Obama tells higher ed: Let’s overhaul!
March 22, 2010 by Jacob HawleyPosted in: Finances, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
The Obama administration’s new proposal will add $4 billion to higher ed spending. Here’s where it’ll have the most impact. Much of the White House’s new plan will go to increasing competition among states for grant money. The focus will be on rewarding college preparation, a move away from punishing schools that don’t meet narrow academic benchmarks.
A key component of the new blueprint: By 2020, all students graduating from high school must be ready for college or a career. The plan would also allow states to use subjects other than reading and math as part of their measurements for meeting federal goals.
Other points:
- Giving more rewards, money and flexibility to high-achieving schools in low-income areas and using their success as a model for other at-risk schools
- Taking aggressive measures against the lowest-performing 5% of schools, such as having the state take over federal funding for poor students and replacing staff, and
- Dropping the No Child Left Behind name to avoid associations with the Bush-era policy of penalizing schools that did not meet benchmarks even when making academic gains.
What do you think of Obama’s new education plan? Let us know in the comments section.
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Tags: federal education spending, No Child Left Behind, Obama proposal
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March 24th, 2010 at 11:39 am
I believe the federal government should get out of trying to regulate local or state functions. Education is one of those areas where federal control is a huge hindrance.
March 24th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Hardly at overhault
March 24th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Bill’s response reflect a typical political mantra with little/no teeth. The bottom line is our education system is in dire need of an overhaul (look at the global stats), and somebody or some entity has got to take the lead in doing it. So, if we are truly sincere about doing it, why do we care who is taking the initiative to do it!!?? Let’s throw in our support so that the initiative could get some traction. It is all about America!
March 25th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
What makes Wendy think the federal government knows best how to overhaul anything? The original government overhaul of education is what got us where we are today….
March 26th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
The No Child Left Behind has been on the whole an excellent program at the federal level, and Obama would be wise to leave it be, but also the states should have more freedom as well.
March 26th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
@Patrick:
Right now the states have all the control they want, and have done nothing with it. U.S. education standards are abysmal, and well below any other industrialized (and even some non-industrialized) countries. SOMEONE has to do something, and it’s hardly possible that the feds could do a WORSE job than the states.
I work in higher ed in Nevada and see incoming freshmen every year who can barely read, and certainly can’t THINK. Our governor has just washed his hands of the entire education system and left it entirely to its own devices. Someone needs to step in, and since parents, teachers, and school officials obviously don’t care, that leaves Big Government. Unfortunate, but a necessity.
March 26th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Patrick and Bill, How about some examples of what you’re talking about? Why is federal control a hindrance? (I might ask, is this government control?) When was the “original overhaul” and what did it do to that you consider bad for the country’s educational system?
Wendy makes a good point – somebody needs to get the ball rolling, because that states aren’t doing it.
March 26th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
If Obama is a product of our US education system, then the system it certainly needs an overhaul from top down.
March 26th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
It’s crucial that the federal government help us all do a culture shift towards career readiness. Not everyone should be getting a liberal arts degree, and many will not have the money to attend a four-year college and graduate on time. So the time is right to promote community college, training institutes, and appreticeships.
High-school teachers will still see to it that the big-picture thinkers with extraordinary verbal skills make it to four-year college. let’s take some time to worry about the success of everyone else!
March 26th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
My response to the administration? Keep your hands out of higher ed. Like most things you’ve intruded upon, you haven’t a clue what you’re doing.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Why did you call this Higher Education spending, it all relates to K-12 not Higher Education??
March 26th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
The idea of rewarding performance is great–that is how people are supposed to be rewarded in the workplace! But…you can’t tell teaches what to teach, how to teach it, when to teach it, dictate how it will be “tested” to see if they taught it, and use THAT as a basis for rewards OR punishment.
The best way to get innovation, quality, and motivation is to give the schools and teachers the GOALS they need to achieve to earn a reward…Then get out of the way and LET THEM DECIDE HOW TO ACHIEVE THOSE GOALS.
Certainly we can see this from the experience of those exceptional schools that have achieved amazing “turn-around.”
