You can lead a horse to water
What I am getting at is the attitude that the solution to teaching kids is that you have to "motivate" kids and Parents. That is fine if you can do it, but will not produce consistent or reproducible results. I want to see structural changes that will increase what the kids learn. Two come to mind.
1) Lengthen the school day and school year back to what it was in 1965. One of the "dirty little secrets" of our education system is how much shorter the school day and year is we have today. I have not been able to pull the numbers but I bet I am right. Our kids spend 180 days in school. Asian kids spend 200. I suspect the teaching hours have been reduced also, but haven't been able to google proof of it. The goal of all Unions is "infinite pay for zero work," and The Teacher's unions are no different.
2) "Teach the Tests." Big complaint from the establishment. What the hell is wrong with it? The tests are the basics, reading, writing, arithmetic. It's "rote" learning at the lower levels, and teachers hate to do it. Tough toenails. If the kids are below grade level on the basics, they have no time for other subjects. Teach the damn basics until they are up to grade level, then teach other subjects. If the kids can't read, write, or cypher well, knowledge of "current affairs," for instance, is a waste of time.
Simply mandating these kind of changes will produce better results than all the motivational and enrichment programs combined. |
