To Improve Schools, Fight Poverty, Education Expert Says
In a July 7 lecture at Fordham, an education expert disputed the notion of "our failing schools" and said the real problem facing American schoolchildren is poverty.
"There's nothing wrong, seriously wrong, with our schools. There is no crisis," said Stephen Krashen, Ph.D., professor emeritus of learning and instruction at the University of Southern California. "The crisis is 100 percent manufactured. The whole thing is a hoax."
When poverty is taken into account, "our scores are really good" on international tests that supposedly show American schools falling far behind their counterparts in other countries, he said. He noted that some better-performing countries—like Iceland and Luxembourg—have much smaller populations and don’t have the United States' high rate of child poverty, the highest among industrialized countries. "I think maybe 10 kids took the test in Luxembourg," he joked.
He decried the federal government's push for more frequent testing and said what struggling schools
Contact: Chris Gosier (646) 312-8267 gosier@fordham.edu |
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| Stephen Krashen, Ph.D. Photo by Bruce Gilbert |
"There's nothing wrong, seriously wrong, with our schools. There is no crisis," said Stephen Krashen, Ph.D., professor emeritus of learning and instruction at the University of Southern California. "The crisis is 100 percent manufactured. The whole thing is a hoax."
When poverty is taken into account, "our scores are really good" on international tests that supposedly show American schools falling far behind their counterparts in other countries, he said. He noted that some better-performing countries—like Iceland and Luxembourg—have much smaller populations and don’t have the United States' high rate of child poverty, the highest among industrialized countries. "I think maybe 10 kids took the test in Luxembourg," he joked.
He decried the federal government's push for more frequent testing and said what struggling schools