I have fought myself on posting a critique of education, but recent events with my youngest child compelled me to do so.
1st, I have great respect for those in education who are truly there for the kids. I believe these unsung heroes go to their job daily and often don’t hear the good things. They deal with problems most normal jobs don’t have to.
My critique is not of individual educators and administrators, my critique is centered squarely on the “blob”. that impersonal bureaucracy that makes the educator’s job hard and the administrator job more difficult in insuring the highest quality personnel are rewarded and the poor achievers are ousted.
Education is the single thing we do in life that can improve our standing in the world. the saying goes “give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man to fish, he eats for his life”. As a life long learner, i stay informed as well as possible.
Recently my 17 year old daughter after a 4th attempt at the ACT was reviewing her scores, again. She has struggled to get from an 18 to a 20. She struggles in areas that are the focus of these 1950s model tests which i believe to be no longer valid as measures of scholastic success. The difference between a 20 and a 28 can be thousands of dollars in scholarships. After this “disappointment” i began to look at more depth the question of statistical validity and weighting placed on standardized tests for “outcome”.
The fact she struggled with subjects such as Math, English, and Science is indicative of something amiss in K12 education. The other fact is, she is not the only one that struggles. This poses a larger question. Why is it, that college financial awards are based on 1950s model statistical averages? Also, what is it, about our K12 Public system, that is failing to teach our children the skills measured on these tests? Colleges in turn, are failing to teach future teachers something that is not measurable, that being “passion”.
I tend to look for simple solutions, but with education there are no simple answers, because the disease is systemic. There are healthy “parts” and unhealthy “parts” ..
Education in the US is currently ranked 25 in the world for quality and outcome. Yet, we don’t see it as a national crisis. If gas prices go up 30 cents, oil companies are in front of congressional committees to explain themselves, yet the same level of accountability since the advent of the US department of education has been non-existent and scores continue to fall.
If colleges were oil companies they would be in front of congressional committee to explain the near exponential rise in cost without a viable product supply of young people emotionally and intellectual capable of competing in a modern world.
I believe our “system” based in 19th century ideals, remains firmly planted there because of the influence of collective bargaining. We’ve dealt with poor teachers throughout our children’s K12 experience. We have some good ones as well. Too often athletic coaches wind up teaching subjects they don’t have a passion for, which in turn does not instill passion in the student. Too often athletics take precedent over subjects such as Math, History, English, and the arts. Both in the lives and classroom teachers fail to focus on the matters at hand. My daughter was discussing one of her classes taught by a coach who was spending his time watching game films, rather than explaining a subject to struggling kids.
The arts aren’t immune from it either, I am aware of one drama teacher, who berates kids, and plays favorites to feed his own narcissistic tendencies. He is an emotional infant that has been protected by the “blob”, were he to be working in the private sector would have been terminated for some of his interactions with students. Yet, nothing changes if nothing changes.
Education is a passion, and for those passionate about it, the students they teach are often passionate as well. Weeding out the non-passionate is impossible because of the illness that has been in the “body education” for a very long time.
The school of “politically progressive” thought came into education early part in the 20th century, the mental processes that continues to drive it, are anything but progressive in nature.
I pose the question to both people in education, parents and students. How can we move out of the past with the weight of a century of these ideals around our necks like an anchor?
Like many, i feel powerless as an individual to change something as obtuse and unmoving as the mountain it has become. I do see ideas cropping up.. Restoring local control, returning accountability to parents and administrators, and ending the union strangle hold. But these are ideas, not actions. Educators and Administrators need to see the problems and acknowledge the problem exists, and look for alternative methods of dealing with them rather then “staying the course”.
I advise parents to become involved, my kids have finished and is finishing her K12 course work, and as the result, financial aid package at college reflects in my view directly on her K12 experience.