Del Hanson- Wanting Excellence in Education?

For all the bluff and bluster and inches of column space devoted to “excellence in education,” Americans, by and large, are afraid of excellence in education. We have opted for equality in education and excellence has taken the back burner, and has for many years.

There is much good derived from an equal opportunity for an education. The stormy and embarrassing years of the past, punctuated by “separate but equal” laws of Jim Crow ilk, harmed both education and the credibility of our national resolve for “justice for all.” However, when push comes to shove, when the rubber meets the road, Americans don’t want excellence--they want to be comfortable and unburdened with having to think and make decisions.

For decades, and only accelerated over the past eight years with the imposition of NCLB, any attempt at teaching children to think critically has taken a back seat to “passing the test.” “Passing the test” revolves, like the elliptical paths of the celestial orbs, around rote reading and math. Wait. Have I unintentionally left out science, and history, civics, and the arts? No, unfortunately, those subject areas are NOT tested under the NCLB mandates. In fact, in many elementary schools and some middle schools across this fair land, administrators caution teachers to not spend too much time on subjects not tested. Consequently, some classrooms do not receive science, history, civics, and art or music instruction because they are not tested. Sad but true.

The United States has become increasingly dependent upon foreign students to fill the seats of university lecture halls and laboratories in science, engineering, and mathematics. In the best tradition of America being a melting pot among cultures, one can daily encounter doctors, research scientists, and engineers reflecting names from points across the globe. They often become naturalized citizens and contribute disproportionately to our success as a nation. But an evil wind is blowing across this nation of immigrants.
On my forays around the region driving the highways and interstates, I often change the channel from my book-on-cd to AM radio stations, many of which bear the talk radio moniker. I am depressed and distressed to hear the jingoistic blather from both secular and religious broadcasting which sometimes advocates “shipping those not from here in ‘merica back where they came from.” The courts do not distinguish between a post doctoral candidate at Berkeley and a day laborer from Nogales. If some have their way, we’ll deport them all. Unfortunately for our nation, we cannot exist without most of them, whether they be post-doctoral or day laborer. We are not producing enough home-grown doctors, engineers, research scientists, or even field workers to keep us competitive. But why?

One reason is that our public schools do a poor job of teaching science, even when allowed to do so, considering current math and reading priorities. State statute requires certain numbers of credits earned at the high school level in order to graduate, so there is no excuse for not taking the courses at that level. The problem is that they are often taught poorly and often by persons who do not adequately understand the course material that they teach. There are notable exceptions, and Las Cruces is blessed with some amazing science teachers. However, on the average, science is taught as a dry and lifeless corpse of a class. Even worse is that science is not taught at all to many private school students. Instead, many times religious dogma masquerading as pseudo-science mumbo-jumbo is funneled down the throats of students, to the point that some children earnestly believe that the earth is 6,000 years old. There were several candidates for president of the United States in the last election who believed similarly. Our nation has no chance to be a leader or even competitive if we produce graduates who have been taught science poorly or not at all.

When I was an administrator, I can remember the case of a young lady, bright and full of promise, who continually dropped tough college-prep and AP level classes because “a “B” might affect her grade-point average.” Her parents supported and encouraged selection of less rigorous courses so that she could attain a four-point-GPA upon graduation. She opted out of challenging classes against the advice of me, her counselors, and her teachers. She graduated with a high GPA, but had a very tough first semester in college. As it turns out, she was one of the panel members at a conference at NMSU talking about the freshman experience. When it was her time to discuss her preparation for college, she ripped her school and her teachers for not adequately preparing her for university level work. For those of us who knew her, we understood exactly why she flopped during her freshman year. For most of the audience members who already thought schools were failing, they nodded in unison agreement when the young woman railed against the school. Her parents and she didn’t pursue excellence and never will. She did earn and “A” in excuse making, however. I expect she will have a successful career in politics.

If we truly want excellence in our schools, then we have to be comfortable with the consequences of not making the grade. Some students might fail. Some students might be retained for a grade level. Some students might have to attend mandatory summer school. The school year might have to be lengthened. Not all students will achieve the “Lake Wobegon” effect, when all children are above average. Parents and students might have to assume some of the responsibility for learning. The finger pointing needs to stop and teachers need to be given the opportunity to teach. What a novel idea. Then, perhaps, we can pursue excellence instead of pabulum.

Del Hanson- Wanting Excellence in Education?