Why Our Schools Are Failing by Alfonso Sanchez

Why Our Schools Are Failing

By Alfonso Sanchez  December 8, 2019

How do We Know?

I was deeply distraught and have been for many years, but especially so today after reading an article about our children’s decreasing test scores under the current education system. Something is obviously not working and sadly there doesn’t seem to be anything in motion to fix the problem with our political climate being the way it is. The troublesome article is titled, “US Students Show No Improvement in Math, Reading, Science on International Exam” written by Senior Education Writer, Lauren Camera, for U.S. News & World Report. Camera does well to write on the evidence of an obvious problem since students test scores are dropping but there is no indication as to why they are dropping, who or what is to blame, and how we are going to fix it. Its rather depressing to read an article that spells out the bad news plainly without so much as a glimmer of hope, but luckily I am an optimist; therefore, I will be regurgitating the bad news for you as well as what the experts are saying is a potential solution. 

Click to read the full article: US Students Show No Improvement... by Lauren Camera/ US News 

The Bad News 

Well, the results are in and students are performing poorly in comparison to the rest of the world. Lauren Camera states in her article, “Most troubling to researchers is that 30 countries scored higher than U.S. students in math and that the performance gap between top-performing and lower-performing students is widening, especially in reading.” The top-scoring students in the US performed in the top three percent globally but the number of students who scored high was very few in comparison to those who scored very low in math and reading as well. What are the implications of these reports? Camera quotes the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos:

 “The bottom line is there has not been a single study that shows American education is improving enough. Scores have flatlined for a decade. Worse yet, scores for our most vulnerable students continue to decline. We are being outpaced not only by our global competitors like China and Russia but also by countries like Estonia, Finland, and Canada.” 

This is bad news for American Education because the Common Core State Standards were designed to strengthen our global competitiveness. 

——— What Are the Experts Saying Are the Real Problems?———

Socio-Economic Gap 

The article points out another problem when she writes, “The socioeconomic gap in reading also stood out for the U.S., with 27% of top performers registering as wealthier, advantaged students and only 4% as poorer, disadvantaged students”. Wealthier and advantaged students are performing better on the tests while only a small percentage of poorer students are scoring high. Households with higher income can afford more resources and extracurricular activities for children, which allows them to excel academically. A household that is struggling to make ends meet may have other priorities in the place of education, so the child may not value what they are learning at school. In the provocative essay, “Common Core: Ignoring Education’s Real Problem” by Stephen Krashen, he writes, “The reason for our unspectacular international test scores is our high rate of child poverty: When researchers control for the effect of poverty, American scores are near the top of the world.” It is obvious that poverty and the challenges of being disadvantaged are contributing to the drop in test scores, but that socioeconomic status is not the root of the problem. 

Schools Aren’t Preparing Kids for College

What was meant to be hopeful in Camera’s article actually pointed out a major problem with our Education System “More than 3 in 4 low-performing students reported that they expect to complete some type of education after high school, compared to 48% on average across countries that are part of the OECD,” Camera writes in a hopeful optimism but higher education professionals don’t share the sentiment. According to William E. Kirwan, Timothy P. White, and Nancy Zimpher’s article for The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Common Core: Use It Widely. Use It Well” students aren’t being taught enough in K-12 make it in college. The authors write, “Many of us in higher education have observed an increasing number of students arriving at our doorstep not fully prepared to pursue a college degree.” Although these students expect to complete education after high school, they are hit hard by the reality that they were not equipped with the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed in higher education. So unfortunately many students drop out of college when they realize they didn’t learn enough to pass the required course for a general education certificate, which is required for pursuing a bachelor's degree. These students then spend years in remedial courses as prerequisites for the required classes, by now most become discouraged and quit. Students need to be prepared for college and independent life as an adult. 

