If there is one thing you can count on upon leaving Educon it’s that you want to change things, most likely in a pretty big way. It’s not just the vibe at SLA with the kids and the teachers who actually seem to want to be there every day (and even on snow days and weekends) to be learning and leading. And it’s not just the assembled masses who are sharing and prodding and asking great questions in the “conversation” sessions. It’s more the stolen moments in the hallways and the quiet back and forths that happen over lunch when you start to sense this shared feeling of “WTF are we doing to our kids by sticking them in a system that’s just not working anymore?” Or something like that. I can’t tell you how struck I was by how many parent-educators almost grieved at the experience their kids were having in schools. It’s like we know in our hearts there is a better way, but we just don’t know how to make it happen at scale in the next three months. (Years are out of the question.)
We’ve talked about starting a “movement” for a long time now. Chris spent his session this weekend on the subject, and I used mine to offer up an idea for a tangible start to a new conversation. (I’ll be reporting out more on that in the next few days, I hope.) What with Michelle Rhee and Jeb Bush and Arne Duncan dominating the ed change conversation, I think we’re all pining for a bigger voice. That will be tough. We’re underfunded (or should I say unfunded), and I’ll say again that 90% or more of educators in the US really have no context for change in the way that we talk about it in our networks. Sure, we’ve got more people at the party who think the system needs to be transformed instead of reformed, but in the grand scheme of things, we’re still dancing down at the Legion Hall with a Polka band as the headliner.
This weekend I kept thinking, when will we have our Egypt moment? When will we get to the point where enough people feel dissatisfied with the whole school thing and want change badly enough to rise up and say “That’s it! We’re not going to do this anymore!” I know there’s a slim chance that our collective sense of dissatisfaction with the status quo around education will ever match the passion of those people in the streets of Cairo today. But I’m beginning to wonder if there may not be an untapped feeling of frustration around schools that those bigger voices are just not getting. That’s it’s not about improving the current system but, instead, creating a different, better path for our kids. But I also sense that while many people may feel this discomfort, they don’t quite yet know what to do with it.
Those folks in Egypt don’t know exactly what they want either. They just know what they don’t want. They’ve become disaffected enough to rise up and take it on faith that something better will rise from the ashes. At the end of the day, I doubt most parents will take their children out of a system they may have serious reservations about if there’s not a safe and effective and convenient alternative. But if the headlines of the past year are any indication, this system is starting to crash, be it economics, “competition,” lack of equity or whatever else. I’m wondering what we’ll build that will rise up and take its place.
I think we already have some models: SLA, High tech Highs, Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and many others. I think the issue may be how to get more political, media, and parent exposure to these different ways to “doing school.” Maybe we should be on Oprah, NPR, and whatever other channels we can find.
I wrote awhile ago that I think we need lobbyists that support a progressive view of student-centered education. I even proposed that if all of the educators who blog and tweet gave $10 we could support this person(s). I think most educators just want to teach children and not get caught up in politics, but it may be necessary to bring about change.
The ultimate thing we are fighting against is the federal funding structure which uses fear to get school districts to follow its standardized, testing policies. If we can show our communities viable alternatives than I think they will start to ask politicians to make them happen instead of more testing.
No…what we’re fighting against is underfunding and politics! Counties…states…they are the ones in control of the school systems. The feds send out their aid dollars and that’s about it! The majority of school funding comes from states and counties and right now they aren’t providing the funding!
Wow, did you just peek into my heart today? As a teacher-educator and parent, I do grieve, deeply, when I get a peek into my children’s school lives and the future lives of my “teacher babies.” I literally burst into tears in front of the teacher babies one day as I contemplated what they will face. Things seem so crazy meaningless on so many levels, it’s hard to see how we might work around the margins and inject positivity where we can. I am starting to lose the thread of how to make it make sense.
I look forward to your further ruminations. Thanks for speaking my heart, albeit unknowingly.
““WTF are we doing to our kids by sticking them in a system that’s just not working anymore?†Or something like that. I can’t tell you how struck I was by how many parent-educators almost grieved at the experience their kids were having in schools. It’s like we know in our hearts there is a better way, but we just don’t know how to make it happen at scale in the next three months.”
Wow – This is almost the exact conversation I had with my husband last night. I am a teacher-parent and while my own children are having a “good” experience in school it isn’t what it could be. Professionally I’m at a crossroads and know there is a better way and I’m trying like heck to get there every day. What I did last semester, last year, or 5 years ago doesn’t cut it anymore. My first little step as a parent was to not allow my 4th grade son to participate in the NAEP testing at his school next week. Enough already.
Thank you for writing this. I was re-reading the piece, trying to find a line or two that really spoke to me, but I couldn’t choose. I’m public school teacher in very traditional system. I love my students. I have passionate colleagues. And we spin our wheels in our current system, just trying to do the best we can with 49 disconnected minutes a day and little access to technology (I’m lucky that as an English teacher I have more access than most do).
