The Demanding/Expectation Paradox
This may be straying a bit from the AEM debate, but both G-Money and The Wolf Man have made points which bring up an interesting paradox at the center of current American education, and one which, conveniently, allows me to both heartily agree and respectfully disagree with them both. First the disagreement: the problem is not that the system isn't pushing students hard enough. On the contrary, we are pushing students -- especially those in grades 7-12 -- as hard as ever we can, expecting from them ever more impressive feats of accomplishment and ever less harmless vice. Students have never been pushed as hard as they are being pushed now, and that has been true for every "now" since the early Eighties when we realized that other nations' youths we out-performing us. The pushing of students has become structural, and, as a curious result, has become an integral part of the teenage experience in suburban America.
Now, you might say that if we are pushing the students as hard as that, where is the achievement? Why are we still so stupid? How can it be that only a third of Harvard graduates can find Florida on a map (or any other outrageous, too-Strange-to-be-made-up statistic)? The answer is in my agreement with my esteemed colleagues: we push students harder and harder to succeed, but for some reason, we expect less and less of them. We expect less responsibility, less intellectual rigor. To put it more clearly: the emphasis is placed strongly on getting the best possible grade, not attaining the highest possible degree of knowledge. This is the tragedy of modern American public education, and, as time goes by, it has less and less to do with the teachers in the system.
We don't need to descend into a debate on the benefits/shortcomings of NCLB, but I will say that the kind of thinking which has cornered education by saddling up the Horse of Knowledge with testing is indicative of the problem I've just outlined. Never mind your ability to reason or to think critically; you must instead pass this test. If you pass this test, you're good to go. What's important is that you know that The Great War ended in 1918 and The Deuce started in 1939. What's not important is your ability to create a thoughtful, well-reasoned argument for or against the idea that they are actually one single war with a twenty-one-year lull between them.
American public education does not produce thinkers, leaders, or even educated people. America's top-level prep schools and universities do that (although even the public university system has slipped, in my opinion). The reason I'm going into education is to try and fix this problem from the inside out. I can say without any exaggeration that I learned absolutely nothing during the three years I spent at Roseville Area High School; I am educated and articulate despite my public education, not because of it.
So what does all this have to do with AEM and our generation's problems? Well, think about this: G-Money's intelligent remarks about college graduates engaging in extended adolescence are part and parcel of Mme. Flamingo's intelligent remarks about having been expected to be responsible from a young age and then rejecting those responsibilities as soon as possible. The more pressure we put on true adolescents to be adults, to pass tests, to be academically competitive, the less able they will be to act like adolescents. When you are forced into a box at the age of fourteen only to emerge with a BA and a high alcohol tolerance at twenty-two, you must naturally want to take some time and do whatever it is you felt you missed out on when you were sixteen. How many of you spend time thinking about that girl/guy you really should have dated in high school? Be honest.
I'm not saying that grades are bad or testing is wrong or any of that other hippie, educational trend foolishness. Of course grading and testing are necessary, as is the ability to demonstrate what you've learned. I'm also not saying that the root or our generation's problems are entirely to be found in public education. What I am saying is that if high school (and perhaps even middle school) education was more like college education, we could all be much happier. Sure, you might not make it through Honors Calculus VII, but at least you'd be able to speak or write intelligently about the advances made in biology since the time of Darwin. I can't imagine that colleges would frown on students coming to their campuses better-prepared to learn than they are now.
Nobody wants to address this particular educational issue, because they believe that high expectations and being highly demanding are the same. They are not. You don't need to be a teacher to understand the difference; you just have to try and remember what it was like to be a student.
Now, you might say that if we are pushing the students as hard as that, where is the achievement? Why are we still so stupid? How can it be that only a third of Harvard graduates can find Florida on a map (or any other outrageous, too-Strange-to-be-made-up statistic)? The answer is in my agreement with my esteemed colleagues: we push students harder and harder to succeed, but for some reason, we expect less and less of them. We expect less responsibility, less intellectual rigor. To put it more clearly: the emphasis is placed strongly on getting the best possible grade, not attaining the highest possible degree of knowledge. This is the tragedy of modern American public education, and, as time goes by, it has less and less to do with the teachers in the system.
We don't need to descend into a debate on the benefits/shortcomings of NCLB, but I will say that the kind of thinking which has cornered education by saddling up the Horse of Knowledge with testing is indicative of the problem I've just outlined. Never mind your ability to reason or to think critically; you must instead pass this test. If you pass this test, you're good to go. What's important is that you know that The Great War ended in 1918 and The Deuce started in 1939. What's not important is your ability to create a thoughtful, well-reasoned argument for or against the idea that they are actually one single war with a twenty-one-year lull between them.
American public education does not produce thinkers, leaders, or even educated people. America's top-level prep schools and universities do that (although even the public university system has slipped, in my opinion). The reason I'm going into education is to try and fix this problem from the inside out. I can say without any exaggeration that I learned absolutely nothing during the three years I spent at Roseville Area High School; I am educated and articulate despite my public education, not because of it.
So what does all this have to do with AEM and our generation's problems? Well, think about this: G-Money's intelligent remarks about college graduates engaging in extended adolescence are part and parcel of Mme. Flamingo's intelligent remarks about having been expected to be responsible from a young age and then rejecting those responsibilities as soon as possible. The more pressure we put on true adolescents to be adults, to pass tests, to be academically competitive, the less able they will be to act like adolescents. When you are forced into a box at the age of fourteen only to emerge with a BA and a high alcohol tolerance at twenty-two, you must naturally want to take some time and do whatever it is you felt you missed out on when you were sixteen. How many of you spend time thinking about that girl/guy you really should have dated in high school? Be honest.
I'm not saying that grades are bad or testing is wrong or any of that other hippie, educational trend foolishness. Of course grading and testing are necessary, as is the ability to demonstrate what you've learned. I'm also not saying that the root or our generation's problems are entirely to be found in public education. What I am saying is that if high school (and perhaps even middle school) education was more like college education, we could all be much happier. Sure, you might not make it through Honors Calculus VII, but at least you'd be able to speak or write intelligently about the advances made in biology since the time of Darwin. I can't imagine that colleges would frown on students coming to their campuses better-prepared to learn than they are now.
Nobody wants to address this particular educational issue, because they believe that high expectations and being highly demanding are the same. They are not. You don't need to be a teacher to understand the difference; you just have to try and remember what it was like to be a student.
posted by Buckwalter at 10:23 AM
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