LearningReImagined

I was struck today by 3 separate pieces in the ASCD SmartBrief related to my last two posts and the front page of the site. School systems vigorously resist change despite the energy of well-intentioned people. These articles represent the same old pap we’ve done for such a long time—chase our tails (or run on the hamster wheel) wasting time (a scarce and unrenewable resource for educators), creativity, and hope on such insolence.  Take, for example, Research questions the value of graduation tests. I doubt that this is the first first time this has been researched and I doubt that it will be the last. AND WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? We are losing tons of kids and staff and our world-class learning and we damn well better get beyond this idiocy and begin thinking beyond the school and the system. The problem with reform is that we are working on a dead model that will not change (as evidenced by these articles) so we need to forget reform and invent something brand new based on new assumptions. 

My god almighty I think this question has been studied ad infinitum (et nauseam) for at least the 40 or so years I’ve been around education: Are social promotions the best answer for struggling students?. Aren’t there any new, more profound questions we can ask instead of this thread-bare question? How about this one: how can we make schools hospitable for learners? Or this one: how could we take the money that supports the “education system” now and channel it differently? How about this: what is it we want to create that brings joy, excitement, and life into learning?

I know I haven’t summarized Dolan’s work yet as I said I would, but one of the points he makes is that the education system as it now is is unable to learn from itself. So this appears and I think isn’t this what happened to the various merit pay schemes? And in how many other districts is this an issue?  S.C. district ends bonuses for nationally certified teachers. So much for rewarding professionals or for providing an incentive for board certification and the system helping build a profession. 

Finally, the sad truth about how the society supports (not) schools and learning. Minnesota district to shorten school week to make ends meet. This, too, is a perennial problem that we have chosen to ignore. What kind of a system could we create to keep schools from this kind of drought? How could we insulate schools more from the mountains and valleys that we experience every year?  How can you build any enterprise if it always in crisis?

I am amazed continually by our lack of courage, inventiveness, and the good ol’ American spirit with regard to doing what we know is in our national interest: preparing intelligent, articulate citizens for our democratic society. 

Tomorrow: Dolan and a look at the system.