I have occasion often to think about the American education system. I have two step-daughters at Marion High School and two children in elementary school here. My wife is the social worker at Kendall Elementary School and has worked there in several capacities these last couple of years. Here are some of my thoughts.
1. If I had to choose between whether a child would learn to be a healthy member of society or to learn how to read and do math, I would pick the former. There are plenty of murderers who can read and do math. I would rather they had learned how to get along with others in school.
Of course it is not an either/or. A person can both learn to get along with others and be a healthy member of society and learn how to read and write. But for some reason, a lot of political rhetoric seems to think that the biggest mark of success is a person's scores on a standardized test. Au contraire.
It is for this reason that I think Obama is the better pick when it comes to education. I was disappointed with a comment McCain made at Sattleback about firing teachers who can't teach. Certainly we should fire teachers who can't teach.
But the problem with the American educational system is not the teachers, it's the children... or rather, it is the home environment in which the children are raised. "No Child Left Behind" has good goals (although one sided ones), but it mistakenly places the blame for failed learning on the schools. It is our homes that have failed far more than our schools.
Teachers have to spend so much time doing crowd control that they can't hardly get any teaching done. And those kids who want to learn and have been raised to listen miss out.
2. We would probably do well to differentiate high school students into different tracks earlier on like they do in Europe. My step-daughters don't need calculus. In fact, many a bright student doesn't.
We need to get on the ball by seriously rewarding/recruiting students who can do math and science, and we need to be doing it early. But the others would be better funneled in directions of their own giftage and interests. The now old, "You can do anything you put your mind to" is just a lie, and we would do well to effect an educational system that is more custom made.
What do you think?
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Yes, education! An "unexamined life"...
I have believed since meeting my Durch husband and understanding the educational system in Europe that it would be far better for our educational system to follow suit. But, how to "sell" that to Americans? Money is supposed to buy anything...And education should not be a commodity, but a lifestyle! We should always seek to learn about ourselves, and the world around us...I have so far to go, as that was not the environment that I grew up in, in my nuclear family, as well as my "nation"....the value of education.
Politics since '63 have demanded equality, but the only equality we can enforce is opportunity. Vocational graduates can still transition through Junior colleges into higher education, but many districts pooh-pooh vocational tracks as "unequal". So we demand all graduates be college ready, which either causes more dropouts or lowers the quality of coursework to help the poor dears.
I don't think MLK's dream was about preserving the appearance of equality. But that's what we've got. And you're right, it absolutely boils down to parent involvement and student participation.
GPA and SAT scores, of course, still discriminate strictly by performance. So there's that.
I'm currently a teacher in an area where tracking is basically not done at all and vocational programs are scarce. I regularly see students who are smart but they have no interest in college or pursuing traditional career tracks. How do we provide effective educational environments for these kids?
I do think a lot of the issues all have to do with the families and other social factors that are at play in the student's lives. And I do think there IS a way to ensure that students get the "basics" while still helping them become productive members of society in their chosen fields. If education is a journey, we have to show our students that it's not just in school AND that it's not just in math, science, reading....we can be educated in many different ways. Part of the change that needs to happen is that we have to realize that it's not just the traditional subjects that are "important" and if a student's motivation lies in something different we have to find ways to cultivate that. After all, isn't education about helping people grow and develop along their chosen journey? And not about forcing a scripted, mass-marketed, prescribed set of rules and standards down their throats?
You are right on about education as a failure of family vs. failure of teachers. Of course, I'm married to one who taught 1st grade for a year, so perhaps I'm softer on teachers ;) But to expect her to be fully responsible for teaching 16 boys and 7 girls to read in 10 months is absurd. We want to outsource education just like all of our other "problems". But Lord knows I'm not a parent.
I believe that education is a function of family socialization(e.g. do the parent's read, is there an emphasis on studying), good teachers and support for them and an intellectual tradition of respect for learning(which is lacking today in much of America). We need adequate financial resources for education coupled with parents who as adults take responsibility for helping their children learn and prepare for a competitive global economy. Our real challenges in the next three decades will not be with terrorists from the Middle East but intense competition economically and educationally from Asia.
