Pop Quiz: U.S. Representative George Miller
The California congressman reflects on his own school days.
The California congressman reflects on his own school days.
Credit: Getty Images
As the ranking Democrat on the Education and the Work-force Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and now as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Congressman George Miller of California has long been at the front lines of education policy. He's worked to increase funding for public schools and make college more affordable for low-income students.
But his biggest impact, surely, was in coauthoring the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. Eight years and one federal administration later, Miller says he's still proud of the legislation -- but he adds that it's been severely underfunded and mismanaged.
"We made performance at our schools transparent and began to hold schools accountable for their performance," he said in 2007. "But in increasing numbers and with increasing urgency, the American people are telling us that the No Child Left Behind Act is not fair, not flexible, and not adequately funded."
At a recent committee hearing, Miller didn't mince words about the nation's struggling schools. "We aren't just facing a crisis," he said. "The house is on fire."
What is your idea of a perfect teacher?
One that is creative, engaging, and fun.
What was your most memorable school experience?
I had a great time in school. I participated in sports and student government and took shop classes. Our team was horrible, and I don't think we ever won a game.
What was the low point of your school career?
Not feeling engaged in the classroom.
Did you go to public school, or private school?
I went to public schools my entire life, including Diablo Valley College, San Francisco State University, and the University of California at Davis Law School.
As a teenager, where did you fit in your school's social hierarchies?
I don't know what the hierarchies were -- I think I crossed all socioeconomic lines.
What was your favorite subject?
Mechanical drawing.
If you could change one thing about education in America, what would it be?
We have to do a better job of improving and supporting our teaching corps. That is one of the main ways we're going to improve education for future generations.
What is impossible to learn in school?
The dangers of relying on mortgage-backed securities (although maybe they should start teaching that now).
What should they teach that they don't teach now?
More hands-on experience.
What did you learn today?
The Taliban was much more involved in Pakistan during the 1990s than we previously thought.
What did you teach today?
I taught middle school students about Congress and how honored I feel to be able to serve there.
What is in your dream lunch box?
Trail mix and a field guide to Yosemite.
If you wrote a textbook, what would it be called?
Keep on Learnin'.
If the prom were tomorrow, whom would you take?
The same person I took before -- my wife, Cynthia.
Comments (1)
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There can be no such thing as Teacher Education until...
With all due respect to Educational reformers we may be asking the wrong, in the sense of a non-generative question when we continue to ask I I How long the school day should be and what our learning standards should be, more to the point we may have many more answers nested in current methodology than is realized.
The lack of an answer - or even a set of protocols - for determining which are our Best Methods leaves us without the most substantive seeds of content from which most all practical science proceeds. Logically it also leaves us without a core curriculum in basic pedagogy; in effect we have no grounds on which to claim that we are even capable of providing Teacher Education. Apart from a few very broad and somewhat ambiguous statements there can be, and is, a very great variation in what teachers are being taught about teaching from campus to campus and even classroom to classroom. I have been trying for many years to bring some greater level of awareness to the need for us to work collaboratively toward something of a dynamic algorithm that any and all can participate in for identifying Good, Better and Best Practices, and as importantly, the shaping of the means by which these determinations would be made generically and in specific situations. Progress in Professional Education should proceed at light speed from this point forward, for once all stakeholders - teachers, professors, school leadership, state and Federal Departments - will share some common referents. A new and real authority will exist, KNOWLEDGE.
Please consider my cobbled together, and admittedly relatively personalized, effort as a mere example of what is possible and necessary. It has provisions for empiricism, choice, situation and most importantly for putting the best methods now available in the hands of millions of teachers, K-16. It is not a one-size-fits-all equation but rather one that is a contract between project directors and teachers to better regulate a currently unregulated market, namely, identification and choice of teaching methodology.
Respectfully,
Anthony V. Manzo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Literacy and Cognitive Psychology
UMKC & CSUF
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http://bestmethodsofinstruction.com/
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Best Methods of Instruction
Beta Site for the Teaching Optimization Rubric & Choice (TORC) System: a Reflective Model for Identifying and Classifying Good, Better, Best Practices in Classroom Based Instruction