On occassion, I'll stumble upon two articles which will seem to be contradictory, but perhaps provide evidence of how complex and multi-layered the reality of a given situation or problem, reminding me that things are not always black and white, and that there are sometimes shades of gray which color perceptions.
For example, I had stumbled upon news of a teacher in Pennsylvania who was suspended for purportedly speaking the truth in 'tough love' on a personal blog, where she called out students (not by name) for being 'disengaged, lazy whiners'. The teacher, Natalie Munroe, was 'outed' by angry students and subsequently suspended, but has been elevated as a folk hero in some circles for being brave enough to speak the hard truth around many of today's kids - that kids today are pampered, rude, self-centered, lazy and have a sense of entitlement which is off the charts. This is not dissimilar from the whole "Tiger Mom thing" with Amy Chua, where Chua made waves around her premise that American parents largely were at fault with many kids failing to achieve academic success.
On the other hand, you have other articles which seem to suggest otherwise, that people are aggressively parenting to the point of alarm, taking the form of hiring tutors to help toddlers cram for exams which may allow them to gain admission to selective elementary schools in Chicago. Then again, stories like this and parents paying $1000 for "kindercramming" boot camps to get thier toddlers into exclusive schools in Manhattahn doesn't necessarily mean that kids are not lazy, per se - it just means that these children are forced to work. It's one thing to be diligent and hard-working, it's another thing to be coerced to memorize and drill.
The funny thing is that both sets of kids are similar in that they either believe or are being led to believe that education is simply a means to a goal, that the point of learning is "what it gets you", not "the process and the journey itself". The only difference is that the children who are cramming for kindergarten entrance exams are running the race with fervor. The disengaged, lazy whiner students in Pennylvania believe in the same race, but are pissed that they aren't simply given the trophy.
In the same vein, I wonder if the two stories are not at odds, after all. Maybe we've effectively screwed up education to the point that we've forgotten how to teach children how to be diligent learners - which is different than being good test-takers, grade-inflaters, or shortcut-masters. It's the difference between the "race" and a exploratory journey. Maybe it's possible that we've thrown out all the good that came along with Socratic learning and classical education that all we're left with is gaming the system to get good grades and apathy, because kids have never learned to enjoy or appreciate the art and discipline of learning in the first place. If this is true, we'll end up with a bunch of children in the next generation who are a combination of high achievers without any sort of creativity or zest for continuous learning, burned out former-high achievers who hate their parents and upbringing, and a unmotivated student "middle class" who stopped caring a long time ago.
And no, I don't have any tactical solutions. My prediction? I think education reform is going to make healthcare reform look easy.
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2 comments:
What about all the high achieving uncreative children in our own generation?
I think solutions will start appearing when people stop looking to the government to educate their children. Read Dewey and you'll see it's never in the government's interest to have truly educated citizens. If we want that, individuals and local groups will have to do it themselves.
You may be right, but I've found that individuals and local groups (the community in which I live is an example) are also prone to focusing around what they perceive will get the kids to the "ends".
And that chief end is the highest expected value of money earned as an adult, and the perception is that the greatest likelihood of doing this is getting them to an Ivy League caliber school. And how to parents believe you get into one? Primarily with high grades and high standardized test scores.
If local groups (or at least my neighborhood) believed that being creative was the more effective means towards financial prosperity via prestigious college, they'd pressure the School Board into putting those into the core curriculum, with individuals hiring tutors.
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