Dr. Rick Posner on Education |
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OurBlook interview with Dr. Rick Posner, educational consultant
RP: I think the strengths have to do with the noble intentions of at least trying to educate everyone who walks in the door. Other countries begin tracking kids almost immediately into vocational and/or trade skills settings which might explain their higher test scores. Here everyone takes the test, not just a select few. I feel that the vision of a free, democratic education is a wonderful promise. Unfortunately, it is a false promise because we, too, "track" kids in even crueler ways; we force them to drop out of the system entirely before they even have a chance of success. In place of tracking, we use high-stakes tests and standardized curricula to weed them out. Charter schools give us some hope in the public as alternatives to the one-size-fits-all curriculum. I see the charter movement as the public schools' last stand against the voucher system. How many people really want to see public money go to private schools? Unfortunately, they will have no choice if the public sector does not offer more options. We need to recommit to our original promise to try to reach out to all of our children in our public schools. What are the goals of the educational system, and are they what you think they should be? RP: Again, I think it's that democratic promise of a free, appropriate education for everyone. We say that we try to reach all children, but in reality, we leave too many kids behind. I believe we should take that promise more seriously by restoring the ancient purposes of a real education. We need to address the personal, social and intellectual needs of our children. We need to practice what the Latin root of "to educate"(educare) implies: to draw out from, not to fill up. This means that educators need to draw upon the natural gifts and talents of their students, not fill them up with facts and figures for them to regurgitate. We can't let our kids become anonymous in our schools. We have to get to know them and help them believe in themselves so they can meet the demands of the 21st century. In short, we need to personalize the system instead of standardizing it and expand the curriculum, as opposed to narrowing it. How has the major school reform movement ... No Child Left Behind ... impacted either positively or negatively the educational system? Should it be continued or scrapped? Are there any improvements that could be made? RP: NCLB has made our schools into testing factories. It has drawn us away from the idea that all children learn differently and have unique potential. It has also led us to restrict the curriculum to only those subjects that are addressed by the One Big Test. As a result, we are leaving more and more kids behind. We should not only scrap it, but recreate it as a promise to meet all of our children's needs by providing schools that are safe, nurturing places. For this to happen, you have to include time in the school day for personal and social growth. Also, teachers need to be set free of standards and testing to be able to get to know their students on deeper, more relevant levels. With nearly 40 years of experience in public school systems, you have said that "we are graduating kids from high school who get straight A's and high test scores but don't know how to tie their own shoes." ... and that these students need 21st century skills. What do you mean by this, and how should schools change to begin teaching these skills? RP: Futurists and educators dating back to Dewey have been warning us for years that we are graduating students who don't have the personal, social and intellectual skills that are necessary for the post industrial world. Contemporary columnists from David Brooks to Thomas Friedman have now taken up the call. What we have now are graduates with high test scores and good grades who don't know to cultivate meaningful relationships or work in groups or use their creative and innovative skills in their work. Even more troubling, many of these people don't really know how to learn on their own. We need to refocus our priorities as educators. First, we need to take John Dewey's comments seriously. Schools should be places that are laboratories for democracy. This means that we need to give students some real control over their own education by allowing them to make important decisions and participate directly in school governance. We also need to give kids the freedom to develop these 21st century skills: Communication skills Working in teams with different kinds of people Critical thinking (sifting and filtering through a barrage of information) Adaptability Curiosity Innovation (having confidence in one's own creativity) Taking the initiative Making important decisions on their own Self-direction Intrinsic motivation As educators, we need to take the time to get to know our students so that we can help them make sense of their lives and follow their passions. How can we do this if we're always concerned about getting ready for the test that our schools' very survival depends on? Educationally, how does the United States compare to other countries? What methods and conceptual concerns from other countries could the U.S. incorporate into its educational models? RP: Again, since World War II, there has been this thing about competing with other countries using test scores, especially in math and science, for the score sheet. Remember all the concern about Japanese students scoring so much higher than American students in the '80s? When it was revealed that Japan had the highest teen suicide rate in the modern world and, especially, when their economy went south in the '90s, we heard less and less about this. I think we should be more concerned about the lag in 21st century skills when we hear that countries like China, India and even Japan are talking about personalizing their overly rigid school systems by giving their students more freedom to create, innovate and improvise. If we're so concerned with global competition, we should take heed of the 2007 UNICEF Report on Children which rated the U.S. 27th out of 31 First World countries in graduating students who were ready for the workplace. This report was not about grades or test scores; it was about students who were not self-directed or intrinsically motivated enough for their employers. How might social media and ever-changing technology improve classrooms and the learning environment for teachers and students? How might they be impeding the educational process? RP: I think the information age has created this barrage of information that travels at light speed and tends to overwhelm those who are not ready to field it. We need to help students sort, filter and process information without going crazy or simply submitting to the most powerful messages. We need students who know to wade through the "b.s" and understand that they are responsible for how they use technology and media to reach their potential as human beings. Will education in the U.S. get better or worse? RP: It may get worse before we see the light. I think that NCLB will eventually hit the wall. By 2014, all schools are expected be 100 percent proficient on the state tests. Does anyone think that will happen? This means that even upper-middle class white parents will be sending their kids to failing schools. I think we all know what that means when it comes to political clout. Moreover, there is a major backlash going on now. Even conservative states like Utah are leading the charge against NCLB as "government interference" in their local school systems. There are bound to be some strange bedfellows in this fight but, here's hoping the result is another look at how impersonal and homogenous our schools have become. I'm thinking this will lead to a desire for a more personalized curriculum and an increased attention to the real needs of our children. In turn, I hope that this leads to more choices in the public sector. We desperately need alternatives because the mainstream is simply not for everyone. Is there anything else you'd like to say about any aspect of this topic? RP: I would love to add that there are some real life examples of public schools that view education as being synonymous with personal growth. You can read about the alumni of one such school in my new book, "Lives of Passion, School of Hope." (Rick received his doctorate from University of Denver. He lives in Evergreen, Colo., and is a consultant for schools around the country. Beginning as a bus driver and custodian, he went on to teach in public schools for 30 years.)
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Comments (3)
  written by Scott Nine, February 16, 2010
I've enjoyed your book, "Lives of Passion" . . . and really like what you've said here about the promise of a democratic education that is accessible for all kids. Our youth and educators deserve to be in environments where they can be challenged, meet intentional goals, and be in relationship to each other. The Open School makes it look easy. But we have lots of work to do. Thanks for making a contribution to a larger conversation about how we can have powerful schools that aren't willy-nilly but also aren't big box factories.
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Many people in the United States are highly concerned about improving the quality of education. They believe schools are underfunded and students are underperforming, and some have shown their dismay by joining the voucher and charter school movements. What do you think is the state of education in America ... its strengths and weaknesses?
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