2A
THE NEWS-JOURNAL
Raeford, N.C.
January 15, 2014
Viewpoints
What do I tell my students, governor? today’s homework (Notes on Education)
By Dr. Wayne Journell
Governor McCrory, I need
your help.
I am a teacher educator at
UNC-Greensboro, and this se
mester I have 24 student teachers
who are preparing to teach social
studies to middle and high school
ers. One of the things that I tell
my pre-service teachers is that if
a student asks them a really tough
question, they should do what
they can to find the answer. That
is why I need your help.
Over the past six months, I
have been repeatedly asked the
question, “Why should I stay in
North Carolina to teach?” Unfor
tunately, I have yet to come up
with a satisfactory answer.
Every year, as my pre-service
teachers start their internships
and see exactly how challenging
teaching adolescents can be, I usu
ally get the question, “Is teaching
really worth it?” Almost every
education major asks that ques
tion at some point during their
studies as they try to reconcile the
amount of work and dedication
they are observing in the field
with their knowledge of the low
pay, increasingly disrespectful
students and parents, and overall
disparagement of the profession
that has come to define K-12
education in the United States.
Fortunately, I have become
pretty adept at answering that
question. I have no difficulty mak
ing a case for teaching; as a former
high school teacher and a current
professor of teacher education, I
can attest that teaching is the most
rewarding career that one can
undertake and that the fulfillment
that comes with helping a student
achieve his or her potential far
exceeds the negative aspects of
the profession.
But in response to the recent
public education “reforms” en
acted by the General Assembly,
my current students are asking
a different question that has me
stumped: why they should stay
in North Carolina once they earn
their teaching degrees.
As someone who lives, works,
and is raising a child in the state,
I want to see North Carolina con
tinue to nurture and keep energetic
young teachers in the profession,
but I also have a responsibility to
my students to give them honest
advice. As a consequence, I have
been encouraging my students
to consider employment in other
states once they graduate.
The concerns over public
education in North Carolina are
hardly confined to my students.
Drs. Scott Imig and Robert Smith,
researchers at UNC-Wilmington,
recently surveyed 600 K-12 teach
ers and administrators in the state
and found that they overwhelm
ingly disapproved of the recent
education policies passed by the
state legislature. Perhaps most
concerning is that over 74 percent
of those surveyed indicated that
they were less likely to continue
to work in their current capacity,
and 57 percent stated that they
intended to continue working in
public education, but in another
state.
Of course, it is one thing to
make such declarations on a
survey; it is another to actually
follow through with them. What
I am assuming that you and your
staff are banking on is that these
teachers who have built a life in
North Carolina are unlikely to
leave. You may very well be right.
When I look at my current crop
of student teachers, however, the
majority of whom are unattached
22-year-olds, I see people who
would be more than willing to
move elsewhere if it meant better
career opportunities.
Their concerns are valid; why
should they stay in a state that
ranks near the bottom of national
pay averages while, according to
a recent article in the Washington
Post, our neighboring states (SC,
TN, KY, and VA) pay, on average,
$2,000-$5,000 more? Critics will
claim that those average salaries
are inflated due to higher pay in
urban areas in those states, but
one of my former students who
relocated from Greensboro to
Botetourt, VA (which is nowhere
near the Washington, DC suburbs
or Richmond) told me that she was
“very pleased” with the raise she
received simply from crossing
the border.
The low salaries would not
be as big of an issue had the
legislature not also eliminated
the automatic pay raise that came
with receiving a master’s degree.
Again, why would my students
choose to stay in a state that
does not plan to reward them for
improving their professional prac
tice, especially when other states
will? The legislature’s decision
to eliminate teacher tenure only
added insult to injury.
Again, Governor, why should
my students stay in North Caro
lina to teach? As you can see, I
am struggling to find an answer.
The only response that I have
seen come from your office thus
far is your promise to give the
top 25 percent of teachers a $500
raise for the next four years. My
students have raised questions
about how that top tier of teachers
will be chosen and whether those
raises will continue after 2018,
and again, I don’t have an answer.
I am assuming student test scores
will play a significant role, but
what about those subjects that are
not tested or, as is the case with
my students, those who teach sub
jects that do not receive as much
attention as math or science? My
students are not convinced.
In short, I see no reason to stop
telling my students to look for
teaching positions in other states,
and I have a feeling that more
and more pre-service teachers
across the state will be looking
beyond North Carolina once they
graduate. As a North Carolinian,
I am concerned that this potential
exodus of young talent will hurt
the long-term stability of our
state, and it reaffirms my belief
that the chief beneficiaries of the
legislature’s education “reforms”
will be our neighboring states.