Standardized Tests Are a Problem

Most people that have attended public school would agree that it was a dreadful experience and they couldn’t wait to become an independent adult so they’d never have to come back. And if you would ask them why the majority would have awful things to say about some of the teacher but also the tests would stress them out. According to Valerie Strauss’ article for The Washington Post about testing anxiety, “severe test anxiety could afflict as much as 20 percent of the school-going population, according to the American Test Anxiety Association, and another 18 percent may have a moderate form of the condition.” I am no math expert but if you add those together, it is almost 40% of students who suffer from testing anxiety, which can have a negative impact on their test performance as well as their feelings about going to school. That being said, tests don’t always provide an accurate depiction of children’s knowledge or understanding because of the many factors that may contribute to poor performance on a test. Consider that maybe the child had witnessed a domestic dispute at home, distracted by hunger because of a skipped breakfast, anxious about a bully in class, difficulty comprehending questions, or many other things spinning around in their busy little minds.

Another problem with standardized tests is inauthentic learning. Since schools are teaching students to prepare them for a test, students simply memorize seemingly useless facts and everything they learned is immediately forgotten after the test because that knowledge doesn’t matter anymore. Sir Ken Robinson, an expert on education and author of The Element, advises governments around the world on education reform. He had this to write in an article for Wired Magazine, “For the past generation especially, politicians have been smothering schools in a depressing culture of standardization. As a result, they have been marginalizing the very capabilities our children need to create a more equitable and sustainable world – by which I mean creativity, compassion citizenship, and collaboration.” Teaching for test scores is leaving gaps in children’s development and also lead to the termination of art programs along with other creative outlets for children. Many students such as Temple Grandin, a renowned scientist with autism, excel in hands-on classes such as art, wood-shop, or ceramics. The emphasis on math and reading has left kids feeling incompetent and disengaged from education. 

Due to standardized testing and the elimination of the arts in many schools across the country, school no longer interests the majority of American students in public education. According to Kalman Heller Ph.D., in an article for PsychCentral, “A recent study released by America’s Promised Alliance (an organization chaired by Colin and Alma Powell), the U.S. has a 30 percent rate of students failing to graduate high school. But the really upsetting data is that in urban settings typically 50 to 70 percent of the students fail to graduate!” Nearly half of all middle and high schoolers feel like the things being taught in school are irrelevant. Peter Gray Ph.D. compares school to prison and claims the former to be even worse than prison because they aren’t given the same liberties in school follow their own interests. Gray writes, “Children explore and play, freely, in ways designed to learn about the physical and social world in which they are developing. In school, they are told they must stop following their interests and, instead, do just what the teacher is telling them they must do. That is why they don't like school.” Children need more opportunities to pursue their interests and create their own projects that have academic objectives for displaying mastery. 

——— What is the Government Doing About It? ———

They Created the Problem 

In 2009, the federal government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which introduced the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and shifted schools' focus to standardized testing on math and reading. Some states welcomed the Common Core State Standards with open arms along with the millions of dollars that President Obama would be gifting to states that participated under the Race to the Top grant. Other states were too poor to refuse the CCSS because the funding wouldn’t be given to those who did not participate in the CCSS. This was the government’s way of strong-arming the poor states into the ill-received state standards. As you have read already…it failed miserably and children are dropping out of school at incredible rates. Now that the devastating results are in, you would think that the government would be scrambling to fix it, but that’s not the case. 

The Government’s Investments?

Every year, a senate Republican details the government’s wasteful spending in a report called the “Wastebook”. This report makes the public aware of how the government is choosing to spend our tax dollars by the millions on endeavors that are not beneficial for our domestic challenges. This year, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was responsible for the report and Ashe Schow of the Daily Wire writes in his article on the Wastebook, “In total, Paul found the government wasted more than $230 million of taxpayer money on unnecessary pet projects.” The article lists eight projects highlighted in the report which include things such as $708,466 to get zebrafish addicted to nicotine in the UK and $22,000,000 to bring Serbian cheese up to international standards. That is just two examples of the ridiculous investments the government is pouring money into while our failing education system is losing out on all that money. Who cares about Serbian cheese when those 22 million could be spent on keeping that 70 % of dropouts in school? It's absolutely preposterous. 

Busy 

House Democrats, who should be championing education reform, are too busy pushing sexual education on kindergarteners, gender confusing children, and impeaching the president, while the Republicans aren’t making any attempts to change the system. Education should be a nonpartisan issue because it affects all children and those children will decide the future of the nation one day. If we are not investing in them now, they will not take an interest in our country.

