Education - Old New Thought

By Ron C. West - Texas Candidate for State Representative - District 91

If you happen to criticize our current educational "system", the educators quickly label you as a nut, a psycho, or just a "know nothing". They have a solution for everything. At this time of year, they are busily setting the (increased) property tax rates for you to pay next year and it is a bad time to question them. Unfortunately, for those of us who are not "educators", rarely have an opportunity to either ask questions or suggest solutions to the "professional educators". Like my teenage daughter, they already know all the answers.

They propose we spend more money on teacher pay - which we have been doing over the past 10 years with declining educational results.

They propose we reduce the number of students in each class - which we have been doing for the past 10 years with declining educational results.

They propose we test our students for academic skills and then rate the schools on the results - which we have been doing for years with declining educational results.

They propose stricter laws of truancy to force students to attend school but in reality are only interested in them being there for 10AM roll call so that the school gets the money for their attendance.

They propose metal detectors at schools doors with armed guards because of "problem" students. (These may be the same ones that the truancy police pick up and force to attend.)

They know that "all men are created equal" so they "assume" all students have the same IQ and capacity for learning which leads to classrooms taught with the lowest common denominator curriculum.

The result of the educators and politicians plan to date has been tax increases of 100% or more over the past 10 years while our schools are turning out ever more "uneducated" students.

Something is dramatically wrong with our educational system.

Perhaps it is time to reconsider some basic facts or truths:

1. Money alone may not be the answer to our educational problems.
2. Not all students are equal. We have some very bright students, some average students, some below average students who try, and some kids that refuse to try and perhaps should not be students at all. Perhaps we should consider grouping students by interest and aptitude levels rather than for cultural diversity. In this manner the best and brightest would be educated to their potential, the average student would be successful and the below average who try would get the attention they need and deserve. For the group that does not want to try, perhaps we could create a kind of boot camp to prepare them for menial jobs to benefit society in some manner.
3. The number of students in a classroom - depending upon the interest of the student and the skills of the teacher - could be significantly larger. Harvard Business School has classes of 200 or more students and offers one of the best educations in the country.
4. It is difficult to force anyone to do anything.
5. Testing, as currently empowered, is creating an atmosphere of teaching to the test instead of educating our students. We used to have testing in the form of report cards. Perhaps the accumulation of report card data is a better indicator of school performance than the current TASS or its successor in testing.
6. It is a fact that things change so all students should be allowed to seek the appropriate level of education at the beginning of each year. If an average student has excelled in the average curriculum, he or she should be allowed to try the advanced. If an advanced student is struggling, he or she should be allowed to step back into the average curriculum. Perhaps the students would be the best source of this decision rather than the teachers.
7. Maybe if teacher pay and advancement was based on report card grades for the subjects taught we might see more teacher involvement in the success of our students. (In this case the standardized tests would be used to test student understanding of specific course material and would also be used to develop the grade on the report card.)
8. Perhaps we can consolidate many small school districts into larger regional districts with the corresponding reduction in administrative costs.
9. Perhaps we should solicit and consider "new" ideas from students, teachers, parents and politicians so that we can discuss real solutions. This small set of ideas, truths or thoughts should trigger more, perhaps better and more sophisticated ideas.

Are these revolutionary ideas? I don't think so. In fact, many, if not all of the above ideas were in place 50 years ago in our schools. The people who enjoyed real education are now in positions of responsibility across our country. Were the prior generations un-educated? I don't think so! Are our students being better educated today? Again, I don't think so. Is there more to learn today? Of course. The problem is that many, many of our kids are not really learning even basic skills. Education has become a "mass" business and is most impersonal.

To address the "educational problem" it is going to take some revolutionary thinking and some difficult decisions or admissions on our part. While "all men are created equal under God", all men do not have the same set of learning abilities. Until we actually recognize this in our educational system, we will continue the "dumbing down of America".