Rescuing our schools - Part 1: Introduction

Where angels fear to tread--

On December 21 of the year just past, I made what "professional educators" would call a naive--even ignorant--promise on this blog to offer clear and practical steps toward recapturing and reforming the education system that was snatched from us about a half-century ago.

My interest derived from the curious experience I had during my brief stint as a high school teacher of Russian and German languages in 1961-62. In a word, I refused to cooperate in an experiment that had my "forward-looking" teacher colleagues all agog. The experiment involved, among other things, not limiting my language classes to eligible students, but offering them, in a loose-knit kind of schedule, to any and all students, whether academically eligible or not. I would teach all comers in a kind of "round-robin" arrangement where I would be available all day long to students who wished to "sample" my classes. I was told that attendance would not be monitored and that I would not issue traditional grades; in fact, performance would not be measured, except to the extent that the students "were satisfied." My reaction was immediate: I rejected the notion as being foolish and unworkable. My principal took my recalcitrant attitude up with the county administrators who evidently relented to my "old-fashioned" methodology, at least long enough to humor me as I organized the first language programs in this particular high school. I insisted on rigorous exercising in the language as much as possible during the 50-minute long, five-day per week classes. Testing was frequent and carried out as another student learning tool. My colleagues were not happy that I was not participating in their "revolutionary" experiments.

I didn't know it at the time, but I had landed smack-dab in the middle of the "revolution" widely sponsored by the Left (which had also given birth to the "progressive" hippie movement on U.S. campuses in the late 1950s), and had the support of growing, powerful teachers' unions (National Education Association and the newer American Federation of Teachers). Because of my refusal to cooperate with new curricula and teaching techniques in my very first year as a new teacher "on trial," I was ostracized by most of my colleagues as educationally "insensitive." If you're interested in a little bit more about this personal experience, you can scroll down on this blog to an entry entitled "Who hijacked our education system?" (August 28, 2005) .

I mention this by way of introduction because I had just entered the teaching world with so much enthusiasm for imparting the skills I had acquired to those who were coming behind me, but left a short time later disillusioned and somewhat bitter. As the years rolled by and I acquired a perspective that comes with maturity and time, I watched our system of education rapidly deteriorate into confusion on several levels:

(1) Teachers became demoralized and were continuously swindled on several levels,

(2) Administrators became cogs in an ever-growing bureaucratic, dogmatic machine,

(3) Parents became confused and neutralized, but worst of all,

(4) Students began to dislike school and even hold it and their teachers in contempt.

Everybody has come to understand, intuitively or by direct contact with any level of education in America, that the system is broken and is in serious need of reform if our country is to survive, much less to regain our competitiveness in a world that has grown rapidly smaller. The following cartoon, published last December in our little local paper, illustrates our common knowledge: Something's seriously wrong. Unfortunately, no one has yet undertaken serious steps to fix the problem,* although there is an overabundance of pundits who daily continue to comment on our nation's shame and embarrassment.

*No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a recent attempt launched by the Bush Administration with the intent to fix it, but it is clearly failing because there is no political unanimity behind it and, most significantly, it's a bureaucratic monstrosity that is drowning schools in the maintenance of endless statistics--it's like frantically trying to patch the enormous hole in the Titanic with rolls of duct tape, while simultaneously demanding meticulous record-keeping of the number of feet of tape used, the cost, the source of the tape, the man hours used, who applied the tape (broker down by race, disabilities, level of skills, etc.). Much more on NCLB in subsequent parts of this essay.

Since leaving my teaching post so disillusioned and after the demands of day-to-day responsibilities of raising a family and making a living are behind me, I now have the luxury of time to consider the results that have been percolating in the cauldron of my mind the past 45 years. I think I know what the problem is and how to cure it--assuming, of course, that Americans will summon the political will to carry it out.

I'm not sure how long and in what form my solution will take. I suspect the enormity of the problem I've assigned myself could take hundreds of pages. If I thought such an exposition might have a significant impact on a wide audience, I would undertake the task in whatever length and in whatever formats required. For starters, however, this blog will serve as a repository of the "essentials"--an outline--if you wish.

I am anxious to use this Internet Age "blog" to record this outline for one important reason: To interact with readers and thinkers who undoubtedly will help widen my thinking and thus ultimately contribute to the value of the final product. (Note: Unless I am directed by contributors to exercise anonymity on their behalf, I will record wide attribution to anyone who contributes to this essay--negatively or positively.)

I promise to try and avoid being pedantic, long-winded and academically obtuse. If I drift off into old university-acquired habits, I hope someone reading this will alert me forcefully.
So as to make the whole exercise as palatable for both myself and readers, the essay will be done in pieces--this being Part 1, the Introduction.

Please make comments--either directly at the end of each posting in "Comments" below or by using my separate e-mail (on the "Profiles" button, upper right-hand margin).