——— The Solution ———

1. Make Education Valuable (pragmatism)

As I have mentioned earlier in this article, most children don’t feel that what they are learning is relevant or valuable, so they check out mentally or physically drop out. Kids who have issues like poverty, homelessness, separate households, or abuse are not concerned with rote memorization of algebraic formulas, but these students are marginalized and humiliated by the demands of the Common Core State Standards. Education in the US has lost touch with reality by getting rid of Civics, Home Economics, the Arts and electives like Woodwork and Auto Shop. The reality is that not all kids are college-bound but they are all expected to become independent productive members of a democratic society nonetheless. Children are not being told that they can still be successful individuals without a college degree and the lack of practical skills being taught in schools shows that they aren’t valued by the Education System. 

The idea of teaching practical life skills to children or finding practical applications for what is being taught is not new. These were ideas being introduced in the early 20th century by American Philosopher, John Dewey, in books such as Democracy and Education (1917) and Education Today (1940). As a biography for PBS online put it, “Dewey argued that curriculum should be relevant to students' lives. He saw learning by doing and development of practical life skills as crucial to children's education.” We are seeing more and more children coming out of nearly two decades of nonstop education without any clue about what to do with their lives. They’ve had a lot of practice passing tests but have no practical skills that help them become independent productive citizens. John Dewey wrote in The School and Society: Being Three Lectures (1915):

“An embryonic community life, active with types of occupations that reflect the life of the larger society and permeated throughout with the spirit of art, history and science. When the school introduces and trains each child of society into membership within such a little community, saturating him with the spirit of service, and providing him with instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guarantee of a larger society which is worthy, lovely and harmonious.”

We need to teach students in accordance with what role they can serve or contribute to the community they will be going into, so they are prepared for adulthood with skills, prospects, and ambition. 

There are schools around the world that are already applying this in their public schools. Geoff Mulgan, CEO of NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), noticed a “growing gap between the skills and knowledge that young people require to succeed, and those that the current education system provides.” His solution was opening a publicly funded “Studio School” where learning is integrated with working in a curriculum that is taught through practical projects with more of a business atmosphere. Sayeh Yousefi writes on Geoff Mulgan’s Studio Schools in an article for the Novak Djokovic Foundation, “By designing an education that directly revolves around skills and knowledge students would need in their future, they found that students were more eager to learn and less “bored” by the material covered in school.” These schools have been tried and tested since the first Studio School opened in the UK, two years later the students loved it and the lowest-performing students jumped to the top quartile. 

What makes these schools work so well is that its modeled after how human beings learn best and that is “learn best by doing, learn best in teams, and learn best by doing things for real,” and not for the sake of rote memorization. The schools are small, with no more than 300 students. Today’s classrooms are overcrowded and teachers have to function more as behavior managers than instructors. We are all familiar with the expression “less is more,” well, it is absolutely true you can accomplish much more with fewer students.

2. Engage Students Interests and Creativity (arts)

The world’s most consistent leader in Education, as far as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) goes, is Finland and its education system is the antithesis of American Education. Mike Colagrassi, a correspondent for Big Think, writes, “Finland’s common-sense practices and a holistic teaching environment strives for equity over excellence” in an article titled “10 Reasons Why Finland’s Education System is Best”. While common-sense practice should be obvious to teach to children, it is lacking gravely in American Education; but it is the holistic teaching environment that cultivates creativity. 

A holistic teaching environment means it is characterized by the treatment of the whole individual. That means children are taught as individuals who are given liberty to express their individuality through whatever form their imagination and creativity display what has been learned. Most people express themselves or their understanding of the world in an artistic form such as dance, poetry, stories, structures, drawing, or many other forms. For children to feel comfortable enough to express themselves, they need to know that a teacher will accept and encourage whatever crazy idea they might come up with. All of the ideas won’t strike gold but one or some might, which is the case with most innovators. Companies like Google, Pixar, and many others have designed their facilities to create an atmosphere of play because it fosters creative ideas. When people are feeling playful, they become more imaginative and fantastical but that is where the best ideas come from. I mean just look at the movies and latest architectural designs, they’re incredible. If we give adults the freedom to play, collaborate, and create, why don’t we offer it to children who need to play even more? 

