Linda Darling-Hammond’s The Flat World and Education is an excellent guide to create the kind of paradigm shifts we need in this country that might improve our quality of education for ALL students.
Her key areas to focus on are:
For me, her key point is that by emphasizing equity for ALL students, we bring up all students. It is very shortsighted to allow a system that favors investment in the rich over the poor. What the rich don’t get is that they will be even better off if they try to help everybody to improve. A good example is Finland, where by ensuring equitable funding in all schools, all students benefited. The John Dewey quote shows how our founding forefathers knew this. When we know the vision of the original architects of our educational system, and can see how other countries have benefited from these ideas, why can’t we get it together to advance a national plan? What has happened? Education has been de funded. Darling-Hammond repeats over and over again in her book how increased investment is needed in order to implement the changes she proposes. But the national trend has been in the opposite direction. Prop 13 favors businesses and homeowners over education, for example. Not only that, but our national head of education, Betsy DeVos, is interested in turning schools into a for profit, privatized system. Here is a direct quote from the NEA website on Betsy DeVos: “As President Donald Trump’s secretary of education, Betsy DeVos has worked to subvert public education. She has promoted the privatization of public schools through vouchers, called for deep cuts to federal funding, rolled back protections for vulnerable children, and shilled for the for-profit college industry that has defrauded countless students.” Rather than investing in kids and teachers, our leaders seem more interested in how they might profit from them. To me it feel Machiavellian when I think that our nation’s education secretary, who wants to privatize education, is the sister of Eric Prince, the owner of the infamous Blackwater private mercenary group that fought in Iraq and got into a lot of trouble there for killing civilians. The school to prison pipeline could also turn into a for profit school to for profit mercenary group pipeline. Could it? Has it? We are a nation divided. In my opinion, the small minority with most of the money does not seem to feel identified with the increasing number of minority students in our schools. Rather than trying to help them, they ignore them or see them as another opportunity to profit. When I see our cohort’s thoughts and comments, I see us as really struggling to find meaning and direction in this broken system we have been working in. It’s so frustrating to see that the ideas are there and a way forward is clear, but that we are at the same time so far from reaching these goals. It has always seemed to me that I am not teaching the way I should be. I’ve always been trying to do my best with limited training and support in semi-cohesive programs. It feels like the collective political will has not fermented long enough for people to finally say “Enough!” There has to be some kind of “wake up” experience or renaissance in education and in a broader sense for us to refocus our values away from profiting off of each other, which brings everybody down, and back to investing into each other, which brings everyone up. I like the idea of 21st Century learning objectives, which revolve around critical thinking, problem solving, and technology. We are learning so much about the brain and what kind of “brainsets” we need for creative learning to occur. We have the technological tools that can help all voices be heard and level the playing field for minority students. But it also scares me to think how easy it is to allow this tool in schools to become what it has become in the social media world. Facebook started as a great platform to communicate with friends. It’s become another way to direct advertisements at people. I had to stop using it because I was getting more ads than news about my friends. Are there laws that prevent digital educational curriculum to contain advertisements?
4 Comments
Megan Burton
10/14/2019 10:52:41 pm
Very insightful post... yes, it seems that the political and educational leaders have been short-sighted. I like your point that "the collective political will has not fermented long enough for people to finally say “Enough!” It's challenging to gather with enough educators in meaningful ways to impact a lasting change. I am inspired by seeing pockets of educators making a difference on a daily basis across the nation. At the same time, we need to collectively say "enough!" to the systems that are not supporting meaningful teaching and learning. Much to learn... and to protect... so that ALL of our students are prepared for their futures.
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Jeremy Smith
10/15/2019 06:32:13 pm
Hi Megan,
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Ryan
10/15/2019 11:54:16 pm
Hi Jeremy,
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Jeremy Smith
10/19/2019 02:56:28 pm
Thanks for the comments, Ryan. Yes, in many ways our model is no longer the place to look for promising trends in education. It's a good thing we can see how other countries are improving their systems through greater investments in teacher training and support, schools, and a focus on equal opportunity for ALL students.
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AuthorJeremy Smith teaches third grade at Calistoga Elementary School. Archives
July 2020
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