March 26th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I agree that the the governments past experience with overhauling programs has been an expensive joke played on tax payers. Wendy is right though. Our schools are in dire need of help. Our students are underprepared, over stressed due to the increasing requirements placed on our underpaid instructors (that have nothing to do with teaching lasting skills to students), and leaving high school without a clear direction. I’m the Director of an Adult Ed program, which provides GED Exam preparation classes, and see children being left behind all the time. It it so disheartening to see schools find ways to get rid of these kids who are not meeting state and federal standards. There are loop holes like sending them to be ‘home schooled’ with parents who will not or cannot be bothered to school thier children. The No Child Left Behind idea may have been a good one to begin with, but it’s an injustice for the kids who require a bit more time and effort from instructors and administrators. Please encourage your collegues to support change. I know it can be scary when we begin to move away from our comfort zone, but it is absolutely necessary.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
IF all it would take to fix the public schools in this nation was $4 billion it would be the bargain of the millennium. The reality is that this is just another attempt to take over a local function by the federal government. No Child Left Behind, the Kennedy-Bush plan to fix education, has had minimal effect in fixing K-12 education and the Spellings Commission did little to fix Higher Education. Throwing another borrowed $4 billion at K through PhD is not going to do anything other than create demand for paper and clerks.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
“No Child Left Behind” should be renamed “Every Child Left Behind”. This is what I call the “Dumbing down of America”. Try talking to primary and secondary educators. All students have been “mainstreamed”. Students that need extra help are getting all of the attentions and those students that need to be challenged at a higher level are being “Left Behind”. We need to stop looking at Obama/Democrats/Republicans and look at the needs of the American People. The federal government should represent “the people”.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
We are still failing to teach reading. writing, and arithmetic. We can spend our time teaching political correctness or we can do what is needed.
No child left behind was a good attempt to address the problem in a way that could be measured. Obama wants to change enough to justify changing the name BUT no enough to upset the NEA more than they already are. Just give them more money and the students will magically get better.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
The costs and strings that come with federal money is barely worth the financial expenditures to maintain paperwork. Unfortunately much of the expenditures related with federal “compliance” is not funded. The federal government was able to get into education when they provided financial assistance to students and used that to dictate to colleges, universities and K-12 what that HAD to do. At first the increased funding from the new incoming students paid the costs. Now the mandates are not even covered by the difference and it just gets more and more onerous.
Second problem in K-12 is the fact of social promotion. Focus is on self-esteem and not a reward structure tied to performance. The ACLU has ensured there is no discipline in the schools, no morals education, etc. If there are no morals then behavior is based on the theory of natural selection. Behavior is only controlled by the consequences of discipline not right and wrong. If there is no discipline then we have the continued deterioration of behavior as we see in the schools today.
In higher education the expectations of social promotion continue and entering students are often surprised. That coupled with degrees and courses that have little relevance to success in life compound our long term problems.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Imagine a world without physical labor…imagine a world without a plumber..Imagine what would happen?
March 26th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Everyone seems to be concerned about how students in the United States measure up to students in other countries, but our education system is not designed to be consistent across the country, let alone consistent with other nations. If we truly want students prepared to live and compete in a global society, we need to provide a global education. This will include a national curricula, national standards for teacher preparation, nationally normed tests, and a complex, respectful system that will allow students to move into the vocational areas without being told that they are somehow deficient if they do not have a “college” degree.
I know this steps on the toes of states’ rights, local determination, and individualism. However, if we are going to constantly be touting the need to have all students “measure up” to all other students, then let’s design a level playing field for all. Obama, Bush, or any of the other national leaders are not going to make a huge difference, are going to continue to throw money at certain segments while ignoring others and the bigger picture, and will in the end fail until the system is overhauled.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
The article says “The Obama administration’s new proposal will add $4 billion to higher ed spending.” There is a huge difference between funding and costs; ‘spending’ sounds like Washington-speak and does not provide clear differentiation. If this proposal provides $4 Billion of funding to Higher Education with strings that do not exceed $4 Billion in TOTAL costs, then this is at least fiscally neutral. Next in importance is that usually missing from Washington/political speak is how to make sure these dollars are spent with clear purpose and accountablity and not just dollars thrown in the general direction of the symptom of a problem. Politicians sometimes say “Politics are local”; they should be able to understand that social problem solving is usually local. Washington can encourage, provide voluntary incentives, fund research, assist, even bully pulpit, but when it tries to dictate, it will not work. A little bit of history education, at any level, will show that clearly.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Uhhhh…billions upon billions are spent every year and always under the guise of transforming and overhauling the current dismal performance of public education. When we return to actually educating students and not “preparing” them based on some arbitrary standard then, and only then, will we see tangible results. Government intervention in education has proven to become consistently contradictory to improving education. Instead it has only created a quagmire of disaffected students and teachers clamoring for more money to cure a virus of anti-intellectualism that is contracted through the aspirations of political elites who see this issue as campaign fodder. And, of course, they are always successful in doing so. Thus, we continue to treat a heroin addiction with a crack cocaine remedy and the result is completely predictable. Insanity.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
To avoid a patchwork of high and low performing states, the federal government should require a national exam after 12th grade. National exam state averages should be published and the only rewards would be bragging rights.