3. Long Term Student Success (mentorship)

Another absolutely necessary element of Studio Schools that should be replicated are mentors/coaches which are supplementary after the teacher. There is an old African proverb that states, “It takes a village to raise a child” which inspired Urie Bronfenbrenner to develop theEcological Systems Theory of Human Development. Victoria J. Payne mentions this theory in her article, “It Takes A Village to Raise A Child” for Howard University when she writes:

“In Urie Bronfenbrenner’ Ecological Systems Theory of human development, the Microsystem, which consists of the family, school, peers, church affiliations, and the neighborhood, provides some of the earliest and most immediate influences on the child. With this in mind, the Microsystem can be used to increase resiliency through the use of mentoring programs, whereby adults are paired with youth to form long-lasting Human Development relationships through activities, phone conversations, and exposure to various aspects of another’s life.”

Part of helping young people recognize the value of education is having a support system that shows them the value that child’s academic and personal success. Children want to know they are valued more as a person than a student and as a result, they will perform better in school for personal satisfaction. Some teachers provide great support and encouragement throughout a child’s middle or high school career; but after graduation, they lose that support needed to persevere. Studio Schools offer each student a mentor/coach whose focus is that child’s long term success, whether that be college or the workforce after graduation. They want children to know what they are good at, what they enjoy doing, and what they want to do after high school in order to pave the road to success with the students. It is a partnership between the student, educator, the family, and the mentor advocating for one child’s success. Every child deserves that kind of support. 

Work Cited

Camera, Lauren. “U.S. Students Show No Improvement in Math, Reading, Science on International Exam.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 3 Dec. 2019, www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-12-03/us-students-show-no-improvement-in-math-reading-science-on-international-exam?fbclid=IwAR0h8ztfGyAeb9cxzI7mCb59Hv1K8Tj8hrs-evlwnqwAuj_jqYj6KwSWQBE.

Colagrossi, Mike. “10 Reasons Why Finland's Education System Is the Best.” Big Think, Big Think, 7 Feb. 2019, bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world.

Contributor, PBS. “PBS Online: Only A Teacher: Schoolhouse Pioneers.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 2019, www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/john.html.

Gray, Peter. “‘Why Don't Students Like School?" Well, Duhhhh...” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2 Sept. 2009, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200909/why-don-t-students-school-well-duhhhh.

Heller, Kalman. “Schools Fail to Educate at Least 30 Percent of Our Students.” Psych Central, 8 Oct. 2018, psychcentral.com/lib/schools-fail-to-educate-at-least-30-percent-of-our-students/.

Kirwan, William E. Brit, et al. “Use the Common Core. Use It Widely. Use It Well.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 June 2014, www.chronicle.com/article/Use-the-Common-Core-Use-It/147007/.

Krashen, Stephen. “The Common Core: A Disaster for Libraries, A Disaster for Language Arts, a Disaster for American Education.” The Common Core: A Disaster for Libraries, A Disaster for Language Arts, a Disaster for American Education, The English Journal, Nov. 2013, skrashen.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-common-core-disaster-for-libraries.html.

Payne, Victoria J. “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child.” Ms. Payne :: Teaches [Licensed for Non-Commercial Use Only] / It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, Howard University, 15 Dec. 2009, victoriajpayne.pbworks.com/w/page/33218920/It%20Takes%20a%20Village%20to%20Raise%20a%20Child.

Robinson, Ken. “Standardisation Broke Education. Here's How We Can Fix Our Schools.” WIRED, WIRED UK, 23 Apr. 2019, www.wired.co.uk/article/education-personalisation.

Schow, Ashe. “Here Are The Most Wasteful Government Projects In 2019.” The Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 27 Nov. 2019, www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-most-wasteful-government-projects-in-2019?fbclid=IwAR3FCp_pSYlu1yST6dZX6VTHMbdGqF5lKGweVWFvw4jVYDdhP3udlkSWyYA.

Strauss, Valerie. “Test Anxiety: Why It Is Increasing and 3 Ways to Curb It.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 22 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/10/test-anxiety-why-it-is-increasing-and-3-ways-to-curb-it/.

Yousefi, Sayeh. “Geoff Mulgan: A Short Intro to the Studio School.” Novak Djokovic Foundation, 11 Mar. 2016, novakdjokovicfoundation.org/geoff-mulgan-a-short-intro-to-the-studio-school/.