System or Individual?

Alexis de Tocqueville visited America as a social scientist in 1835. He noted a strong contrast between the Jacksonian democracy of the US and his native European aristocracy. In the United States hard work and money-making was the dominant ethic and Americans did not defer to the elites but instead held to their own dignity and individualism.

What does this have to do with education in America today?

Respect and Hard Work
Perhaps the respect or lack thereof that students exhibit for teachers has something to do with our general disregard for elitism and authority.  More importantly our protestant work ethic (work hard to achieve) can blind us to the merits of system analysis and improvement, effectively causing us to try to whip our horses to keep up with the cars whizzing past us.

Sure, if a kid works hard he or she has a better chance in our current system. Is that a valid measure of a good system?

System Analysis Theory
Covey and others point out that people working in a system are affected by the system and therefore the system must be analysed if change is to be effected. The field of system analysis and design attempts to take into account multiple factors and their interdependent effects when changing a system. These concepts are often ignored however, when we talk about the education system.

Why?

Perhaps our emphasis on work and effort causes us to not properly harmonize the concept of working smarter and making a smarter system to work within. Or, maybe because of the transfer of work principle, (i.e. to a carpenter everything is a nail) the tendency of teachers and administrators is to push their craft to further degrees and development rather than implement systemic change or re-design (throw out the carriages and adopt cars!)

Business Systems versus School Systems
Business on the other hand is subject to market pressures and is much faster to implement system re-design and change. Imagine if IBM or Apple were still using the same system it did in the late 1800's! Business adapts and changes it exists in a world of market pressure.

Thirty years ago smart people like Robert Heinich realized that our system needed drastic change, however, the system has remained largely unchanged for much longer than 30 years. In fact, education today isn't that much different than it was in 1892 when the committee of ten (see earlier post) published their report. Chime in on why you think the education system is largely unchanged when compared with systems subject to market pressures.

Techno no

This article on a school in England shows the wrong way to attempt to integrate technology into schools, which unfortunately is often attempted.

In landscape design I called it decorating versus designing with a purpose.  Often designers or landscapers will plant high impact trees or flowers without consideration for creating a space or the effect on the yard.  I call this decorating.  Designing is taking into account the cause and effect relationship between nature, art, space and people.

Similarly the integration of technology into schools needs to take into account what advantages technology has to offer education in addition to small productivity enhancements.  In the case of the article the school thought trendy ipads would be great for teachers, but neglected to recognize that an ipad is for content consumption not creation.

Questionable value

The real issue is: can you understand the answer? School’s job, and teacher’s jobs, need to be to cause students to think hard about things they care about. (emphasis added)

From Roger Schank's blog 

Without a question can we really understand or"hear" the answer?  Today's information age where information is readily available and regularly presented can result in a dearth of questions which give meaning to that information and are vital to the assimilation of information and to real understanding.

A discussion on Columbus's calculations of the size of the earth might initially seem boring, but if we start off with a question, a question from the learner, then that discussion changes from math and topography to an intriguing discussion.  For instance, do you know why it was so difficult for Colombo  (Italian version of his name) to convince anyone to fund his voyage?  Because they all thought the world was flat . . . right?  Actually no.

Perhaps the above paragraph illustrates the power of a question in the mind of the learner before learning begins.  Roger Schank, one of the most accomplished researchers in learning science, and others, have found that learner inquiry is the most effective guide for learning, not a curriculum designed to make people into scholars.

Thirty years ago Finland needed a solution to their failing economy.  Can you guess what they did? . . .  They changed their education system dramatically.  Rather than adopt the aesthetic assiduousness of Asia, Finland reduced instructional hours for small children and increased play time.  They removed tests until 17 years of age and made teaching a revered profession by requiring a Master's degree  making requirements for that degree high, and paying teachers well.   Finland is consistently in the top three in world wide education assessments, and they spend less than the US on education per pupil.  Finland is toward the middle of the chart below.

learning agency

Someone who might be interested in chemistry would be asking questions about how the world worked long before being forced to balance chemical equations.

Common opposition to learner or inquiry-guided learning is that if people guide their own learning there will likely be large holes in their knowledge.  It might be hard for someone who is accustomed to an authoritative body setting standards to shift ideas and understand inquiry guided learning. Inadequate experience with a good example of inquiry guided learning probably contributes to the obfuscating effect of our prevailing (and very old) system.

Ironically many of the topics ' covered' in school refer to the work of autodidacts (self-educated persons). These people serve as good models of the process of inquiry and the results of inquiry led learning. I don't think that anyone would fault the following people as having insufficient 'exposure' in their education: Abrahm Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Herman Melville, Michael Faraday, the Wright Brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, or Leonardo da Vinci. All are autodidacts who understood, versus knew (and then forgot) because they combined curiosity with thought and study.  Those all seem too old to be relevant? Ok, then how about Ted Turner, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs?

Our education system places more emphasis on broad education than one of depth. There is an alternative.  Consider a group of paraprofessionals aiding students in learner directed inquiry with the aid of technology that has been deisgned with branched learning opportunities and learning projects with just-in-time expert opinion input; or story based learning where k-8 learners follow a story with branched options and various learning opportunities.  At a developmentally appropriate time multiple sources should be introduced so that students may critique the source of their information. The information and technology age means that students can learn gain in-depth understanding on topics they are interested in and learn languages other than Spanish and French.

