In the Education Week Teacher blog Teacher in a Strange Land, Nancy Flanagan responds to the general declaration that ‘public school sucks’.
Do public schools suck? Is that the conventional wisdom, the reflexive, global response these days? Do we have to start with the conviction that public education has failed, before we can transform or improve, regenerate or revitalize a fully public system? I say no.
She makes some very good points about reasons to continue to support public education, and to retrofit the system instead of dismantling it.
I agree that it is not helpful to make broad claims that disparage every school in America. Many parents do express satisfaction with their local schools, while still bemoaning the lack of quality in the system overall.
America’s education system needs to be overhauled and not summarily eliminated, but a worthy question to ask is “Why and how was public education conceived and implemented in the first place?”
A large portion of dissatisfaction with the current system is due to the massive changes in industry, culture, and technology that have rendered traditional methods as obsolete. Our society’s needs demand that we rethink the whole scenario.
We do not need to discard public schools, but we do need to dismantle the education monopoly that federalized education has created, and open up more opportunities for parents to make choices about their child’s education.
While I believe that there is enough of a framework of the original structure to allow for retrofitting, public education has looked the same for decades, and it is difficult to think of education as anything but the Chalk&Talk for the Sit&Git. This mold must be broken, and parents and teachers alike are seeking ways to do so.
In my opinion, the biggest obstacle to revitalizing education is the federal government. Mountains of mandates and reams of red tape leave teachers burdened. constrained, and stressed. Schools are no longer reflections of their neighborhoods, and the infrastructure is top heavy and unresponsive. The control of schools needs to be given back to states and communities. The cultural and socio-economic dynamics of various regions of the country are far too diverse to allow for such Borgian centralization (excuse the Star Trek reference, if you must).
Schools are also no longer primarily about academics. They are required to provide meals, counseling about substance abuse and violence, character training, and address health concerns. Time, energy, and money are poured into efforts that used to be the purview of parents, family and friends, charitable organizations and churches.
My perception is that parents generally do not want to take their children out of their local schools. They feel it necessary to being a part of their community. They view school through the lens of nostalgia, and want their children to share in all the same experiences- lunch in the cafeteria, recess on the playground, seeing the same friends every day, having a special teacher that made a difference.
Most parents will invest when they believe that in the overall scheme of things, their child will be served well, and that they themselves can make a difference. But when kids come home from school with four hours of homework, when a developmental delay is stigmatized as a disorder and medication recommended, when they want to work with their child’s teacher and school officials, but those officials don’t have time to respond because of the demands of supposed school reforms and incorporation of new standards… parents will seek out other options.
Rethink k-12 Education
January 22, 2013 at 11:51 pm
Reblogged this on kidtecheducation and commented:
Well said, This is a thought provoking blog entry. I especially appreciated the last sentence which does address (honestly) the problems associated with over-medication. Teachers are so overwhelmed trying to prepare 25-30 tiny students for standardized test they have no time for little Jimmy who cannot think unless some part of his body is moving.
Children need to breathe and move. They learn best when they are not punished for doing the things that come naturally for them.
Sarah may listen better when her head is turned because the visual stimulation will overwhelm her hearing.
I wished public school teachers could witness some of the stress disorders we are observing in small children who can not cope with endless testing and homework.
Then there is the real problem… Bullies that consist of child on child bullies. In fact that we are hearing many reports of Adult on child bullying. Making children who don’t fit in the “normal” catagory feel like they are worthless, or bad, seems to be a sport for both the bullies on the bus and the teachers who no longer belong in a classroom. It’s sad!
Rethink k-12 Education
January 22, 2013 at 11:46 pm
Well said, This is a thought provoking blog entry. I especially appreciated the last sentence which does address (honestly) the problems associated with over-medication. Teachers are so overwhelmed trying to prepare 25-30 tiny students for standardized test they have no time for little Jimmy who cannot think unless some part of his body is moving.
Children need to breathe and move. They learn best when they are not punished for doing the things that come naturally for them.
Sarah may listen better when her head is turned because the visual stimulation will overwhelm her hearing.
I wished public school teachers could witness some of the stress disorders we are observing in small children who can not cope with endless testing and homework.
Then there is the real problem… Bullies that consist of child on child bullies. In fact that we are hearing many reports of Adult on child bullying. Making children who don’t fit in the “normal” catagory feel like they are worthless, or bad, seems to be a sport for both the bullies on the bus and the teachers who no longer belong in a classroom. It’s sad!
Susan Raber
January 23, 2013 at 7:41 am
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree that there are many learning and developmental issues that schools are currently ill-equipped to handle. The stress levels for students and teachers are rising with no end in sight, and the feeling of helplessness in the face of ever-increasing standards and reforms results in ambivalence on the part of students, parents, and teachers. We’ve always had bullies, both teachers and students, but I would not be surprised if the overwhelming anxiety and artificial environment that school perpetuates is a large percentage of the source of these angry and disturbing behaviors.
Having said that, I believe that reform is needed, but most standards are the same as they were 100 years ago. Proficiency in reading, writing, and math. Generally well-rounded knowledge of history, the sciences, geography, and fine arts.
Why does it take committees and billions of dollars to figure this out? Can I just say “Duh!”
Sometimes I think educrats should be made to sit down and watch “Anne of Green Gables”. The one-room schoolhouse model that allows students to progress at their own pace regardless of age, and where older or more proficient students can help the struggling students is a very healthy dynamic. The filing of students into graded classrooms by age is a patently stupid idea.
And while some of the ‘old-fashioned ways’ have something to teach us about educational models, we are living in a technological age, and our courses and methods should not only reflect these new advances, but take advantage of them as well.
In my opinion, homeschoolers have paved the way for school reform to be taken seriously. When mom and dad can, in the comfort and safety of their home, and for a few hundred dollars, give their children a top-notch education, full of exciting opportunities to learn and grow and be part of their communities in a more organic way, and a few million parents start flocking to homeschooling, government schooling must sit up and take notice.
Of course, many educrats are just pissed off that they lose funding and control and credibility when this happens. So much for education being all about ‘the children’.
Rethink k-12 Education
January 23, 2013 at 9:18 am
I am ever aware of the intrpid homeschoolers who have been fighting this fight, long before we even knew there was a war for our childrens minds. To the “Long time” homeschooler we are so thankful.
I wonder if this trend /demand for individualized education options is an American or global phenomenon. Good teachers and students are at the moment of truth. Post industrialized education is no longer a viable option. Have you done any research into the new technology of Augmented Reality? I think this will change everything..bigger than the internet itself perhaps! I honestly believe homeschoolers will be utilizing this technology long before public brick and mortar schools can even set up training and application courses for their dinosaur staffs. The yellow school bus will become the symbol of a time machine bringing children back to a 1900′s education model. I feel sorry for those children, and I feel sorry for us as human beings because we have squandered their intellectual capital and sqashed their creativity daily. They are too precious and valuable to waste.