As a public high school teacher, I could be tempted to generalize a few main points about the lofty and noble ideals of American education, and then stand back and admire the view from afar...since a closer examination of the institution of public education seems to reveal an embarrassing lack of artistry. However, I promise to avoid that temptation; it's been done ad nauseum by too many politicians, and this title demands a critical approach.
If we were to examine American public education on a sort of evolutionary timeline, I believe we might determine that its development places it somewhere on a par with the muskrat: out of the primordial slime, but not too far up the scale in terms of reasoning or intelligence. One difficulty with such an assessment is that it seems impossible to really describe the current state of American education with any degree of accuracy. Do we have a system of "open education," in which students take responsibility and assume initiative for learning, as so many published advocates of cooperative learning suggest, or do we have a traditional system that is still dominated by teachers? Before I became a teacher, while I was still in teacher school, I believed that American education was on the verge of sprouting a new evolutionary appendage as a result of all the cooperative learning that was reportedly taking place in classrooms. But reality has altered my perceptions. I now believe that the appendage may be a wart, not a set of wings.
It was disappointing to learn this, as a new teacher. I had hoped to stumble on the magic formula that would create that ideal learning environment that is so lauded by professors of education. Now, I see that a teacher has no control over too many important factors to be able to create an "ideal learning environment." For example, a teacher has no control over class size. At the high school level, 35 students is considered a "manageable" class by out-of-touch administrators; 40 is not an unusual number of students in a regular level, core academic class. Within that group, the vast majority of students are likely to be below grade level with regard to reading ability. As I stated, a teacher has no control over this important determinant of the year's curriculum. Teachers who disregard this aspect of classroom management are at risk for serious disillusionment.
I went to graduate school to learn the very latest educational theories, supported by research, so that I could be the very best teacher. How very ironic. In retrospect, after six years of real teaching in the public high school classroom, I must say that most of what I learned during those three years of graduate school was just rhetoric. Oh, I see the need to vary one's teaching style and lesson plans. I get the idea of cooperative learning. But I find it telling that there is evidence dating back to the 1970s that cooperative learning often leads to lack of student motivation and classroom discipline problems. It is misleading to new teachers to advocate this teaching method, and may even contribute to first-year teacher burnout.
Here is another political hot potato: high expectations. Teachers everywhere are encouraged to believe that higher expectations from teachers will enable many children who are receptive to encouragement to achieve more than students who are deprived of encouragement. However, the new teacher should again beware. In the zeal and enthusiasm of teaching a first year of any grade level, a new teacher could easily set those expectations so high that most students are practically assured of failure. Yes, an educator must communicate sincerity, optimism, and warmth to all students. Common sense and psychology dictate that positive attention will have beneficial effects on student learning and behavior. But beyond that, it is difficult to define the attitudes that should be displayed by teachers in the classroom, because many situations that will arise are impossible to predict.
Student behavior is a topic that most of my colleagues and I could discuss "to infinity and beyond." Where to start? Violence in schools? Cheating? Bullying of peers? Disrespectful attitudes and behavior? I firmly believe that if we do not address this aspect of American schooling FIRST, then we will be unsuccessful with any reform effort, no matter how substantiated by well-funded educational studies. We must address student behavior. We must give teachers and schools back whatever power they need to address student attitudes and behavior, because too many parents will not. If there is one problem with American schooling, this is it.
I began this article with the thought that American public schools are undergoing an evolution that may not always be progressive: for each step forward, I wonder if we don't occasionally take a step or two backward on the path. While it seems logical to expect that an institution like American schooling will always sway in the wind of political rhetoric, we can only hope that wind will blow in the direction of positive reform. First, we must reassume authority over student behavior, and provide adequate consequences to students who fail to display respect to their classmates and their teachers. Second, we must reform teacher education programs to provide teachers the tools to accurately assess and address student needs at whatever abysmal levels they may reside; and third, we must stifle our enthusiasm for NEW, IMPROVED teaching methods until they have actually been tested and shown success in the classrooms where we teach.