We Shan't Get Home Tonight: Our Failing Education System

By Laurel Lorraine Lancer Ph.D.

Dr. Lancer uses an old folk tale “The Old Woman and Her Pig” as a metaphor for telling the numerous things that go wrong in the education system. The old woman (teachers) cannot get the Piggy (students) over the stile (the curriculum)t and so, “We shan’t Get Home Tonight” is the book title. She explains the deficits in people and organisations in education, starting with kids, teachers, principals, and on up through the ranks and ending with U.S. Dept. of Education. All of the characters in the education system are likened to characters and entities in the old folk tale. She gives what would have been a solution to our problems by having more involvement in the system and then gives an ending telling of the societal changes that make the simpler “more involvement” invalid. We have a very complicated problem involving: immigration, over concern with tests, political correctness, gender problems, etc. that are new to education.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Oct 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781490790787

Laurel Lorraine Lancer Ph.D.

Dr. Lancer has her degrees in regular education, special education, college teaching and psychology. She has worked for several school districts and supervised student teachers that were doing their internship in numerous school districts in the metro area of the university. Her information for the book came from numerous friends and associates that were teaching in various grade levels, school districts administration positions, state education departments, her students, parent contacts, and many people that she worked with over her forty two years of teaching and additional years of volunteer work. Dr. Lancer has two children and is retired. This is her second book about education.

Book preview

WE SHAN’T GET HOME

TONIGHT

Our failing Education System

Laurel Lorraine Lancer, Ph.D.

©

Copyright 2018 Laurel Lorraine Lancer, Ph.D..

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9077-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9076-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9078-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018910492

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Trafford rev. 09/11/2018

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Old Woman (Teachers)

The Sixpence (Teacher Training)

The Little Piggies (Students)

The Stile (Curriculum)

The Dog (Parents)

The Stick (Principals)

The Fire (Area Supervisors)

The Water (School Superintendent)

The Ox (School Board)

The Butcher (Teachers’ Union)

The Rope (State Department)

The Rat (Federal Government, Secretary of Education)

The Cat (Public)

The Cow (Disinterested Press)

The Hay (Research about Educational Endeavors)

The Milk (School Failures)

Solution

New Problems

Postscript: Other Problems in Other Systems

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the several school districts where I have been involved; the numerous schools; the four institutions of higher learning; and the good friends, relatives, and acquaintances who have shared their many stories about occurrences in the public school system. Most of the stories relating to children’s experiences have been from my own observations or those of my very close friends and colleagues. All the characters events, conversations, etc., in this book are real. The names have been changed to protect the guilty. I have met more great educators, fine teachers, good parents than the number of poor examples I have disclosed. I apologize to those educators, parents, and kids who are doing their very best and doing a great job for not including praise for their work.

I wrote this book to point out the problems that are spoiling our school system. It saddens me to see that so many citizens of our great country have had to remove their children from the public school system in order to obtain an education in which they could be proud of. It seems that many of the poor souls remaining in the public systems are the newly arrived immigrants; the poor among us; and those who, for one reason or another, have no choice in the schools that they must attend. It is my wish that things can be changed and that schools can be revamped to meet the educational needs of our own citizens.

I would like to thank my editors Kimberley Johnson and Channing Johnson who have been of such great help and support for me during this writing. The book cover is a montage of the oil painting portraits that I did of a number of my students over the years.

Introduction

THE FOLKTALE

The well-known old folktale The Old Woman and Her Pig can be used as an allegory for the confused and failing education system. Here is a retelling of that story as this author remembers it, and she told it to her own children and grandchildren and to her many students over the years:

Once there was an old woman who was sweeping her house, and she found a little crooked sixpence. Wow! she said. What shall I do with this little sixpence? I will go to the market and buy a little pig. And so she went into town. There, she found a lovely fat pig that she purchased with her newly found coin.

She started back home, but when she came to a stile, she could not get the piggy to climb over. She said, Piggy! Piggy! Jump over the stile. But the piggy would not.

She went a little further, and she met a dog. So she said to him, Dog! Dog! Bite Pig. Piggy won’t go over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the dog would not.

So she went a little further and saw a stick. So she said, Stick! Stick! Beat Dog. Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t go over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the stick would not.

She went a little further, and she met fire. So she said, Fire! Fire! Burn Stick. Stick won’t beat Dog, Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the fire would not.

She went a little further, and she met some water. So she said, Water! Water! Quench Fire. Fire won’t burn Stick, Stick won’t bite Dog, Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t go over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the water would not.

She went a little further, and she met an ox. So she said, Ox! Ox! Drink Water. Water won’t quench Fire, Fire won’t burn Stick, Stick won’t beat Dog, Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t go over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the ox would not.

