Epidemic of Ignorance - Back-to-school blues.

National Review Online ^ | August 23, 2007 | Victor Davis Hanson

[neverdem]

August 23, 2007, 0:00 a.m.

Epidemic of Ignorance
Back-to-school blues.

By Victor Davis Hanson

Last week I went shopping in our small rural hometown, where my family has attended the same public schools since 1896. Without exception, all six generations of us — whether farmers, housewives, day laborers, business people, writers, lawyers, or educators — were given a good, competitive K-12 education.

But after a haircut, I noticed that the 20-something cashier could not count out change. The next day, at the electronic outlet store, another young clerk could not read — much less explain — the basic English of the buyer’s warranty. At the food market, I listened as a young couple argued over the price of a cut of tri-tip — unable to calculate the meat’s real value from its price per pound.

As another school year is set to get under way, it’s worth pondering where this epidemic of ignorance came from.

Our presidential candidates sense the danger of this dumbing down of American society and are arguing over the dismal status of contemporary education: poor graduation rates, weak test scores, and suspect literacy among the general population. Politicians warn that America’s edge in global research and productivity will disappear, and with it our high standard of living.

Yet the bleak statistics — whether a 70-percent high-school graduation rate as measured in a study a few years ago by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, or poor math rankings in comparison with other industrial nations — come at a time when our schools inflate grades and often honor multiple valedictorians at high school graduation ceremonies. Aggregate state and federal education budgets are high. Too few A’s, too few top awards, and too little funding apparently don’t seem to be our real problems.

Of course, most critics agree that the root causes for our undereducated youth are not all the schools’ fault. Our present ambition to make every American youth college material — in a way our forefathers would have thought ludicrous — ensures that we will both fail in that utopian goal and lack enough literate Americans with critical vocational skills.

The disintegration of the American nuclear family is also at fault. Too many students don’t have two parents reminding them of the value of both abstract and practical learning.

What then can our elementary and secondary schools do, when many of their students’ problems begin at home or arise from our warped popular culture?

We should first scrap the popular therapeutic curriculum that in the scarce hours of the school day crams in sermons on race, class, gender, drugs, sex, self-esteem, or environmentalism. These are well-intentioned efforts to make a kinder and gentler generation more sensitive to our nation’s supposed past and present sins. But they only squeeze out far more important subjects.

The old approach to education saw things differently than we do. Education (“to lead out” or “to bring up”) was not defined as being “sensitive” to, or “correct” on, particular issues. It was instead the rational ability to make sense of the chaotic present through the abstract wisdom of the past.

So literature, history, math and science gave students plenty of facts, theorems, people, and dates to draw on. Then training in logic, language, and philosophy provided the tools to use and express that accumulated wisdom. Teachers usually did not care where all that training led their students politically — only that their pupils’ ideas and views were supported with facts and argued rationally.

What else can we do to restore such traditional learning before the United States loses it global primacy?

To encourage our best minds to become teachers, we should also change the qualifications for becoming one. Students should be able to pursue careers in teaching either by getting a standard teaching credential or by substituting a master’s degree in an academic subject. That way we will eventually end up with more instructors with real academic knowledge rather than prepped with theories about how to teach.

And once hired, K-12 teachers should accept that tenure has outlived its usefulness. Near-guaranteed lifelong employment has become an archaic institution that shields educators from answerability. And tenure has not ensured ideological diversity and independence. Nearly the exact opposite — a herd mentality — presides within many school faculties. Periodic and renewable contracts — with requirements, goals and incentives — would far better ensure teacher credibility and accountability.

Athletics, counseling and social activism may be desirable in schools. But they are not crucial. Our pay scales should reflect that reality. Our top classroom teachers should earn as much as — if not more than — administrators, bureaucrats, coaches, and advisers.

Liberal education of the type my farming grandfather got was the reason why the United States grew wealthy, free, and stable. But without it, the nation of his great-grandchildren will become poor, docile, and insecure.

© 2007 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

[Pyncho]

You sound like a great, well-educated teacher. It sounds, though, like you agree with my point about a pervasive motivation crisis across the entire school system. I don’t see this changing unless and until we jetisson self-esteem in favor of mastering certain thresholds at each level. Miss a threshold, and you fail, not pass.

[RC2]

Isn’t this amazing. This country raised some pretty good kids in the past. When the school systems decided to change the way they taught, things went to hell in hand basket. Look at the 40’ & 50’s.........go back to that method of teaching and you will see a big change in the kids. Get rid of the trouble makers also.

[Gabz]

Ping

[too much time]

I know...give a kid some odd change and watch them look at you like you are from another planet. The calculator/computer generation.

The gifted teacher at my kids' school says that calculators are not necessary because this generation will have disposable calculators when they are adults. UGH!!! Trust me, "Reform Math" is a huge problem and the silly education institutions producing "educratic teachers" and administrators are the instigators.

[Gabz]

The calculator/computer generation.

My 9yo barely knows how to use a calculator. She calculates change in her head, and sometimes on her fingers (she is only 9.)

