When Senate President Andy Biggs named Sen. Sylvia Allen as Chair of the Senate Education Committee, the reaction verged on hysterical. Relying only on hit pieces by various dubious political columnists, the pundits lashed out at the traditional lawmaker from rural Arizona in a manner normally reserved for mass murders.
Citing incomplete quotes, and statement she never made, the collective assault on Allen struck many as more of an assault on Christianity and rural Arizona than on the senator herself.
Included in almost all of the assaults what a reference to a statement she supposedly said about the Earth being a mere 6000 years old. Now had she made that statement, some who do not believe in the creationist theory, might have cause for concern. However, she was referring to the number of years history has been recorded and not the history of the stone upon which we all live.
Unfortunately when you are committed to destroying a woman, the only thing a thug cares about the quality of the stone they are hurling at their victim, is its weight. A heavy piece of pyrite will beat out a small chuck of gold any day if it will do the damage they desire.
Allen sees the assaults for what they are. “It was deliberate effort to ridicule me because of my environmental and conservative stands over the years. When this first came out years ago and I was targeted with hate mail and phone calls for weeks. I was called an F### Christian B###. Most of the mail came from out of state.”
Related article: Farley’s attacks increase, Allen stands by statements
Allen made the comment during a hearing of the Natural Resource Committee on a uranium mining. Allen was speaking hurriedly in defense of mining, when she said, “…the Earth has been here six thousand years, long before we have had environmental laws and somehow it hasn’t been done away with.” Rather than attack her rightly for overstating the number of years history has been recorded, they immediately labeled her a Young Earth Creationist. This despite the fact that the senator is Mormon, and according to the church-approved encyclopedia “[t]he scriptures tell why man was created, but they do not tell how…” The assumptions made about the meaning of her statement show how little regard for, or understanding of her faith, her opponents have.
Contrary to the position of her opponents, Allen’s faith provides: “Diversity of opinion does not necessitate intolerance of spirit, nor should it embitter or set rational beings against each other. … Our religion is not hostile to real science. That which is demonstrated, we accept with joy; but vain philosophy, human theory and mere speculations of men, we do not accept nor do we adopt anything contrary to divine revelation or to good common sense.”
Allen told constituents last week, that her focus as education chairman would be to “support our teachers. The morale among our teachers is low in Arizona. We micromanage them and dictate what they do every minute in their class. We have turned them into social workers, health providers, and social engineers. Let them unleash their human spirit and create ideas in the classroom and let them teach.” The statement seems to support the teachings of her Mormon faith more than the claims of her foes.
Also contrary to the representations of Allen as someone who wants to impose her beliefs on all, Allen says that she does not want all schools to be forced to use the same curriculum, or force teachers to use the same teaching methods. In response to a question about the ruling by federal Judge Tashima that teachers do not have First Amendment protections in the classroom, Allen says that if teachers “are sticking to the teaching of concepts, proven facts, historical facts, math principles, etc. then they should have the ability to use their gifts and talents in how they go about teaching. Teachers are not “social change agents” that is not their responsibility, but is their responsibility to bring a love of learning and a knowledge of facts and ideas that will help them be successful in life.”
Allen is also aligned with the Left, and Right on testing. The unions, only after being forced by teachers to reject the poorly designed tests, and Allen have come out against high stakes testing. “Of course testing is an important aspect of knowing if you have taught the subject matter and the child got it,” but says Allen, “the state’s high stake test (AZ Merit) and the bench mark testing that goes with it destroys choice. I believe that local schools should determine their curriculum and determine what methods they use to teach reading, etc.”
Like the teacher unions, who have been dragged by their members into opposing the abuse of these tests, and by extension, the mindless adoption of standards that are not specifically developed by educators in each state, Allen opposes Common Core.
“Talking to a friend who has a Doctorate and two Masters all around child development says that most children learn in spurts. They are all in different levels of development even when the same age. She believes that you give a base line test at the beginning of the year and then you test them at the end that is the test results you give to the state,” continued Allen.
“When we take a week to give the bench mark tests (that are preparing for the final test in April) every five weeks we lose lots of teaching time. These bench mark test are on top of the test on subject matter the teacher gives.” Allen concluded, “I believe we are testing too much and only stressing out the kids and the teacher who is doing nothing but testing.”
Allen offered examples of criteria upon which schools should be judged:
· If a child started the year really behind yet he learned and improved but when tested they still were a little behind where the state said they should be, they learned and the teacher was successful, but the test score will not reflect the improvement they made.
· If a child was in special education and really benefited by the one on one he received and goes back in the mainstream classroom test scores do not reflect that.
· If an Autistic Child who had poor social skills improves and starts shinning how does a test score show that.
· If a child learn to master a CTE class and now has skills in auto class and got a job right out of high school the test will not reflect that per say.
Allen says she plans to “highlight at every Senate Education Committee meeting the great things happening in our schools and the great teachers who are making that happen.” That would be a welcome change. As it stands, both sides are very busy pointing the finger at each other for the failures, and spend little time – and money – on the teachers that are doing great work. Perhaps, if they can agree that teachers are paramount to classroom success, they can move on to a discussion about what we can do to support them.