Schools encounter many new obstacles
The following is a Counterpoint
By Michael Christopher
The hard truth that Charles Davenport avoids in his column (June 24) about schools is we will never be able to turn the clock back to that time he imagines once existed when the "basics" were taught. That's because public education has endured more than its share of difficulties in trying to maintain quality. Here are some reasons:
First, professional educators and researchers have gained a clearer understanding of how the brain functions, the uniquely varied ways children learn and how to teach in ways compatible with different learning styles. Additionally, the Internet has made a vast array of information available to students, requiring that they synthesize large amounts of information and discriminate between valid sources of data and those derived through conjecture or opinion.
To keep up with these two important and interrelated trends, schools must invest heavily in professional development for teachers.
Second, governance of public education includes not only local school boards but also layers of state and federal regulation. For each layer, school districts must demonstrate compliance, requiring administrative control, which is not always funded by the agencies expecting compliance. Consequently, districts have had to cut programs in order to support governmental mandates that have grown significantly over several decades.
Third, the American family has changed radically. Teachers report widespread frustration by the lack of involvement of parents in their children's education in both poor and well-to-do districts. The consequences are so far-reaching that schools have become the substitute for family life for many and thus are expected to not only teach academic, athletic and artistic skills, but to become de facto community and "moral" centers. Given that reality, schools have had to supplant the classroom teacher with other professionals trained in social work and psychological counseling.
The "days of old" can’t come back; the world has changed too much. We must recognize and act upon our new reality: support our teachers with better pay and professional development, giving them skills to teach, using methods gleaned from the most recent research; reduce ineffective and under-funded regulation while assuring the funding of educational opportunity for all students; and increase funding for parent education, community counseling programs, and other programs that encourage involvement of the family in the life of the school.
The writer is an independent school consultant and lives in Greensboro.
Comments (10)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
why must all problems be solved by throwing money?
Posted on June 29, 2007 6:52 AM
"First, professional educators and researchers have gained a clearer understanding of how the brain functions, the uniquely varied ways children learn and how to teach in ways compatible with different learning styles."
Wow. So these are the same GCS educators who told me I'd never earn a 4 year degree, much less a master's? These are the same GCS educators who had me in special education classes, yet could not identify that my problem was a mild form of dyslexia (I did not find out till I was a senior in college)? These are the same GCS educators who treated me like I was of less than average intelligence, yet when I take and IQ examination now I find that mensa is easily within my grasp?
Sounds like these professional educators need to go back to school.
Posted on June 29, 2007 7:00 AM
Bishop,
Now, now. Don't let your anger take away from your message, lest you begin sounding like neocon. (God forbid!) :)
Posted on June 29, 2007 8:18 AM
LC,
Who's angry? I'm the one laughing now ;-)
Posted on June 29, 2007 8:35 AM
Now you've got the bull by the tail! That's the Bishop I wanted to see! Congrats!
I had an Algebra teacher in high school tell me I'd never amount to anything...I immediately ran for Student Body President and won. Then I applied to top colleges including Wake, Duke, UNC and was immediately accepted. Went to Wake then became very successful in my field. I never resisted the opportunity to let her know where I was and what I was doing...Also never let her forget her words to me!
Posted on June 29, 2007 9:03 AM
Is it me or does every "Counterpoint" letter just suck?
All I see in this letter is programs, programs, programs. I have to agree with James. Money is not the answer to every problem.
One dynamic that the writer does mention is the change in family. When I was a kid, most mom's stayed home. Because of that, they had time to volunteer at school, church, and in the community. The husbands worked less hours so they also had more time to be involved.
Our nation has become wealthier but we've lost our soul for big screen televisions, expensive cars, cell phones, digital cable and internet service, computers and other unnecessary toys and material things that were sold as a way to make our lives easier but have just complicated them. Of course, the soaring divorce rate has forced both parents to work and juggle their kids and their schedules.
Our nation has become wealthier but our moms and dads work so much they don't have any time to enjoy their kids, their stuff, or their lives.
The good old days were not perfect but there were some things that were much better that money cannot and will never buy.
Don't tell me that things can never go back. They can. We just have to adjust our lives and our spending habits.
Posted on June 29, 2007 9:14 AM
..."and increase funding for parent education, community counseling programs, and other programs"...
The liberal solution for all of mankinds woes...'increase the funding' to these 'programs'. (ie steal more of other people's money)
"independent school consultant"...what's this? The 'independent school consultant' has to suckle off the back teat instead of the front?
Posted on June 29, 2007 11:06 AM
This letter is so demeaning. "we will never be able to turn the clock back to that time he 'imagines' once existed when the "basics" were taught". Hey, Christopher, I don't know old you are, but when I went to schools decades ago, the basics were taught, and you had to learn them. There is no "imagine" to it. It was a fact of life, buddy.
Christopher's letter exemplifies all that is wrong with pubblic education today. A bunch of academic eggheads spouting a bunch of drivel that they don't think that we, the unwashed masses, understand the problem. Hey, we do understand. When high school graduates can't write, can't read, can't do basic math, and can't think logically, we have a problem.
The answer is not pouring increasingly more money into the system and new programs. Heck, we have seen the failures of Terry Grier's constant new programs, demanding more and more money to accomplish less and less. One doesn't have to look at graduation rates and test results to kow that this system is badly broken, and no one knows how to fix it. Mayve we can start by getting rid of expensive "school consultants", and get more teachers into the classroom who want to teach.
Posted on June 29, 2007 12:03 PM
"Christopher's letter exemplifies all that is wrong with public education today. A bunch of academic eggheads spouting a bunch of drivel that they don't think that we, the unwashed masses, understand the problem. Hey, we do understand. When high school graduates can't write, can't read, can't do basic math, and can't think logically, we have a problem."
Amen ORR... Amen!
Posted on June 29, 2007 12:11 PM
As Colonel Potter used to say on MASH -- this LTE is so much Horse Hockey! Schools in the far and near past struggled with the exact same issues as they do now, with far less money, and did far better teaching, training, and acculturating students. Why? Because times were not so PC. How come my parents, and many that they knew, went on to obtain Masters Degrees, MD's, Law Degrees, when their parents were not literate in English, and with no additional assistance from the public purse? Answer -- because the schools and their parents demanded excellence. Read any book on the development of the atomic bomb, and you will see that while emigre Europeans initially provided the theory, locally educated Americans, overwhelmingly from public schools and with ESOL parents, provided the engineering and technical know-how that got the things built. Why do most the kids of most emigres from foreign countries do fine here, even if English is not the primary language? Again, because the parents care, and demand that the kids do the school work. And oh, yes -- just like in generations before, these people want to be here for the opportunity, not for the handouts. We natives, white and black, have forgotten that.
Posted on June 29, 2007 1:35 PM