education
There is a lot of inconsistency in current reports about US education. Granted these particular reports are thinking about different levels - elementary and secondary vs. college and do have some crossover. But it is important that they are made to talk to each other a bit more intentionally. Reconciling the two perspectives requires its own version of creativity. Parents of elementary and high school students claim that schools are putting too much pressure of kids to get good grades, excel on standardized tests, etc. Education scholars claim that college students are “adrift” because curricula lack appropriate rigor. How did we get here? What is gained by challenging adolescents too much but not pushing the college kids? It is easy to identify over-stressed teens, but it seems that adequate rigor is not as easily measured as whether students are assigned enough 20 page papers.
Vicki Abeles, the director the film Race to Nowhere, makes the relatively obvious suggestion that the system needs to be transformed rather than reformed. Students are not asked to be creative or develop as problem solvers. As a college professor, my primary goal was to inspire creativity and the critical thinking necessary to solve a range of problems. And sometimes a long essay was not the appropriate way to get my students to work at the intellectual level I sought. I understand at the 20 page paper was just one example given by Arum (and I haven’t read his book), but it works as a representative line of reasoning. A line of reasoning that seems not to be the extension of Abeles’ point about what kids are not learning before they get to college.
Neither approach - the overly-rigorous high school curriculum nor the low expectations of college students - produces results we feel proud of. Both extremes leave us disappointed and “behind” other countries.
On the one hand, it is inspiring and makes me want to (re)join the forces so that i may do my part to make a difference, and on the other, it seems like an losing battle. and one i just assume not inevitably fail at.
education
There is a lot of inconsistency in current reports about US education. Granted these particular reports are thinking about different levels - elementary and secondary vs. college and do have some crossover. But it is important that they are made to talk to each other a bit more intentionally. Reconciling the two perspectives requires its own version of creativity. Parents of elementary and high school students claim that schools are putting too much pressure of kids to get good grades, excel on standardized tests, etc. Education scholars claim that college students are “adrift” because curricula lack appropriate rigor. How did we get here? What is gained by challenging adolescents too much but not pushing the college kids? It is easy to identify over-stressed teens, but it seems that adequate rigor is not as easily measured as whether students are assigned enough 20 page papers.
Vicki Abeles, the director the film Race to Nowhere, makes the relatively obvious suggestion that the system needs to be transformed rather than reformed. Students are not asked to be creative or develop as problem solvers. As a college professor, my primary goal was to inspire creativity and the critical thinking necessary to solve a range of problems. And sometimes a long essay was not the appropriate way to get my students to work at the intellectual level I sought. I understand at the 20 page paper was just one example given by Arum (and I haven’t read his book), but it works as a representative line of reasoning. A line of reasoning that seems not to be the extension of Abeles’ point about what kids are not learning before they get to college.
Neither approach - the overly-rigorous high school curriculum nor the low expectations of college students - produces results we feel proud of. Both extremes leave us disappointed and “behind” other countries.
On the one hand, it is inspiring and makes me want to (re)join the forces so that i may do my part to make a difference, and on the other, it seems like an losing battle. and one i just assume not inevitably fail at.
Posted 1 year ago Notes
