Overhaul of U.S. education law sought

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Charlotte Observer

WASHINGTON - Saying the current rules are failing kids, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and a group of Democratic senators led by U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan plan to introduce a set of education reforms that would move away from rigid testing and toward flexibility for local school districts.

Congress is four years overdue for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as ESEA, which offers a slate of regulations and funding for K-12 education.

Part of the push is to revamp No Child Left Behind, the landmark Bush-era legislation that focused on closing the achievement gap for minority children. No Child Left Behind has been lambasted by parents and educators as too narrowly focused on testing.

"No Child Left Behind has created a system that punishes failure over rewarding success," said Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat who, along with U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, helped lead the months-long effort to develop the principles. "Rather than tightening our grip, we will set clear and ambitious goals and support local efforts to achieve them," Bennet said.



Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/03/03/2105988/overhaul-of-us-education-law-sought.html

[mike_c]

1. even Arne Duncan is right when he disses NCLB....

I worry about the fine print in Arne's reform proposals, however.

[enlightenment]

8. I am suspicious of anything Duncan supports.

I agree about the fine print.

[Lasher]

2. Current rules are not failing US kids.

30 years of neoliberal economic policy is what has failed us, kids and all. And more neoliberalism is going to give us more of the same. If you want to change rules, give every US citizen a free education, K through 4 years of college.

[Newest Reality]

3. A true education

is about much more than training to pass tests. One can consider knowing about diverse subjects, hands-on experience, thinking skills, and creativity as important factors when educating a young mind.

To me, creativity is a significant factor concerning the application of intelligence. You can know about the permutations of a given set of variables or items, but being able to combine them in new and useful ways is creative. It is a hallmark of our adaptability as a species and essential to our survival considering our frail nature compared to other animals.

Development is also enhanced when a love for learning is inculcated and curiosity is encouraged. Innate capacities are brought forward and strengthened by the proper environment and techniques. When learning becomes nothing more than tedious, by-rote efforts to produce scores we all are impacted negatively in the end.

If we teach children to simply think what we tell them to and to think only our thoughts, then they will not be poised and ready to adapt, change and grapple with the rather dynamic future of flux and chaos ahead. They will have their inherent adaptability stifled, muted and they will only be prepared to be servile drones for a dominant empire of controllers.

[Psephos]

5. Spot on.

Unfortunately, our current credential-driven approach snuffs out creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and love of learning in a majority of those forced to endure it.

Lack of money is not the problem, and applying more of the same old approaches will not yield the solution.

[Newest Reality]

6. Agreed. Thanks for your response!

The methodology has been deliberately taking children down a specific path for decades. You can read-up on the subject and form your own conclusions. It appears that the problem is both systemic and intentional.

Years ago, I read several books on this subject. I think this one is relevant to the issues at hand and I recommend reading it for greater illumination on what's behind the curtain:

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/

"The deliberate dumbing down of America is a chronological history of the past 100+ years of education reform. Each chapter takes a period of history and recounts the significant events, including important geopolitical and societal contextual information. Citations from government plans, policy documents, and key writings by leading reformers record the rise of the modern education reform movement. Americans of all ages will welcome this riveting expose of what really happened to what was once the finest education system in the world."

[Psephos]

9. Great link - thanks. I just downloaded the ebook. :) n/t

[Newest Reality]

11. Good!

I have been wondering if that link deserves a thread. It appears that throwing more light on the subject would be apropos in these times. There is usually more than meets the eye and the appropriate information used skillfully is very powerful.

[Thav]

7. Exactly, Amen, Huzzah, and other noises of agreement

Unfortunately for the MBA's who are driving education reform, this type of education is extremely hard and resource intensive to measure. Give teachers the ability to adapt their curriculum to their individual classes, spur the imagination of children to explore the "why" behind mathematical and scientific issues, teach them why good music sounds good, let them explore literature that is pleasing to read as well as to the imagination. The ultimate measure of the success of education is how eager students are to learn more, how able they are to adapt to new and strange situations, and how critically they can think about an issue. That type of success cannot be measured on a bubble sheet.

Teachers are the inspiration and the leaders in this realm. If we beat the drive, passion, and will out of teachers, then the students will be no better than the frustrated and confined teachers who are instructing them.

