Across the nation, people are calling for a revolution in the way we do education even if they stop short of using the word revolution. Many people are taking the opportunity in light of the recent resignation of Hosni Mubarak to point out that Egypt has achieved the beginning of democratic reforms in just eighteen days, contrasted with sustained efforts to create democratic reforms in other countries in the world despite millions of dollars and years of effort. Are there lessons from these developments that could serve our quest to lead improvements in education?
Second, in the media we are hearing many comparisons with efforts at democratic reform in Iraq to the popular movements underway int the middle east. Whether one agrees or disagrees with U.S. involvement in Iraq, the shift toward democracy has been long, expensive, and difficult. In Iraq, the democratic reform has the appearance of coming from the top down, or perhaps even imposed rather than grown. Imposed reform is not organic. It is too disconnected from the reality of the people. When I cast my vote for legislators in Washington to represent my interests, the reality on the ground in a nation thousands of miles away is vastly different. The gulf between classroom reality and the thoughtful minds of those who believe they have the ideas to reform has grown too deep.
From WikiLeaks to the Jasmine Revolution, the lesson of the 21st century is becoming increasingly clear. Meaningful change and reform is no longer vertical. Thomas Friedman noted that "The World is Flat." The longer this fact is resisted in education the longer it will take for our American education system to move out of the 20th century.
Image: http://images.wikia.com/simpsons/images/c/c9/OrigianlChalkboardS1E06.png
P.S.-- Can you have a p.s. to a blog post? I don't know the etiquette, but here it is anyway. One final analogy: A radio report this morning stated that perhaps instead of billions of dollars and thousands of military personnel, the United States could have taken a lead from Egypt and found a few well connected social engineers to foment a ground up revolution in Iraq. I couldn't help but think likewise in education. Perhaps the United States and each of the fifty states, instead of spending millions on standardized testing and countless human resources on administrating, managing, and analyzing data from these tests, should utilize these resources to empower local community schools to truly serve their constituents through meaningful interaction and accountable relationships.
ReplyDeleteI must admit to only following events in Egypt from a distance and relying on pundits and others to give it meaning(thank the extra class). But I am here in the middle of what is happening in our schools. I can't escape its impact and how it affects what I do. Revolution: it means a great change or shift. I think pretty highly of those who organized and worked to forge our great nation. But some revolutions are seen a little differently(France, Russia, Iran). And honestly I am not certain I feel too kindly towards many pushing for great change in education. So as we wait to see if much really changes for the average people Egypt we'll keep an eye on our schools as well.
ReplyDeleteIn education I think much of these new shifts, trends, buzzwords and initiatives end up doing nothing new, so they don't really merit that term. A more frightening interpretation to the the revolution may be who's in charge. Not too many folks are asking me and my colleagues what we think and we are certainly not given an equal seat at the table. The leaders of all the different "factions" involved would do well to work together as did our founders. While some dump the tea in the harbor most of us will keep working and waiting for someone who will rally the troops.
Speaking of dumping tea in the harbor...
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think the need for improvement in education has become so critical in the last few years? I really think we're becoming quite a scapegoat for the economic problems in the country.
And everyone is so willing to jump on the "anti-union" bandwagon. I'd love to know how many Virginia teachers are in the so-called union considering we are a right to work state. That would be a good research study-- how much better (or worse) do unionized states perform compared to non-unionized. We should certainly have the data at this point to make that comparison.
I think the greatest obstacle to education reform is the unwillingness of both the public and politicians to address the problems of our educational system in a frank, realistic manner.
ReplyDeleteWhile certainly not the only threat to our education system, I find it hard to believe that lack of funding isn't a critical problem for schools, especially in lower income communities. States, many of which are bound by law to balance their budgets, are scrounging around for areas to cut spending. It seems like education is always the place politicians go to when they have to make these difficult cuts, and nobody seems to notice or care. You end up with situations like one I just read about in an article earlier today about how Detroit is closing half of its public schools (http://detnews.com/article/20110221/SCHOOLS/102210355/1409/Michigan-orders-DPS-to-make-huge-cuts).
As long as the public remains complacent to such dramatic (and politically expedient) cuts in education spending, they will continue to happen. Communities, teachers, and students can complain all they want about the problems our education system faces, but until we can make education a serious national issue that actually makes it in politicians interest to fund and reform schools, we'll continue to see the decline of education in America.
Regarding unions: I see teacher's unions as a way of giving educators some bargaining power when it comes time to make state and local budgets. Without unions, politicians will find it easy to cut education funding because they'll receive so little resistance when they do so. Think even to the budget cuts here in Virginia. Being a right-to-work state, teachers had no power to negotiate when it came time to slash budgets. As a result, education funding took a serious hit. Nobody had an incentive to listen and respond to educators arguments against cuts to schools. That's what made it the politically easy thing to do; local governments knew they'd never receive opposition from a weak interest group.
Best,
Your Boy
Too bad no one else ever posts comments...then we'd know what others thought.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fact that they don't post comments is a comment in itself.
ReplyDeleteI think the largest obstacle to education reform is the inability of both politicians and the public to approach the issue in a frank, realistic manner.