Financial aid should be available for part-time students in community colleges, for students who are already parents or those who are working (so the students won’t continue to try and work full time while trying to study full time) and want to catch up on their K-12 failings.
Most of all, K-12 should not be a conveyor belt system. Just because a student is 15 doesn’t mean they should be promoted into the 9th grade, regardless of the social awkwardness. Some 15 yr. old students may be ready for college algebra but only be doing 8th grade level composition. Students should be able to move ahead when they have proved their academic skills, not by chronological age nor for pity.
March 26th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
This is nothing but an attempt by the government, and Obama, to control what is being taught in the universities. It is bad enough now. It will get much worse when the only place students can get their money if from the government.
March 26th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Re the lower 5%. Mathematically speaking, there will always be a lower 5%. But, of course, we need to raise the level of the lower 5%. The problem is who they are. The lower 5% are mostly kids who have at least one parent in jail/prison, druggies for parents, or parents who are already the unfortunate offspring (multigenerational) of such parents. Some/many of these parents cannot ead. I am not saying this from a bigoted or elitist viewpoint, but from many years of direct experience of my family members in elementary ed. Dealing effectively with this sort of child will take a multi-pronged approach. These kids need a parent/guardian who will get up in the morning, feed them breakfast, see that they are dressed for the weather, and get safely to school. This is something many of the lower 5% do not have on a regular basis–or ever. This opens the discussion of when might society want to take kids away from a non-functioning household. Social services is not adequately dealing with this issue.
There are excellent/good teachers, poor/lazy teachers, and every shade in between. However,
punishing teachers for the problems of the lower 5-10-20% of children is not fair. The schools cannot provide everything these kids need. A multi-faceted approach is needed for them.
March 26th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
I’m all for an overhaul. I work in higher ed and a lot of our incoming freshmen are not at all ready for some college classes. Because these students are not ready our institution has to offer 001 level classes just to get them ready to take a college level course.
Both Elementary and Secondary schools should be held to standard that require their students to be competent in specific subjects before they advance to a higher level of education. If those schools don’t educate to a specific level someone, faculty or administration, should be replaced with another who will get the job done.
I do, however, understand that there are those few students that just cannot learn certain things. This, in most cases, is because of people at home, if they have a home, are not doing their part. I have no idea what you do with this particular student. Maybe, that’s where great teachers come into play. These kind of teachers, who can get through to students, should be rewarded. The teachers, who can’t get through to students and just don’t care because they have tenure should be released.
No Child Left Behind is very good in the case of teachers who cannot teach because they can be released, even though they have received tenure, because the teacher is, in essence, leaving some children behind.
Nuff said!
March 26th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Educator-JB. I believe the lower 5%, that they will propose, is the lower 5% of the teachers. Those are the people who will be identified as “bringing the schools ratings down”. We can all identify those faculty and/or administrators. You’ve got them and I’ve got them. They are very easy to I.D. As those five percent are weeded out the new botton five will step up to the educational standards needed for students to succeed.
Yep, there will always be a botton five persent. But, they will be the five percent that still have jobs.
March 26th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
As the academic probation and suspension officer for a univeristy, I am amazed each year as more students come to the university unprepared. They meet admission requirements but to not have basic skills to succeed. If you cannot read and write, you cannot be successful at a university.
I don’t know that this is the solution or not. This country needs to look for a solution that recognizes a high school diploma as successful completion of reading, writing and mathematics along with requirements that instill in students the essence of global citizenship. All students are not able to do these basic things. They should not be moved along and mislead that it is ok and that they will be fine. That is NOT the case when they come to a university in this country.
