A Few Radical Proposals
So, let’s start with the most basic conclusion of the Center on Education Policy: Do away with all of the massive and ever-changing programs, incredible outpouring of local, state, and federal treasure, and get back to basics as put forth in the definition by Liem and McInerney given in the preceding blogpost.
- Great social changes must be made. An old-fashioned work ethic must be rekindled in our society so that parents and students, conservatives and liberals, all accept that getting an education is hard work. The Asians and Finns do it; we used to do it; and we must start getting our children away from their electronic toys and back to work. That will entail some gut-wrenching adaptations. Parents bear primary responsibility for their children’s behavior and their attitudes in general and particularly with regards education. It is up to parents to ensure that children attend school regularly, on time, and prepared to learn. Parents are responsible to see to it that their children are in good health, are well nourished, have good self-esteem, are safe, do their homework, and are encouraged to read and to learn from reading. Unfortunately, and importantly, all too many parents fail. That does not mean that the rest of us should just give up. We all need to contribute to a society that can help alleviate the failures of parenting and to help our schools–and ultimately our students–to improve.
The root causes of poor student performance are, for the most part, well known even if they are not fully understood: poverty, parental ignorance and indifference, inadequate learning of basics in elementary schools then high schools. What to do about these deficits is a subject that fills libraries and has not been solved in several hundred years of American (and world) history. But we can try.
- The average child spends hours every day with electronics—television (including teen romantic fiction and fantasy, and video games), cell phones, social media, computers and other devices. A societal shift must take place wherein parents regain control in their families and create and enforce boundaries and time limits. Children need to imagine and create, learn, practice, fail and try again, and run around outside. It is not unreasonable to suggest that parents limit their children to an hour a day or less in their use of electronic devices.
- Parents need to be examples. It is the rule rather than the exception that both parents work, and it is reasonable that they should want to watch television or use electronic devices. Television and the devices are handy crutches for tending children. But they are very poor substitutes for the active involvement of a parent. It is one more sacrifice for parents, but children are worth it. Teachers and school administrators need to enforce no cell phone or limited cell phone use rules.
- The components of a successful education system were outlined in a highly informative discussion presented by a group of testing experts from Boston University–Ina V.S. Mullins and Michael O. Martin—who commented on their decades of mathematics assessments in dozens of countries including the United States. They listed such things as strong curriculum, experienced teachers, adequate resources, a community that values education, equal opportunity to learn, having the necessary facilities and materials, strong willed society to ensure that students are ready to learn and that their teachers are well prepared to instruct—and keep politics out. Paraphrased from Ravitch, Great American…op cit. The remainder of this blogpost is dedicated to enlarging on those basic principles. Note that these experts in testing did not list testing among their components for success.
- Lengthen the school day and the academic year. The countries in Europe and Asia which outdo our students on a regular basis all do it. We can change.
- Decrease the amount of homework. Provide school time for the completion of assignments, and make assignments pertinent and efficient and not just busy work. Look at the example of Finland.
- School should be enjoyable because it is rewarding to learn and to make progress. American children are inundated with so much fun that they are bored and jaded. Put their fine minds to work. Let them realize the joy of achievement. Provide periods when students work hard and when they play hard—and play unplugged from their devices.
- It is crucial to learn to read by grade three and to read to learn thereafter. The content of reading matters. Education involves, or at least it should, embracing real things of the world—sciences (and there are many of them), civics, current events, social studies, history (and not revisionist, diluted, or agenda driven history), music, art, English, foreign languages, business, parenting, health and medical issues, and geography. Fantasy and sci-fi are fun, but fun reading needs to be given a different time and place—say in the evening when homework is done and the period for use of electronic devices, including television is done.
- Now, don’t shoot me, but here is a radical proposal. Do away with high school football. Aside from the unacceptable incidence of concussions and other injuries, our cash strapped public schools cannot afford football and physics and chemistry labs, mathematics tutors, and earthquake safe school buildings. An inordinate amount of time is expended by the athletes and cheerleaders. In that regard, much the same thing can be said about other sports such as soccer. We are sports crazy. Unlike a generation or two ago, families spend huge amounts of time, effort, and attention to the sports activities of their children at the expense of spending time in interactive communication, parental teaching and listening, and the student having time to think, to read, to learn, and to plan without the stress of a sports schedule that increasingly rivals that of professional athletes.
Amanda Ripley, In the October, 2013 issue of The Atlantic, in her article entitled, The Case Against High-School Sports, p. 72, pointed out that, “The United States routinely spends more tax dollars per high-school athlete than per high-school math student—unlike most countries worldwide. And we wonder why we lag in international education rankings….Sports are embedded in American Schools in a way they are not almost anywhere else.” Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korean 15-year-olds hold that 1-4 world ranking in critical thinking in math where America children rank 31st. Foreign exchange students are regularly struck with the remarkable amount of time and interest American students expend on sports; and despite efforts to be polite, they cannot help but contrast the educational successes they see in their home countries with what they see in America. Many exchange students fall behind by a year when they return to their own countries and are obligated to do remedial catch-up work.
Ms. Riley notes that, “Even in the eighth grade, American kids spend more than twice the time Korean kids spend playing sports (citing a study in the Journal of Advanced Academics, 2010). Perhaps a more humane and sensible example that Americans should give heed to is that of Finland and Germany where sports for children is more on a club membership basis. There, “schools do not staff, manage, transport, insure, or glorify [school] sports teams.” Nor, this author might add, are those teams supported by tax revenues. We Americans have club sports; but like school sports, excess is the order of the day. Parents are run ragged, spend a significant percentage of family income—often at the expense of savings for such things as higher education—and both parents and children operate under time pressures unheard of in the countries that do better than we do in educating our children. We are excelling in sports and failing to give our children the learning and skills necessary to compete successfully in the ever more competitive global economy. China is going to eat our lunch.
The sports vs. education conflict does not have to exist. It did not exist two generations ago. And it does not exist in most successful private schools in the country which cannot afford football and their math program, nor would the caring parents who shell out so much for their children’s privileged educations countenance such expense. The high school hallway’s trophy case might one day hold trophies for math, geography, art, music, or other intellectual activities instead of just the football and basketball awards. One might learn something positive in that regard by taking a walk through the halls of Old Dominion High School in Sterling, Virginia—a school in what is arguably the best district in the country.
- Reincorporate vigorous physical activities during school time breaks—run races, climb ropes, do track and field events, work on the school vegetable garden, take up a shovel or a hoe or a broom and clean up the school grounds. Sweat, get heart rates up, get a bit short of breath. And–this author strongly recommends–make physical education a mandatory integral part of every student’s education from pre-school to high school graduation. That needn’t interfere with scholastics and probably would be a mind-clearing help without the stressful time and energy demands of official semi-pro like high school and club sports.
In the next (and final) blogpost in this series, the author will expand his views into the hard-core curriculum issues.