But I am willing to be con
vinced otherwise. I welcome
your reply—but please hurry; my
students hit the job market in May.
Chiropractor makes a little adjustment
Getting old is something that
has not bothered me mentally, at
least not since a brief mid-life
crisis that is now adistantmemory.
I like this time of life and would
not choose to go backward. Age,
however, brings new physical
challenges and quirks with in
creasing regularity. The decline in
physical appearance is annoying,
but inevitable, and for me has
been accompanied by a gradual
loss of visual acuity that makes
it easier to just ignore what I see
in the mirror. My vision is good
enough to enjoy the clarity of
High Definition TV, but when my
nephew Josh recently bought the
next generation of TV and com
mented about the clarity, I figured
that it was probably better than
I could fully appreciate. At any
rate, I’m good with what I have.
As years pass, things can
come on gradually in such a way
that you don’t perceive them as
a correctable condition and just
chalk them up to old age. Over
several years, I have noticed a
tightening of muscles and tendons
in my neck that cause pain when
I turn my head too far in either
direction. This has made it hard
to sleep without having to change
positions often. I just went along
my merry way with this until I
started getting mild headaches
in the same region that seemed to
be caused by tension in my neck.
Years ago I had a van that
had very loose steering. “What
in the heck does that have to do
with this situation?” you might
ask. Well, I drove that van for
many years, fighting that play in
the steering, holding my breath
when going around a tight curve
in traffic. I just figured it was
something I had to live with until
one day I noticed a little screw
in the steering mechanism that
I hadn’t seen before. Knowing
a little about how things work, I
instantly surmised that it might be
an adjustment. With one turn of a
wrench, I eliminated all the play
in the steering! You can’t imagine
what a thrill that was to me.
“What in the heck does that
have to do with this situation?”
you might ask again. The body
Frog Holler
Philosopher
Ron Huff
is just a collection of parts that
can get out of whack just by
doing the things that we do
everyday. This is especially true
when we do repetitive things
and sit in awkward positions
for long periods of time. In
other words, work! Carpal tun
nel syndrome and tennis elbow
are examples of how the body
can react to such conditions.
Sometimes you just need to go
into the repair shop and have a
look under the hood.
Years ago, I had a roommate
who knew a little about chiro
practic. He could adjust your
neck with a subtle little twist of
the head. The results were posi
tive even though I was probably
stupid to let him do it without
some kind of license. This was
my introduction to the practice of
adjusting the body to put it back
into its natural alignment. As my
headaches became more frequent,
I was really starting to worry that
there might be something major
wrong, but sensed that maybe
things were just out of alignment.
"Our tightly controlled educational system mocks the promise of de
mocracy. With a closed educational system we simply cannot have an
open political system. The current situation allows the government and
big business to manufacture and maintain our culture for us, and in
turn, control remains in the hands of the experts and institutions. The
ability to change this situation is in the hands of the individuals and
families who understand why change is necessary."
— Helen Hegener, "Alternatives in Education"
"Some people don't understand why you do what you do. They think
merit pay will make you work harder, as if you're holding back. They
don't understand what motivates you. They think the threat of be
ing labeled 'unacceptable' will inspire you to care about the quality of
your instruction, as if the knowledge that you hold the future in your
hands on a daily basis is not incentive enough.
Maybe these sticks and carrots work for bad teachers, but they only
demoralize the great ones, and there are thousands and thousands
and thousands of great teachers in our public school classrooms to
day."
— Texas superintendent John Kuhn, Save Texas Schools rally (March
1, 2013)"
We Get Letters
Here’s why there’s filth on TV
Dr. Wayne Journell is an as
sistant professor and Secondary
Social Studies Program Coordi
nator at UNC-Greensboro.
- See more at: http://www.
ncpolicy watch, com/2014/01/13/
teacher-of-teachers-reaches-
out-to-governor-mccrory-for-
help/#sthash.EiyWvvtS.dpuf
My sister-in-law Barbara’s
sister, Brenda Burley, is a chiro
practor. She is also married to a
chiropractor. I know them both
pretty well and thought they might
be just the mechanics I needed
to visit. You may think that chi
ropractic is not effective and that
your regular doctor should be
able to help you with whatever
ails you, but it is logical to me
that a mechanical condition can
be helped by mechanical means
such as chiropractic.
I made an appointment and
went in thinking that I had very
little to lose except pain, and much
to gain. I got some x-rays and an
examination and within minutes
was on the table getting treatment.
This consisted of some heat,
some ice, some massage and an
adjustment of my spine and neck.
This was great but when Brenda
rattled some chicken bones and
danced around the room chant
ing, all pain disappeared. Well,
at least the part about the pain
disappearing is true!
