Would this be the plan written by Sen Kennedy? No mention of him, of course.
Would this be the plan written by Sen Kennedy? No mention of him, of course.
Oops, forgot the no.
Of course, in the present situation, the transition would in itself create chaos. But the fact remains that in every other profession, the front line professionals make the decisions, and it is the support and admin people say "Yes Sir! Yes Sir! Yes Sir!"
Great article.
I'm a quitter! This is the second stress-free August in a row for me now. I left the classroom for the R&D community and haven't looked back.
I taught chemistry for four years right out of college and had quite an education in the state of education. Namely, that high standards and sanity are mutually exclusive.
For four years, administrators attempted to tell me there was no such thing as a right answer while, at the same time, bragging to the community about their "high standards". I couldn't mark down for spelling because it wasn't an English class. I couldn't mark down for math because it wasn't a math class. (I also couldn't teach either skill remedially for the same reasons.) It was such a charade. Games. Politics. Money.
I won't bore you with volumes of stories, but mass schooling deserves to die. It serves no one except power-hungry simpletons who reign over their feifdoms with delusions of omnipotence. The sooner the "best and brightest" leave, the better. Anything that hastens the fall of the status quo is a blessing in disguise.
The few teachers that were universally respected at my school were truly masters of their field, and were posessed of a great and obvious love of learning for its own sake. Yes, they tested us, but those tests were merely the measure of how well we had internalized the knowledge (not merely the data) we had received from them. The best-loved teacher at my high school taught 11th grade American History; he was a grizzled World War Two bomber pilot who would often regale us with hilarious war stories of questionable authenticity during class. But make no mistake: Mr. M had an encyclopedic knowledge of American history, and his way of teaching it was Socratic -- questions were encouraged, alternative viewpoints explored, and discussion of historical issues were frequent. Mr. M also made no bones about where he stood on those issues: he believed in God, the USA, and in decent, civilized behavior. He called all his students his “little Tigers” (our school mascot is the Bengal Tiger) and we loved him dearly. If he's still alive I hope he's enjoying a well-deserved rest; if he's gone on to be with the Lord, I know he'll be judged worthy. They don't make 'em like Mr. Frank M. anymore.
Another problem at our school was the cult of athetics. Now, I have worked in the sorts field for most of my career, and I played football and volleyball myself while in school, but the civic religion that high school football has become here in Texas is embarassing and detrimental. Athletes (especially football players) my school were treated as demigods who could do no wrong: their grades were fudged, their peccadilloes overlooked, and their programs and facilities lavishly funded. The excuse of sports as being physical education was a joke; those not on the various teams were subjected to the horror of ”P.E.”, universally regarded as a waste of time by coaches and students alike.
The educational process is broken in this country. Neither the Prussian system nor the Dewey system is suitable for educating children for the modern world. I'm no expert, but to my mind it's time we shut down the education mills and adopted a system that takes into account the psychological status of children at the various stages of their development.
Here's my Rx for education:
1. Stern discipline at all levels, including uniforms, formations, and regular inspections. Kids have a deep psychological need for order, discipline and routine.
2. Elementary education: Concentrate on the basics. Rote memorization of multiplication tables, literature, and basic historical data; a ruthless and thorough program of reading, writing, and arithemetical education; and plenty of hearty outdoor play. The establishment of routines, an insistence on good behavior, and a grounding in the basic disciplines of rational thought are just what elementary-age students need. (Outdoor play toughens the kids to the weather and helps them to burn off all that childhood energy -- resulting in a more peaceful classroom).
3. For junior-high aged kids, keep the discipline but expand the learning, building upon the basics. In place of outdoor play, establish a system of intramural individual competition in boxing, karate, stickfighting, and other martial arts to maintain student physical fitness while allowing students to express their natural aggressions in a positive way.
(All interscholastic sports programs are eliminated. Each municipality instead creates an all-city team, with players chosen on the basis of merit from all schools, to compete against other cities' teams.)
