Progressive labels for regressive practices: How key terms in education have been co-opted
Words matter. As Arthur H. Camins noted here, the words accountability, no-excuses and choice have “been claimed and defined by currently powerful policy makers and associated with their values.” Thusaccountability language evokes the authority of the powerful to direct others to improve education, but not shared responsibility. And “no excuses language evokes blaming teachers, administrators, students and their parents for disappointing outcomes, while deflecting attention from the need to address systemic issues, such as the burden of poverty on children’s lives and inequitable school funding.” In the following posts, Alfie Kohn expands on this theme. Kohn (www.alfiekohn.org) is the author of 13 books, the most recent titled “The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Children and Parenting.”This post, which I am publishing with permission, appeared on Kohn’s website.
By Alfie Kohn
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”– Lewis Caroll, Through the Looking Glass
“Whole language” (WL), a collaborative, meaning-based approach to helping children learn to read and write, emerged a few decades ago as a grassroots movement. Until it was brought down by furious attacks from social conservatives, academic behaviorists, and others, many teachers were intrigued by this alternative to the phonics fetish and basal boom that defined the field. More than just an instructional technique, WL amounted to a declaration of independence from packaged reading programs. So how did the publishers of those programs respond? Some “absorbed the surface [features] of WL and sold them back to teachers.” Others just claimed that whatever was already in their commercial materials — bite-size chunks of literature and prefabricated lesson plans — was whole language.[1]
Until you can beat them, pretend to join them: WL is literally a textbook illustration of that strategy. But it’s hardly the only one. For example, experts talk about the importance of having kids do science rather than just learning about it, so many companies now sell kits for easy experimenting. It’s branded as “discovery learning,” except that much of the discovery has Progressive labels for regressive practices: How key terms in education have been co-opted - The Washington Post: