What's
Best for Kids. . .
America is a nation with virtually unlimited
potential. As a society we are able to
accomplish great things and have a history of tremendous achievements in almost
every aspect of human activity. Yet,
despite this potential and history of achievement, there are still some areas
where widespread success has proved incredibly elusive. One of the most significant of these is our
inability to address issues of equality and opportunity for all citizens. This failure has been a consistent feature of
our society from the very beginning, but is has been magnified in recent years
beginning with the "War on Poverty" and continuing to the huge
disparity in wealth in current American society.
These gaps in opportunity
and achievement are clearly on display in our educational system. We have a system that is one of the best in
the world for some students, and one that struggles to match these successes
for many others. Our Achievement Gaps in
schools, mirror the gaps that exist in our society in terms of income and
access to power.
For all of its flaws, one
positive that No Child Left Behind accomplished was to shine a light on these
gaps in our schools. While it didn't
come as a surprise to those of us in school buildings, the struggles that many
of our students experience shocked a significant number of Americans into
believing that our schools were in crisis and needed to be
"reformed". Politicians and
educational "entrepreneurs" saw this as an opportunity to make a
statement, or a profit, and jumped into the debate over how to make our schools
better for all students. The phrase,
"What's best for kids," became a common refrain heard in almost every
debate around education.
Moving forward from the
1980's we've seen a wave of "reform" efforts buffeting our public
school systems. The efforts to improve
our public schools have dominated public policy debate and have been major
parts of political campaigns. We've seen
a wide variety of ideas put forward from voucher programs, to new standards, to
new curricula. Efforts have been made
to empower families, empower students, dis-empower educator unions, the list of
"reforms" is many.
Yet, when you look at the
data and look at the outcomes for students, none of it seems to be
working. Why is it that in a nation with
so many resources and so many brilliant minds we just can't seem to create a
system, method or program that will educate all of our students? We jump from reform to reform always in
search of the next "magic bullet" that will solve our problems and
eliminate the gaps in achievement.
Taxpayers bemoan the huge investment in education that seems to be a
"waste" of their money.
Politicians criticize their opponents and look for scapegoats, too often
the educators in schools, to gain political power. The pressure on public schools to meet the
needs of all students is incredible.
In the end, I believe that
there is one simple reason why our efforts to "reform" our schools
and to meet the needs of all of our students don't succeed. Despite claims to the contrary, education in America
has always been more about power and control than about teaching students. Just look at our nation's educational
history. We've always used education as
a tool to promote a specific way of thinking, or as a political tool. Whether it was used to indoctrinate immigrant
children, "Americanize" Native Americans and eliminate language and
cultures that were "foreign" to the "majority", or to
funnel money to (or away from) different interests, education has been more
about power than about learning.
If we really want to
change the conversation around education, if we really want all students to
succeed, then we need to realize that education can't be about gaining power
and control of those being educated, but must be about empowering our students
and our educators. Unfortunately, most
of the, so called, reforms that are being offered are tied directly to some
political agenda, or some for profit scheme that ignores the reality that most
of our students and educators work and learn in.
Just look at some of the
recent discussions about "fixing" our public education system and you
can see just how far from students, educators and learning the conversations
are. Instead of focusing our attention
on what our students really need, the debate focuses on policies that do little
to impact our most at-risk students directly.
Instead of really trying to address the needs that exist in our schools,
too many of the decisions create conditions that actually hamper student
learning. Supporters of public education
are reduced to fighting to make sure that voucher and charter schools are held
to the same irrelevant and irrational standards as the public schools, or
simply trying to defend our public schools from being destroyed by vindictive
policies that seek to undermine the political and economic power of
professional educators. Even ideas that
sound like they would be positive have been corrupted by outside interests and
questionable motives.
What we should be fighting
for is a totally different approach to fixing education. Instead of dissecting good literature,
looking for specific criteria and reading historical documents in a sterile
context that ignores the stories behind the sources, educators should be
teaching all subjects in an integrated and engaging manner. Instead of cutting back on programs that
engage students and expand their skills, we need to put more emphasis on the
arts, music, physical education and other "non-core" subjects. Evidence supports the idea of teaching
subjects in this manner, not by teaching skills in isolation. Yet, we see many of the "reforms"
being pushed take us in a more traditional and skill based bearing.
The struggles to define
the future of public education in America are vital to our success as
a nation. It is up to us to move the
debate in a new direction.
Compare
and Contrast. . .
Most of us remember the
essay questions on exams where we were to compare and contrast two books,
characters, events, or any number of other things that had been covered in the
class we were enrolled in. While a very
common type of question in many classes, they can be a very good critical
thinking exercise. Essentially, to
compare and contrast means that we take two different things and look for the
similarities and differences between them.
This can be done in any content area and forces students to think
carefully about the topics they are analyzing.
