland. Find what works and give the schools and the staff the freedom to implement change.

Indiana public schools are short on money to begin with and, if State Superintendent Tony Bennett has his way, will be looking at some changes that will not improve the situation regardless of how much money they receive. I've seen the proposal for teacher evaluations and no one will be able to be rated at the highest level. There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that will be required. Schools will also be given a letter grade evaluation now, just like students receive on a quiz. Inter-city schools will still receive poor ratings and places like Munster or Brownsburg will still be at the top. The only way to make things better is to change the culture of the school and the community. Parents need to place a higher value on getting little Johnny to school everyday and the the schools need to be a little less torture chamber and a little more interesting. It could be done.