Serious education in Western thought is the emphasis at this level. Students are required to read, understand, and recite from the great works of Western thought and literature here, with emphasis on Greek natural philosophy (Plato, Aristotle), Western philosophy (Augustine, Aquinas, Occam, Descartes, etc.) and English-language poetry (Shakespeare and the King James Bible especially). The study of Greek and Latin begins here, as does foreign-language study; students pick a language in 7th grade, then spend their summer vacations living among the population of the foreign country that speaks their chosen language in order to develop fluency.
The students begin to receive serious, practical instruction in the arts and crafts at this level: drawing from life is emphasized along with other basic skills. All students are required to learn to play a musical instrument as well.
4. High school: Here education flowers. Instead of classrooms, students are divided into cohorts -- groups of five students who work, study, and play together. These cohorts meet with teachers on an individual basis in a natural environment -- a circle of chairs, out on the school grounds, or in other appropriate environments -- to read for them (a la Cambridge or Oxford) and to engage in Socratic dialog.
Advanced mathematics, history, and literature courses are offered at this level, as well as coursework in logic, rhetoric, and cross-examimnation debate, with prizes being awarded both on an individual and cohort basis for students who excel. The classics of Greek, Latin, and other Western literatures are studied and recited; and students begin to seriously examine modern Western thought (Pascal, Hegel, Ricardo, Smith, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Marx, Mill, Dewey, etc.)
Cohorts compete as a team in an intramural athletic league to build teamwork, fighting spirit and stamina; during summer breaks, cohorts and individual students train for real-world skills: wilderness survival and fieldcraft (first summer); automobile, small sailcraft and light aircraft piloting, maintenance and repair (second summer), and an elective course in the third summer break that leads to certification in a skilled trade (paramedic, dental hygeine, emergency search and rescue, or heating/ventilation/air conditioner repair, among others). Students may also opt for military training (see below).
Arts education is expanded at this level, with students gaining actual experience in drawiing, painting, and handicrafts, including woodworking, sculpture, and other plastic arts. Advanced-level couses in music are required as well, with students competing by cohorts in a mid-year musical competition or joining as individuals in a Student Orchestra and Chorus.
During the last semester of 12th grade, students are relentlessly examined on a one-on-one basic by the teachers of each subject; if, by the end of these oral exams, the teacher is convinced that the student has truly learned and understood the material, the student passes that subject. Students who pass all subjects graduate with honor and receive a Diploma First-Class; those who pass some and fail others merely graduate, and are awarded a Diploma; those who do not pass any subjects receive a Certificate of Completion but do not graduate or receive a diploma at all.
5. Students stay with their age-mates at all times. No one is held back by reason of academic failure. Students who fail to learn the required material are encouraged by the teammates to do their utmost (in order to avoid hurting a cohort's cumulative scores). At age 18 all students leave the school, whether they have learned anything or not.
6. At each level, students and teachers are governed by an ironclad Code of Conduct. The penalties for violation of the Code range from detention to whipping to expulsion from the school. Violent behavior on the part of students or teachers will result in their dismissal from school.
7. Discipline is enforced by the students themselves, at the cohort level and by a schoolwide Student Corps and Court. Commanded by a teacher and composed of student volunteers, the Corps patrols the school property, enforces order, and acts as officers of the Student Court; the Court consists of teacher/judge who hears defenses of students accused of violating the Code and hands down judgements in each case. The Corps is also responsibile for basic military education and training.
All this done well, and we will have a system whereby motivated children are educated to read, write, calculate, draw, argue effectively, quote from the classics, speak, read and write a foreign tongue in addition to Latin and Greek, shoot a gun, dig a latrine, fight (hand to hand or with weapons), play an musical instrument,learn the rudimients of a useful trade, appreciate art, bind a wound, and work as an individual or as a team to achieve a goal. They will, in short, become fully human beings, ready to work and learn in the real world, ready to lead families, businesses, and nations into the future.
I'd also recommend same-sex education throughout -- but that's another rant.