When you can receive a high school diploma for achieving a 1.0 in some states, there is a problem. We have this problem in the United States of America and something needs to happen to change it. Every student will not be prepared to continue into higher education. But, should they not be prepared for the workforce.
March 26th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Dollars per student funding seems unethical. Who are the students? Where are they from? Mexico, for instance, seems to be piggy-backing on the US K-12 education system, and you are paying the bill. Statistically speaking, should an immigrant, illegal or otherwise, be factored into growth/status rates? Are teachers losing jobs because they didn’t successfully meet federal requirements based on this too? Personally, if I moved to France today, having little or no education, I doubt I would be immediately successful either. After all, I dont speak French!!! My take, is that the current statistics need to be remodeled before we throw around another lump sum. Why are teachers being fired when they are teaching 16 year old students who have never been to school before?
Also, lets back-off of teachers for a little while, and place a little more responsibility on the shoulders of parents. A teacher see’s a student for and average of 45-55 minutes per weekday. What?… The parents just drop off the problem at school, and assume the teachers need to fix it? Where is the home based disipline? My guess is at the TV, rather than the books. Take a look at what parenting is… we are mammals after all… What happened to rearing your children. Parents… stop blaming teachers for your inadequancies, and “start learning” how to be part of the solution!!! If we could do this, there would be no reason for the government to step in where we parents are failing.
(no, I am not a teacher!)
March 26th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I heartily agree that education needs federal intervention since student competency overall has steadily declined. Do schools and colleges receive any federal funding, directly or indirectly? If they do, then the federal government has a legitimate right and interest in intervening. Here’s a question: wouldn’t even a school student in the worst performing states know that when referring to the US chief of state you refer to him as “President Obama?” There’s a study waiting to be done on how publications referred to the previous president versus the current one. Would the headline have read “Bush tells higher ed: Let’s overhaul” ? Did writers so freely refer to G.W. Bush without his title?
His name is President Obama.
March 26th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Hmmmmmm!!!!!
Well untill we honor and respect hard work you will not see high performance in our schools. Obama, and his administration, are incredibly unlikely to pay this anything more than lip service. The students we have are bright enough, they just do not want to work for their future. Perhaps, the entitlement systems have taught many of us that the gov’t will take care of us, should we prove that we are rather hopeless. Let us reward those that work hard, and encourage those that don’t to get off their collective duffs. Spending in schools will not necessarily drive better schools, or better perfomance. Having completed a couple degree programs with a high percentage of foreign students has shown me that we can compete with them, but we will never do it until we adopt their appreciation of what it means to become educated. Our average student could care less. School employees will almost always (and I am one of them) just chant that we can fix the problem if we just got a little more money. It will not help!!!!! If you want to fix the problem you need to start demanding performance from students, and stop supporting those students that are not going to perform. It is just too easy to slide through our courses at any level. We have been far to “fat dumb and happy” for far too long. The only thing that will happen if you give more money to this administration, is that they will surely spend it. Results?????? Don’t bet on it!
March 26th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
This is obviously another attempt to lower standards so that those who do not have college level aptitude can
make it even harder to maintain college level standards.
March 26th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Waste of money. Waste of time. Education needs to be done on the local and state level.
March 27th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I am both a teacher and parent. There are several issues. First, parents forgoing parental responsibilities. For all the parents out there…did you read to your children every day/night, and instill in them an interest in learning? Did you do the hard stuff and refuse your children when it was necessary, so that they don’t expect everything to fall their way automatically? IF not, then you bear part of the responsibility for all students coming to school without a sense of responsibility for their own learning and with an expectation that all the teachers will be entertaining, to tease them into learning. Yes, I do feel that NCLB really means no teacher left alone. Yes, teaching to the tests, in order to earn money for our systems, does not teach students how to think/learn for themselves. We do need a systemic overhaul, but that doesn’t mean more testing, it means a change from in how parents behave from the moment the child exits the womb. It means less tv as a baby-sitter and much more responsibility as a society for the coming generations. We have created our own mess and living with it is not turning out to be much fun for anyone.
