9486 in the collection
Shilling for Vouchers in the Name of Democracy
Ohanian Comment: This editorial is so riddled with misinformation that it's hard to know where to start. Education Commission of the States as a "window for average citizens" is quite an idea, and anybody who talks (or quotes favorably) someone who talks about "the bottom line in education" is highly suspect. And you can predict that they will then blather about our "high tech world."
After two decades of often highly contentious debate, the United States has reached a consensus on the future framework of American schools.
The concept is called "standards-based education." It asks Vermont and other states to set expectations for what children should learn in each grade in various subjects, while giving educators wide liberty to design programs so children meet those scholastic targets.
The standards-based approach, reflecting recent research in cognitive psychology and neurobiology, recognizes that every child learns differently and it pushes schools to customize their programs to serve the unique needs of each youngster.
"The only bottom line in schools is student performance," said Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson PLC, the world's largest publisher of education materials. "If universal education is to be effective for everyone, it must be centered on the individual child."
Scardino's remarks were delivered in Denver last week at the National Forum on Education Policy sponsored by the Education Commission of the States, an organization of governors, legislators, state school chiefs, education professors and others active in school issues. The three-day meeting was a good window for average citizens and parents to view the latest developments in school policy.
The session was especially timely, coming a few months after the 20th anniversary of the 1983 "Nation at Risk" report that warned the United States was "committing an act of unthinking, unilateral disarmament" because of the low quality of its school system.
The core problem is that the school structure in Vermont and other states is largely a product of the 1920s era of rapid industrialization and mass manufacturing. The one-size-fits-all philosophy of education suited a society needing workers trained for an assembly-line economy. It is an archaic relic in a high-tech world where brains and creativity, not brawn and shop-floor discipline, are critical to personal and economic success.
According to management guru Peter Drucker, a few decades ago, the nation needed to truly educate only about 10 percent of its population to run the country efficiently and could afford to leave millions of people with deficient academic skills. Today, however, the United States must educate everyone or risk having those people become social burdens because they have no role in a global economy.
It is not happening. The latest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- paralleling results on Vermont state assessment tests -- indicate that more than 50 percent of today's students are below grade level in reading, writing and math skills.
Although almost 20 years in gestation, the offspring of the "Nation at Risk" report is the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act that puts heavy demands on states to meet solid educational standards. The new law has major gaps in funding and needs clarification in some areas, but its clear intent is to compel schools to personalize their academic programs so fewer children fall into learning limbo.
To its credit, Vermont has already done much of what the No Child Left Behind Act requires. The state has a good standards-based curriculum; it holds high expectations for schools and students.
But Vermont lacks the third essential element of the emerging American school system: choice.
To survive, a business must appeal to customer tastes and cope with a dynamic marketplace, but public education in Vermont is based largely on geographical monopolies that offer an overwhelming sameness in educational strategies and methods. Rather than Nike, which can specially design a sneaker for every customer, Vermont schools have emulated Henry Ford, who offered motorists a Model T in any color as long as it was black.
What's needed is public school choice that leads to diversity in educational approaches and gives parents greater opportunity to find a school that matches their children's learning style. Since empowered parents tend to be involved parents, choice could also lead to deeper commitments among families to public education and academic quality.
All children can learn and the nation has a moral responsibility and a vital self-interest to ensure that they do. Through high academic standards, strict accountability and maximum variety of educational options, the American school system can help secure democracy and prosperity for the next generation.
— editorial
Schools for All Kids
Burlington Free Press
July 20,, 2003
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/editorial/sunday/1000h.htm
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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