Education

This was written on October 13, 2003 in response to an e-mail suggesting that education could resonate with the people of the state of Kansas. I don't actually comment on this issue, but I do make some significant comments about education in general:

I've seen some sources that suggest the real problem with education is not just funding. That is, the issue is deeper. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" will probably make that obvious when it is recognized as having failed (which it will).

Other issues involve culture. For example, most oriental students do better in U.S. schools than even U.S. natives. One example I saw cited (this would have been ten to fifteen years ago) a case of a child from Vietnam who spent eight years in a refugee camp with no education (and not speaking English), then was enrolled in a U.S. school. In a year and a half they were at the top of the class. Ultimately this was credited to the emphasis on education of the culture. That is, the culture required the parents to help the children. Further, the language. In oriental languages everything that means "intelligent" or "educated" is taken as positive. To call someone a "nerd" in English is usually a put down.

There is also the issue of different learning styles. In the United States the education is usually dished out as one size fits all. Exception, gifted education is not approached that way. I have one reference that says we should do away with our current gifted education program and change all our education programs to follow that model. (I don't agree entirely. That goes too far.) The same source says "gifted" education should be reserved for students with an IQ of more than 150. (Currently Kansas is limited at 128, with some School Districts placing the limit higher. In Shawnee Mission it is more than 130.)

The point is, we really don't know how to educate students.

Another problem is goal. In recent years education has been viewed as a means to get into a particular job. In the past this is not the case. People have viewed education as a means to self fulfillment. Business contributes to this by requiring degrees and ignoring aptitude. This results in ridiculous situations such as happened in Computer Science around 1980. At Iowa State where I was in school, a survey of freshman said that more than 50? wanted to be computer science majors. I think I am safe in saying that more than 50? of the population has no aptitude for computer science, software development, and the like.

Aptitude is another problem. My older daughter has trouble singling out a major at the University in part because in High School and earlier there was not thought given to her aptitude. She did well academically in everything. No one tried to determine her aptitudes, or help her explore her interests.

Also, despite attempts, the state does not do a good job handling disabilities. My younger daughter had difficulty reading, and the school will not test her for dyslexia unless she fails English. She is learning to hate school because of the required reading. Yesterday she told me that she has decided to quite attempting to make good grades in those classes that require excessive reading.

Also, there is the issue of good teachers. Money by itself does not buy good teachers. When Connie, my younger daughter, was in middle school, her gifted education teacher was abusive by all accounts. Yet parents had to work for several years to get her out of that class. Similarly, she complained about her physics teacher yesterday. He doesn't teach anything, then gives test that are so trivial (just plugging in numbers) that all the students get a perfect grade. She really does not think she's learning anything there, although she is thinking about a major in Math or Physics when she get to college.

There is also the problem of changing requirements. This is especially a problem for people who think education is just to train people for work. I recall having to teach a course called "computer literacy" in which a word processor was taught because people needed to use a word processor. The problem is the class was taught to freshmen, and by the time they graduated, the word processor they were using was totally obsolete. This translates to many other areas as well if you view education as simply to train people for a job.

Education could also be viewed as teaching people how to think. That is, logic, critical thinking etc. One vogue word now, or at least a few years ago, was critical thinking. The teacher would give the student problems and the students would have to figure answers, when what is really needed is for teachers to present students with problems, and have students critique the answers, even criticize the teacher.

One book I have points out that education and politicians are inherently at odds. That is, education should teach people how to think critically, which is a problem for politicians, who prefer people who are easy to lead (like lemmings). This is used as an excuse for using private education.

I'm not sure if I completely agree with them, but it can be used as an excuse to encourage local control of education so the guys in Washington don't use the schools to indoctrinate. The guys in Topeka as well.

So much for ranting.