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Abstract
Current proposals for public
school education are far too narrowly focused
and wrongheaded to address the real problems in our public
school systems. Worse, current “solutions” tend to perpetuate
a model that guarantees the failure of a large number of
students. Like the flu, we end up treating the symptoms
rather than the causes of student dissatisfaction. Current
solutions like No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the national
Common Core curriculum (I call it the CCC), in conjunction
with assessment testing, and so-called accountability
standards, have only worsened the problems. Today, these new
"solutions" are stirring up a hornet's nest of backlash
among teachers, parents, and school administrators
themselves.
In a nutshell, the focus
in current public school systems is on teaching, rather than
learning.
When I say "teaching," I
am not referring to the efforts of the teachers - which for
the most part have been superhuman - but on a curricula that
is imposed on uninterested students in a top-down fashion by
local, state, and federal departments of education using
teachers under contract as their proxies.
But solutions to most of the
problems in our public school systems today require exactly
the opposite approach. We need an
individually designed, self-paced and gradeless (not
subject grades, but year in grade) learning experience that
allows a student to explore a subject in depth, and with
help from their teachers learn to master the skills
necessary to solve problems related to subjects of THEIR
interest.
We need to have schools
provide more opportunities for students to
focus on process – learning to make informed decisions, learning to get along
with others and with their own selves, learning to solve problems,
and learning to take care of themselves both physically and
emotionally. If kids discover how to do these things early
and throughout their public school
educations, subject matter will be learned much more
quickly and easily.
Finally, we need to make
our public schools a focal point in the community. One where
kids would rather go than anywhere else. A place where they
know they can find people to help them solve their problems
- any problems - at any time of the night or day, 365 days a
year.
My essay on this
subject, which you can access by clicking on the button
above, contains some of my most important proposals.
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