I can’t recall a presidential race that did not involve candidates stumping for better schools, more pay for teachers, and excellence in education. And yet candidates never really have a clue as to what’s wrong with the educational system.
Our present curriculum is almost a hundred years old, and it’s based on the eighteenth century philosophy that a student can learn everything that is knowable (a bit ludicrous in today's world). Hence, we have a supermarket mentality to curricula. Students walk down aisles each day, sampling a bit of this and a bit of that—one hour for math, one hour, for English, one hour for history, and so forth. Research indicated long ago, however, that the human brain does not assimilate much information when inundated with multiple disciplines in a short period of time.
Having been an educator for twenty years earlier in my career, I certainly think teachers are underpaid, but discipline is the number one problem in our classrooms. The response of school boards is to make our aspiring teachers take two or three psych courses in college and then have them student teach for a single semester before declaring they are ready to handle any student who walks into their classrooms. It’s a travesty.
We can also blame our educational mindset on Sputnik, the Soviet satellite launched in 1957. America panicked, and to keep up with the Russkies, we emphasized math and science and never looked back. The result has been several generations that are still reading and writing at a seventh grade level by the time they graduate from high school.
But you won’t hear any of this on the campaign trail.
Picture: Public Domain
Our present curriculum is almost a hundred years old, and it’s based on the eighteenth century philosophy that a student can learn everything that is knowable (a bit ludicrous in today's world). Hence, we have a supermarket mentality to curricula. Students walk down aisles each day, sampling a bit of this and a bit of that—one hour for math, one hour, for English, one hour for history, and so forth. Research indicated long ago, however, that the human brain does not assimilate much information when inundated with multiple disciplines in a short period of time.
Having been an educator for twenty years earlier in my career, I certainly think teachers are underpaid, but discipline is the number one problem in our classrooms. The response of school boards is to make our aspiring teachers take two or three psych courses in college and then have them student teach for a single semester before declaring they are ready to handle any student who walks into their classrooms. It’s a travesty.
We can also blame our educational mindset on Sputnik, the Soviet satellite launched in 1957. America panicked, and to keep up with the Russkies, we emphasized math and science and never looked back. The result has been several generations that are still reading and writing at a seventh grade level by the time they graduate from high school.
But you won’t hear any of this on the campaign trail.
Picture: Public Domain
7 comments:
Interesting, Billy - seeing this from the US point of view. Was there any specific book (or whatever) on the brain not assimilating multi-disciplinary education?
Julie, I saw a research article about this back in my teaching days. I no longer have the textbook, but the article seemed to make sense--forcing the brain to move from subject to subject for seven hours straight.
I recall my brain having fatigue (though I was an earnest student) due to the shifting subjects. Just as I was starting to get a picture that made sense on a subject, I was channel clicked away...
I think the feds should get the hell out of Education completely. And parents should get more involved.
And innovation in teaching should be allowed.
And stuff...
I agree, Scott. And professors and curriculum designers are are the worst. They sit around playing with theory and research, having never done more than a year or two of real teaching.
Couldn't agree more. Many secondary schools here have 40 minute lessons, propped up with 'coursework' which the student is expected to trawl through on their own. It's a recipe for disaster.
Lane, I think the whole damn system needs overhauling. College graduates today (at least on this side of the pond) don't know as much as high school grads 30 years ago.
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