Educators’ Task Force Should Talk to 4-H Folks

A pair of thoughts surfaced as this column was in its formative stage:
• Celebration of 4-H Week in Cape May County Oct. 3-9, proclaimed by freeholders.
• Gov. Chris Christie’s Executive Order No. 42 creating a New Jersey Educator Effectiveness Task Force for School and District-Level education professionals.
How are they related? Both have a great impact on youth, but in different ways.
Long an unabashed 4-H advocate, I was heartened as a lineup of boys and girls from throughout the county advanced to the podium to tell freeholders what 4-H does and means to them and their peers.
Vice Director Ralph Sheets Jr. told the youths that, as a 4-H member decades ago, he was a state representative, and went to New York City as part of the program. It was an eye-opening introduction to the world beyond rural Cape May County, said the Green Creek farmer, who is also a retired Wildwood police chief and mayor of that city.
As Sheets noted, the present 4-H program, which has 2,951 members and 86 volunteers in this county, is far different than the one of his boyhood. Back then, 4-H was focused on farms, and little else.
Today, clubs are offered on virtually any subject, fishing to computers, raising livestock to making clothes, any club subject is possible, as long as there is an adult to lead, and at least five members interested who will attend meetings.
Those unpaid club leaders, by passing on what they know from years of experience, are able to teach young people their specialties. Some clubs, like Earth Force, are based at Lower Cape May Regional High School. Others are based in leaders’ homes or elsewhere.
As with any endeavor, an individual will gain from 4-H in the amount of effort he or she puts forth. Ask those who are Teen Ambassadors, and ready to leave 4-H for college. Many will proudly tell stories that will nearly bring tears to your eyes on what the program meant to them.
Some freely admit being shy and terrified of their first public demonstration. Such are five to 10-minute presentations done in a classroom at Atlantic Cape Community College before a judge and some peers of any subject of the member’s choosing. As they advance in years, they find public speaking becomes easier.
They are more relaxed, and more self-assured. It is a life skill not found in books.
Some credit 4-H with revealing careers later pursued. As adults, they look back and freely credit the 4-H program for helping them attain success. Most of that learning is done at little, if any, cost to the taxpayer.
That’s education out of school. Maybe works it’s because “When they’re having fun, they are learning.”
On the flip side of the coin, we see the state’s education bureaucracy. It is tasked with — virtually — injecting money into pupils and expecting stellar test results. The end must justify the expense or heads will roll, and not those of pupils.
The governor and the state’s largest teacher organization, New Jersey Education Association, continue at loggerheads over many points, including the notion that teacher pay should be linked to students’ success.
I wonder where that ill-conceived idea originated. It had to emanate from the state Department of Education, which could itself undergo serious soul-searching. Not an organization noted for its stellar performance, it produces more roadblocks (to its namesake “education”) than the state Department of Transportation.
It plays well to the crowd, Governor, but on self-examination, I wonder how such a concept would have impacted my teachers.
Flipping through my 1967 yearbook from Middle Township High School, there was that once-feared report card. I can see why I never was admitted to Annapolis or even Trenton State (at the time)!
Jerry Mueller tried his level best to get this writer to understand Algebra II. He spent extra time after school with me. His hands were covered in chalk as he explained and drew on the blackboard.
Try as he may, I could not grasp the subject. Was that Jerry’s fault? Of course not. Should it have been recorded in his record, “Student A.C. could not pass proficiency in Algebra II. Teacher is denied merit raise?” Certainly not.
Catherine Rodgers, likewise, did her utmost to teach me French. It should have been a snap, having studied Latin under Janet Vance. Rodgers NEVER raised her voice, spoke in quiet tones, and for that I remember her.
She was more than kind, and a great teacher, but I could write that foreign language a million times, yet I still could not pass a test in French to save my life. Was it her fault? Should her pay have been docked because there was no spark here to “parler français?” Of course not.
We all know, especially teachers, that they are important. True as it is, they are just one side of the education triangle. The other sides of that geometric form are parents (or guardians) and the student. All are equally important to success.
I can buy into part of the governor’s task force notion; pay should not necessarily increase with additional degrees. Alphabet letters after one’s name are impressive on a resume, but it’s down in the trenches (a.k.a. classrooms) where “rubber meets the road,” and, sorry, degrees do not necessarily make better teachers.
Let’s face facts. In the teaching profession there are natural born educators and there are some who can put on a good act. Some of the best may have students lacking spark, and, like wet wood, nothing will start a learning fire.
Conversely, some of the least inspired may have exceptional students, who will surface like cream over milk.
Before its work is finalized, the governor’s task force ought to talk to some Garden State 4-H leaders and member about education. They may learn some very valuable lessons at no cost to us.