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Spring 2004
Notebook
Don’t Forget Grammar!
There’s a big disconnect between what students think is necessary for
college and what colleges think--a topic discussed extensively in this
American Educator. A survey from ACT shows there’s also a big disconnect
between high school teachers and college professors on the importance
of...grammar. The 2003 ACT National Curriculum Survey includes responses
from middle school teachers, high school teachers, and entry-level college
course instructors. Respondents agree that English proficiency is vital to
students’ achievement. But, there is a great divide between those
respondents when ranking the importance of six English skills: grammar and
usage, organization, punctuation, sentence structure, style, and writing
strategy. As the chart above shows, high school teachers rank grammar and
usage skills as the least important, while college teachers rank them as the
most important English skills.
Not surprisingly, what high school teachers consider important affects what
they teach: While only 69 percent of high school teachers taught grammar and
usage, the other five English skills were taught by 83 to 96 percent of high
school teachers. For more information about the 2003 ACT National Curriculum
Survey, visit
www.act.org/activity/winter2004/survey.html.
Basic Education: A Priority That Saves Lives
Of the 680 million elementary school-age children in the developing world,
115 million of them do not attend school--and three-fifths of those children
are girls. A new report by the Basic Education Coalition called Teach a
Child, Transform a Nation opens with these startling statistics. It goes on
to document the desperate need to expand basic education--which ought to
span early childhood through early secondary schooling--throughout the
developing world (meaning countries that have high rates of poverty and low
levels of industrialization and economic productivity). It also explains the
benefits of even a few years of schooling. Here are some more of the
findings:
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Compared to children whose mothers have attained secondary (or higher)
education, children whose mothers have no education are more than twice as
likely to die or be malnourished.
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Attending school reduces the chances that a child will be drawn into abusive
and dangerous work. As secondary education enrollments rise, the percentage
of 10- to 14-year-olds in the workforce decreases.
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In the
developing world, 25 percent of adults are illiterate--that’s 879 million
people.
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On
average, a farmer with just four years of education is 8.7 percent more
productive than one with no education. And among the labor force in general,
each additional year of education increases individual output by four to
seven percent.
Governments in developing countries are becoming more aware of these data,
but increasing access to basic education is a struggle. Kenya, for example,
eliminated primary school fees in 2003, only to be overwhelmed by the new
students. When 1.5 million previously out-of-school children enrolled, class
sizes swelled from 40 to 120. But there are reasons to be hopeful: Between
1990 and 1999, nearly 90 million additional children enrolled in school. At
the same time, worldwide illiteracy rates fell about four percent. To read
the full report, go to
www.basiced.org/otherdocs/teach_a_child_as_printed.pdf.
History Contests Help Students Hone Research, Writing, and Speaking Skills
As the school year progresses, motivating students to do their best can be a
challenge. Next year, consider a national competition to keep your students
engaged, focused, and willing to work hard. From individual projects to
contests for the whole class, exciting challenges for students abound:
American Legion High School Oratorical Contest
An Extra Challenge for Independent Students
In the American Legion Oratorical Contest, students in grades 9 to 12
compete to demonstrate their knowledge of the Constitution and the rights
and privileges of citizenship in the United States, as well as their ability
to speak clearly and intelligently. Students deliver a prepared speech of
eight to 10 minutes and then have five minutes to collect their thoughts to
speak for three to five minutes on a randomly selected topic related to the
Constitution.
Qualifying competitions are held at the local and state levels, where they
are organized, respectively, by local posts and department (state)
headquarters of the American Legion. One contestant per state advances to
the national level and automatically receives a $1,500 college scholarship.
Travel and lodging expenses for attending the national competition in
Indianapolis (with a chaperone) are paid for by the American Legion. After
the quarter- and semi-finals, three finalists compete for awards ranging
from $14,000 to $18,000. For more information, go to
www.legion.org/?section=prog_evt&subsection=evt_oratorical&content=evt_oratorical
or call your state’s American Legion headquarters.
Profile in Courage
Add Outside Judging to the Regular, Short-Essay Assignment
For the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest, high school
students around the nation submit 700- to 1,000-word essays to the Kennedy
Library in Boston on an individual who exemplifies political courage. These
essays pass through three phases of judging that focus on originality, depth
of critical analysis, and clarity. Judges include graduate students,
teachers, heads of Massachusetts’ Democratic and Republican parties, as well
as the Profile in Courage Award Committee. The first-place winner is awarded
$3,000 and a $500 JFK Public Service grant for his or her school. The
second-place winner receives $1,000. This essay contest is a companion to
the annual Profile in Courage Award, which honors elected officials. Winning
essays offer persuasive evidence that the chosen subject displayed
extraordinary political courage; they also inspire readers to emulate the
elected officials, past or present, who have tried to make a difference in
the world. More information, including winning essays from the past seven
years and curriculum ideas on the Profile in Courage, is available at
www.jfkcontest.org.
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
Turn Your Class into a Congressional Hearing
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, sponsored by the Center for
Civic Education, is an instructional program and national competition for
high school students in which a whole class simulates a congressional
hearing. Students must present statements and defend their positions on
historical and/or contemporary issues while judges pose as congressional
committee members. This three-tiered contest proceeds from the congressional
district level to the statewide hearings and culminates in the spring in
Washington, D.C., for a three-day national competition. There is no
purse--students compete "for the glory."
In addition to the high school competition, there are We the People courses
for upper-elementary and middle school students that culminate in
non-competitive congressional hearings. At each level, the Center for Civic
Education offers curricula, textbooks, and professional development to
support teachers. For more information see
www.civiced.org/wethepeople.php?link=intro.
Articles not posted online are available. To request a copy, please
send an e-mail to
amered@aft.org
Articles may be
reproduced for noncommercial personal or educational use only; additional
permission is required for any other reprinting of the documents.
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