A systemic and good implementation of efficient information technology can change America's learning system for the better. Some teacher's are afraid of 'robots' teaching our children. Thoughtful people have a valid response to that. The idea is not that robots teach our children. It is that we bring our learning system into the 21st century and implement tools that businesses have long ago used to drastically increase efficiency. The difference between education and business is that businesses have to deal with market forces or they die.

I am starting to think that "we the people" are the market force in education. Thus far "we" have been to segmented to have sufficient influence and the existing educational system pushes on despite being horribly old and broken. No new wine in old bottles, we need a new system that meets real and usable learning objectives like thinking skills, rather than the objective of "exposure".

Core Curriculum
David Coleman will be the next president of the College Board.  What is the College Board?

From a NY Times article:

. . .  a membership organization of high schools and colleges that administers the SAT, the Advanced Placement program and other standardized tests, helped design the standards — an outline of what students should learn in English and math from kindergarten through high school — meant to ensure that all high school graduates are prepared for college.        

David Coleman has been influential in advancing core curriculum standards that are being adopted in nearly all 50 states.

What is core curriculum?
In 1812 a group of educators (The Committee of Ten) was formed by the National Education Association to answer some educational questions and establish standards.  The questions included:

• Should wrote memorization or critical thinking be emphasized?
• Should high school should prepare all students for College, or it should divide them into College-bound and working-trade groups and educate them differently.
• Should standardized classes for all students should be the classics, or they should be practical studies.

As is common in our society, each position had it's divisive backers. The Committee of Ten issued a report which recommended twelve years of education wherein all students would be taught, regardless of their future education plans.  Further conferences for the establishment of curriculum standards were also recommended.  Over time the movement has snowballed with some help from Columbia and Chicago Universities and now has been adopted by nearly all of the 50 states.

In 1999 the University of Chicago announced it would roll back some of its curriculum requirements to offer a wider range of educational experience. The National Association of Scholars responded:

It is truly depressing to observe a steady abandonment of the University of Chicago's once imposing undergraduate core curriculum, which for so long stood as the benchmark of content and rigor among American academic institutions.

Good or Bad?
Getting kids ready for college . . .  good thing.  Learning how to think through exposure to classics . . good thing. Giving direction to all the hours and effort spent in education . . . good thing.  General education on varied subjects to aid in cross subject connections and resulting in a "well-rounded" scholar . . . good thing. However, there is one reason that core curriculum is not a good thing.   It teaches subjects not students.

Core curriculum places familiarity with specific subjects as learning objectives which may at first seem correct. "Learning by Design" by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe is an instructional design textbook for one of my classes. Chapter 1 is titled "Backward Design".  The thrust is that whatever you want to achieve is where you start. So if you want to achieve cognitive facility, then start there and aid students to have an learning experience that achieves that.


First Things First
Still not concerned about core curriculum?  I don't blame you.  Here is why you should be: thinking skills such as prediction, modeling, planning, determining causality, are higher order learning objectives than core curriculum. So are social skills such as teamwork, persuasion, and clear communication.

Many autodidacts show the value of individuals who pursue their learning interests.  Without the influence of core curriculum or formal education Abraham Lincoln became a lawyer, Ben Franklin learned to write and persuade, Ansel Adams learned the art of photography, Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace, Ted Turner made millions, and George Washington became the Father of the nation (a list of Autodidacts including Chuck Yeager, Abigail Adams, Jane Goodal and more).   Which classics were written by college graduates?  Not many.

We may consider, "our k-12 schools are hampered with many classroom management issues, lack of funds, or other problems unrelated to curriculum and the system and therefore we don't see the results we want."  However, the problem is not unique to k-12.  Richar Arum and Josipa Roksa followed 2,300 students at 24 universities for four years. The study measured improvement in critical thinking and writing skills, as well as  how much they studied and how many papers they wrote for their courses.  There results are detailed in the book  Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. The result?  Over a third of students showed no improvement in critical thinking skills after four years at a university.

Once the right objectives are placed first, then we can begin to design a proper learning system.

Mr. Crosby's Class Blog is an inspiring record of a teacher maximizing the quality of the teaching craft while working within the bounds of our educational system. One way he does this is to go beyond the typical curriculum and system as much as he is able.  The class is piloting a laptop program using a MacBook for each child.  They blog, Skype, make videos and wiki pages. Another example is the high altitude balloon he will soon launch.  He has asked students and bloggers to postulate what will happen to the payload.

Enduring education is about the enduring establishment of education in the United States, as well as some other related results of playing on the two words (ie endure the foibles of our education system, or the quest for education objectives to endure as part of us and students).  It is my belief as I start this blog that we have not availed ourselves of the technology, system design, and craft that can drastically improve the state of education in America. 

Will that belief endure the period of my MS degree and beyond?  We will have to see. Everyone I meet has ideas about the education system.  Nearly everyone has some level of experience with education, some have deliberated on, or even researched or developed, ideas and principles of the education process.  Others lend the subject half of a cognitive cycle.  This blog is for those who want to expand the breadth of quality ideas they are exposed to and process.