In Christ,
John C. Gardner
Onalaska Wisconsin
With due respect to all views, education is about a number of varibles...
1.)Of course the home environment is important, but my husband had parents that only had an 8th grade education and he has a Ph.D. in Biophysics. And though I don't know for certain, I would think there is another IWU prof who would also not have had an "appropriate environment". So, it does have to do with the system of education in a country, and with teachers taking an individual interest, as well as the home. Some children mature slower than others, some have social pressures, others have a lack of confidence, is this ALL due to the parents?
2.) Teachers obviously cannot teach "social graces", AND try to teach in their specified subject. AND if there are different aptitudes, then, the teacher is challenged to teach the subject meeting the various needs, which is almost an impossiblity. Prejuidice cannot be rectified in the classroom, as prejuidice is taught at home, in the parent's attitudes, not just formal teaching. These are values of the family...But, teachers, being the adult, should represent adult values.
3.) I do think that Civics/Government class SHOULD be mandantory across the nation. And it should not be revisonary history in the name of tolerance. But, it could be taught with different perspective of the different people who came to our shores (and the Indians who were already here...) This should be an American Standard for graduating in high school AND college. We must remember the reasons that America exists.
I think you're right. And I think streaming is a good thing. I trained as a teacher, already having five siblings who taught. One is a Rudolf Steiner teacher and following teacher's college I considered switching to Steiner College - but overseas beckoned and I played around travelling ending up going back to university to do religion after a few years. The Steiner model has alot of advantages, focusing on individual talents and interests, music arts and culture. Children learn at their own pace and have more freedom choosing what they learn. The proof is in the pudding however and that pudding is pretty impressive. Reading writing and maths are pretty important tools to have in order to get through life but if you won't make a mathematician there is no point pursuing it to death.
I think McCain is more interested in investing in war whereas Obama will invest in education. More good quality well trained teachers would probably be helpful for starters. But I think that a bit of incorporation of Rudolf Steiner philosophy into eductatioin would greatly benefit society.
Angie, I'm not sure you realize what so many American classrooms are like today--especially here in Marion. About a third of the students in my daughter's first grade class last year had at least one parent in jail. The class sizes for kindergarten this year are up to 30 kids.
It has nothing to do with grade level of parents. It has to do with parents on crack (and thus many of the kids being crack babies--unrepairable individuals who will never be our middle class "normal"), parents on meth, parents in jail. At the house next to where we used to live, the third grade child watched porn flicks with his dad into the middle of the night.
I substituted ten years ago in South Florida. At one school I couldn't even get the lesson out to the class even though I was shouting at the top of my lungs and pointing to the board--the noise level drowned me out. Another kid was expelled that year because he threatened to come back and shoot me with a gun because I wouldn't let him leave class early (6th grader). He threw rocks at me after the bell rang, and he could finally go.
Those who criticize the educational system have no idea what's out there and sit smugly from their nice middle class homes wanting to punish the teachers?! No way!
Those who think things are pretty much the same today as they were in the past, but we just hear more about it now are hopelessly out of touch.
Ken,
There is no question that our schools face real difficulties because of the high levels of dysfunction that exist in many homes. In addition, schools are limited as to what tools they can use in discipline. I would agree that a blanket "punish the teachers" approach is not what is called for.
My question is this, if this is the main problem in schools, what policies do you think could and would be implemented (by either candidate) to combat this?
Personally, I think this is just one aspect of the trouble in our schools, one other major problem being the assualt on the healthy family that a number of schools seem to encourage. I am speaking of comprehensive sex education, GLBT clubs on campus, and the contempt (not too strong a word) many teachers have for religion. The last existed, although mildly, when I was in high school in the late 60's to some degree, and my family of educators worried aloud then at how leftist the teachers union had become.
I believe that the "problem" of public school education is, as many problems are, multifaceted, and not easy to address.
Dealing with this will require a great deal of wisdom. I hope whoever we elect will either have it, or seek it.
I would amend one remark-some teachers, not many, are contemptuous of religion. This seems to vary from place to place to some degree. At least, when I lived in Mount Vernon, Ohio, because of the influence of MVNU at a number of levels I actually thought the local school systems were pretty decent.
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