I am faced with the daunting task of writing down what 10-15 things I would want a student to walk away from the school that I taught at with.

More and more I'm convinced that our educational system simply doesn't work. The current press for "character-based" education is recognition of the deep-rooted problem in our education system, and I can appreciate it for that, even if the response will prove to be less than effective.

The problem is that everything about our systems... our educational systems, our economic systems, our religious systems... they're all centered on the self. Gratify the self. Meet your needs first. Spend some time in a classroom, or ask a high schooler. Ask one that actually cares about their grade why they want good grades, and I guarantee you that the response will be, "So that I can go to college and get a good job." Sounds common sensical, right? Why would I be doing it unless it was to prepare myself to take care of myself in the future? Is there something wrong with that?

Well, in a word, yes. The Ancient Greeks believed that education was about making better or more moral people, not advancement of the self. I don't necessarily have a problem with a person being concerned over how they're going to support themselves (I do it every day, despite the commands of my savior to not worry about it). But we've so focused our childrens' academic pursuits on that one goal, to the exclusion of all others, and our kids have gotten the message loud and clear.

How do you think they're going to respond when they're told that their only hope is good grades, a good college, and a good job? When they are forced to spend the first 18 years of their lives preparing for the pursuit of material comfort, with rarely a thought to morality? The way they've decided to respond is logical enough. They only want the grades. Attend a high school lecture and the first question you'll hear (with the exception, maybe, of "Can I go to the bathroom?") will be, "Do we need to know this for the test?" They'll do whatever they can in order to get the desired grade, and no more. Most don't even know what you're talking about when asked what they "got from the class." It doesn't matter! I heard it put this way: they want certification, not education. And they'll do whatever they have to to get it. Cheating is rampant. Plagiarism is so off the charts that software companies that offer to track down perpetrators are making a killing.

The question is, how does one change the institution so that it doesn't inherently cause students to focus almost solely on themselves? I think everyone can agree that selfishness is not a virtue, and we explicitly condemn it. Yet, this is the only explanation I can think of for what I consider to be true for the vast majority of students: They care nothing for real education, for learning wisdom from an experience (or from someone who has experience). All they want is a good report card. When you think about report cards in the grand scheme of human relationships and the passing down of values, they seem, well, stupid. Let's be honest, report cards just don't matter. If we want to be really honest right now, we'll admit that they rarely assess what they're supposed to assess, anyhow. Maybe in math class... you either get the answer right or wrong, right? Wrong? Maybe? Maybe not in a post-modern age? Ugh... whatever. But how am I, as a history teacher, supposed to assess understanding of a particular event, person, movement, etc.? With a multiple choice test? What a joke. Even my most dense of students can memorize a fact for just long enough to pass the multiple choice section of my exams. So that's not it. An essay? Okay... getting warmer. But we run into a major problem here. Essays are assessed SUBJECTIVELY (that's why they usually aren't included on an "objective" portion). There's no scale for me to put a paper in that will measure for depth of understanding. That's up for ME to decide... and that's the LAST thing we want. At least that's the message I'm getting from plenty of parents. "Show me how you get that grade for my child!" If I'm going to give a child anything less than a "B" (and in some cases, even that), I'd better be very ready to justify my action, and the answer, "It didn't seem to me that your son/daughter understood the material" won't fly for a second. So, in our desire to cover our butts, we try to take that which is subjective and make it as objective as possible. We give credit for less important things, like did they have a thesis statement? Did they have the required number of distinct points? The result? Some kids who don't really get it are making higher grades than they should, while others who really do get it, but who maybe aren't great test-takers, are punished.

Sorry... Idea purging. Maybe more later.
posted by Stephen at 12:29 AM | |