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Essays, Opinion, & Commentary |
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by John Boleyn
A 1993 survey released by the Department of Education tells us that 90 million Americans over the age of 16 lack the reading and writing skills required for employment. Seven hundred thousand students, the Department of Education states, graduate "without the ability to read their diplomas." In 1999, I think the best which can be said about this shameful state of education is that it might not be worse than 1993. Last week, in deploring the declining lack of intellectual abilities in our students, I cited a parent who chose to esteem his son's individuality over his learning. At a Prince William Virginia School Board meeting, the parent objected to him being removed from class because he wore a jacket which was extremely bothersome to both the teacher and students. I then criticized parents and teachers who desire to make education too easy for their kids. But I should have noted that the teacher should be commended for taking a tough stand for the rest of the students who were in need of a stable atmosphere for learning. As I have talked with many teachers, educators and parents from around the country, I believe there is cause for concern that this notion of learning being void of any hardship or pain is increasingly the norm and not the exception. What is my evidence? First, the practice of 'social promotion,' in which teachers promote students to the next grade even if they haven't mastered the work at their current level. This custom is 'sympathetic' to the social status of a child to the extreme of ignoring the lack of progress in a student's work. Recently, Secretary of Education Richard Riley lashed out against this practice, so there is some hope that it is on the decline. Second, there is Guy Strickland, a former teacher, and now education consultant, who last year authored, "Bad Teachers." Mr. Strickland cites a survey of educators in which out of 145 possible goals, none of the top 8 selected by teachers had anything to do with academics. "Self-esteem" stood at the top, followed by such things as "attitude" and "socialization" Last year, I assisted a Fairfax County public school teacher at Borders in a search for books on teaching children at the elementary school level. She believed that due to increased incidents of violence among children and learning disabilities, teachers had to approach their students as psychoanalysts and emotional therapists. I asked her, "who psychoanalyzes you and your colleagues?" There should be no question that when teachers discover emotional distress in children they must respond to it. Into the 1970's, a very common approach to children who were slow in intellectual aptitude and obtaining higher grades was to shame them, demean or persecute them for not doing as well as their classmates or their brothers and sisters. Many ended their general schooling believing they were inherently stupid. And many students today, I fear, still feel the same way. In terms of self confidence, all children need to understand that they are not stupid and that they can achieve good grades and be successful, but especially those students who are elementary school aged, those with learning disabilities, and from divorced homes. Many kids are not as intellectually inclined as others; maybe their time will come in their adult years. Most public and private schools have missed this. The best thing for schools to do is to prepare the young for continued learning by giving them the skills of learning and the love of it. Our schools and colleges are not doing that now, but that is what they should be doing. Mr. Boleyn is a writer in the fields of education, philosophy and politics. You can respond to this essay in The Radical Academy Forum
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