Posted by Doug W. (long rant) on September 06, 2002 at 18:28:46:
In Reply to: The Swing of the Pendulum posted by Shane Harris on September 05, 2002 at 10:22:22:
I respectfully disagree with your assertion that school will change over time. Not to sound dramatic, but if our society wants change in the schools a revolution is needed. We know how to teach more effectively and make students lifelong learners and develop stuidents into critical consumers of knowledge and create a truly democratic society. The problem with change, however, is that our culture really doesn't want to change.
Yes, there are small pockets that embrace educational improvement, but for the most part our society expects the school to look exactly the same as the school that they attended. Parents had to endure the "drill and Kill" and expect the same torture for their kids. It is like hazing... it is not about learning, but rather, school is a rite of passage which needs to be endured.
In the past, it was acceptable for children to fail school or drop out. Now, it is not. The whole "No child left behind" garbage really is revolutionary if it is sincere.
In the 1990 "Nation at Risk" report, we were rudely awakened to the inadequacies of our schools. Simply stated, we are not preparing our students to be successful in the modern world. This is not unlike the panic our education system was in after the launching of Sputnik in the 60s.
I agree that there is a pendulum swinging to the various degrees of educational panic and priorities. What is not following the panic is action. We whine about low test scores, but rarely do anything about it.
I would sum up or lackluster educational system with one word, Apathy. Students do not take ownership in their education. I also do not believe that this apathy is their fault. They have no choice in their education, which school they attend, and attend classes that a disjunct from their lives. If they are smart enough, good looking enough, and are lucky enough to be born white and wealthy they have a few more opportunities... like to get elected to their schools student government where they have the opprtunity to make some real meaningfull decisions... like what song they should have as the theme to the prom. I honestly believe if students felt that they had some real say in their education, it would mean more to them.
The pendulum will keep swinging from one ineffective reform to another and back again until we, as a society, are willing to forget what school was and is, and try to envision what it can be.