She went a little further, and she met a butcher. So she said, Butcher! Butcher! Kill Ox. Ox won’t drink Water, Water won’t quench Fire, Fire won’t burn Stick, Stick won’t beat Dog, Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t jump over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the butcher would not.

She went a little further, and she met a rope. So she said, Rope! Rope! Hang Butcher. Butcher won’t kill Ox, Ox won’t drink Water, Water won’t quench Fire, Fire won’t burn Stick, Stick won’t beat Dog, Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t jump over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the rope would not.

She went a little further, and she met a rat. So she said, Rat! Rat! Gnaw Rope. Rope won’t hang Butcher, Butcher won’t kill Ox, Ox won’t drink Water, Water won’t quench Fire, Fire won’t burn Stick, Stick won’t beat Dog, Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t jump over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight. But the rat would not.

She went a little further, and she met a cat. So she said, Cat! Cat! Kill Rat. Rat won’t gnaw Rope, Rope won’t hang Butcher, Butcher won’t kill Ox, Ox won’t drink Water, Water won’t quench Fire, Fire won’t burn Stick, Stick won’t beat Dog, Dog won’t bite Pig, Piggy won’t jump over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.

But the cat said to her, If you will go to yonder cow and get me a saucer of milk, I will kill the rat.

So away went the old woman to the cow. But the cow said to her, If you will go to yonder haystack and fetch me a handful of hay, I’ll give you the milk.

So away went the old woman to the haystack, and she brought the hay to the cow.

As soon as the cow had eaten the hay, she gave the old woman some milk, and away she went with it in a saucer to the cat.

As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk, the cat began to kill the rat. The rat began to gnaw the rope. The rope began to hang the butcher. The butcher began to kill the ox. The ox began to drink the water. The water began to quench the fire. The fire began to burn the stick. The stick began to beat the dog. The dog began to bite the pig. The pig, in fright, jumped over the stile. And so the old woman got home that night.

The characters in the book represent the following elements in public education:

The old woman = The teachers

The stile = The impossible and ever-changing (often for the worse) curriculum for students in public education

The sixpence = The amount needed to pay for an education to gain a diploma that, in our society, can get them a certificate for teaching, usually procured from an education-based college or university or now even from an online education program; a symbol of the educational training itself

The pig = The students

The dog = The parent or parents (or currently, foster parents or guardians)

The stick = The principal in charge

The fire = The area supervisor for the school district

The water = The school superintendent

The ox = The school board

The butcher = The teachers’ union

The rope = The state department of education

The rat = United States Secretary of Education

The cat = The public

The cow = The press

The hay = Research by various groups

The milk = Printed or electronic information to the public

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The Old Woman (Teachers)

The trained teacher who has been inspired to teach our children

CAN I ENDURE?

Kim came into the teachers’ lounge. She was shaking and on the verge of tears. With a reddened face, she almost stammered, This is not what I came into teaching to do!

The teachers had just had another in-service, and all their faces exhibited confusion and unhappiness. They were all getting tired of the overinstruction they felt they were receiving. Some had said that it seemed the district was trying to control every lesson and even the manner in which it was taught.

But, said Kim, when they tell you exactly what to teach, how to teach, and then try to tell you exactly which things you are supposed to correct, that is just too much. I had a good job, well paid, in a nice office. The only thing wrong with that job was that you needed to handle each form a certain way, file a certain way, and everything was done the same way by everyone. I went into teaching so that I could be creative. I wanted to use my abilities, make my own decisions, have a little interest, variability, and most of all, enjoy my work. They are gradually taking all this away from us. I might as well go back to my old office. At least the pay was better there.

This anger had been building for months in Kim. Kim was one of the younger teachers on the faculty. Some of the older ones just seemed to begin accepting everything that came down from the administration building. But the countenance of all the teachers was changing. There weren’t so many smiles. No one was bringing surprise treats. Most of the group seemed somewhat down, almost depressed.

Kim was in her twenties. She had just had her second son. Both her boys were strong and healthy and very active. Kim was active. She had been a cross-country skier before she and Fred had married. He skied also, and they spent weekends skiing before the children came and between their sons’ births. The youngest was now a year old, and they were skiing again. Kim’s family skied too, and they went in family groups to manage her boys and small nieces and nephews. They had a great family spot where there were several vacation units to accomplish the trades for babysitting. Skiing was a great break from the education fiasco. Kim could really relax and smile.

Kim was sure wondering if all her college prep and the change of jobs had been worth it. It seemed that each day, there was less and less creativity going on. Kim shrugged her shoulders, pushed herself up from the table, and started down the hall into her classroom. She found it hard to smile as she opened the door from the playground to her room and let in her fourth-grade class. She had just been told exactly how to present the morning’s literacy lesson. She was not enthused, and she knew that her students would find it less than interesting.

She was still enjoying