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Recently, I was listening to a podcast with renown astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield. During the podcast Chris said, “There is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.” I was immediately struck by the quote. Could we doing just this in education?
It has been documented over and over again that we have problems in education(and it has been documented that we do not have problems). There are achievement gaps, poverty gaps, technology gaps, and even teaching gaps. Some of these gaps get wider, some deeper and all are noticed.
We have also seen countless ideas on how to fix our problems. There are schools that are closed, monitored, given more money, more resources, less money, less resources…. there are increased emphasis on assessments, data, and student out put. We have countless studies informing teachers why they should use whole group instruction, direct instruction, small group instruction, leveled instruction, one -to-one and we debate class sizes, use of technology, co-teaching, departmentalization, integration, private, charter, public, magnet…. not to mention common core, national standards, local standards…. The lists, the contradictions, the hyperbole’s go on and on and on…
Are we making the problem better or worse?
Thoughts?
Ideas?
Suggestions?
We have lost sight of our objective. Classroom education use to be about how to read, write and do arithmetic. Households historically were more self sufficient so these classroom skills were used to fill in the gaps and allow students to learn and expand knowledge on their own. In todays more specialized world we are failing to educate students on the basics (how to think for yourself, how to find solutions on your own, how to manage money, how to be disciplined and see a project threw to completion). Our focus instead is on memorization and how to perform well on standardized tests. Is is necessary or even what is best for the country for our target to send all children to college?
Thank you for your comments. I agree that we need to have students thinking for themselves and not on rote memorization.