|
 I have three girls in school and I'm continually appalled at the cookie-cutter mentality guiding the system. If my school was the exception, I'd simply remove them and put them in a more appropriate environment, but that's not the case. To be fair, the school board isn't totally to blame. Bush's "No Child Left Behind Act" caused so much damage to education that the US is now lagging behind all industrialized nations. In other words, we're becoming stoopider! (Uh, by the way, I misspelled that last word on purpose--just so you know.)
So, I have a suggestion. If you like it, pass it on. For that matter, pass this article on. Maybe, if we have a big enough groundswell, we can actually do something to fix the dumbing down of America.
The problem is simple: the educational system wants everyone to be on the same intellectual level. It won't happen. It'll never happen. People are not the same intellectually, and our society should not only recognize this fact but celebrate it. If a child cannot compete intellectually, it doesn't mean that child won't succeed in this world. And perhaps that's one of the root philosophical problems.
Someone, somewhere, decided to measure success by some arbitrary intellectual standard, when success is truly a personal measurement. Ducks don't climb trees and fish don't fly, but who decided they had to? Success for a MRDD is different than success for an intellectual. Success for a farmer/rancher is different than success for a wall street banker. Each can be equally "successful" if success is measured by contentment. Ducks are happy when they do what they're designed to do, but they'd be miserable failures if they were expected to climb trees. Fish are happy swimming, but they'd never learn to fly no matter how many times they were dropped from tree branches and told to do so. Success and happiness often boils down to being good at something--and that's what schools should be accentuating.
We need a complete overhaul of the educational system so that our children can find their own concept of success. Give ducks the tools they need to fly, fish, waddle, etc. more effectively. Give fish the tools they need to compete with other fish. Instead of deciding that everyone must pass an I'm-good-at-everything test to prove worthy of graduation, why not allow students to advance in their subject modules as far as they are capable of advancing? Why not give students a "certificate of achievement" which lists the modules they have successfully achieved?
How would this work?
- Instead of grades, classes would be arranged by modules: English, History, Math, Art, etc. This sounds like our existing school system, doesn't it? It's not. These modules become subsequently more difficult.
- Upon entry into elementary school, all students would begin on the same module.
- This wouldn't require additional teachers, since the subject module system incorporates all ages in a classroom.
- There would be no more grades (I'm referring to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, et al grades). Advancement would refer only to modules.
- A teacher would serve as lecturer and tutor for each 4 or 8 week subject module.
- To minimize disruption when a student completes a whole year of a subject early, the school would have to teach only one subject each hour (i.e. only math modules from 9-9:45; only english modules from 10:15-11:00, etc.).
- As soon as the student completes a subject module, s/he begins the next one. A student who has problems in math, may need the entire 8 weeks (or more) to complete the math module, while simultaneously excelling in english and completing a module in 2 weeks. Because there are no grades, a 12 year old might potentially be in a subject module with 17 and 18 year olds.
- In a module system, a student could potentially stay in the school system beyond their 18th year, if they so chose. Instead of a "graduation," students would have certificates of completion indicating how high they advanced in their modules.
- If we took this idea to it's natural conclusion, PSEO and Advanced Placement classes could be offered to students of any age once they completed the minimum pre-college requirements.
There would be a few kinks to work out -- especially if a student is caught between buildings for some of the modules (i.e. 5th grade english and 9th grade math, for example)--but I imagine these would be easy to resolve if the schools were motivated to put this type of system in place.
The module system would allow advanced students to excel and work at a faster pace. It would provide internal and external encouragement for average students to compete. Lastly, it would give slower students the time, tutoring and attention they need to advance as far as they are capable. This allows students to "be all they can be" to quote the old Army slogan.
The current school system emphasizes all the wrong things. The number of hours a student is required to sit in a classroom is irrelevant to the amount of learning taking place, yet schools will fail even an A student if that student misses too many days. Why? Because the emphasis isn't upon learning or achievement but upon an arbitrary number of hours. It teaches a student to be idle and intellectually lazy. It teaches students to value attendance over attention. It teaches that there is no reward for working faster. For that matter, it's better to plod along because it allievates the boredom of just sitting there.
We must, absolutely MUST, take back the school system if we want our country to be the world leader it used to be. |