Unfortunately, with NCLB education is measured like productivity in business. Schools are not factories, children are not "output" and teachers are not "resources." It is folly to attempt to measure the success of education like you would business performance. One other side effect of NCLB is really no child gets ahead. If you have to make sure every student reaches a minimum level, you are only going to teach to that lowest common denominator. Thus students who excel in their classes are bored with the material.

[Newest Reality]

10. Well said!

That was a cogent contribution to the discussion. Thanks.

I have to add something of a personal perspective. While we can deduce that the intentional dumbing-down a large percentage of a population has a value when it comes to control and power, there is another aspect this that I think underlies that intent. Concurrently, we might keep in mind that certain classes of our society receive high-quality education for the purpose of directing and managing the rest.

It is about our inherent potential. Each one of us is rather unique. Some may not agree with that when focusing on result of the impact of culture and the impact of the conformity that it can induce. The human, physical brain has a rather long, developmental phase, unlike other mammals due to the cranial size issue verses the pelvis and birth canal. That development implies a great learning potential for the mind. The brain, itself, has great plasticity. That period is extremely crucial.

If our education system where actually about education and developing potential, (which can be dangerous to a control system) then we would be largely dedicated to acknowledging the amazing capacity of what could be called the most amazing and powerful, neg-entropic thing in the Universe. There is nothing known that compares in complexity and capacity to the functioning human brain and the mind that occurs within it. Nothing. The bio-computer we are endowed with is marvelous and holds infinite potential.

It is about knowing what we are and finding out what we are capable of and I don't think you could ever exhaust that effort or find an end to that quest. Yet, what are we seeing in so-called education today?

[Thav]

13. It all depends on the goal of the leaders in education.

As with all programs and activities, it depends on the goals of the leadership. If leadership says "teach them only what is necessary for them to be a cog in the machinery" and makes policy to that end, then future citizens won't be able to drool on themselves without an instructional video.

Currently, our leadership is telling us we're going to "innovate" our way out of this recession. That's quite a lofty goal, especially when the educational system, both primary and secondary, aren't teaching toward innovation. Teaching students to think inside the box, don't push the boundaries, and to stay in the safe zone means those students only know the status quo. If we are going to innovate, we need leaders not followers. We need to teach critical thinking, pushing the boundaries, and questioning ideas - even those you agree with. Exploration is the key to innovation, and if students aren't taught how to explore their ideas, then we're not going to change.

But then, do GOP leadership want these kind of thinkers? Probably not. Despots like followers who don't question authority and who think outside the box. They want followers who do as they're told without question.

[Plucketeer]

12. I agree with some of what you say, but...

I'm married to a public school teacher - a veteran of 34 years in the classroom. Maybe she's just paying me lip service when she agrees with me - you know, marital harmony and all - but how the hell did OUR generation imagineer the things that we did..... with our old and outdated methods of readin' writin' 'n 'rithmatic??? I'm sittin' here - banging out what I consider a logical and considered reply to this thread. That isn't a result of doing K-12 in recent years.
With some exceptions, parents figure that it's up to the faculty of their kid's schools to educate them. That's it. Put some clothes on 'em - give 'em some lunch money and send them off to "daycare" so they can have peace of mind when they go off to their second or third job.

Meanwhile, little Johnny shows up with NO sense of responsibility for his behavior or education. He just knows he has to be in this facility (daycare) until time to go home. It's up to the teachers and their overseers to try and concoct ways to make up for the lack of support, encouragement, love, understanding of what's at stake for the kids active participation, and respect for fellow students rights and efforts that little Johnny doesn't have when with his parent(s), guardian, self at home.

Creativity? I think they get some first-hand examples of that when watching their folks define how the failings are the school's fault.

[d_r]

4. compare and contrast

this sentence=
"Saying the current rules are failing kids, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and a group of Democratic senators led by U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan plan to introduce a set of education reforms that would move away from rigid testing and toward flexibility for local school districts."

With this from the Florida GOP plan-

"Pay scales would be overhauled, with the biggest raises going to teachers rated as exceptional. Half their rating would come from test scores, with the principal contributing most of the rest."

(from http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=219x32120

Are they really that different?