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9486 in the collection
A Question You Should Ask Your Governor
by Lynn Stoddard
Dear Susan,
You ask, "What have you done today to end NCLB?" I ask, Why do we need more and more police in Jr. and Sr. High schools across the country? I have sent a personal letter to all of the Governors west of the Mississippi inviting them to take a look at an education reform plan that aims to reduce incarceration rates. Then I sent a letter yesterday to the Utah Commissioner of Public Safety inviting him to tell public officials about this reform plan. Included in the letter were two attachments. I'm pasting below a copy of the letter and adding the attachments. I'm suggesting to all your readers that they could invite their Governors to investigate the reform plan, Educating for Human Greatness [pdf file] as a way to reduce incarceration rates in their states. Please check out the two attachments and the letter:
Dear Governor,
Former Nebraska Commissioner of Education, Dr. Douglas Christensen, has urged us to send this message to Governors, State Education Chiefs, Congress, State Legislators and School Boards, over and over, until it is heeded. If you haven’t heeded yet, we invite you to do so now.
We need state-run education systems that address the problem of the USA having the highest incarceration rate of any country. Our nation pays fifty billion dollars per year for this dubious distinction – with much money that could well be spent on education. We believe it’s urgent that influential people like you know about an exciting and proven reform plan that addresses bullying, gangs, crime, student apathy, drugs and other social problems.
Educating for Human Greatness." is a reform plan that aims to reduce incarceration rates. Its main goal and purpose is to “develop great human beings to be contributors – not burdens – to society. It was developed over a 35-year period after teachers in two Utah schools decided to ask parents about their priorities for the education of their children. Part of the plan is an accountability instrument that can be used to elicit extraordinary teaching. Please see the attached “Tool for Assessing School Effectiveness in Helping Students Grow as Contributors to Society.” This tool is designed to draw out great teaching while nurturing seven dimensions of human greatness, Identity, Inquiry, Interaction, Imagination, Initiative, Intuition and Integrity. With this approach, students also achieve more in basic skills.
"Educating for Human Greatness" and its implementation are described more fully in a twenty-four page booklet that you can obtain from me. We suggest you order enough copies to share with your colleagues and state education leaders.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully,
Lynn Stoddard
Attachment 1
A TOOL FOR ASSESSING SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
IN HELPING STUDENTS GROW AS CONTRIBUTORS TO SOCIETY
Name of School _________________________ I am a Parent Student Teacher Date ________
On a scale of 0 to 10 please indicate how you feel or have evidence that this school is accomplishing each of the following:
Qualities for Contributive Behavior
Identity – To what degree does this school help students know who they are, see their great potential as contributors, and develop their unique talents, gifts, interests and abilities?
Inquiry – To what degree is this school nurturing curiosity and helping students learn how to ask good questions? Do teachers set an example of a curious, inquiring attitude?
Interaction – To what degree does this school promote courtesy, caring, communication, cooperation and literacy?
Initiative – How much does this school foster self-directed learning, will power and self-evaluation?
Imagination – How much does this school nurture creativity and creative expression?
Intuition – How much does this school help students discover truth with their hearts as well as with their minds?
Integrity – To what degree does this school develop honesty, character, morality and responsibility for self?
Literacy and Math – Are literacy and math skills taught and learned as tools of inquiry, communication and problem-solving rather than as ends in and of themselves?
Parent Involvement – To what degree are parents involved as full partners with the school to help students grow as contributors to the school, home and community?
Additional comments, questions or suggestions:
Signature (optional) _________________________________ Phone # ________________________
For more information about “Educating for Human Greatness” contact Lynn Stoddard lstrd@yahoo.com (801) 451-2554
Attachment 2
A Better Education Reform Plan
by Lynn Stoddard
The No Child Left Behind Law is faltering. People are beginning to realize NCLB didn’t accomplish what it set out to do. Here are ten reasons why we should replace the No Child Left Behind Law with a better reform plan and urge the federal government to get out of the education business:
1. NCLB is unconstitutional. The 10th amendment makes education a state responsibility.
2. It ignores the development of individual student gifts and talents in favor of standardization.
3. It fosters a low estimation of students and their potential.
4. It squelches inquiry, creativity and fails to engage and challenge students.
5. It motivates with fear and pressure.
6. It demoralizes and degrades teachers and parents. They are not allowed to make decisions about what is best for each child.
