There are a lot of things that could be done to re-design and improve the education system:
The presumption of much of our current system is that without coercion students will not learn what they need to know. But, this is untrue. If students see the value of learning something, they will learn it. So, let’s make sure we are showing students the value of learning and let their intrinsic motivation to learn what is important to them take over. Let’s allow for more creativity and application in the classroom. Teach students to ask good questions, solve problems, and they will learn what they need to learn to provide the answers and solutions. There are always going to be variations and I think much of the problem with education in the U.S. is trying to create a one-size-fits-all “recipe” for a good school system. Instead, we need to consider the possibility that there may be different ways to educate students and these variations need to be encouraged and available. Some students will thrive in a highly structured environment such as most schools offer. Others need more autonomy. All of them need a system that preserves their curiosity and doesn’t beat it out of them with the obsession with high-stakes testing.
Many who look at the variation in schools systems across the U.S. conclude that a large driver of the differences is money. While this may be true, simply injecting more money into systems that don’t have as much will not solve much. Much of the success that happens in the schools is due to factors that are at work outside of the schools. I think some school systems are better than others because they have better parent support of the children’s learning, relatively more teacher autonomy, less emphasis on high stakes testing, and school culture which values learning for the sake of learning as well as for its practical value. What makes creating a recipe for a successful school system so difficult is that many of these factors cannot be mandated from above or legislated into existence. There must be a general culture in place of both adults and kids who value learning and are active in learning. This means that adults need to be role models for this. We can’t credibly argue that learning is important while we sit around all evening watching television. One thing that can be done to take direct action to improve school systems is to focus on teacher training. Currently, teacher education is not done very well, and in many universities, it is widely recognized that teacher’s colleges are the “academic slums” of the university (to use a term often used by the economist Thomas Sowell). There need to be high standards for entry into teacher’s colleges and high standards for graduation. Once teachers are graduated and employed, they need to be given sufficient autonomy to teach. In other words, we need to train teachers well and then trust them to do their job well without dictating from the above academic standards and curriculum specifics. Finally, teachers need to contribute to the cultural climate of learning in the schools and communities. My sister was a teacher for many years and one thing I noticed when she gathered with other teachers was how much they talked about problems with administration and how little they talked about their subject matter and learning. Unless that changes, there won’t be the necessary climate of learning that is needed for a school system to be successful. For me, the optimal definition of being educated is to be conversant in a wide range of topics. By conversant, I simply mean being able to talk intelligently about them. Among the topics that one should be conversant about as an adult I would include (in no particular order):
Art, literature, history, psychology, philosophy, politics, economics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, geography, physics, music, sociology, mathematics, religion, technology. Much of our schooling does not prepare students to be conversant about these topics. Rather, it prepares them to complete exams which themselves encourage short-term cramming to pass the exams and then purging your memory of useful information. Students need to be taught how to talk about these subjects in a way that shows they can make connections between them, apply them, use them for problem-solving, critically think about them, and realize that knowledge of them enriches their lives. How that definition can be operationalized for an educational system will depend on cultural factors but it should also be open to adopting different methods for different students. More and more we are coming to realize that one size fits all education models, especially those which emphasize testing and grading schools based on performance don’t work well. Integrating learning into a child’s life early on, preserving curiosity, and making learning dialogue and a cooperative effort seem to work much better. For many homeschoolers, unschoolers in particular, tests are not at all the point of education. So, for much of their learning experience tests do not come into it at all to cheat on or not.
In my experience of unschooling my daughter, I don’t subject her to testing. We talk about things, read books, explore nature, go places, talk some more. She asks questions. We look for answers. We live and learn together. Testing is not part of our life. At some point, she will probably encounter a need to take a test. Perhaps a GED test to certify her high school level of knowledge. Perhaps an ACT or SAT to get into college. But, what would be the point of cheating on those tests? They are meant to determine something objective and while they have flaws the point is to gain some useful information from them. Cheating subverts that. That may sound naive, but that is how we will encourage her to think about tests. They are not things to be taught to, gamed, or cheated on. For the most part, they are not relevant to real learning. When they are required, face them honestly. Start by reading some books about homeschooling. There are a lot of good resources (some of which I will list below).
Then, figure out what your goals are for homeschooling your kids. More and more parents are deciding to homeschool as a way to improve their kids education, preserve their curiosity, spend more time with the kids, and allow them to be less stressed and happier. These are some of the benefits of homeschooling. There are some who will argue that there are serious downsides to homeschooling such as socialization. But, this is very easy to address. After all, there are many ways to provide your kids with opportunities to interact with others besides school. Depending on where you’re located there may be homeschool co-ops and Facebook groups you can join to reach out to others who are homeschooling. Once you decide to homeschool you will probably want to determine what type of approach you will take as there are a number of options. You can use a formal curriculum, you can adopt the Montessori Method, or you can unschool. For more information on the latter here is a good website: Radical Unschooling | Joyfully Rejoycing Some families, such as ours, adopt a more eclectic approach combining different methods of homeschooling. Here are some useful resources for you to research homeschooling: The Homeschool Handbook by Mary Griffith Parenting a Free Child: An Unschooled Life by Rue Kream The Big Book of Unschooling by Sandra Dodd Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without Schoolby Grace Llewellyn Unschooling Rules by Clark Aldrich One to One: A Practical Guide to Learning at Home by Gareth Lewis Instead of Education by John Holt The fact that you are asking the question is already a good sign! Many parents are now concluding that some form of homeschooling is the best way to ensure their kids are well educated. If that option is a possibility I would strongly encourage you to investigate it for yourself.
If homeschooling is not an option there are still several things you can do to help your kids get the best education. Stay involved: Don’t assume that the school is going to handle your kid's education. You still need to be involved, asking questions, talking to them about their interests, and monitoring their level of success in school. In particular, in the early grades how much homework they are being given. More and more studies are showing that there is very little if any benefit to homework in the early grades. If your child is withering under the strain of too much homework (and is in the early grades) there may be things you can do about this. Many schools are beginning to implement reduced or no homework policies to deal with this problem. even in schools that don’t, you may be able to ask for accommodations from your child’s teachers. Preserve curiosity: Above all, you need to make sure your child remains curious. Sometimes, the school can crush this disposition out of kids due to the overemphasis on tests. If school is not providing an opportunity for your child to explore their interests, you need to provide this for them outside of school. Keep reading to them: Many parents stop reading to their kids once they can read on their own but a lot of studies have shown that this may be misguided. Many kids enjoy being read to even after they know how to read on their own. And, there are many other benefits to this beyond education. Don’t be a helicopter parent: As your kids get older make sure you give them enough space to solve their problems and figure things out for themselves. Once they reach the stage where they are in middle school or high school they can handle the responsibilities of homework, projects, remembering permission slips, etc. Doing these things for them or “helping” them too much will not foster the independence they need to thrive and succeed in both school and life. Be a good role model: Finally, don’t just talk about the importance of learning; show it. Your child will not be persuaded that learning and curiosity are important if you say they are but then do nothing but turn on the television and watch sporting events. You need to take an interest in learning and continue it for yourself. Read good books, talk about them, show an interest in current events as well as the bigger issues and ideas in history, science, psychology, and so on. |