Last year I exchanged emails with a high-ranking official at the US Department of Education. I complained that the accountability movement had gotten out of control, that too much time was spent preparing to take tests, learning to take tests, and taking tests, especially in low income districts. I said that the time spent on testing was reducing time for the arts, history, science, civics, geography, even physical education. Thus, kids have more tests and worse education.
His first response was "you measure what you treasure." I replied, "No, you cannot measure what you treasure." How do you measure, friendship, love, courage, honor, civility, love of learning? I suppose he was moved a little bit, because he replied, "How can we incentivize the teaching of the arts?" I should have given up then, but responded that you do some things not for economic reward, and not because they are utilitarian, but because they are right.
A couple of weeks ago, I participated in an event sponsored by the Economist magazine in New York City. As I waited to go on, the previous speaker talked enthusiastically about why we should look to the arts and artists as sources of inspiration, creativity, and innovation. When my panel started (billed as a "debate" between me and Eva Moskowitz, founder of Harlem Success Academy), the first question was: "How do you envision schooling five years from now?" Eva spoke of individualization and personalization. I predicted, based on current policies in the US, that kids will be drilled endlessly for the next test. That the machinery will be in place to measure and test, driving out innovation, creativity, and divergent thinking. This is not wise and it is not smart.
It's a frightening scenario. I hope I am wrong. If there is not a major change in federal education policy, this is the likely outcome of where we are heading.
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The tide has shifted, the "safe haven" of the teachers union, and its millions of political dollars, is nearing its end. How about Obama? Heavily endorsed by the teachers unions up to the election, the President is now the arch enemy of the teachers union (Diane, remember when we used to live in a democracy?).
This new generation of educational leaders will have new ideas, new energy, and a committment to the students first, the parents second, and the unions last.
"You have sat here too long for any good you are doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"
LA Daily News: A sweeping overhaul of seniority-based teacher layoffs and other reforms in the nation's second-largest school district will continue despite teachers union opposition, city and school officials said Thursday.
And, today if you ask me, "who do I admire most, or who do I believe has the gold key to put America's school students" back in the top 1% of all industrialized nations' education systems? I'll tell you it is Diane Ravitch! I wish I knew what brought about her change, but one thing is for sure. More and more educators, congressional officials, parents and academics should stop and read her writings and books. Testing tells us "how well the teacher is doing", not much about how well the student is doing, or understanding and maturing into a productive adult member of his/her family, community and country. Throw out the narrowed curriculm and classroom, have teachers who know how to guide and challenge young and older students to discuss literature, reading, math, writing, art and science;let them stand or sit, talk and explore with each other about health, morals and ethics, and above all no tests, let them be children!
The only thing testing does is funnel money from public education into the coffers of private, for profit testing corporations.
And teachers have become the unpaid lackeys of these same private, for profit testing corporations by having to take time from real teaching to teach to the test. Previously mandated by the school adminstration. Soon to be necessary to merit being paid at all, thanks to Arne Duncan.
BTW Arne Duncan should be fired. Right after Geitner, and before Salazar and that useless guy running the FCC.
— Robert F. Kennedy
I think we could easily substitute "high-stakes standardized testing" for gnp and it reads the same. Because they're both about the same thing, really.
The essence of education is the solving of problems BY THE STUDENT. The job of the teacher is to present the pupil with questions which the pupil can answer with some mental stretch: not too easy a problem, or the student gets overconfident; not too hard or the student feels crushed and defeated; but "just right", so that confidence is built and the student learns above all that it is possible, he/she CAN do it, and that it's pleasurable...and then do it again, with a little more challenge, all based on that individual student. That is NOT the lockstep, memorize and regurgitate training we do today. It's obvious that our owners and masters don't want people who can think, they want people who are minimally trained, malleable, obedient: good "employees".
I am a hugh fan of yours. I am currently a teacher candidate in Colorado, and we have been reading you book [Death and Life of the Great American School System]. I just want you to know that your message is getting out there, and you have the full support of the teaching community in Denver, CO. We need to do away with the flawed system that is reliant on high stakes standardized testing, and move in a more positive direction for education.
Do we want to become like other countries where early tests determine whether a person is even "worthy" to go on to further education? I thought education in America was different exactly because the disadvantage have access to something instead of letting a test determine their "caste" for the rest of their lives.
Public schools and the teachers there have served Americans well. To continue to label them as failing society and forgetting all the important things it has done to improve the lives of millions of people was a hard hurdle to overcome but. . . No Child Left Behind is doing it.
The GOP wants to privatize schools, take away the money from public schools, and eliminate the fair and open public education of everyone . . . now it has the numbers to really drive it home.
We need to get the definition of educate; "bringing forth from within through observation, participation and reasoning and being able to explain the findings;" into the teaching profession. Educate is usually defined as instructing people on doing the three "R's" instead of the bringing forth from within.
Something needed in conjunction with education is restoration of families. The nation has so inflated costs that no family is able to survive with a single parent working requiring the children to be left in daycare and have almost no family relations. If housewives or husbands raised our children they would be able to instruct them, as has never been done in modern civilizations, that everything they do is for learning at a young age.
That require them to always do for learning and self discipline them not to do for liking and disliking, the major cause for additions. A small child was doing something his mother had often told him to stop but he ignored. When I asked him "what are you learning from doing that" he thought for a minute and stopped doing it. Instill in children all actions are done for learning from, that everything they do will return to them in a like manner and they will spend their lives thinking before acting as the child did. We often say "think before acting" but don't suggest what to think, it should be think about what's being learned.
This film is about the experiences of students, their stress, mental and physical health, etc. So often, the experiences of actual students--our children, who are human beings--are completely discounted in all the talk about "what to do about education."
This film is not a "blame the school" movie but a movie about the culture of achievement in our country and what that does to our younger citizens.
The environs at the time of Dewey (of the library classification system) was that liberal education was being reserved only for the select wealthy/anointed, while focused vocational training was for the masses. While the current debate has its own unique context, the measure=treasure formulation itself seems to advance the command/control aspects of education policy to the top of the agenda.