What we misunderstand about education

Having been in the public school system for 25 years, I have noticed many things. I suppose you can summarize these as being prime examples of hypocrisy.


1.  When education becomes a political hot button, students suffer.
Politicians need to create a threat in order to be the saviors. Thus, we have the crisis in American schools that needs fixing by people whose only real experience with teaching was as a student. With that logic, then I should be able to tell Apple what their problems are (do they have any?) because I have used Apple computers. Or, I can tell GM how to improve their bottom line because I drive a car.

2.  Are American schools really so bad that they need a hurricane to wipe them out?
Over and over again the politicians who want media time shout about how bad American schools are. This hits home to voters, since pretty much everyone has some connection to schools. But, are the schools really that bad?

We often see results of surveys that show the America public is dissatisfied with the public schools. But when parents are asked if they are happy with their local schools, most say they are. Thus, it appears that most people are happy with the schools they have, but assume that all the other schools are doing poorly. How can that be? Maybe people are merely repeating what the politicians say about education. They assume the schools must be doing poorly elsewhere, because they hear it so often. I have a quote on my wall at school that says, "Just because a rumor is repeated often enough, doesn't make it a fact."

3.  An apple-shaped plaque with #1 Teacher on it does not make me feel appreciated
We have a tendency in this country to extol the virtues of teachers in theory while at the same time belittling or denigrating the actual people who do the job. What makes teachers feel appreciated, and valued, is actually listening to them, and taking their ideas seriously. Right now any politician who listens to us, is considered caving in to the teachers (or soft on educational reform). Afterall, "those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Can you say disrespectful?

4. We do the same thing to students
My dear friend who got me back to writing, always says:
"In America we know that every precious student is a special and uniqe individual, which is why we treat them all EXACTLY THE SAME." After all, how can we possibly respect each student as an individual, and then evaluate them all with the same standardized test. By definition that is not respecting individuality.

5. And THAT is the problem
Therein lies the problem. We are turning our backs on what made the US a strong country, our support of individuals and independent thought.  People say we need to get away from the factory approach to education, that we do not need to produce mindless factory workers, that we need to create critical thinkers. But how do we do this by teaching to a standardized test?