I am a naturalized U. S. citizen who immigrated from Canada after college graduation. I was a university professor for many years and recently retired as a United Methodist pastor. Education professors have been good friends and I have heard serious complaints about public schools from parishioners who are conscientious teachers. In my view, there are 3 basic problems with modern public schools which have a devastating impact on average performance.
(1) Social promotion:
When I attended 7th grade in Winnipeg as a 12-year-old, Room 1 was full of 15-year-old 7th graders, who had repeatedly failed. There was no social promotion. 1/3 of my senior high school class failed the year. It is no doubt humiliating to be "kept back" due to a failure to meet decent standards. No doubt, more tutors should have been provided. But in my view, the greater evil in American schools is the standard social promotion that promotes students to high school who read at an elementary school level. Because students have little fear of failing, they become slothful, impossible to challenge, and slaves of culturally induced low expectations.
(2) Lack of School Discipline and Detention
In 7th Grade, Jim Denham was out of control in science class. So our teacher smashed his head against a steel pipe until he bled profusely. That teacher kept his job and the only question Jim's father had was what Jim did to provoke this abuse! Ghastly, I know! By contrast, today my Middle School teacher friends complain that many of their students pay little attention in class and refuse to do homework. Their students know they'll receive social promotion and their parents refuse to discipline them. I pointed out that, in my school days, teachers could keep such students after class for detention until they learned to fulfill class requirements. My teacher friends replied that most of these problem students are bussed and their parents can't or won't drive to school to pick them up after an extended detention period. So detention classes are not an option.
(3) Grade Inflation:
Decades ago, it was much more difficult to get an A than it is today. As a college professor, I was appalled by the low grading standards of my colleagues. Good teaching was typically measured by student performance, but that performance was often measured not by quality of work, but by grade inflation. When our Division I basketball players learned that I was not an easy A or B, they were told not to take my class. That was good for me, because my classes were still generally full and high standards attracted a better caliber of student, which made class interaction far more satisfying.
So what is the solution? Well, student apathy and indolence spreads like a virus. If charter schools can create an atmosphere that discourages social promotion, incorporates the fear of failure and being held back a year, and eliminates rampant grade inflation, then America might reverse the depressing trend of relative poor performance in math and science in comparison with the better foreign school systems. I am hopeful that Betsy De Vos will stimulate progress towards that end. Competition seems to be as good a way as any to raise standards and achieve better results.
Btw, a history professor requires his grad students to read the Federal Papers, and they complained vehemently that these writings were too difficult to read. The professor smiled wryly and said, "Well, they were written to be read by 19th century farmers who dropped out of school after the 7th grade! Why have our standards of reading and writing slipped so badly in recent decades?
It is very simple: education has become a commodity to be traded, sold and marketed by qualification.
It isn't simply about education. The elephant in the room regarding the degeneracy of education is
money - specifically allocation and funding.
If the students came to environments meant for learning, instead of environments meant for small NYC lounge parties with textbokks, then what is to be expected?
Up to date textbooks inspire - that requires money.
Up to date enrichment materials (whiteboards, interfacing, computers, paper, etc.) inspires learning - that requires money.
Administration that understands how to manage the status quo
and care for student and educator well being requires education and training. That requires money.
School buildings with new or renovated laboratories, shops, and activity areas (libraries, gyms, showers and weight rooms, kitchen, etc.) inspire students. That requires money.
Quality well-balanced meals rich in nutrition for breakfast and lunch will continue student energy reserves to learn. Even more, it should be mandatory that students get a basic nutritious meal for free - especially if it is required for the student to attend school. This requires money.
Another smaller elephant in the room is the way in which public schools are operated in order to maximize budget allowances. If you get $X/per student per day, then of course administrators will promote
attendance over mastery. Enriching the student educational experience becomes tertiary to budgets, and infrastructure.
Social programming in public schools is a
consequence of the degeneracy of pedagogy - from an administrative level. When there are little to no resources to effectively teach, and the students are
required to come to classes with outdated books, limited materials and unenthusiastic educators (lacking resources to begin with,) then what is to be expected? It sets up a perfect storm for social engineering.
Psychologically speaking, the "headship" of the class, the teacher, is seen as lacking to the students in classes lacking resources and funding. Naturally, this creates a "vacuum" of authority waiting to be filled. Students, then, begin to fall in social order and hierarchy. This can permeate the entire institution. It all comes back to money as a universal motivator (unfortunately.)
One person isn't going to fix it; indeed, the army of educators that care and work to teach students for mastery - despite pay or treatment - still fight uphill battles.
It isn't easy for an educator to see "student failure," and not blame ourselves in some way. We take what we do seriously, and it is insulting when someone who has little experience "in the trenches" makes such "axiomatic" statements as in the OP.
