Mad, Mad, Mad

I'm writing this even though I want to be asleep in my bed because I am just too mad to relax. Maybe blogging about it and eating cake will make me feel better.

Today was our professional development day which means we have time to do whatever we want at school, have a potluck lunch and attend a two hour workshop. Well, I got "loads" done (to quote my UK babysitter) around my class that I've wanted to do for awhile and never had time. I also volunteered to head the teaching assistants in a project to clean out the filing cabinets in the resource room. There's a ton of great material in there from past teachers, but no one ever looks in it because it's so disorganized and full of extra copies or cute crafty art "samples" (don't even get me started on how those are inappropriate in a preschool)that makes the files five times larger than they should be. I was berating past teachers who have been gone for years, for leaving all these files in such a mess. We barely made a dent in it. But that's not what I'm mad about.

We were supposed to head over to the owner's condo at 11:30 for lunch. No one was near ready to go, so I left with Michael at that time to go get some pictures developed for my student's class name labels (something that should have been done during the first week of school - sigh). I was told the developing place wasn't too far away. Well, five big blocks there with Michael and five big blocks back wasn't exactly close and we were the last to arrive at the potluck. The photo place also didn't allow you to crop pictures right there, and I only wanted closeups of their faces. So, now I'm going to have to go back again, once I figure out how to crop them on my Chinese computer. But, that's not what I'm mad about either.

Two different people had told me that they were bringing dumplings to the potluck, so I knew there would be food there that Michael could eat. The guy that was supposed to bring them called in sick and the girl didn't bring them because she didn't want to bring the same dish as someone else. So, in the end, the food was all too spicy or exotic for Michael to eat. He polished off half the corn on the cobs there (there were only three cobs cut into small pieces)and some fruit, and that was about it. But that's not what I'm mad about either.

What I'm mad about is our PhD childhood education "specialist" who gave a presentation on "self-management" which turned out to be a two hour session on how to bribe children to do what you want. She even did her PhD at some state university in the US, but must have studied under some people with very short term outlooks.

At the beginning, I was more than willing to listen to what she had to say. After all, the title sounded good. Children should learn to manage their own behaviour and not need an adult telling them what to do all the time. Her three methods that she outlined at the beginning were called "token economies," "activity charts" and "self-management." Well, I thought that sounded good. She would talk about different methods that people use, token economies being the least effective and how we should all work towards self-management. HA!

They were all token economies, the only difference being that at the highest level, the students should determine for themselves whether they get their tokens or not. Basically, tokens are "reinforcers," to use her terminology, and should be things that the children consider desirable. Namely, candy, movies, outings, and "special priviledges" like not having to take a test. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I kept on expecting her to say that this does not work in the long run, that you're just developing a society of spoiled brats that will only do something if they'll get short-term gratification out of it. But, no. Not even close. She honestly believed that this was the best way to handle a classroom. Taiwanese parents will love her because she will have a perfectly behaved class that always does everything they're supposed to. Future teachers will hate her because the students will purposely misbehave because they're not constantly being rewarded. Of course, she'll just tell those teachers to use the same method. Voila, problem solved.

Well, by the end of the presentation, I was about ready to tell her that she got a PhD for nothing because she obviously hadn't learned a thing about how to raise children to be independent, creative, self-motivated adults - which should be the real goal of education, in my not so humble opinion. I didn't say that, but I'm not sure I didn't offend as what I basically told her was this: Her methods tell the children that behaviour that we have to bribe them to do is obviously behaviour that they shouldn't want to do by themselves (or else why would we have to bribe them to do it?). I used the word bribe a lot. She didn't even attempt to deny it. She just said we had to use "immediate tangible reinforcers" that the children could associate with the positive actions.

Oh, and she also said punishment was perfectly acceptable if the positive reinforcers aren't working. And for older kids (like teenagers), where teachers don't have access to reinforcers that would motivate the kids (like video games - she actually said that!), we should get the parents on board and they can provide the bribe whenever we tell them to. If a teacher ever told me to give my child special priviledges or buy them certain items, just for exhibiting proper, normal classroom behaviour, I would have a serious chat with their principal about their teaching methods.

If my first principal (who also has a PhD in Early Childhood Education)at this school had heard this woman, she would have kicked her out and told us to ban everything we had heard from our minds forever more. Unfortunately, she is no longer there. We don't even have a principal anymore. The owner of the school tries to act as principal (she had to fire the last one as every single teacher quit last year because the principal was an unreasonable dictator), and has every good intention, but just does not know what proper teaching practices should be. So, she hires people like this woman, who have great credentials, and zero credibility. Unfortunately, she doesn't realize it.

And now the problem is, teachers here who are using this token system in their classrooms already (and there are a few), just had their behaviour reinforced, and were given even more ideas on how to make it "better." These teachers are ones who do not have any training in the field of education. They are hired because they have degrees in subjects that will impress the parents, or they have many years of "teaching experience" all in places where these token systems are common. And bribery is very common. Especially in Taiwan.

There was another teacher (certified elementary school teacher from Toronto) who was just as outraged as I was, and we spent quite a bit of time trying to undo the damage. He even asked her if there were other methods that promoted more self-motivation, that didn't rely on extrinsic rewards. She said "Oh yes. Hundreds." And that was that.

So, he and I start listing off other methods that we have read about or used, and she just stares off. Doesn't try to add anything or agree with us. I was ready to smack her. I dumped her powerpoint presentation in the recycling bin on the way out (not in front of her - I'm not quite that rude), and have been angry for the rest of the day.

She's starting her own business here in Taipei; consulting for schools, and giving parent education classes (a program she developed for her PhD). And these rich parents will be only too happy to pay her money and follow her advice. It's exactly what they want to hear. As long as I don't run out of money, I can have the perfect child. I wonder what the "reinforcers" will be when they grow up. "If you visit me once a week, I'll pay your mortgage," sounds right along this woman's alley. And they'll do it too.

I'm still mad, mad, mad. But, writing it all down does make it seem a little more ridiculous. But when I think of my sweet two and a half year olds who are so innocent and actually feel happy when they learn or accomplish something new, without needing any "reinforcers" it makes me very very sad. Because I know, within the next few years, it will be conditioned right out of them.

It's always when I hear people like her talk that I seriously consider homeschooling again. But, I know I wouldn't be able to handle it, and it's better to have a happy mother than the "ideal" education. I just hope I'll be able to undo some of the damage I know some teachers, like her, will inflict upon my kids. And I feel badly for the good teachers out there that have to deal with the problems these other teachers (unintentionally?) create.

Well, my cake is finished, and I've ranted for long enough.