What Does the Public Want?
In the February 1995 Overview, Ron Brandt wondered why education experts were out of touch with ordinary people. As I read it, I wondered why I am apparently so out of touch with education experts.
Let's look first at who Brandt says are the “unravelers of reforms”—teachers and parents. Teachers spend 6 hours a day, 180 days a year with children. They must be certified and take continuing education courses. Yet somehow they are clueless about the “new” restructuring movement, authentic learning, holistic reading, TQM, or any other favorite education fad. I submit they know more about how these reforms really work in the classrooms than do the so-called experts.
As for parents, most have spent 12 years in public schools themselves and see the effects of holistic reading and invented spelling on their children's SAT scores. What do they want for their children?
First they want safety. Brandt argues that although safety is important, our highest priority is learning. Last year my daughter broke her arm on playground equipment that had much less than the 8–10 inches of sand required under it. She lost eight weeks of writing instruction. But heck, the school was implementing critical thinking skills. Why should I worry about safety?
The second thing we want is the basics, that is, what worked before test scores fell—phonics, traditional writing instruction, standard grammar usage, math mastery without calculators, a core of history, arts, and literature, and individualized instruction. Once students have mastered these, they should take courses for which they are academically suited, not grouped heterogeneously where no one gets his or her needs met.
But Brandt argues that holistic reading and writing and authentic assessment do work if only the public would give them a chance. Well, I gave them a chance. My son's teachers wrote “Wow!” on his papers, but did not correct any of his errors. He ended up scoring at the 60th percentile on reading tests and had to repeat 1st grade. Still, he was not tested for a learning disability. He did not receive individualized instruction. Finally, we took him out of public school, found a traditional teacher, and he did learn to read.
The third thing ordinary people want is for schools to make learning enjoyable and interesting. Supposedly experts agree. Yet two of the three schools my children have attended were repressive to students and patronizing or hostile to parents. The school day started with children required to line up in single file without speaking. If they weren't quiet, the teacher would yell “Shut your mouths.” In classrooms, children were put through a Skinnerian rat maze of rewards and punishments.
Finally, ordinary people want the education experts to listen to them. Brandt warns that experts should not be arrogant but should build constituency. This is mere posturing, much like inviting the community to participate in strategic planning, then never implementing a single plan.
Rather than trying to convert ordinary people to experts' views, why don't the experts work for them instead. While experts are building constituency, the ordinary people are involved in legitimate school restructuring: charter schools, home-school networks, and school choice and vouchers.
—Marilyn W. Harriman, Killeen, Texas
Aim for Active Learning
Your very fine issue, “Aiming for Higher Standards” (March 1995), reminded me how easily we lose perspective on what we really care about. Such is the case with basing school standards on acquired information or on skills. Information and skills are really not the heart of the matter.
Rather, as John Dewey asserted, our core concern should be engaging students in academic studies, in ways that allow them to practice responsible, intelligent living. Familiar educational theory perhaps, but it's also practical. The profession now has workable strategies that teachers can use to create active learning classrooms (Inspiring Active Learning, Harmin 1994).
The call is to choose “classroom aliveness” as our core standard of excellence. Test scores consistently show that the more time students are engaged in active learning, the more content they learn. The more satisfying their daily experience with school, the more they will remember what they learned. This is the best known way to create lifelong learners.
—Merrill Harmin, Edwardsville, Illinois
Multi-Disabled Need Special Services
Thank you for a balanced presentation of the issue of inclusion (December 1994/January 1995). We must remember that some students, especially the multi-disabled, require intensive therapeutic services and small highly structured classrooms.
If we are to bring all students back to the neighborhood school, we need to invest in staff development of teachers and administrators. That, along with the adoption of holistic approaches that address the cognitive, social, and therapeutic needs of children, will result in an environment truly conducive to inclusion.
—Stephen Hernandez, Director of Educational Services United Cerebral Palsy Association of Westchester County, Inc. Purchase, New York