March 27th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Along the line of thought regarding improving education, a thought-provoking read is “Time to Learn” by Gabrieli and Goldstein
March 28th, 2010 at 6:48 am
I do not condone the ruling out of radical ideas, as they most certainly are able to implement change for the greater good, but none of us should blindly run with all of these “selective” public money giveaways of the taxpayers money until we see the proof in the pudding. I would certainly question the agenda of one revealing such radical ideas thus far, until we see what happens in the post limelight aftermath of the current questionable and contemptuous constitutional proving ground experimentation arena, hence when the Many juries return. I feel the liberalized teaching agenda of the sixties propagated itself over decades and has led our country down a path right to where it is now(far behind those of many foreign lands, on our dime I might add), instead of prior to, when it was once so revered worldwide. This well conceived change for social progression inside the doors of the public and private sectors of our education systems, with the continual rewriting of social and historical rudimentary subject matter in an incomplete form(yet in an ever growing age of information) has more than altered everyones progress, and proven to be a farce. Initially there was great contradiction, but eventually after the changing of the guard, time should have revealed progress brought to light. I ask you where is this progress? Change should only be for the good, and not just as in it’s directing to our perceptions, as it has been now for some years. Obviously an indiscriminate society of poor structure has allowed for this propagation to continue this long. Retrospectively we not only found, but continue to find that deletion of past and current knowledge pertinent towards certain progress for all, has clearly been administered to obscure the whole picture, and includes progress for no one, the remaining misinformed society(a perfect breeding ground for the future misinformed). We now replace the truth for the sake of political correctness over introducing controversial truth delicately and with courtesy, hence pushing an overall agenda. Look where we are now. The prerequisites to receiving these said competitive monies are certain to hold a continuation of the cloudy past. The dangling of money from meeting prerequisites over an education system, which has become no more than the rest of big business in these current economic times, cannot offer any good in my thinking, except to those with an agenda. This has happened in Germany also, but to a different tune. Students in Germany for many years now have not the ability to tell you much of Adolf Hitler, other than he existed and was criminally insane. Hate mongers in general have proven through the ages to be quite savvy, let us all keep our wits about us, I respectfully urge you please. If you experience no comfort from your wits about you, I suggest some deep self introspection over an education from the States. Scour your true spiritual and corporeal roots, as the United States did not achieve it’s past greatness by not practicing good, solid, and sound ethical and moral judgment.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:29 am
1. We need to stop encouraging every child to go to college. I like the system in Europe where at 10th grade (??) they take exams. Depending on their scores, they either go into training for a trade, or they continue in a college prep program.
I do think those who have their hearts set on college should be provided more than one opportunity to pass the exams if they are unable to the first time. However, we should not have to dumb down college just because there is a mindset that everyone with a diploma or GED should go to college.
2. We need to stop mainstreaming all, or almost all, children. Special needs children usually need to leave the classroom for tutoring. I have taught in that environment and it is difficult to teach with all the coming and going of special needs children. Plus, the time it takes to bring them up to speed on what they missed when they have to leave the classroom takes away from teaching the other children. Plus, the time it takes to ensure they understand what is going on. Plus, dealing with the behaviour or emotional problems. It all takes away from the other children. Whoever made the comment about “all children being left behind” was right. There are other ways for special needs children to fit in and get the socialization skills they need.
3. Who says just because a child is in third grade they should be at third grade level in every subject? Why not place children by subject instead of grade? They can still be with their peers for many parts of the day, but set aside set times for subjects such as math and reading where all students (not just special ed students) can go into a class that matches their level, regardless of grade. This is where team teaching comes into play. If a student is still progressing in most areas, they can still advance with their peers, but be held back in the one subject where they are having trouble. At some point, however, they need to master the subject if they are going to college, or they need to receive career training that fits their abilities. In that case, they receive a diploma in their career field.
The best school I ever attended, which happened to be on a US military base, was the one I attended in 9th grade. We were assigned a level for each subject matter. If you were exceptional in math, you might be put in a higher level than you were in for English. Most kids were level 3, but if you were struggling in math, you were put in a level 1 or 2 where you got extra help. If you excelled in math, you might be in level 5 or 6 where you could work farther ahead, independently, and just ask the teacher for help when you needed it. There was no stigma attached to being in a low level because, usually, you weren’t in that level for every subject–unlike being labeled a special ed student. The students, themselves, had input into what level they were placed in.
