What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

[chervilant]

21. Second,

In the past fifty years, our system of public education has been transformed into a corporate tool, intended to 'graduate' factory fodder or service industry drones. Sadly, Mr. Obama seems bent on continuing this initiative.

An honest assessment of public education in this United States mandates that we acknowledge that--for at least the last five decades--we've been trained AWAY from critical thinking skills and toward rote memorization, which means we can perform like trained monkeys on ridiculously expensive and pedantic standardized tests. We must understand that almost half of our adult population is functionally illiterate--able to read these words, mayhap, but incapable of sharing the gist of what's read. And, we must accept that Bernays' propaganda techniques have helped produce a fearful, malleable, gullible, and PITIFUL citizenry. Any ONE of these facts ALONE compels us to rescue our co-opted and crumbling system of public education, but let's consider these key issues:

By the time we members of the vast hoi polloi get our high school diplomas, more than three-quarters of us are convinced that we have 'average or below average' intellects. This is an enormous crock of El Toro Poo Poo! Each and every one of us has a fully functioning, amazing brain. Contemporary research on timed IQ tests reveals that most of us would score 'near genius' on these tests--if the time element of the test is removed. I contend that each of us learns in our OWN way, at our OWN pace. If we were to revamp our system of public education to honor and celebrate this fact, profound things would ensue.

As important as dispelling the myth of predominantly 'average' intellects is addressing the fact that almost half (42%) of all children in the United States live in low-income households, where their parent(s) earn just enough to cover basic expenses (current data from NCCP). Personally, I think this under-represents the number of children who live in households defined as ‘low-income,’ given that less than one thousand people in the US own and control better than 95% of our nation’s wealth. Nevertheless, ‘low-income household’ is synonymous with precarious employment, frequent moves, poor nutrition, and a multitude of other threats to our children’s well-being, not to mention their ability to LEARN.

In short, children of low-income households must contend with a host of social, behavioral and psychological issues, all of which impede a child’s ability to learn. And, for children in poverty level households (about 21%), mere survival trumps education EVERY TIME. These seldom mentioned facts are clearly antithetical to this administration's current assault on teachers and unions, so we teachers/activists are shouted down or diminished whenever we bring up poverty and its measurable impact on our children AND on public education.

Here's another important issue that is seldom mentioned: talk to ANY teacher across the nation, and you'll hear horror stories about the JUNK we're feeding our children. This issue goes FAR beyond the junk food students get in their school cafeterias. We are *ALL* feeding our children fish laced with mercury, fruits and vegetables that contain measurably less natural nutrients, and MASSIVE amounts of sugar--in virtually every processed food they eat.

The percentage of children who struggle with overweight issues has more than doubled since the 70s. Almost a third of our children are overweight! Along with the self-esteem issues of excess weight, high blood pressure, diabetes and elevated cholesterol levels are common challenges for overweight children.

Let's review once more those controversial, mandated standardized tests (key components of NCLB, now RTTT): research repeatedly demonstrates that standardized tests do not correlate with fundamental knowledge of core subjects. Yet, federal funding is tied to standardized assessments, and schools persist in subjecting all students to expensive standardized tests. Do these tests measure academic achievement?

The most current comparative assessment of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world (the OECD PISA report) ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science, and a below-average 25th for mathematics. The United States is just NINE away from the bottom in math! Clearly, our much vaunted standardized tests are NOT accurate measures of our children's academic skills.

To those of us who are genuinely concerned about rescuing and improving our system of public education, teacher bashing has become just another way to obfuscate the real challenges we face in providing our young people with opportunities to develop their critical thinking skills and prepare to compete in a now disintegrating global economy.

I think the most important first step in education reform is to tell our children the TRUTH, and to facilitate their participation in developing an approach to public education suited for today's socio-political environment.

I find it ironic, yet predictable, that the 'reformers du jour' (led by Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, and their ilk) are pushing another unoriginal reform agenda that fails to engage our children in essential discussions about THEIR futures, and what THEY feel would insure them an exceptional education. Yet again, we're throwing 'reforms' at our children, instead of encouraging our children to participate in a nationwide initiative to move public education into the 21st century.