From the sound of it, if there's one thing we gotta fix in America, it's our nation's education. We used to have a great system, but now it's failing our children. Everyone's got a solution for all our woes, from charter schools to ending standardized testing. From union busting to bringing back corporal punishment. But really, what are the problems? How is education actually worse today than before? How can we know we're failing if we're not sure what our goals are?
I hear all sorts of things, and I've encountered some of my own as a teacher. These constant complaints and worries have pervaded the American collective psyche. But they presuppose answers to a question I never hear asked: What do we want out of our education?
I don't know if we've even examined this. We certainly haven't enough. So that's what this diary is about. I intend no subtext, I have no agenda, I've got no axe to grind. I am merely raising some questions for the dailykos community, to get a debate going, and to learn something.
(Some of the questions might seem to you to have obvious answers, but please don't forget a key rule of teaching: Nothing is obvious to everyone. Especially that kid in the back who's playing Angry Birds during your lecture.)
I can't tell you what the point of education is, but I can tell you from experience what college students want: A future. We college teachers often complain that our students don't care about learning, they just want a degree so they can get a job. But when you ask them, and when you listen, they tell you, in their own way: What they want is a future they can look forward to, and a career they don't hate. Colleges are tripping over themselves to cater to this demand.
But is it really different from the supposed halcyon days where students' sole aim was to quench their thirst for pure knowledge? Remember that most modern state universities originated as professional schools of some sort--- ag schools, normal schools, medical schools, seminaries, etc. Back then, studying for the sake of studying was a luxury. Today, it still is. What's gotten worse?
So let's say we fix whatever's wrong with colleges. That's only part of a solution. Only half of students go to college, and only half of them can expect to graduate. And most college grads haven't really figured out what they want, anyways. Now, they say that a college degree is necessary for any 'real' job. However, if most of our current and future students have no college in their future, but college degrees are necessary for any future worth looking forward to, what can these students reasonably expect from an education?
That is to say, if a high school education isn't enough anymore, what is the point of one, besides preparing you for college? That is, do we have an educational system built for the smart kids at the expense of the ordinary? If so, is this a problem? Should we reform secondary education so that people who don't see college in their future don't wind up stuck in useless college prep?
Another problem I hear about is that kids these days are lazy. They feel entitled to good grades, because they "worked so hard" and showed up every day to class. I honestly have never encountered students like this in my teaching. Sure, I've had my fair share of hagglers, but none who demanded certain grades just because. I have also found repeatedly that students will rise to a reasonable challenge, and be all the better for it. That is, they're anything but lazy. Sometimes I get carried away, and give them tasks that in hindsight are impossible for them to reach. But those are instructive too, and I adjust the grading accordingly.
Even if they were lazy, the question is: Are they more lazy than before? Were students really dutifully poring over all the assigned reading back in the day? I personally doubt it. "The dog ate my homework" isn't exactly a new excuse.
Another problem I hear about is that students are practically illiterate these days, what with your internets and your tweeters and the facebook, and get off my lawn! Granted, I have taught a few students at the college level who have issues of that sort, and this at a top-tier public university. But I also get the feeling that this is the same "kids these days" kind of attitude you see every generation. I mean, I remember peer-reviewing my classmates when I was an undergrad, and there were plenty of people of questionable literacy, and pathetic argumentation skills.
I hear we're slipping in all sorts of categories in tests against other countries. I don't know what these tests are, or who makes them. But I also know that our schools are practically unique in not having any tracking--- everyone in the district goes to the same schools. The US is also large enough that even with a mediocre average, there are more than enough stellar students to provide a large class of high-end professionals the imminent lack of which these tests seem to imply.
But then again, for all the comparisons to other countries, I never hear any proposals adapted from those successful countries.
Finally, I am aware that one major problem with American education comes down to income disparities, but I don't want to talk about that here, for three reasons. First, I want to focus on problems that are more universal in American education, not those restricted to poor schools. Second, sadly, our society has pretty much written those kids off; the only way to get rid of income disparity is to spread the wealth or spread the students, and both of those are off the table. Third, disparities are a cause of problems, but not the actual problems whose causes we can go after.
In closing, let me simply repose the question I started with: What is wrong with American education?