Readers:
Consider the following:
The recently released results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam ranked American teenagers relative to those international as: 27th in math, 19th in science, and 15th in reading. (See Huffington Post and The New York Times).
Why?
Answer: The American status of teachers is low, and the American standards for education lack rigor. The situation is unacceptable.
We Americans are good at giving lip service to high education, but we are better at preserving a lack of progress.
Students need to learn to master hard books, NOT hard video games. Thinking and creativity, not couch-based passivity, need to become the highest forms of entertainment. Libraries need to be designed as centers of the community.
An enriched educational understanding also involves general education in world religions. Diversity is not going away, nor should we want it to. Anti-religious advocates are wrong to suggest that theology is the study of nothing. Religion is a social key for unlocking cultural understanding. Students should learn respect for the diverse cultural practices found among the many good citizens of the world.
Additionally, anti-evolution advocates need to reconsider their stance. There is no greater integrative theory of science than evolution -- which cuts across all fields of natural science. Illiteracy in evolution is no longer an option in this demanding society. Physics and chemistry should be courses in high demand, not targets to avoid.
Mathematical education has reached a severe crisis. Too many groups are systematically insulated from math or discouraged from it. Large numbers of proficient math teachers must be generated by our universities. Education in geometry is not enough; modern High School students should routinely make it through calculus. Our technologically-based society demands such an outcome.
Writing needs renewed emphasis. Too many students cannot write a coherent sentence, let alone read one. (See my "poem" at the bottom of this blog).
Physical education needs to be reexamined. Too many resources go into promoting the sport activities of a few. All students -- to the extent possible -- should learn the benefits derived from team sports.
Education should no longer be valueless. There is an absolute need to train compassion, empathy, and respect. Students need to learn how to be engaged citizens. Racism, sexism, and many other "isms" should vanish.
As long as Americans are content with the status quo, then American education will continue to lose ground. An overhaul of the system is required.
Unfortunately, I see no such overhaul on the horizon.
Copyright © 2011 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] c0m; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.
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3 comments:
Hear hear. Many good points. Though, ultimately, as you said:
no overhaul view'd
just entrench'd interests
kids' future suffers
I also find that many of the things that you suggest are quite laudable and apropos. However, Several caveats are in order.
First, the late Neil Postman, a noted educator, once said that what everyone in the profession needs is "a good crap detector." Particularly in the case of the PISA results or other such studies we see education reformers with pet nostrums to "fix" education either cherry pick data, misinterpret the findings or fail to look for and deal with root causes of the reults while pimping their programs. Much of the hullaballoo about charter schools and home schooling falls into this category. We all need that good "crap detector" to determine what is good or bad about such prescriptions for reform.
Second, there are many causes of low results that are not connected to the schools. We know in the case of PISA, there appears to be a strong correlation of lower scores with poverty. But I want to focus on one positive factor that affects us specifically as Latter Day Saints.
Self motivation and goal setting by individual students is a great indicator of success in school (see "Self Motivation for Academic Attainment: the Role of Self Efficacy Beliefs and Personal Goal Setting" by Zimmerman, Bandura, and Martinez-Pons which can be found on the net). We as Mormons used to stand out as having students that rose well above others in this area.
What I noticed as a teacher over the past 40 years was a tremendous drop off in self motivated LDS students. Talking to other instructors who were Church members, they also observed this trend.
We tended to perceive it in two ways. The kid who said, "I do not know what I want to be," Or the youngster who stated, " I want to be a doctor, but I don't want to take biology."
I wonder if this is truly endemic amongst our youth and, if so, what can we do about it.
"tremendous drop off in self motivated LDS students"
My sister, who works for LDS social services, made an interesting comment. She said many LDS youth are having trouble moving into adulthood and getting on with their lives due to worries about the end being near. The attitude is something like 'why try, it will all be over soon.'
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