Schools are political. And most of the time...that's a problem.
Everyone has different reasons why they work in education. Most teachers, I believe (I hope), teach because they genuinely want to help students learn and succeed at some level. Administrators are there to see that teachers teach and students learn. Where things get hairy is in the expectations (and I speak mainly about public schools here). Because schools are funded with tax dollars, there are certain expectations that come with how those dollars are spent- and rightly so. I don't want to give away a portion of my income to a black hole of educational spending. I want it to provide quality education. But because people, specifically politicians, have a vested interest in seeing that those tax dollars are being used in some sort of measurably successful way, there are all sorts of standardized tests and educational markers that must be adhered to. Administrators administrate these test and markers and the teachers must teach to prepare students for whatever must be done. Unfortunately, teachers are incentivized to produce the best test scores so administrators are happy so, in turn, politicians can boast certain percentages of kids who did such and such on this particular test proving that our educational system works. But have these test produced true learning? Do students have a healthy command of the knowledge? Has the role of the teacher been neutered in a way? This might be an exaggeration...but maybe not.
Even if standardized tests don't play as big of a role, individual tests within the classroom also pose a risk to real learning. We (American schools) do a great job of fact memorization. Students will memorize multiple facts, regurgitate it back onto an exam, get an A, and think that they have learned quite a bit. While it's important to know facts, I would much rather focus on learning big picture stuff. How do all these facts fit together? Do you have a good overall view of your subject and where your lessons fit along the way to a comprehensive understanding of each discipline?
As I said before, students don't see learning as applicable to their lives. Why I believe this attitude exists is partly because students don't see the full scope of how these individual facts fit into a bigger picture which, in turn, has a huge effect on how they process information, view surrounding around them, and handle the opinions of others. That is a broad and vague statement, I know, but it's getting late and I don't want to have to defend my position any longer. So ha! Part 3 to come...some time.
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Some good thoughts. I especially liked the last paragraph. I think on this a lot, especially perhaps because I teach math, one of the least liked and most difficult subjects for many students.
ReplyDeleteI also have been thinking about this question recently and have had two thoughts of my own:
1) I highly value a liberal arts education, but I'm not convinced it's the best for everybody. I think there is a lot of merit to technical/vocational programs for SOME students because it fits better with their needs/interests/abilities. However, these types of schools tend to be devalued, which is ridiculous. Sometimes I feel that there is this sense that working in a trade is seen as less respectable/requires less intelligence than working as a CEO of a computer company. When in fact, they require different types of intelligence, both EQUALLY necessary for society to run. I wish we invested more in differing types of educations and encouraged apprenticeships for more students.
2) I've just begun Howard Gardner's book on "Multiple Intelligences" and I'm wondering if it will address the above a little bit. It's a great book so far.
3) I also think that one of the reasons we value education as a society is because it is valuable for our competition in the larger world of business, and affects our stance in the international community. We are always seeking to better our education system so that our students can "compete" with those in Asian/European/Middle Eastern countries. I think of President Obama's recent speech to school-aged children [which I was unable to catch] where he encouraged them to do their best as a part of their service to the country. However, I find that most students don't necessarily see their education as part of their responsibility as a citizen. They don't have a real sense of what it means to be a participating, active, contributing member of the COUNTRY as a whole, because they see things so individualistically. Before you can encourage students to do their best for the country, you have to instill in them a serious love of and loyalty to the country. This perhaps is taught in elementary school, but gets lost along the way for many--they are unaware of the larger narrative in which they live, are unable to see their unique role in that and the associated responsibilities. How can we instill those values more deeply?
~Amy G.