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Essays, Opinion, & Commentary |
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by John Boleyn
Just when the debate on standards of learning for Virginia's students is coming to critical mass, the state Board of Education accelerated its drive to raise learning standards in Virginia on June 24, 1999 by setting the highest minimum test scores in the nation for new math and English teachers. In July 2000, all teachers in Virginia will have to take a new exam in their area of concentration, instead of the National Teachers Exam now given to get full certification. Concern for lack of time for teachers in preparing students for their SOL's will probably be overtaken by their own preparation for the new tests. And with a growing teacher shortage nationally, and in the Washington area, our system of public education is what really is going to be tested. I don't believe it will pass. As I have said before, our concept of learning is based on quantity -- how much does a person know -- instead of what do they know and how they use the knowledge they have. It is the intellectual skills people will need to possess in an advanced technological work place which will enable them to earn a good living and have a good life, not a certain number of facts or a specific number of calculations that someone performs with pencil and paper. At this point, so what if a student or teacher does well on a particular test? Has this process really demonstrated a standard of learning which shows teachers can perform as teachers in the classroom? Will students have the skills of a solid intellectual curriculum, such as acquisition of organized knowledge, development of the intellectual skills of learning, and enlarged understanding of ideas and issues? I wish our public and private schools would take a look at the education program developed by The Paideia Group, Inc., based in Chapel Hill, N.C. Paideia is an educational program developed by philosopher and educator Mortimer J. Adler. Paideia has identified three important means of teaching and learning concerning students and teachers. First, Socratic teaching by asking questions in seminars for the development of understanding is used. Coaching for the development of skills, such as reading, writing, listening, analyzing, computing, and problem solving is esteemed very highly. Finally, a skilled lecturing process or what is known in the education profession as didactic instruction for recall of significant facts is important. They have developed a standard of learning that would be a significant challenge for any teacher or student to meet. Most students and teachers would be above the national average and in fact should be able to do much more because reading and writing are not the only intellectual skills developed; achievement in math will go as far as calculus, and the study of natural sciences will include physics. But most importantly, an understanding of basic ideas and values are included in any Paideia measurement of teaching and learning. This is tested by a student's ability to construct an oral defense of an opinion they have advanced, and of their ability to participate in the discussion on basic issues or problems. A Paideia graduate should be able to demonstrate an understanding of a moderately complicated essay and an ability to write clear and concise expository prose. They should be able to perform reasonably complicated math problems, sort out issues, think through an argument and evaluate it, formulate a persuasive argument and deliver it orally, and listen critically to a speech and respond to it. These are the skills which every person should have, whether it is the automobile mechanic or the physicist, the painter or the teacher. To learn more about Paideia, please contact Dr. Patricia Weiss, President of the Paideia Group at (919)-929-0600. Mr. Boleyn is writer in the fields of education, philosophy and politics. You can respond to this essay in The Radical Academy Forum
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