Newspaper column
October 9, 2013
I have emphasized many times that
America’s laser-like focus on test scores has done a disservice to our children
by stripping away their joy of learning, cutting off much of their access to
art and other important classes, and emphasizing rote memorization over
critical thinking.
In discussing international
comparisons, I’ve written about the success of Finland, where, as part of their
economic recovery plan, leaders have transformed the educational system over
the past 40 years. By 2000, Finnish students scored the best in the world in
reading. By 2003 they also led the world in math, and by 2006 they were second
in science.
Finland reached these high levels
of achievement without standardized tests and without a ranking system for
students, schools or regions. “We prepared children to learn how to learn, not
how to take a test,” a teacher said.
Charles M. Blow, in a recent New
York Times column, laments that U.S. students have gone from “leader to
laggard” in international comparisons and concludes, “America, we have a
problem. Any way you slice it, we’re not where we want or need to be.”
Americans strongly agree about what
schools need to do to prepare our students for global leadership. Citing a
recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll, he points out that 80 percent of Americans
strongly agree that schools should teach critical-thinking skills, 78 percent
say they should teach communication skills, 57 percent want them to teach
students how to collaborate, and 52 percent believe they should help build
students’ character. That sounds like the same investment strategy and
common-sense approach that is being used in Finland — and like the approach
that once made U.S. education the envy of the world.
Blow agrees with education leaders
across the country that the new Common Core curriculum standards — which have
been adopted by California and 44 other states, the District of Columbia and
four territories — are the right vehicle for restoring U.S. education to
prominence. The Common Core’s high standards are meant to teach children the
skills they need to be successful in college and careers – skills like critical
thinking and deep analysis.
Teachers, administrators, reformers
and the public know the recipe for success: attracting, supporting and keeping
the best teachers and investing in their development; providing “wrap-around”
services for poor and struggling students; making schools safe, welcoming, fun
places with recess and art and music and nutritious food; and strongly
promoting parental engagement.
Blow points out that our
educational system has become so tangled in exams and experiments that we’ve
drifted away from the basis of what makes education great: learning to think
critically and solve problems. The Common Core is designed to align a
high-standards curriculum with methodology and assessment tools that teach
critical thinking and problem solving, and restore joy to the learning process.
Blow concludes, “We have drifted
away from the fundamentals of what makes a great teacher: the ability to light
a fire in a child, to develop in him or her a level of intellectual curiosity,
the grit to persevere and the capacity to expand. Great teachers help to
activate a small thing that breeds great minds: thirst.
“The Common Core is meant to help
bolster those forms of learning and teaching.
“The Common core is for the common
good, if only we can … properly implement it.”
I agree.
