Volunteer To Help Educate America About Education

The big problem is that even the country's leaders-- the best and brightest, the movers and shakers in business, politics and the community-- do NOT grasp what is happening inside the public schools.

The urgent need is to educate Americans about American education, so the country can stop being the victims of bad policies.

Why are there so many methods that don't work as promised? Can anyone answer that basic question? Try to find even one doctor, lawyer, stock broker, mayor, or business exec who can explain why sight-words are kid-killers; why New Math and Reform Math are so harmful; why Constructivism is a pretentious and destructive fad; why Self-Esteem is counter-productive; etc.

Our public schools are burdened by dozens of flawed methods. Understanding the flaws is the first step to getting rid of them.

Consider volunteering one hour each week, whenever you feel like it, to learn more about what's gone wrong. No pay but you'll have fun. You'll soon be able to explain the flaws in the system to others. How else are we going to turn this thing around?

Education topics are often made deliberately murky and confusing. But the articles recommended here are lucid, to-the-point, and can be read in less than 20 minutes, with time left over to follow up on links and related articles. Ask a friend to read the same material; argue the ideas back and forth. Take your time. This can be an exciting journey. The goal is to get people talking; and thereby save the schools.

1) READING-- WHY DO WE HAVE 50,000,000 FUNCTIONAL ILLITERATES? Almost nobody learns to read by memorizing words as graphic designs. Trying to do this impossible task leads to illiteracy, dyslexia, and behavioral problems. Pushing phonics out of the public schools...

...is arguably the greatest crime in American history. Here's the quickest way to find out what happened: "42: Reading Resources" (on Improve-Education.org).

2) MATH-- WHY CAN'T CHILDREN MASTER BASIC ARITHMETIC? New Math circa 1965 and Reform Math (umbrella term for about a dozen curricula) circa 1985 employ the same improbable gimmick- making children learn advanced, almost college-level material mixed in with elementary material. Spiraling (moving unpredictably from one topic to another) is encouraged, as is reliance on calculators. Mastery, however, is actually discouraged. There is constant chatter about thinking mathematically; but children don't learn to do basic arithmetic. The simplest explanation of this malpractice is "36: The Assault on Math" (all articles on Improve-Education.org).

3) CONSTRUCTIVISM- WHY IS THIS EMPTY FAD ALLOWED TO RUN WILD? The theory is that teachers shouldn't teach; they should merely prod and nudge. Children must invent their own new knowledge (in all subjects). Take a simple piece of knowledge: Paris is the capital of France. How will a child ever invent this? What happens in practice is that the teacher maneuvers the child into finding this fact. The problem is that Constructivism takes a lot of extra time and is simply not a practical way to learn all the foundational knowledge the children must learn ASAP in their early grades. For a deconstruction of this fad, see "34: The Con in Constructivism."

4) MEMORIZATION-- WHY IS THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT HOSTILE TO LEARNING FACTS? Ever since the time of John Dewey, there has been a relentless attack on asking children to learn and retain basic information. That's why children can reach high school and not know where Idaho is on a map. The whole point of school since the beginning of time was to give children broad general knowledge so they can move on to a deeper study of history, science, art, literature, etc. For an analysis of this anti-intellectual prejudice, see "45: The Crusade Against Knowledge -- The Campaign Against Memory."

5) LEARNING STYLES-- ANOTHER FAD THAT MAY HAVE NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS SO WHY IS IT ALLOWED TO CONFUSE THOUSANDS OF CLASSROOMS? This pedagogical method is used to justify creating categories of children - some are X, some are Y, and some are Z. You have to set up alternate classroom techniques, teacher training, textbooks, etc. Learning Styles is also a way of blaming the school's failure on the children. Schools say, in effect, "Your child is failing due to a defect- his learning style is W-X. Children like that tend to be slow." See "51: Learning Styles: How Educators Divide and Conquer."

6) INEFFICIENT TEACHING-- WHY DOES IT SEEM THAT ALL THE MOST POPULAR METHODS TEND TO BE DREADFULLY INEFFICIENT... There really is a science here; it's called ergonomics, human engineering or, often, common sense. If the Education Establishment were interested in what actually works, they would stage elaborate comparative testing to find the best ideas. They don't do this. Our top educators seem all too comfortable with ideological goals, not excellence. See "49: How Do We Learn? How Should We teach? And Why Do Experts Always Get It Wrong?"

Note the same pattern in these six discussions. An over-hyped sophistry, with heavy doses of jargon and deception, can destroy education.

Consider Self-Esteem as a final example. It sounds harmless but think about what happens in the average classroom. No matter what you try to teach, some children won't get it. They'll feel badly about themselves; their self-esteem is damaged; and that can't be allowed. So the teacher has to shrink what is taught. And shrink it again.

Just imagine how these bad ideas, as the weeks and months go by, will produce a horrific downward synergism. It's called dumbing-down.

All the referenced material is on Improve-Education.org . Or just Google the titles.

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