Public Education in America: Looking into the crystal ball
The wish we all have. To find a crystal ball. To see if what we're doing now will pay off tomorrow. Where we go to college. Whom we marry. Where we buy a house. How we raise our kids. We think about it in the big picture, too. In our economy. Our politics. So it is with our public schools. They always seem like a playground for experimentation. Some proved to be bad ideas, like open-classroom school buildings. Most have been replaced. Or the brilliant idea when I was in high school. English and history taught as electives. Let the students choose what interests them. I'm still paying the price for that scattershot experience. And the "new math" roller coaster. We all paid the price for that one. But, they were bumps in the road compared to what is playing out now. The experimentation is on such a grand scale and so many are convinced it is the "right and only" way to go, there may be no path to recovery if it all turns out to be misguided.
I've been glimpsing a crystal ball. And what I see in it frightens me.
In a nutshell, it's the current experiment with our public schools: Standards, testing, performance pay and charter schools. President Obama (and former President George W. Bush), the U.S. Department of Education,
I've been glimpsing a crystal ball. And what I see in it frightens me.
In a nutshell, it's the current experiment with our public schools: Standards, testing, performance pay and charter schools. President Obama (and former President George W. Bush), the U.S. Department of Education,