ReplyDeleteWhile money is certainly not the only issue facing our education system, I have a hard time believing that a lack of funds isn't severely hurting schools, especially in low income communities. Particularly after the recession, states are scrounging around for areas to save money so that they can balance their budgets. It seems like it's always education where state and local governments choose to make big cuts. It's logical to expect politicians to react this way. They have to make difficult cuts which are going make a lot of interest groups angry, so they're naturally going to prey on the interest group which can hurt them the least. Our collective inability to make education a serious national issue ensures politicians can continue to get away with this short-sighted strategy. Teachers, students, and parents can complain about the problems of our educational system all they want, but until we can actually make it in politicians best interest to fund and reform education, we'll continue to see the issue ignored.
Regarding unions: I see unions as a way to give teachers more bargaining power when it comes time to make state and local budgets. Without unions, local governments can more easily make cuts to education because they know teachers lack the power to actually do anything about it. At worst, unions would have an extremely modest impact on state debt levels. I certainly don't see how they could reduce the quality of education. In my eyes, these attacks we're seeing on teachers unions have little to nothing to do with balancing budgets or improving education; they're about keeping an interest group weak so they can continue to be used as a scapegoat.
Best,
Your Boy
P.S. Here's an interesting article I saw today that really reflects the true education crisis some areas of the United States are facing http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/22/news/economy/detroit_school_restructuring/
Perhaps I need to look back at previous posts (I'm somewhat new to the blog, so give me some time to familiarize myself), but you repeatedly mention the need for a "revolution" in our educational system. But of what nature?
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that more "meaningful interaction" between students and teachers could and would improve educational quality, I think you should focus on writing some sort of proposal with fellow teachers that provides some definition for these interactions in the context of daily life at school (smaller classrooms, longer class periods, etc.). Simply calling out for revolution just isn't enough to spark the dramatic change you're deeming necessary to patch up the defects in our schools(or even better test scores in general).
I'd love to hear your ideas, whether they be entirely new methods of student-to-teacher interaction or even the removal of standardized testing completely. But, for all I know, you may have already done so in a previous post (and, if so, please send me a link).
Sincerely,
Baby Mac
Baby Mac, if that is your real name...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. But, I am not so much calling for a revolution as I am suggesting that much of what has passed for reform has not led to progress. I believe that in the recent economic times, that much energy has been given to efficiency which is not a bad thing, but rather than efficiency we've moved ourselves closer to the factory system of education that we rail against.
Regarding "meaningful interactions" I'll share a short story. Several years ago, a student and I came to an agreement that all of her assessments would be essay format. I worried what this would do to her end of year standardized test scores. To my surprise, she learned the material better because of our meaningful interactions (her writing and my feedback)and her multiple-choice test scores improved by the end of the year as well.
Finally, I would advocate a significant scaling back of standardized testing, and I would like to see more teachers engaging in "theoretical" conversation instead of leaving it all to the Universities, Central Office admins, and politicians.
Baby Mac is my maiden name (I don't like to disclose personal information like first and last names over the internet, mainly in fear of the still-growing population of child predators online)
ReplyDeleteI wish you would share more stories like that with your faculty, and perhaps use such real-life examples to come up with some system (or even a small change) that would make similiar circumstances more prevalent in our school system. I say less routine fact-crunching and more of these student-to-teacher interactions that not only increase students' test scores but also improve the quality of their education.
Steve Turner, you've won a 'like'
Sincerely,
Baby Mac
More 'meaningful interactions' and lower teacher to student ratios are wonderful, but they can't happen without proper funding for schools. Discussing what could be changed won't actually do anything; the real question is how do we plan on actually doing it.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Your Boy
But, Your Boy, it is a start. Better to gather all the tools necessary than rush out empty-handed, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Baby Mac
I get busy for 2 days and all of a sudden there's 11 comments? Wow, a new record.
ReplyDeleteHere's my proposal.
#1 Don't put me in charge...I'm a teacher and not qualified to handle big decisions beyond the comfort and security of my classroom walls...but do allow me more autonomy within my classroom(which connects to less testing, mandates, etc.) Avoid scripting and formalizing my interactions with my students and give me some time to actually improve at what I do. In thinking deeply about things my approach seems rooted in stopping what is wrong as opposed to coming up with anything that unique or worthwhile. But I am not a negative person...just one who appreciates we have much to learn from lessons of the past. I teach history after all.
Here is my 5 point plan from January. To date my proposal has been ignored by all parties at the local, state and national level...sad. Undeterred I paste them anyway...as I do I might add a few more.
-Hire better people
-Reduce Bureaucracy-make EVERYONE work directly with kids and in a school building
-Allow teachers to become leaders(give them power to make decisions without leaving the classroom)
-Establish high expectations for students and teachers
-Find Transformational Leaders
-Throw some money at schools with no strings(apparently like we did with Wall Street)
-Place limits on proprietary intrusion into public education(new)
If allowed to talk long enough I might even be able to explain some of the details of things. Steve is the "thesis man" thanks to his Jeffersonian education and can articulates these things far better than myself.
Try having teachers help judge/evaluate other teachers in some way and resist the wave of merit pay based on test scores before it sweeps ashore and becomes entrenched in the system.
Stop using Chicago, New York and others as the model that all other school systems should seek to emulate in order to get funding. Find what works and use it.
Stop paying lip service to the achievement gap and appreciate the socioeconomic roots. Have some frank conversations about race without simply stereotyping. Education can and should be a vehicle for great social change, rather than the target for blame.
What do I know...I work in a school every day with kids, parents and fellow educators with the thought that in some small way my efforts have meaning.
Good post and Smart Blog
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