[dan1123]

Of course, most critics agree that the root causes for our undereducated youth are not all the schools’ fault.

I take it this man hasn't seen a modern math textbook then. Hit complaints are mainly about literacy and basic math, which the schools should have easily drilled into students' heads by age 10. Yet schools dropped phoenix because some students would learn to read too fast and leave the slower students behind. Then they did the same with math. Instead of teaching principles, they teach one-offs so no student can get too far ahead. Don't teach general rules and principles, teach words and special case cute number exercises. If schools would STOP holding back the bright students, maybe by highschool graduation they would be employable.

[too much time]

If schools would STOP holding back the bright students, maybe by highschool graduation they would be employable.

But that wouldn't be FAIR. (whine, whine)

[Billthedrill]

Making change is only necessary if you're using cash. Mental subtraction is only necessary if you don't have a calculator. Reading is only necessary if the stuff you want communicated doesn't come in video form. Breathing is only necessary for those who can't afford an iron lung.

There is ignorance that is the result of lack of opportunity, and ignorance that is the result of laziness and the luxury to do without knowledge. They're not the same. The former can be cured by providing more opportunity, but the latter can't.

[ModelBreaker]

Parents... They’re the ones with the influence to make children believe in education.... They’re the ones who can ensure the kids do homework... They’re the ones who feel entitled to world class education in a system that pays its teachers abysmal salaries..... They’re the ones who scream bloody murder if their “baby” gets a B.....

Actually, most public school parents are homeschooling their kids without realizing it. I went to school in the 50's and 60's. We hardly had homework until high school. Today, first graders come home with an hour or two of homework every night. Yet, I got a better education than kids are getting today. Hmmmm. Something is wrong here.

What I think has happened is that the schools have put the easy stuff (indoctrination, self-esteem) during the day and send the actual learning home in the form of homework. Parents end up homeschooling without even knowing it because the teachers aren't doing their jobs. Parents don't realize that they need to teach the basics because they aren't being taught at school and so their expectations of their role in homework is off. Result, a lot of parents do a bad job doing the job the teachers ought to be doing.

In addition, many teachers are ignorant (I use that word precisely) of their subjects. We had an exchange student this year who I had to help with homework. Some of the "facts" and "guidance" from his teachers would have been screamers, were they not so pathetic. Did you know, for example, that the Spanish-American war was an example of American paranoia of communism? That from an 11th grade History teacher. My last history course was more than 30 years ago and I was a techie, not a history major. Yet, I know more about American History than that history teacher. I could give you equally ridiculous examples from other subjects--high school English teachers who don't know what a triple run-on sentence is etc. Something is wrong and it's not the parents.

Another thing, have you noticed that a very high percentage of pre-teens today are vegetarians? Are they getting that from their parents? Probably not. I'm almost sure it's bambi-style indoctrination from the schools. Something is wrong and it's not the parents.

Frankly, public school teachers are not getting anywhere near my son. That's why we homeschool. My wife and I do better in our spare time than trained "professionals" do with more than 6 hours a day.

As to your comment about salary, recent studies have shown that, adjusted for the fact that they get the summer off, teachers are right in the middle of the pack, salary-wise.

The education establishment's (teachers included) only solution to the problem is "we want more money." Well, we are spending more than twice per pupil in real dollars on K-12 in America than we did in 1970. Has it gotten us anything? Well, yes. A crappy education system. When the school systems can show they are ready to spend my money wisely and not toss it down a PC rathole, then I would consider providing more money and not until then.

The principal way in which parents are to blame for the education mess is that they have not pulled their children out of government schools. They tolerate an utterly unacceptable level of service from the administrations and the teachers and delude themselves that more money will fix the problem. So they vote for the tax increase and wonder why their children still can't spell.

[shag377]

Thank you for the kind compliment. I agree with you 100%, but the touchy-feely feel good about themselves bunch claim that retention does much more damage to the student than promoting them.

I fail to see how promoting them until they drop out is helping, but then again, I am not in touchy-feely bunch. My kids are told you don’t do the work, you fail. You fail, you don’t graduate. Period.

They still don’t get it, but you don’t learn what hot means until you burn yourself.

[vetsvette]

“As another school year is set to get under way, it’s worth pondering where this epidemic of ignorance came from.”

It came from the reality that educated, thinking individuals are not likely to vote to give up their freedoms in favor of higher taxes and a nanny state Government. Something HAD to be done.

[Gabz]

I am, as a teacher, capable of so much before the student must take some responsibility for their learning. It is here that the line falls sharply and the author of the piece gets it.

I agree, however, some of that responsibility must also fall on the parents, particularly in the lower grades.

I'm one of the lucky ones, our daughter is bright and loves school, however there is still the nightly battle over homework, particularly math and spelling. "But I know this, why do I have to do it again?" is a very frequent lament at the dining room table, which is where she does her homework.

[polymuser]

We’ve got some McGuffey Readers and a mid-1900’s copy of the American Citizen’s Handbook (by the N.E.A.). That America exists no longer in our public schools, N.E.A. or government. The hard decline began in the later 1950’s. Discipline exerted by Godly American men is, IMO, the only hope.

