Oregon Education - A reflection of culture

     Oregon is known the beautiful parks, rivers and waterfalls.  There are very few places where you can find perfect snow ski-ing less than 3 hours from beautiful beaches.  Oregon is the only state in which all beaches are publicly owned.  Portland is on the list of the top 10 cities with the most parks (http://www.planetizen.com/node/63523).  Oregonians love being outdoors and take great pride in protecting the environment.  Naturally they want to pass on this love to their children.  For many families camping trips and days spent at the beach take precedence over school for their kids.
      On Feb. 6, 2014 the Oregonian reported:

Last school year, nearly one in five Oregon students missed at least 10 percent of the school year, an investigation by The Oregonian shows. Those roughly 100,000 students were absent 3½ weeks of school or more – in most cases without raising alarms at their school.

No other state has been shown to have a chronic absenteeism rate as bad as Oregon’s.

      Another thing Oregon is know for is the diverse culture and acceptance of people.  In Oregon, especially in the metro areas, you will see all sorts of people living and working together.  If you don't know what I mean, watch a few episodes of Portlandia.  The nonjudgmental culture is one of the things I really like about living here.  However, I believe it also indicates a culture of everyone for themselves which resists all forms of conformity, such as the current changes in public education.  With the introduction of Common Core, our country is moving towards having a standard curriculum taught nationwide.  Not only will this help assess how states are doing, but with a much more mobile society it will make the transitions of students from state to state much easier.  The idea of the government deciding what kids should learn and having all kids learning the same things in each grade across the country has ruffled a lot of feathers in Oregon.  I don't think most people understand why they hate the new curriculum, "it is too different," "it is too hard for kids," "the teachers don't like it," and "there is too much testing" are all complaints that I have heard.  I believe the real problem is that it goes against the core values and culture of Oregon.

    The education system in Oregon has come under a lot of scrutiny in the last few years as it has fallen from about the middle of the pack to the bottom in many areas.  Everyone wants to blame state funding, testing, curriculum and just about anything else but I think the problem lies much deeper.  One of the main purposes of public education at its conception was to convey a common culture for this great mixing pot of people.  I believe that the problems that are surfacing in the Oregon education system are a result of the basic culture of Oregonians.
     In my next few posts I am going to explore the relationship between Oregonian culture and the struggling educational system of the state.