John Thompson Reviews John Kuhn's "Fear and Learning"
Guest post by John Thompson.
It was Texas that led American schools into the valley of fear and test-driven loathing. It was a Texan, Diane Ravitch, who rallied teachers when it seemed like public schooling was condemned to its Alamo. Now, it may be a Texan, John Kuhn, who points the way out of the educational civil war launched by data-driven reform.
Kuhn's Fear and Learning is humorous and candid when explaining how schools succumbed to bubble-in malpractice. He is as quotable as Ravitch, and as skilled in rallying and inspiring teachers. He also is charitable in a way that creates common ground. By beginning his outstanding book with an acknowledgement of why sincere reformers originally embraced standardized tests, how accountability went wrong, and how few of us are blameless, Kuhn points the way to a new era of school improvement. He closes with common sense and science-based solutions that we can all unite behind.
Kuhn's wit is crucial to his explanation of education's culture of compliance - a culture of powerlessness in the face of impossible demands by multiple masters. "The only thing a superintendent needs to know," according to the conventional wisdom "is how to count to four." That number signified the votes required for superintendents to keep their jobs. As the education establishment tried to keep its collective heads down and stay out of trouble, they presided over an education system where "poverty wasn't an excuse; it was an ironclad guarantee."
When Texas imposed test-driven accountability, superintendents and other educators went along. After all, many were like Kuhn who had done well on standardized tests. In the Texas of the 1980 John Thompson Reviews John Kuhn's "Fear and Learning" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: