I often have spirited debates with my husband regarding what is really wrong with education and what it will take to fix it. It's worth knowing about me that I spend a lot of time in this quandary because I am working on a PhD in Educational Psychology. You could call Education Reform a bit of an obsession. It's an arena where I find myself playing a lofty blame game and getting into dangerous waters and I can tell you that every day I spend in a public school makes me just a little more radical.
A free and appropriate public education (affectionately known as FAPE in the business) is something to which every child in this country is entitled. It is also a phenomenally radical idea. It so conflicts with the psychological underpinnings of our capitalist preprogramming that the system is slowly imploding on itself with a few choice individuals trying to destroy it from the outside.
What is interesting to me is that Federal Law requires that EVERY child, regardless of race, income, home of origin or disability is entitled to FAPE. BUT (and here's why I say it is interesting) the same government that mandates FAPE continues to enact legislation that makes us wonder what an "appropriate" education really looks like. Is it appropriate that an intellectually disabled student with severe autism is required to learn about slavery and the civil war and, in some states, prove they have learned it in front of a camera? I'd rather tackle things like toileting and tantrumming first. Let's talk about dignity...
This is one of the most tangible changes No Child Left Behind (and Race to the Top too, really) have given us. Our kids who need to learn functional skills to maximize their independence are having that educational time replaced with things they truly will not use in the future. It begs the question (and sparks the heated debate), what is an appropriate education, really? I live in a dream world where "appropriate" has a large "individualized" component to it.
I would argue that NCLB, R2tT and, perhaps even common core, advocate for a one-size-fits all model. If we are required by these laws to teach very specific things, a good chunk of our students are no longer receiving the "A" in FAPE. They've set us to a legislative paradox.
The point that I parrot repeatedly in all of these debates with my husband is this: The problem with education is, at its core a cultural issue. It is going to take changes on our most basic levels to fix education:
1. Parents, the school is not here to parent. The number of parents who expect schools to do everything with no support or reinforcement from home is on the rise. If you want your child to succeed, show them through your actions that education is important. Telling us what you think we should be doing (that we don't have the resources to do) and then never returning our phone call sends an interesting message to your kid. I meet parents who can only do math on a 2nd grade level. Some are illiterate. I don't care because we CAN cover those things with their children. What really matters is that they are sitting in my office asking "What can I do to support my child?"
2. The Educational System is not a corporation. An educated populace is not the same as a quarterly profit. You have to see it as a long-term investment and play the long game. Our current legislation is playing the short game and it has to stop.
3. Poverty is a key player in the problems of education. No child should be expected to learn effectively on an empty stomach or get homework done in a homeless shelter. Basic needs, people. We as a country have to start practicing compassion and lifting our impoverished. The schools have the facilities to feed our students--let's shove some money that direction so we can keep more of them fed. No child should be punished for the financial hardships of their parents (I'm looking at you, Uintah Elementary).
4. If we don't want any child to be left behind then our "survival of the fittest" attitude needs to disappear. It has no place in education. It is time that our government and citizenry lifted our educators and asked "how can we help?" instead of "how can we fix?" Educators get more empty gratitude than they can stomach. Put your money where your mouth is, America. Face it, public education is a social idea that cannot be improved with a capitalist mentality. We fix schools by fixing them, not closing them, not cutting their resources even further. This is not a system where firing the problem will make it go away. You close one school and its neighboring schools just get more crowded classrooms. The research has shown time and time again that smaller classrooms make for better learning.
When we are entrusting the futures of our children and the future of our nation to people who can only say "We work like our hair is on fire" there is something seriously wrong. Let's give them the resources, the trust, the support and the freedom to do what they came here to do. I certainly didn't come here to set my head on fire, but it's unavoidable if you want to be good at what you do in this field.
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