The Education Problem

We hear so much about about our "failing schools" and the "education problem in America" that it seems to have become generally accepted as fact. When we are so bombarded by those phrases, it is difficult to imagine that they are anything but true, or to believe anything other than that our schools are failing.

But our schools - the buildings, the faculty, staff, administration, curricula - don't seem to have these problems at night. The problems in our education system seem to be between 6 or 7 in the morning, and seem to end with the last bell of the day.

Many of our students, who sit in the same desks, eat the same school lunches, learn from the same teachers and textbooks, and have the same opportunities during the school day, are succeeding. While we can't argue that our country has slipped from the top in many industries, in innovation, in business, and in many other measurable areas, to call this an "education problem" is just lazy.

It is lazy because identifying schools as the root of the problem gives people the sense that it is something that can be fixed, and opens the door to ideas like throwing money at standardized testing, or requiring teachers to employ a variety of cookie-cutter methods to teaching that are somehow believed to work for all students. It fosters the belief that no one will get left behind if we teach everyone the same information the exact same way, and it feeds the myth that something is being done wrong at schools during the hours between bus rides, and that something can be done during those hours to make our students become more productive, creative, innovative and successful members of society upon graduation.

States are pressured by federal budget restrictions, and must pass on their own restrictions to their public school districts. In turn, school districts pile more and more jobs and tasks, with fewer and fewer resources, to teachers, who leave the profession earlier and earlier, citing frustration at not being able to actually reach their students because of all the restrictions put upon them in terms of how and what they can teach... and how little instructional time is left after all the standardized testing, paced curricular requirements, and other restrictions have been levied.

What is the alternative? Calling our national slide from prominence a "parenting problem" would be political suicide for elected officials at any level, because then the problem is not one that can be "fixed" by throwing money at new educational practices, or by withholding funds from schools deemed to be failing. Who wants to identify a problem that has no easy solution? So out of laziness, or unwillingness to creatively address a problem, the very problems we face are fed and persist.

Many students take advantage of the opportunities they are given from public education. Many do not. With all the support systems in place for students, and all the information and resources available to anyone with an Internet connection, how can this be seen as anything other than a choice?

Some students will continue to choose a path of success, and others will choose the path of least resistance. All will continue to be welcomed through the doors of public schools, which will continue to be labeled as "failing" and as "problems."

As teachers, we must work through these obstacles, as well as the obstacles created by misguided attempts to remedy these problems. If no one is willing to address the problems that begin at home, such as unwillingness to take responsibility, fear of hard work, a sense of entitlement, and a lack of understanding that success is an option our students can choose, then the task of finding solutions to these problems will fall on the shoulders of educators.

Free us to work on these problems. Untie our hands. The pendulum must swing away from prescribed curricula, pacing, or increased standardized testing, and head in a direction that allows individual students to take ownership of their education, master the skills and standards that they need to succeed through a variety of means that allow them to learn as individuals, and be guided to those methods by teachers who are willing to work with them as individuals.