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Standards are about minimums.
If you get 100% on a test, you are lead to believe that you know everything that’s important to know about your subject by that grade. That kills curiosity. It leads you to believe that knowledge is “outside” driven, instead of “inside” driven. That is exactly the wrong way to try to motivate, and the wrong way to teach.
Facts are the same way. Educators who worship facts teach you not to think. They teach you to just memorize and accept something because it is a “fact.” It may be a fact, but that is actually incidental. It is not important because it is a “fact.” Not in the learning phase, anyway. It is important because it can make you think about why it is a fact.
You can pump a computer full of facts, but the computer still won’t be able to think. You are supposed to be teaching, though. Too many people confuse programming and processing data with teaching and learning. If they are simply trying to program children, they are committing an educational atrocity.
Teaching the “fact” to the “standards” to pass a “test” is what turns kids off to math, not on. If you have a large portion of kids who have anxiety about math and tests, and who don’t do well in your class, and you keep pushing tests, standards and facts in order to change that, you are just digging their educational grave deeper. It is like looking for a light at the end of the “tunnel” when you are actually in a hole you are digging straight down in the ground.
The tragedy of “no child left behind” is that it means “no child left untested” instead of “no child left untaught.” It is a crime to blame kids for not learning when the educators often don’t learn how to teach. Closed-minded administrations breed closed-minded students. That is bad enough. But then the administrations have the nerve to blame the students for being closed-minded!
“Well, but since the schools started the new standards, my child has improved … blah, blah, blah.”
Bully for your kid, and his parent who uses a personal anecdote to make a universal point. Neither has learned anything but some “facts” which don’t even have the bearing you think they do. First of all, when you improve on a test, it doesn’t mean you have learned anything but some outside-driven facts. Second, when the education system sets you up for failure, and you improve, it’s like saying, “I had the flu, but now I just have a cold, so I have improved.”
Sure, but do you want the cold? Are you counting on standards just to keep your kid from sucking at math? Is that the best that “no child left behind” can do? Yes. They keep you “down” so that when you get less down, you think it’s up. What a way to treat a child!I read an article about “math scores in our district improving.” What they didn’t say is that now only 40% of the kids fail math instead of 50%. Is that something to brag about? If you think it is, then you have been very successful at learning the way not to teach.
This essay is meant to agitate. There are some very good school districts, but I don’t know any. The best ones I know are ones that simply don’t suck. There are some great teachers in some of these schools, but they usually don’t have the control. The goons do.
Of course, just agitating isn’t much better than doing nothing. We have to do something. First of all, if you are a parent, go talk to your child’s teachers. Get a feeling for what they are up to. Try to find those who are really dedicated, and let them know you support them. That’s a first step.A second step is to get in touch with other parents. Ask questions, Find out which teachers the other parents consider good, and why. See if you can ask them if you can all meet sometime. If the administration frowns on parents and teachers actually talking, be very suspicious of that administration. PTA meetings are not the only way to connect. They tend to be structured and monitored. Lots of teachers can’t open up freely at “meetings.” Try to talk to them one-to-one and see if you can get the lay of the land.
If you are a parent, you must also realize that you are just as responsible for your child’s education as the schools are. Take the initiative. Make sure you help your child find books and programs outside of school that stimulate them.
There are no “magic bullets” that I know of, but here is the closest thing I know to one: libraries.
There are so many great librarians around. They would love to help learn. Take your child to the public library as often as you can. Also, make friends with the school librarian. This hint may be one of the best tips anyone will ever give you about helping your child.That should be enough to think about for a while. Got any thoughts on this? Don’t hesitate to
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