Given what I've recently learned about the status of the American education system (compared to the education systems of competing countries), I think it actually needs to be more of the job. We, as a society, keep putting additional responsibilities upon schools. What is the primary responsibility of a school? To instruct. Aside from instruction, schools are also expected to provide meals, athletic facilities, theaters, school dances, counseling, etc. A situation in which schools offer these things is completely fine and often necessary. The problem I often see occurs when school activities - including instruction - no longer have a presence at home. Learning, and the values that come with it, then become the domain of solely the school. I think that most educators (and Thomas Friedman) would agree: that is a bad situation for a 21st century student. Even with a nine-hour school day (after-school activities included), kids spend most of their time at home. Children really are learning all the time; where are they really doing most of their learning?
Some teachers, parents, and guardians like to blame other parents and guardians for this issue, saying that some families simply don't care about supporting their children's education. I don't support this stance. Thankfully, I have met few families who literally don't care about their children's future. When caregivers make poor decisions regarding their children's education, I think it is usually because they simply lack the information to do so. It is a teacher's job to stay up-to-date on what resources students need to succeed, but parents might not know where to look for that information, or they might not even know that they should be looking in the first place.
Unfortunately, our society can no longer afford to have uninformed parents if we are to keep up with the impassioned workforces of the "flattened" world. If we want intelligent, hard-working, creative students and workers, I think that starts with intelligent, hard-working, and creative parents. Friedman takes a harder stance than I do regarding this issue, but let's take a look at what he has to say:
[Parents] need to know in what world their kids are growing up and what it will take for them to thrive. (p. 394)
...if we don't start to reverse [a national sense of entitlement], our kids are going to be in for a huge and socially disruptive shock from the flat world. While a different approach from politicians is necessary, it is not sufficient. (p. 395)
"Public education is producing these remarkable students - so it can be done. Their parents have nurtured them to make sure that they realize their potential." (David Baltimore, p.396)
Our children will increasingly be competing head-to-head with Chinese, Indian, and Asian kids, whose parents have a lot more of Hattie's character-building approach than their own American parents. (p. 397)(
Essentially, what Friedman and his sources say is: "We as a country need to do more, and that won't happen on the scale we need unless parents start doing more." I agree. But imperatives alone generally don't get results. Imperatives combined with resources and plans tend to fare better.
Questions of the Day:
What do parents need to support their children's education?
How will these needs be met?
I want to start this section by discussing the imperative that parents will need. It needs to be an imperative monstrous in scale and voice, for it needs to reach every parent's ears, eyes, and fingers. I think the only way we're going to establish the need for this type of reform is by having President Obama deliver a Kennedy-styled "Man on the Moon" speech to the whole nation. Friedman discusses Kennedy and the moon mission frequently throughout his book, and he is right to do so; yet, of all the sectors in need of reform, I think education (and parenting in support thereof) are most in need of it, and therefore most deserving of a Moon Speech. This speech will need to address much of the economic information Friedman discusses in The World is Flat, as well as the actions parents can take to safeguard their children's futures to the greatest extent possible.
One of the actions the President should discuss is how parents should better inform themselves by accessing the resources provided by their schools. I know that earlier in this post I said that schools are continuously asked to do more, but schools doing more isn't the fundamental problem - the problem is when schools are the only ones doing more, and they aren't given the needed additional resources to compensate. Having educational resources, of which information about supporting education at home is one part, at school makes sense. If reforming education from the home up means that schools have to do more, then so be it as long as the schools get adequate funding to do so.
Parents should easily be able to obtain the information they need to make well-informed decisions about their children's education. We need a national imperative to to accomplish this, but we also need plans. Districts are the implementors of policy in the American education system. I think each district should develop a plan for informing the decision-makers in their students' lives not only about what's happening with at school, but also about what should be happening at home to support the learning that happens at school.
So, I have now discussed the imperative we need and the type of plans we need in order to get parents and students to the same place that Friedman is - the flat world. I'd like to now explore some specifics that I've been milling in my mind since I first read chapter nine of The World is Flat, "This Is Not a Test." This is where technology comes in. I think that many of the technology tools that I've learned about during the past four weeks have great potential to help answer the question of "How will the needs of parents and guardians be met?" Here is a list of the ideas that I've brainstormed over the past few days.
What do parents and guardians need to support their children's education?
- Services currently provided (meals, counseling, materials, space, transportation)
- Information about the role of education
- Information about the current and future socioeconomic environment (The Flat World)
- Information about what students will need to do in order to succeed
- Information about expectations - workload, behavior, assignments, attendance, cheating, etc.
- Expectations for parents?
- Information about what parents/guardians can do
- Information about individual classes (topics to be covered, grading policy, etc.)
How will these needs be met? (These are just ideas)
- Information available by newsletter and DVD
- Lessons and assignments that require adult involvement, especially on the secondary level - Google docs would be a fun one!
- More counselors that can facilitate communication and collaboration between home and school
- Actively trying to bring adults into the classroom - in person, by webcam?
- Welcome collaboration between the home and school - online forums?
Conclusion
I know that many, if not all, of my ideas might fall flat when proposed to a district committee. However, I'm excited by the idea of using some of the ideas I listed here in my own classroom someday. Maybe I'll start the storyboard for my DVD this summer!
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