01/31/08
The two central questions posed within the session, “Is didactic instruction, accountability, and teaching to the test the best way to learn/are we really learning?” and “How does the culture of America impact the design and expectation of its educational system?”
As many of the class members are products of No Child Left Behind, the class contemplated how the legislation affected their primary and secondary education. “Given the current emphasis on accountability and excellence in test taking, were we really taught to learn?” and “Is the current emphasis on didactic instruction, in primary, secondary, and undergraduate programs, actually teaching us to be regurgitators?” are just two examples of the questions contemplated. Even as products of AP and Honors classes, we questioned whether we are/were intellectually challenged, as more often than not we find ourselves under whelmed by the academic performance we are asked to give. It is a pattern which began in our secondary schools and has continued on into our current studies.
Regurgitation is the path to a higher GPA, which means for many, entrance into graduate school. The goal then becomes not to learn, but rather how to look good on paper. Current research is just beginning to examine how students really learn. It can only be hoped that research is conclusive and listened to by our policymakers in time for our children to experience a better system than the one forced upon us.
Trinidad – A major difference between American education system and the Trinidad’s is the level of personal contact. Summer, our co-classmate who attended school in Trinidad, described the level of personal contact with her teachers. American teachers will pass you without recognition, but in Trinidad teachers remember former students and not just a face but more intimate details of the person’s life, goals, and previous achievements. They foster this attitude of interest and commitment to the students. This in turn compels students to return the teacher’s devotion and match the teacher’s investment in education with their own devotion. Because Trinidad is a former English colony, their educational material is the Cambridge curriculum, a far more rigorous curriculum than found in most American public schools. Example, tests administered in America are standardized, multiple choice exams, but in Trinidad a common test included the completion of an essay within a set period on time on a topic given just a few seconds before their allotted time began.
India – Discipline is a large part of the curriculum; corporal punishment is nto uncommon if a student provides the incorrect answer. Focus in placed more on concrete material, analysis of the abstract is not facilitated. Education is not a right; it is not guaranteed. Thus parents/family members pay for students and if you are fortunate enough to attend school, a return on the families’ investment is expected. Difficulty in securing an education continues into the post-secondary level. Only the top 1% of students are accepted into colleges and universities. In fact, the cut-off for acceptance to Business School can be has high as the 98% percentile.
In America, education is portrayed as a nuisance. Movies and TV demonstrate a system which holds students in confining institutions, restricting their pursuit of more pleasurable activities. There is a 'do-your-time' mentally. How are teachers expected to combat such a culture? How can we combat and challenge the culture to promote education?
'How can we close the gap between American educational achievements and European educational achievements?' should be a question asked as frequently as those posed by NCLB.
Discussion was based on the following readings:
-Review of science and technology academic standards for California, Pennsylvania, and Missouri -Fordham Foundation comprehensive review of state scientific standards
-National Center for Educational Statistics Higlights from PISA: Performance of U.S. 15-year-old students in Science and Mathematics Literacy in an International Context
-U.S. Leaders Fret Over Students’ Math and Science Weakness by Vaishali Honawar
Notes courtesy Jenn Conner
5 comments:
There are two ways to approach this that jump out at me. The first is to allow the cream to separate from the chaff and keep on keepin on. The second would be something that no one in a position of power has the guts to do: tear down the public school system completely and replace it with something else.
The school system we have now is the same one that existed in the 50's, with radically different conditions. The only thing that's changed is that there are more tests and updated facts in the textbooks. When so much else has changed, culturally, economically, and perceptually, the approach to fixing public education has been comically depressing.
It consists of using different objects with which to beat a dead and decomposing horse in the dim hope that if you use the right object and hit that corpse in the right place it will magically jump back to life.
- Denis
there is a typo in the india section.
How can we expect children to take education seriously when all of the media they are exposed to dealing with schools is negative in tone? Everything from "The Simpsons" to "Van Wilder" show students hating the institutions that attempt to better them. We are programmed to feel hatred towards the institution and in secondary school it becomes an issue of "fitting in." Those that voice enjoyment in education become "freaks" or "nerds." It is normal/acceptable to dislike the system and as a result, students sometimes perform below their capabilities.
We need to reprogram our outlook on education in the media to initiate effective change.
Sriram Ganesan
The key issue at hand is reprogramming children's outlook on education. The media and their social environment generally show the educational institution as the enemy. Children are trained to have a negative outlook on their schools because it is "cool" or "normal." Seldom is there a scenario presented where a student is an excellent acheiver in school and simultaneously accepted within their social community of peers. The two just don't seem compatible and it sends the wrong message to our youth. Consider Bart from "The Simpons" or the movie "Van Wilder" just to name a few.
We need to reprogram how our youth are exposed to scenarios of education in the media and influence their outlook more positively to effect better change in their attitude and acheivement.
Sriram
Reprogram? Are we the Borg? "You will be assimilated. You will be assimilated." I beg to differ. Most individuals I know who fully went against the system rather than professing a hate for their teachers and classes while still submitting work in order to pass, or who submitted to the idea of failure should they not 'take advantage of' a public education, were not well-liked. Those who learn outside of class, and therefore are able to challenge their teachers, are reprimanded. In many ares, if a student wishes to have a more enriched education, their classmates do chastize them. But this desire has nothing to do with embracing the current education, and everything to do with reforming it.
I am not suprised that students are apathetic. Who wants to 'fill in the blanks' of worksheets for seven hours? This is the system which Denis speaks of- an archaic result of convenience and enslavement.
-Christy F
Post a Comment