For the last several years, I’ve had an uncomfortable feeling which has grown into a distressing conviction that American public education, particularly at the secondary level, was badly out of whack and needed a major overhaul.As my teaching experience accumulated, the disconnect between the institution of public education (in which I profoundly believe) and the services (or disservices) that it renders American youth became more and more apparent. And it’s not a matter of intentions, for the educators I’ve met are almost universally compassionate, committed, and intelligent.It’s not the rigor, because I’ve seen some material in high school classes that was harder than I experienced in college.For a while, I blamed it all on the size and anonymity of big urban high schools, and the pernicious TV, and the dilemma of single parents who were too often absentbecause they were working long hours providing for their families.But I knew, deep down, that there was more to it than all that. What I’ve come to realize is that the whole foundation of our public education system is obsolete.It’s based on the Industrial Revolution’s factory model, where a bell rings and everybody begins doing a repetitive task until the bell rings again, at which time we go do another repetitive task.There’s a strong impetus towards control—keeping everyone in lockstep throughout the day, throughout the term.When we moved out of the one room schoolhouse and into the factory a century ago, penmanship and recitation were replaced by the “core” subjects, English, Math, Science, and Social Studies, and recess was replaced by organized team sports.Today’s regimentation, arbitrary subject divisions, and discriminatory varsity athletics (more about that later) are now obsolete and due to be replaced. The world has changed. We live in a post-industrial information age.Plenty of people (Thomas Friedman, in The World is Flat, comes to mind) have described the changes better than I can. The Universal Design Movement, creating accessibility for all, is ascendant. America’s leading export is its culture—everybody wants a slice of the cowboy/astronaut/rock-n-roll in a convertible American Dream straight from Hollywood.To maintain our position in the world, tomorrow’s professionals will have to collaborate on solving difficult problems and creating new products and innovations using cross-disciplinary skills and information.Our schools need to prepare our kids for that. I envision schools as being interdisciplinary—no hour of science followed by an hour of history followed by an hour of math.Science requires math, and language skills, and a grasp of social studies—they’re all interconnected. I envision schools as being connected to the real world—online research for a specific problem leads to various hypotheses that can be tested or simulated by small collaborative groups.Classrooms can be replaced by labs and shops where physical experimenting and testing can take place. Activities move out of the school building and into the community.I envision schools as being inclusive—the differently-abled students connecting and contributing (how many Stephan Hawkings have been excluded in the past?) and participation in all school activities being completely open to all.Goodbye to varsity football, they can have self-funded clubs outside of school, and public education can forego the huge expenditures in resources that go into grounds and stadiums and equipment and travel and coaches’ salaries that are required to groom a small percentage of big strong boys that create the pool of “talent” from which Monday night gladiators are drawn. High school athletics is the area where Universal Design is needed. P.E. resources need to be applied equally to both genders and to all sizes and abilities, and sports that injure students can and ought to be eliminated. While we’re at it, lose the pep rallies, which only reinforce an ill-conceived elitism. (That’s my rant, and I hope I’m not lynched by my fellow Texans.)I envision assessment as being formative (continual/immediate feedback) rather than summative (standardized testing), and social and emotional growth and learning taking place alongside academics. I believe that the point of public education is to prepare our youth to become productive and self-determining adults and good citizens, and to realize their potentials as human beings. A factory can’t do that.Our schools have to change.
What I’ve come to realize is that the whole foundation of our public education system is obsolete. It’s based on the Industrial Revolution’s factory model, where a bell rings and everybody begins doing a repetitive task until the bell rings again, at which time we go do another repetitive task. There’s a strong impetus towards control—keeping everyone in lockstep throughout the day, throughout the term. When we moved out of the one room schoolhouse and into the factory a century ago, penmanship and recitation were replaced by the “core” subjects, English, Math, Science, and Social Studies, and recess was replaced by organized team sports. Today’s regimentation, arbitrary subject divisions, and discriminatory varsity athletics (more about that later) are now obsolete and due to be replaced.
The world has changed. We live in a post-industrial information age. Plenty of people (Thomas Friedman, in The World is Flat, comes to mind) have described the changes better than I can. The Universal Design Movement, creating accessibility for all, is ascendant. America’s leading export is its culture—everybody wants a slice of the cowboy/astronaut/rock-n-roll in a convertible American Dream straight from Hollywood. To maintain our position in the world, tomorrow’s professionals will have to collaborate on solving difficult problems and creating new products and innovations using cross-disciplinary skills and information. Our schools need to prepare our kids for that.
I envision schools as being interdisciplinary—no hour of science followed by an hour of history followed by an hour of math. Science requires math, and language skills, and a grasp of social studies—they’re all interconnected. I envision schools as being connected to the real world—online research for a specific problem leads to various hypotheses that can be tested or simulated by small collaborative groups. Classrooms can be replaced by labs and shops where physical experimenting and testing can take place. Activities move out of the school building and into the community. I envision schools as being inclusive—the differently-abled students connecting and contributing (how many Stephan Hawkings have been excluded in the past?) and participation in all school activities being completely open to all. Goodbye to varsity football, they can have self-funded clubs outside of school, and public education can forego the huge expenditures in resources that go into grounds and stadiums and equipment and travel and coaches’ salaries that are required to groom a small percentage of big strong boys that create the pool of “talent” from which Monday night gladiators are drawn. High school athletics is the area where Universal Design is needed. P.E. resources need to be applied equally to both genders and to all sizes and abilities, and sports that injure students can and ought to be eliminated. While we’re at it, lose the pep rallies, which only reinforce an ill-conceived elitism. (That’s my rant, and I hope I’m not lynched by my fellow Texans.) I envision assessment as being formative (continual/immediate feedback) rather than summative (standardized testing), and social and emotional growth and learning taking place alongside academics.
I believe that the point of public education is to prepare our youth to become productive and self-determining adults and good citizens, and to realize their potentials as human beings. A factory can’t do that. Our schools have to change.