We do this to students all
the time in our classrooms, but something happens to many of us when we leave
the academic environment. Too many of us
seem to lose our critical thinking skills and instead become entrenched in a
dogmatic way of thinking about the world around us. We accept or reject ideas or opinions based,
not on critical thinking, but instead on our entrenched ideas that may or not
be supported by information. As adults
we lose our accountability in decision making and become static in our ideas,
opinions and problem solving strategies.
We recycle the same "facts" and refuse to consider
alternatives to the reality that we exist in.
This lack of critical
thinking becomes all too apparent as we continue to engage in bitter debate and
conflict on a wide range of issues here in Wisconsin
and around the United States. Sides are drawn, political positions are
fortified and groups and individuals on all sides are unwilling to allow for
compromise, or even real discussion to occur.
When we do this we ignore
the "compare" part of our critical thinking exercise. To compare different ideas means that we look
for similarities between the opposing items.
This can result in some positive building blocks to work with. After all, we are all citizens of a specific
municipality, state and/or nation. We
should have some common interests that could serve to unite us, if we could
look beyond the differences that we see too clearly. We don't have to agree 100% with others, but
there should be some common ground to work from. As human beings who share communities with
other humans we need to find these areas of common ground (safety, survival
needs, etc.) and build from them.
"Comparing" can
also expose some troubling realities.
When we look at the policies and philosophies of our leadership, there
is a striking similarity between their supposedly very different political,
social and economic agendas. Education
"reform" provides us with a clear example of this. The policies of the Bush administration,
famous for the debacle of No Child Left Behind, gave way to a more
"Progressive", Race to the Top, that essentially continued the
policies that have been so harmful to our schools and our students. In many ways, education "reform" is
indicative of the prevailing solutions that are offered at the highest levels
of our leadership. The rhetoric may, or
may not, change, but the policies remain strikingly similar.
Economic policy is another
place where comparing leads us to believe that the decision makers at the
highest levels are very similar in their motivations and their actions. The wealthiest among us have the most access
to power, and are able to move our leaders in directions that clearly benefit a
specific segment of the population.
For real, positive change
to occur we must look to identify places where these common interests diverge,
and different ways of thinking emerge.
This is the "contrast" part of the critical thinking
exercise. If we stay in the
"compare" section of our thinking we will remain mired in the same
quagmire that we've always existed in.
Comparing requires us to look for differences and to base our decisions
on the distinctions between competing ways of thinking. It means that we don't have to continue our
present course, but can work to make a difference in the world we live in. If enough of us engage in thinking about the
contrasts between ideologies we can shape the world that we live in.
This type of thinking can
be painful and troubling at times. It
can force us outside of our comfort zones and make us take a stand for what we
truly believe in. It challenges us to
look beyond the rhetoric and force our leaders and policy makers to respect the
real wishes of the people they lead. Too
many of us are either unwilling to look critically at issues, or operate under
the mistaken belief that their opinions don't matter because only the elite have
any power. This combination of ignorance
and apathy is deadly, both to democracy, and to the "free-markets"
that supposedly drive the American economy.
When we look carefully and
analyze our society from a political, social and economic perspective, we can
see that there are some real problems with the status quo. We can also see that there are distinctly
different approaches to resolving the problems that we face. None of these problems are new, or unique to Wisconsin, or America, but we can work to promote
creative, Progressive and positive solutions.
Sometimes we need to have
leaders speak up and give voice to our concerns. Pope Francis has drawn criticism for his
views on many issues, but they resonate with many progressive thinkers. His statements about economics and social
justice are particularly poignant.
“This imbalance is the result of
ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial
speculation,” Pope
Francis wrote. “Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with
vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny
is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly
imposes its own laws and rules.”“The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits,” Pope Francis wrote. “In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.”
There are different
approaches to resolving our problems, and nowhere are these differences more
stark than between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Here in Madison we see a contrast between our
measures of success for our African-American citizens and our LGBT
citizens. How is it that a community can
score so well for one group and be at the opposite end of the spectrum for others? How can we work to stay #1 in one area and
still improve outcomes for all citizens?
The struggles around
Worker's Rights is another example of the need to think critically about
issues. There is a significant portion
of the population that refuses to recognize the need for workers to organize
and advocate for themselves. Yet, all
the evidence says that without collective action, the "market" simply
crushes most individuals.
Here in Wisconsin we are gearing up for another,
very visible, conflict around many of these issues. The elections of 2014 will be won, or lost on
the strength of the ability of Progressives to engage the citizenry in critical
thinking. This means finding ways to
reach citizens, but also finding ways to influence the leadership that most
closely represents our ideals.
Of course we can't forget
that in order to effectively compare, contrast and otherwise use our analytical
skills to make sound decisions, we need to have accurate information. This means being careful about who we listen
to, where we get our information and otherwise being careful consumers of
information we use in our decision making processes.
Don't forget to spend your
money wisely during the holiday season.
Along with your vote, how you spend your money is an important way to
express your values.
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