The 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on what we think of our public schools has been released and there are a few finding that are pretty interesting, I think. Let me just say that I wonder just how much weight to give the responses since the vast majority of the respondents are graduates of the system and, therefore, I would think more apt to rate it better than it might be. The fact that only 32% of those surveyed had kids in school, and only 27% were college graduates at first seems surprising to me, but I’m sure they are just more reality checks than any type of outlier.
Anyway, here are some of the conclusions worth thinking about (with some short comments):
So, the question is, do we just keep on keeping on? Is the context that our community trying to put out there anywhere on these respondent’s radar? Do we see things differently because of that context, and, if so, do we see them rightly? Do they get the concept of this slide in Karl Fisch’s wonderful opening day Powerpoint:
Name this Country:
Richest in the World Largest Military Center of world business and finance Strongest education system World center of innovation and invention Currency the world standard of value Highest standard of living Answer: England in 1900.
Just some things to think about…
The statistic that around 25% of American adults have earned at least a Bachelor’s Degree has stayed pretty much the same for a long time, at least the last ten years.
It either means we are not doing a good job of preparing students for college or that we are doing most of them a big disservice by forcing them through a college prep curriculum
The public is divided on the question of revising the curriculum to meet today’s needs.
this is a tough call. as a curriculum student, i can understand the desire from most to just stick by the mantra “if it ain’t broke…”. problem is, is those same people generally who determine what is and isn’t broke. the majority of the US school curricula is outdated. it is more often than not irrelevant and invalid. i think what we first need to disect is who controls the curriculum and at what level? there is nothing worse than trying to restructure curriculum at a school level only to find out the state government has the ultimate say so.
drew.