While this system sounds like a scheduling nightmare, it actually only required two separate classes. Levels 1 & 2 were in one class and levels 3 & 4 were in one class. Levels 5 & 6 were scheduled with the level 3-4 group, checked in with the teacher, then went to the library to work independently. Levels could be adjusted during the school year at the request of the student or teacher. Again, there was no stigma attached to asking to be moved to a classroom where you could get extra help. In fact, I think self esteem improved because, instead of struggling all year, the student was empowered to be able to make a decision (with approval) to move to an environment where they could get help and do well. Conversely, they could also move up, if the teacher agreed. If you were in level 5 or 6, and keeping up, you could volunteer to help tutor in the level 1-2 classroom.
I was bright, but had not done well at all in Algebra in my previous school. In spite of this, the administration made the decision to see how well I did in level 5 based on the fact that I had already covered material the lower levels had not yet gotten to. Ironically, I thrived in the independent study environment and easily mastered the subject once I did not have to sit in a classroom and listen to lectures on it. Just one example of how this system can be tailored to fit the needs of individual students.
March 29th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Since when is it not OK to fail? When America started teaching that failure was bad, entitlement was good, then we started to see a decline in the American school system. Allowing some of our students/children to actually suffer the consequences of their actions while they are still minors and before it really counts is a good thing. It has been my actual experience that children and people in general actually live up to what ever expectations are set for them. Let’s start expecting and demanding more from our students and their parents, and we will see our system improving. I feel that the only thing this $4 billion new program will do is create more Americans who feel that nothing is their fault and they are actually owed something because they are alive, and a government who feels that they are entitled to make all the rules because they control the purse.
March 29th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Seems to be another “vote for me” policy designed to do favors for those of us in higher education so when it comes to election time the current contolling party can say, “Hey! Remember when I gave you guys all that money? How about you vote for us this time around.”
More smoke and mirrors to hide another social agenda.
March 29th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
To, we, college instructors and profs., “The No Student Left Behind” is a joke. The students are required to learn only basic math, What the high school students are learning in English is deplorable. They learn how to write in strands, thus when the students get to college they aren’t able to formulate a simple paper, let alone a three-page paper. In essence, they are no longer taught how to think. So, the high school level of the No Student Left Behind does nothing more than set their students up for future failure. Those of you that think it’s a great program need to really examine this program that is being taught in their respective high schools.
March 30th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
So the reform movement continues. In general, I support teachers and their agendas, but I do have some sympathy for the Obama administration. They are in the position of trying to do more with less. The whole country is. With more and more students coming out of homes where education is not a top priority and the English language is rarely spoken, how are things going to improve? Often the reaction to this situation seems to take the form of teacher-bashing or an attitude that emphasizing quantifiable results or privatizing education will bring about positive change. I do agree that the long-term problem of persistently underperforming schools and segments of the population is something that needs to be addressed. But you don’t get something for nothing. Without investing more into the system, more will probably not come out of it.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:05 am
I think we need to figure out why 47 percent of high school freshmen do not graduate.
April 1st, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Several things. First, Pam, your ideas should be off being tried out in various places…it reminds me of when I was in middle grades in the 70′s…unfortunately, the term “tracking,” which is when students are segregated by ability, is now totally politically incorrect, therefore unthinkable, regardless of how well it really worked for students. Second, Margaret, you have hit the nail squarely…failure is a very real part of life.
The overwhelming pseudo-concern for egos and self-esteem have led us to condoning crap as a product from students, which they know is crap, but it gets accepted and praised…so the students realize that they don’t need to bother…why try any harder?
Linda, I cannot and will not speak for other teachers, but the opening day mantra in my classroom is that I will challenge my students to think about whatever we are discussing. Today, in an open exhibition by our students, which includes reflective writing about the challenges they face, one of my freshmen stated that I was her biggest challenge, as I was forcing her to think, not just try to know facts…and that she wasn’t used to it, but that she had grown to like the challenge. This is part of my “why” for teaching. I only wish all of my students realized this…and many more do by the time they are graduating, this one just got there earlier than most.
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:06 am
Gman,
Sadly, I am aware of how politically incorrect it is to segregate by ability. Yet, if done right, it was a system that worked well. We started down that slippery slope a long time ago and will continue to sacrifice our kids on the alter of political correctness. The lively debates on religion and politics we had in my high school days in the 60s would now be politically incorrect in the classroom. But, oh, how they contributed to our critical thinking skills. Our history books have been cleansed. Students no longer read the classics– only politically correct excerpts from their textbooks. The list goes on and on. And we, in higher ed, are seeing the end product.