I don’t have an answer. I think you’re right, though, that at some point we will have to leap forward with faith that there IS something better than this. Thank you for articulating it so much better than I can.
We know what good education should look like. I think those of us in the trenches have known all along. What we *don’t* know is how to advocate, how to change the system, how to leverage our numbers into a coherent voice that can’t be ignored. That’s what we need to learn- because the policy folks aren’t interested unless we make it necessary for them to be.
I think another major problem is how many progressive thinkers about education aren’t full-time teachers. Sometimes I look at the ages of the people I network with who are in classrooms and wonder where they’ll be in ten years.
Challenge someone to define what school (at least most public schools) is “about” and most would likely say learning. I would disagree and tell them that right now at least at the secondary level school is really about two things – grades and high-stakes standardized assessments, not learning.
Far too many of the parents in my area would ask their kids what grade they got, not what interesting or cool or fascinating thing they learned today, and worse turn those singular grades for an entire quarter or semester into the carrot and stick for motivation. I’m trying to figure out how to make the grading information I share more meaningful for learning while staying with the system I have to work in.
As for the standardized assessments, I always wonder if we will become a country full of reasonably decent test takers, but at the cost of losing the innovative, creative, imaginative spirit and drive that I believe has been the real hallmark of the American story.
Totally agree, but it makes me wonder what that says about parents. Sure, they equate grades with future success, but I think, again, it’s just easy to look at a number and letter than a body of work to measure it. And also, of course, it provides a way to rank my kids against your kids.
If your last thought is correct, and I believe it is, how do we make that case in a way that resonates with people enough to change?
Will, great post. And you are right, we leave EduCon with the urgency to see transformation. And we want it now. And this revolution should be televised.
We need to find our voice and fast. I don’t want us to be stuck with the Polka band. We need to take the message where the people are. Get the parents involved as you have said. I think the 10,000 parents is a reachable albeit a challenging goal.
We need those news vans even though they may think there is not much sizzle at an EduCon, we need to let them know that there is. We need to make noise in the media beyond the media that we use.
Count me in as a blogger willing to contribute to the cause.The kids are worth it.
if only we could see the resemblance of what we are doing to kids, to ourselves, to an obvious plight, ie: pushing a child out of the path of a runaway car.
I wonder if the issue at hand might be the transition of power that’s built into the federal system.
It’s easy to look at someone who’s been in power for 30 years and say they need to step down. That the systems they’ve created and maintained have had historically negative effects.
That same historical perspective is more difficult to nail down within education. Because those in power are so often in transition, we cannot point to a person. Instead, we must make the case against intangibles that manifested themselves differently for each individual depending on the school system in which they were educated.
Though my parents were not so foolish to think my rural education was perfect, they certain didn’t have the same qualms so many parents of student in urban schools bring to the table.
Common cause is easier to build when there is a common enemy.
No question, Zac. Interesting though that the rhetoric is painting “educators” as the enemy here…the union, bad teachers, etc. It’s easier to paint that picture than to admit the system itself is under challenge.
Thanks for the comment.
Something else seems to be spreading throughout our society, a feeling of complacency and lack of interest in learning, as seen in many children and their parents. Students in China are much more driven than ours while working within an educational system that is still based on rote memorization and high-stakes tests. Even though it might not be completely our educational system’s fault for our current position, I think it is through education that we have the best chance of turning this ship around, but how?
Why are the students left out of this conversation for change? If we believe in an educational overhaul, one where students own their education, why do parent-teachers and edu-leaders talk about changing things for the students?
Do we not believe that they can do it themselves?
And where do the masses lie? Where does the rebellious nature and free thought lie? It’s in those same students who are being displaced by a poor system.
Am I just being naive?
Help the students, empower them with the knowledge of what their education could be and how they can change their current situation. Plant those seeds and allow independent thought to take off… Isn’t that the goal we’re all aiming for in and out of school anyway?
You raise a valid point. Students should have a say in their education. If they did, perhaps more would succeed.
This is one of the best comments in this thread–maybe even the best one. But, it’s like much of what is ostensibly FOR children… it’s imagined, concocted, and implemented by ADULTS. There was a study done, and I don’t actually know where or when I read it, but it showed, basically, that a student’s opinion of a “good class” or a “good teacher” was usually right on the money. Students, (children!) when given the opportunity to assess their own education, evaluate them based on exactly what we would want for them: quality and varied information, creative curriculum, collaborative learning environments, interesting measurement methods and dynamic instruction. They know when they are learning and when the experience is a good one. They also know when they have had a learning experience that is not good.
Include them, indeed.
