Educational Experimentation, II

[This started as a response to another comment. It tripped the filters, though, since it grew too long. Thus I am putting it up as a separate post.]

@ [Name] -- I appreciate your comment.

1) You are right that my anecdotal stories are not statistically significant. Just because my classmates were ill-prepared, it doesn't mean that all elementary education majors are idiots. I did not mean to imply otherwise, but I can see how it came across that way, and I apologize, less perfunctorily and more sincerely this time.

2) My second grade teacher was amazing. My fifth grade teacher was incompetent. (And I don't mean she couldn't handle me--I mean she couldn't handle the fifth grade spelling words and math problems she was supposed to teach. I rescued her many times with a tactful "question" which steered her in the right direction.)

How did a woman who couldn't do fifth grade math and spelling pass her college classes? How did she get hired to teach the subjects she couldn't do herself?

It is not fair to extrapolate from the above example that all second grade teachers are marvelous and all fifth grade teachers are morons. My specific fifth grade teacher, though, didn't belong in the classroom. Her love of children and her coursework were not enough to prepare her for the realities on the ground.

The previous post was not trying to fix every part of the educational system. I did not address remediation, acceleration, IQ, creativity, social problems, Common Core, standardized testing, disabilities, extracurricular activities, field trips, disciplinary policies, teacher turn-over, vouchers, or charter schools.

I was trying to make a narrow point about our system for recruiting, screening, and training teachers. I don't think I need to prove that our colleges of education are broken; the article and the study it referenced did that for me.

My stories merely illustrate the point.

3) You are also right that my children are outliers. Public schools are generally designed to handle the middle of the population: the mean +/- one (maybe two) standard deviation(s). In most places I've lived, which were admittedly middle- or upper-middle class, they did a reasonable job at that goal.

4) Other than a quick mention that the entire paradigm is ossified, I was not attacking the public school system--at least, not in this post. Again, I was criticizing the way we recruit, screen, and train teachers. That happens primarily in colleges of education and has little to do with the actual public schools. (In fact, the point of the article was that there was such a large disconnect between the two systems.)

You'll note that in my ten points, only the last two deal with what happens after the teacher is in place--and they are supportive of the teacher.

5) I am okay with the idea that middle and high school teachers need to be more specialized than elementary teachers. A second grade teacher may not need to have double-majored in education and another field. (S)he should still be adequately prepared to teach second grade material, though, and have a plan for how to handle exceptional students. (S)he should also have practical skills in classroom management. College education courses could do a much better job of supporting positive outcomes.

6) I don't "repulsively shun" the public schools. Over many years, I have tried public, private, charter, and homeschool options. Some years I have enrolled one child while homeschooling another. There is never a "perfect" answer; I just do the best I can to balance each child's needs each year.

There are many fine schools and excellent teachers out there.

7) In America, we have a myth that we can solve any problem simply by throwing resources at it. For decades, our education budgets have out-spent most other countries per capita without solving some fundamental problems.

Lots of efforts have been made to reform the system from within, to no avail. I believe that real reform will need to start from outside and compete. (Admittedly that hasn't worked very well for charter schools, but then charter schools are still greatly hampered by regulations.)

Here is another illustration. You suggested I put my talents to work for the public schools. I tried, I really did. When one son was in second grade, I held several meetings with the staff of his elementary school about his special needs. (He is profoundly gifted at math and also ADD.)

I didn't expect a second grade teacher to instruct my son in algebra. I got enormously frustrated, though, when the staff at the school (vice principal, psychologist, classroom teacher, and specialist teachers) all assured me that his needs would be met, but then parked him in a corner playing Monopoly. I was even more frustrated when they denied there was a problem--and rejected my repeated offers to be part of the solution.

I suggested that they let him read a book during math time and just trust me to handle his math instruction at home. They declined. I suggested that he could do independent study at his desk. I could send in worksheets and grade them at home. They declined. (Though that suggestion probably would not have worked; he was very distractible and might simply have stared off into space the entire time.)

At one point, I begged them to allow me to come to the school for an hour a day, pull him aside, and handle his math instruction myself. Failing that, I could volunteer in the classroom as a general aide and just try to keep an eye on my son during math time. They declined.

For a variety of social reasons, I wanted very much to keep my son enrolled at the public school. Their refusal to work with me made that impossible. I am not angry at any of the staff, but I recognize that the current paradigm makes internal innovation difficult.

I had a similar experience when another son was enrolled at a charter school. The charter school had been in the works for years, promising innovation, parental involvement, creativity, and a freedom from "teaching to the test." They wanted every family to be involved in building a great educational community.

A week after the school opened, the administration announced that, because of complicated student privacy rules and the expense of running background checks, there could be NO parent volunteers in the classroom.

Throughout the year, they also sent out apologetic notices about how the kids would be completing Yet Another Big Test in compliance with state law.

Yes, these experiences are anecdotal, but they led me to believe that reform from within is virtually impossible.

Khan academy, MOOCs, homeschool movements, and other initiatives are starting to compete with the public school systems. Not all of them will work, but some of them will flourish and effect important changes. (Hence my petri dish analogy.)

I understand that this drives teachers crazy, and I sympathize. Nevertheless, as a matter of conscience, I honestly believe that I will do more good as a "disruptive innovator" from outside the system. In the long run, I think that homeschooling my children and debating educational policy will benefit society more than "supporting" the local school and its accompanying paradigm. This is especially true when the local schools don't court my contributions, merely my compliance.

Thanks again for your thoughtful comments.

Gail