Better still would be to fire the cheaters and poor performing educrats, but as long as the tail is wagging the dog, this will never happen; instead, taxpayers will have to pay more money to have tighter security, and even in that case it’s a matter of the fox guarding the henhouse!

Here’s another one.  I am a classroom teacher for highschool, and I have been a teacher of the primary grades also.  I know that here in BC it is common for teachers to “fake pass” students. I have been personally told by a Director of Instruction that there are many ways to interpret the IRPs. He says “We teach students, not curriculum.” which means, we teach nothing because the kids can’t do anything, and then pass them on to next year.  To me this is the problem why my 16/17 year old high-school students can’t read analogue clocks, or don’t know what a ‘dime’ is or can’t read the difference between the words ‘house’ and ‘horse’.  The teachers and schools cheat b/c there is no way for students now to actually pass these exams.  This is not b/c the students are stupid, it is b/c they haven’t been taught anything in this progressivist morass called public schools.  Cheating is the new standard.  Malkin, any thoughts on this?  Is it the same in Ontario?

Dear mad teacher,

I have heard this many times behind closed doors.
Your honesty is refreshing.
Today I was told that ESL children are not taught their linguistic information and can`t read and spell and write and rather than teach them they label them LD to get themselves off the hook.
Now it`s the student`s fault.

Hi Madteacher,

Yes it is the same in Ontario and many other places.

If it is the same, I have a single, very honest question: 

Why are teachers so generally paralyzed about this issue? 

When I talk about this, other teachers and even members of my family think that I am a conspiracy theorist, or an extreme revolutionary.  There are so many really simple corrections to the problems (other than cheating)  if one can logically step back from the end problem and correct the root problem, for instance:

END PROBLEM-
      Students can’t pass (bad behaviour, know nothing, can’t take tests b/c of anxiety etc.)

ROOT PROBLEM-
    know nothing = can’t answer in class/ bad mark   = low self esteem = bad behaviour=cheat to pass

SOLUTION-
    directly teach facts and information, until the recollection of this information is automatic in the students, (so that the information becomes deep memory, like one’s own name) then watch them start to feel good about class, and LEARN.  Nothing feels better or generates engagement more than success.  They are just youngsters after all, and no matter how angry/hairy/scary they are, they want to feel included and successful.  If students were taught this way from grade 1, then there would be no need to cheat.

I have been given all sorts of behaviour problem / failing students and this has worked on all of them.  Unfortunately, I can’t ‘fix’ the problem in one year, it would take many years of clear, direct, orderly classrooms for the students I get to actually make it.  It is such a shame, because I know that they are not mentally deficient, and I’m certain that they could offer more to society and have a more full life if they had learned something in school.

This is so obvious, and I can’t even begin to describe how many NON-professional instructors I have met that understand this concept intrinsically. 

So, why is it such a secret to even other teachers?

They are muzzled by the Union but an anonymous blog would be brilliant.

Dear madteacher,
Your compassion for the student is refreshing.

In response to MadTeacher’s question, I checked with an Ontario high school teacher, and this is what he or she had to say.

On the surface, “cheating” in Ontario as described in this video isn’t, in as far as I can tell, as widespread. In my opinion however, it is more insidious in that the “cheating” is done long before the high school kids sit down and write their literacy tests.  Kids are are given copies of previous tests that have been used and a great amount of time is set aside for kids to practice and practice on tests whose formats and content is very similar to the actual test they will be writing. Upon completing the “practice” test, there is a follow up and kids can practice and re-write some more. By the time the kids write their literacy tests, they pretty much have already written the test. The actual writing and follow up evaluation is just a formality. No surprise..the kids are passing in record numbers. Now on the surface, this would seem to be good professional teacher led pedagogy. Perhaps, but I wonder how well the kids would do without the large amount of preparation or as some of us like to say being “tipped off” as to what they will see on their tests. Now having said that, I have witnessed an improvement in kids’ writing, in part because the English currciulum stresses skills that mirror the skills required to pass the literacy test. Does that make sense?
More important is the “don’t ask, don’t tell” no failure policy. In sum, it is less headache to pass a kid rather than explain his/her failure in acheiving a credit. Any kid that fails must be given ample opportunity to pass. Even if it means submitting overdue/late assignments into the last week of the school year. With Ontario’s insistence of set pass rates..education boards are determined to increase the success rate. The success rates are going through the ceiling. I would like to see a video on that.