Hello my name is Ashleigh Skelton I am in Dr.Strange EDM310 class. I was reading your blog and I totally agree with you. Although I am not a teacher I want to always encourage my students and hope for the best possible outcome in the end. And yes it is time for a change in education.
As a young teacher (or at least, I’m trying to be one if I can find a job again…), I have met more than my fair share of “disenchanted” teachers who have given up on “reaching” students in our public school system. As a non-traditional teacher, meaning, I have a B.S. in biology but no teacher certification as of yet, I have found the process of becoming a teacher as infuriating as being a teacher can be with the paperwork. I was a teacher at an alternative school for four months before they found out they were not authorized to certify me. The alternative school was for 17-21 year olds who had “dropped out” but wanted to get their high school diploma still. My students were often good kids who for either health or pregnancy reasons were held back due to our unrelenting absence policies. Most of the others were either gifted or learning disabled who inclusion had failed. Most of the ones who came to us from the justice system were the worst victims of our education system. One young man had been institutionalized pretty much from the age of 10, and could barely read much less felt he had anything constructive to offer the world. My lead teacher and I tried hard to encourage him and change his attitude about himself and school. It worked some, but for him, it was too little too late. He turned 21 soon after school started and was kicked out.
I say all of this to say, we have to do something to change the system. Of course, everyone knows this. I agree with you, sir, and echo your question, “When will we have our Egypt?”
Will, I think this needs to be a larger effort, on the scale of a political movment if we are to ever be considered anything but annoyances by the likes of Duncan, Rhee, Gates and others. As laudable as many (relatively) isolated efforts may be, they can’t get the job done alone.
I think it may be a mistake to focus to much on technology, important as it is. I don’t think many educators would dispute the value of judiciously used techology embedded within a project-based, constructivist curriculum. However, I think the focus should first be on what consititutes a sound learning enviromnent and whether or not that includes excessive use of data gathered from specious “standardized” tests.
You probably are aware of this movement already, but in the event you aren’t, here’s a link to the Save Our Schools March on Washington this coming July: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/
Here’s the short list of individuals and organizations endoring the march:
Diane Ravitch, Deborah Meier, David Berliner, Alfie Kohn, Kenneth & Yetta Goodman, Stephen Krashen, Marion Brady, Susan Ohanian, Yong Zhaho, Vicki Abeles – Race to Nowhere, Rita Solnet – Parents across America, Julie Woestehoff – PURE (Parents United for Responsible Education), Monty Neil – Fairtest, Anthony Cody “Living in Dialogue,†Teachers’ Letters to Obama on Facebook, Linda Christensen, Bill Bigelow, Bob Peterson, and Stan Karp – Rethinking Schools
There are many more.
Hmmm. No wonder homeschooling is so popular! I feel bad for our students.
It will be interesting to see what form that “Egypt moment” will take. I teach in New York, and the governor has proposed reducing my district’s state aid by 17%. We aren’t even near the top of the list in this department either. I’ll be the first to agree that there is a movement starting, but I wonder the direction. Throwing money at problems rarely fixes them, but removing a lot, can have serious ripples. I have 28 kids in my inclusion class this year due to cuts last year.
You make a great connection to Egypt, Will. I’ve been sneaking material about Egypt into my lessons (even though the CURRICULUM MAP says I’m supposed to be in Ancient Greece), and yesterday I even managed to get 19 high school students to come to school at 7 a.m. on a Friday (we start at 8) for a session to learn more about What’s going on in Egypt.
I’ve been blogging about Egypt on my blog, which is in large part inspired by a question you asked a while back — “What did your teacher learn today?” The name of my blog is: “What I Learned Today” http://wiltoday.wordpress.com
Anyway, I agree that it’s time to change what we’ve been doing and better allow students to make and create their own meaning, rather than “deliver” curricula that may or may not be meaningful to the students. What matters are the skills, right? And we have to include such skills as writing with hyper-links (the way real people do) and questioning sources and re-writing until we get better at expressing ourselves — about whatever we are passionate about and are learning about.
Thanks as usual for helping me make connections and for making me think!
-Steve Goldberg, History Teacher, Cary Academy
This is the repeat, more or less, of a comment I left on the similar post, calling us to action around getting parents to discuss how to change things for the better, and faster. Apologies for hitting your blog twice in this way, but I want to see if people are up for raising ambition, and raising a more crunchy idea to get behind.
Basically, I think you’ve got the same drive to do something we’ve all been working at for years at a local, segmented level. Most schools I work with DO get parents involved insofar as they can.
The point you raise about branding, though, is important, maybe the most important. If you want to create a movement, people need something with which they can identify to get behind. A slogan, a notion.
I’ve made my contribution on that front here, and raised you one or two in levels of ambition I think we need to reach for:
http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2011/02/111111-for-111111-parents-engaging-in-what-learning-could-be.html