7. Standardized testing is expensive, takes time away from teaching and learning, and offers no information to help teachers help students develop as individuals.
8. It fosters dishonesty and cheating.
9. No amount of federal funding can compensate for the damages already incurred.
10. There is an alternative reform plan that produces much better results.
NCLB did us a favor by showing the opposite motivation for what needs to be done. Think about it. If you have a foot race with any group of people, will anyone cross the finish line last? Can it be avoided? How about a spelling contest, reading, math, or any activity you want to name?
The challenge is not to keep someone from being “left behind,” but to make sure there is something in which every student can excel. Every person needs to be first once in a while. Can you see how demoralizing it is for a child to always be below average in traditional school subjects? As long as student achievement in curriculum remains as the main goal and purpose of public education, the majority of children will always be left behind. Only a few will graduate with high grade-point averages.
What is to be done? How would things be different, if the slogan had been “Every Child Can Excel?” Years ago, Dr. Calvin Taylor, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah, proved that everyone can excel in something, if you consider enough “somethings.” He discovered that some students, who ranked low in academic subjects, were highly skilled in creativity, leadership, the arts and other areas. Herein lies our challenge and opportunity for genuine reform of public education. The only way to avoid having some children left behind and for every child to excel is to change the main goal of education. If we stubbornly maintain student achievement in curriculum and GPA’s as the main goal, the majority of students will always be left behind and likely never find the things in which they can excel.
While I was principal of Hill Field Elementary School in Clearfield, Utah, we became troubled about the conditions in our culture that were creating the need for enormous jails. We adopted the following as our mission, main purpose and goal:
Develop great human beings to be valuable contributors – not burdens – to society.
Then, in many interviews and discussions with parents, the teachers found that the ability and desire for a child to be a contributor depends on satisfying three primary needs:
1. The need to be loved and regarded as an important somebody.
2. The need for communion with others.
3. The need to learn.
With these needs in mind we established three major goals to help students become contributors:
• Identity – Help students discover and develop their innate gifts and talents to form a vision of personal worth as contributors to society.
• Interaction – Help children form healthy relationships and develop powers of expression and thoughtful, caring communication.
• Inquiry – Expand curiosity and help students learn how to ask powerful questions.
These goals resulted in a different kind of home-school relationship. Parents, students and teachers joined hands in a common cause. With an intense focus on the three dimensions of greatness, they created strategies and curriculum for accomplishing the goals. One of the strategies, the Great Brain Project, emphasized the development of student inquiry. Students were invited to become “specialists”, “experts”, “masterminds” or “geniuses” in self-selected topics and then share their knowledge with classmates and other invited guests. They learned how to ask powerful questions and surprised everyone with what they could do when given support to study their own interests. Teachers found that knowledge gained from personal inquiry is deep and enduring, while imposed knowledge is shallow and temporary. Students engaged in self-assigned home study rather than teacher-assigned home work.
I cite this as an example of what can happen when curriculum is not the goal, but a means of reaching for a higher goal – human greatness. When a community is committed to a common purpose, exciting things begin to happen. Teachers can perform as professionals, something that isn’t possible when a state-imposed curriculum is the goal. Parents become more involved and students surprise everyone with what they can do. When we change the goal of education, we discover how far we have underestimated human potential.
The No Child Left Behind Law and all other government “reforms” since Nation at Risk are examples of our culture’s obsession with grade-point-averages. Student achievement in curriculum has become a false goal, an end in and of itself. It’s a cultural mind-set -- a cultural cramp that prevents genuine reform. We can get released from NCLB by offering an alternative – a different purpose for education that produces far better results – Develop the qualities of human greatness so that students will be contributors – not burdens – to society.
Lynn Stoddard, a veteran educator, is the author of Educating for Human Greatness. He can be reached at lstrd@yahoo.com.
— Lynn Stoddard
2008-08-20
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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