I left the office feeling im
mediate relief and have not had a
headache since then. I have been
able to sleep better and move my
head more freely. After driving
that old van for years, all it took
was one little adjustment.
More later.
To the Editor:
How I wish every American
citizen could read and would
heed Paul Burnley’s January
8th editorial. He is so right: “...
television has lost its opportunity
to inform, enlighten and educate
the public and has become more
of a trash dump.” The most obvi
ous example is the immorality,
profanity, vulgarity, violence and
voluntary audience nudity on The
Jerry Springer Show! The his
tory channel has even substituted
current-day sensationalism for
the opportunity to teach us about
history, lest we be “doomed to
repeat it.”
However, I disagree that
“The only reason these shows
remain on the air is that this is
what the public wishes to see.”
These shows remain on the air for
two reasons. Our nation’s busi
ness community’s current-day
“anything for profit” mentality
exploits the immoral segment of
our nation’s population, and the
moral segment neither rises up to
protest the immoral social filth
sensationalistic TV presents nor
organizes boycotts of the sponsors
of that filth. Please consider the
irony; sincere American Chris
tians finance mission work in
countries that will not allow the
social filth our nation tolerates!
I am by no means suggesting
censorship. I realize organized
boycotts of sponsors might have
little effect on the presentation of
sensationalistic immoral shows
(the word “programs” would
be complimentary, therefore
inappropriate terminology). But
boycotts would at least prove
that conscientious Christians
object to the disgrace such shows
bring to our nation in the eyes of
the world, along with the legal
ized pornographic magazines
and motion pictures Christians
have tolerated with little if any
resistance throughout my adult
lifetime.
Several years ago, I was jailed
for standing up to legalized
injustice in our court system.
Because I am handicapped, I was
incarcerated in the juvenile unit
rather than the general popula
tion with the hardened criminals.
The teenagers paid no attention
whatsoever to news broadcasts,
informative or family program
ming, but could not wait for The
Jerry Springer Show, laughing
along with the TV audience at
the profanity, vulgarity, explicit
sexual dialog and violence. How
many non-incarcerated teenagers
do the same?
Mr. Burnley closed with: “In
most instances, the public says
that they do not want these types
of shows on the air, yet in a poll, it
was found that programs with foul
language and sexual references
were the most watched shows
on TV, with the highest ratings
and the highest paid performers.
It seems that there are many of
us who are hypocrites.” And that
does indicate hypocrisy if moral
Christians are watching such
shows. But I prefer to believe that
those ratings are high because
degenerates enjoying social filth
are the only people watching
sensationalistic TV, while sincere
Christians utilize their time more
wisely. After all, did our founding
fathers consider foul language and
sexual references free speech, or
is this the result of the current-day
“anything for profit” business
mentality of unscrupulous profi
teers, whom I guarantee you will
not allow their children to watch
what they produce, now will they?
Robert C. Currie Jr.
Laurinburg
The best role models are right down the street
We hear that there are few role
models for our young people to
follow today. This is not true. The
term role model today has taken
on a new meaning. Years ago, a
role model was a person that had
made a success of themselves
and with their success was also
an evaluation of their character
and morals. Today, we seem to
judge role models by the amount
of money they earn. Their morals
or their actions do not seem to
matter, as long as they can ac
cumulate wealth.
Years ago, the people we all
looked up to were the people we
knew and were around that had
made a success of themselves in
our particular neighborhoods—
the teacher that would put forth
the extra effort to help the child
that was a little slow to keep up
with the rest of the class; the
handyman down the block that
was always happy to fix any
problems a neighbor would have;
the elderly lady who you could
always depend on to leave your
child with in the event you had
to run an errand. These were the
role models.
Madison Avenue has con
vinced our young people that if
you pay $200 for a pair of sneak
ers, they will be able to become
wealthy and famous. If girls are
able to buy high priced handbags
andclothing, they too can become
famous role models. The defini
tion of role model has become
nothing to do with character,
but the amount of money one
makes. It doesn’t seem to matter
if this individual is a drug user
or criminal felon, as long as he
or she can make a large amount
of money. The media and in most
instances the public view them as
role models.
I rememher my first role
model.Itwas when I was about 10
years old. Mr. Henry lived down
the block from us. He worked as
a mechanic for the bus company.
He must have been good, because
everyone who had a car in the
neighborhood would depend on
him to repair it when they had a
problem. But what I remember the
most was the way he treated the
kids in the neighborhood.
Whenever we had any prob
lems with our bicycles, roller
skates, or any of our toys, he
would always have the time to talk
and try to solve our problem. He
(See BURNLEY, page 3A)
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