Stick to the Burbs...

Jay Matthews wrote an article about on Boosting Schools' Value Without Spending a Dime.

His suggestions are basically summarized as a brief shopping list of 7 steps to successfully curbing our failing educational system (paying bottom dollar, of course).

1. Replace elementary school homework with free reading
2. Promote charter schools
3. Frequent teacher praise to student parents
4. Parents call teachers with praise
5. Require HS students read one non-fiction book before graduation
6. Teachers call on every student in class
7. Create a national reading holiday

On the whole, the list itself is a pretty idealist view of how to change education for the better at minimal cost. There's too much faith in the power of parenting and no realistic emphasis on the ignorance/laziness of parents/students to begin with.

#1 : There was another article I read where they calculated that 1 in 7 Americans couldn't read the article. The average reading level of Americans has suffered because students are told that it's OK if the only place they read is in school. PARENTS NEED TO STEP UP HERE! We could offer a period everyday for the purpose of reading in school, but if students never read at home, don't complain if your student can't pass state exams.

#2 : Charter schools are an interesting idea. But I can't say that I agree with Matthew's assessment that charter schools tend to have administrators and teachers capable of doing more with less. Public schools operate like that all the time. He probably should have taken the position that to fix this aspect of education could be remedied by lowering property or local taxes and having parents/guardians pay the difference to schools directly for educational services. The idea of tuition and credits should be weighed in on students early, especially in high school. If the parents don't emphasize the significance of education as a top priority in their child's development then the points are really lost. High-need areas and impoverished areas have greater numbers of students who either don't have biological parents or are working part-time jobs to help support single-parent homes or their own children.

#3 : All too often, students are plagued with this notion of entitlement that they're allowed to sneak by without any consequence. Make them pay and they'll take their education seriously from the get go (put your money where your mind is). This idea of providing a free education to students (in NYC) is noble but it's not practical, especially when student motivation is at a loss in these areas of high need. What these kids think is that since their education is free, they really have nothing to lose. Also, PARENTS must be held accountable for having their children either enrolled in a high school, a GED program, or some apprenticeship or vocational program (with every intention of completion not just for attendance!). Students have choices, but most of these choices are dependent on life circumstances. To hold schools and districts accountable for everything students can't, won't, or are incapable of learning means holding the schools and districts accountable for those uncontrollable life circumstances (which is bullshit).

#4 : There's a reason why schools have something called the PTA: The Parent-Teacher Association. It's meant to bridge that communication gap that usually exists between the classroom and the home. Unfortunately, parents who are single and are raising their child working multiple jobs don't have the sort of time to play an active role in this arena. I don't mind if parents call me, I use my phone to talk more to parents than with my own friends.

#5 : Non-fiction is probably the biggest problem in terms of literacy. Students have no problems reading the Harry Potter books or some smutty fiction they get off a street vendor, but you put a basic science or history passage in front of them and they're totally lost. The problem here is a lack of social emphasis on non-fiction. Students don't go home and read Popular Science or The New Scientist. They go home and play video games (more fiction).

#6 : Uh, Duh.

#7 : A national reading holiday is probably a good idea, there's hardly an emphasis on reading anymore. Students don't crack open their notebooks or their textbooks at any time other than in school. To make it a national holiday would emphasize its importance. But to give a day off from school for it is unacceptable.