A friend of mine asked me my
thoughts on this student’s rant at his teacher that was captured on cell
phone video. I am asked multiple times each week what I think of today’s
current education model in our schools, so I decided to explain it here.
While the student could have
expressed himself in a more appropriate way, I do believe that he expressed
himself in the one way that will make people stand up and take notice.
If he would have written a
lovely, polite letter to the principal, superintendent, and school board, it
may or may not have been read, then set aside to collect dust. Not because it
wasn’t true. Not because it wasn’t right. Not because they do not agree, but
because his proposed method of teaching went out the window when the numbers
game of student education entered the room.
As a former teacher and PhD
student in Educational Psychology, I can attest that this young man is right.
Children learn better with face-to-face interaction. They learn better when
engaged in the material that is being presented. They learn better when it
seems that those around them see them as individuals and not nameless faces
being herded from one classroom to the next.
Sure there are those students
that will thrive with today’s educational model, with all of it’s packets, PowerPoint
presentations, smart board reviews, and strict scheduling.
However, Gardner’s Multiple Intelligencesshows us that people learn and connect with the world in all sorts of ways.
Some learn best through song. Others through movement. Still others through use
of color. Learning is a very complex action, not one that can be carbon copied
for each child.
In order for true learning to
take place, teachers must have the freedom to be facilitators of
learning, not just presenters of knowledge. Teachers must have the
freedom to stop the always-forward marching of the educational machine so that
they can re-teach a basic skill that may not be completely understood.
Each child is different. Each
teacher is different. Each classroom becomes a complex mix of complicated
relationships. No one student is identical to any other student when it comes
to learning, attitude, actions, and motivation.
Each child has his or her own
learning style. Most teachers recognize this. Most teachers strive to reach every
student. This is done best by teaching each child in the learning style with
which they work best.
Yes, this means that each teacher
is teaching in multiple learning styles daily. Yes this means that each teacher
is spending extra hours daily preparing each lesson plan for students.
Yes, this means that most teachers believe that the children under their
tutelage are worth it.
However, here is the thing. As of
late, most teachers have become severely limited in what they are able to do in
their own classrooms. Gone are the days of training teachers and letting them
get to work in their classrooms. Gone are the days of “teacher knows best.”
Gone are the days of reviewing missed ideas and basic math skills for an extra
45 minutes.
Where did they go? They went by
the wayside when state regulations took over.
Teachers nationwide are now
struggling to just stay afloat in their classrooms. With the introduction of
state standards, merit pay, and graded schools; came the ever-increasing
pressure to present more and more information to today’s students in hopes that
they will score higher and higher on the standardized tests that each child must
take at least once if not more, times each year.
While state standards, merit pay
and graded schools look great on paper, once implemented in our nation’s
schools, they are the beginning of a downward spiral in education.
State standards, or what each
child should know at each grade level, are a great benchmark and guide for a
teacher. However, it is next to impossible for a teacher to present, let alone
truly teach to the point of mastery, each of the multiple standards on which each child will be tested. This sets up not
only the teacher, but also each student, for failure in the standardized
testing game. Instead of being concerned about what each student actually
learns in a year, it becomes more important to know what each student scored on
a test.
These scores are important to
teachers, not only as a gauge to what their students understand and the
knowledge they have acquired, but also because their students’ test scores now
tie in directly to what each teacher is paid. This pressure to have the best
students and highest test scores has led to a break down in the foundations of
education.
Standardized test scores also
become important for each school as a whole. Government has decided to assign a
grade to each school. A huge portion of this grade comes from test scores of
the students. The very future of each school relies on that one grade.
So here we have school
corporations pressuring teachers to pressure students to get the highest grade
possible on a computerized test because the future of the school corporation
and the livelihoods of the teachers are at stake.
At what point did education
become less about the student and more about a numbers game? At what point did
we, as parents, decide that this was alright? At what point did we decide that
the education of our children belong solely in the hands of the government?
I am in classrooms and schools on
a daily basis. I see first hand the dedication and perseverance of the teachers
of our nation. I see the commitment of the administrators. I see the drive of
the staffs of our nation’s schools to help each child succeed.
However, this dedication,
commitment, perseverance, and drive are superceded by the regulatory mandates
set out by the government. Administrators, teachers, and staff must now work
within the confines of what government officials deem best.
While I do understand this young
man’s frustrations, I believe he directed them toward the wrong party. Our
teachers and administrators are doing the best they can with what little
freedom they have.
Many have called for educational
reform. While I do agree that reform is needed, I believe that we must start, not
in the classrooms of our schools, but in the statehouses of our nation.
~Annie
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