[TruthConquers]

This bears repeating:

“The principal way in which parents are to blame for the education mess is that they have not pulled their children out of government schools. They tolerate an utterly unacceptable level of service from the administrations and the teachers and delude themselves that more money will fix the problem. So they vote for the tax increase and wonder why their children still can’t spell.”

That says it all.

[RavenATB]

“I am, as a teacher, capable of so much before the student must take some responsibility for their learning. It is here that the line falls sharply and the author of the piece gets it.”

Since you are such a bright and capable teacher, let’s not try to reduce a national problem down to the personal level...okay?

There are, most certainly, good teachers in the public education system. As a former public school teacher, I’ve known many good teachers.

However, I’ve also known teachers who bragged about having taught for three decades without ever updating their original lesson plans. I’ve listened to teachers encourage middle school students to be “open-minded” about sex, regardless what their parents tell them. I’ve also known tenured teachers who would have nearly as hard a time making change for a dollar as the kids VDH describes in this editorial.

The point is that while there are good teachers in the public school system, there are also a number of truly horrible teachers. And, the system works to protect the bad teachers just the same as it does to protect the good ones. If you’re an NEA member the union you pay dues to works to keep you on the same pay level as the most incompetent tenured teacher at your school.

While parents certainly are a significant part of the problem with our failing public education system, the “system” is no less at fault.

I would suggest that any teacher who truly cares about the best interest of children would work to change those factors which are within his/her power to affect. Show us that the teachers care enough about the kids to toss their union, abolish tenure, and start advocating for teacher testing that truly measures capability.

Once teachers have cleaned their own house Americans will be much more open to their complaints about parents.

[mysterio]

I went to public schools and got a great education and went on to college. Why? Because my parents pushed me. Others do not get a good education because the parents do not push them.

Our schools work. Like most other things, it all depends on the motivation of the individual to succeed.

[BlessedMom92]

“...required new teachers to have real academic majors before getting a teaching credential.......”

Bingo. I would apply this to Journalism majors also. They’re frought with the same shortcomings that teachers are. I’ve increasingly come to the conclusion that journalism is a worthless major. It’s increasingly painfully obvious that most journalists are extremely ignorant about the things they write about. If you teach a subject, you should have to major in that subject. If you write about geo-politics, science, economics and finance, etc. THOSE should be the msjors.....not journalism. Journalism, at best, should be a minor.

And I agree with VDH (always do), that we need to cut the touchy-feely hogwash out of the school curriculum.

[Kay Ludlow]

Naturally the only touches on the biggest problem in the rest of his diatribe....

Parents...

I don't disagree that there are many problem parents, who don't encourage reading and math as worthy goals.

On the other hand, the education system sabotages parents efforts by using programs like Whole Language ("at school we're supposed to look at the words and the pictures to see what the words mean") and Math Investigations ("show three ways to get the answer to this math problem, your answer cannot be numerical"). Many schools don't provide books to take home for the homework, just "dittos" with problems that are incomprehensible to anyone who knows how to do basic math. Too many homework assignments are not designed to practice skills learned in class, but to promote other agendas ("ask your grandparents if they've ever been discriminated against"). Schools no longer consider it appropriate to contact the parent if the child isn't doing well in school (or misbehaving) - all work goes into the Portfolio, which is saved at school and provided to the new teacher next year. How can we expect parents to help their children be successful that way? My kids, and my nephews, had all these 'modern teaching' programs. I actually had some myself back in elementary school in the 60's, where we got New Math. I distinctly recall second grade, where we had math problems like " o + * = ? " - what I got out of that was nothing. They said it was teaching "algebra readiness", but 2nd graders don't need to learn abstract equations, they need to learn sums! I still count on my fingers, I still use bizarre estimating methods on basic multiplication, because I never had to learn basic math in school, and my parents were told not to confuse me by teaching it. New Math died when enough of us got to High School and couldn't do algebra because we couldn't do basic math - being able to do proofs does not provide a numerical answer on the SAT's. I was very disheartened to hear they've brought New Math back with a vengeance in our school district.

No, parents are far from the only problem.

[Gabz]

If schools would STOP holding back the bright students, maybe by highschool graduation they would be employable.

I went rounds on this argument with the school district "administrators" when my daughter was in 2nd grade (she starts 4th in 2 weeks.) I was told the bright kids need to stay with the rest of the class in order to help the less bright students. My husband's reaction was "So where is her paycheck?"

I got no where with the bureaucrats and so I took my issue to the school board and reminded them that No Child Left Behind means NO CHILD, including the bright ones.......I also go no where.

One of the bureaucrats actually whined to my daughters teacher asking how she could get "this bored housewife off my back." That poor bureaucrat (with a gazillion letters behind her name) didn't stand a chance, she didn't realize that not only was the teacher on my side, so was the principal, and they were the ones that sicced me on her!!!!

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Parents have to teach kids the skills that school will not.