Taken To School: What's Wrong With Education
- By Michael Stillman
Today's kids aren't as dumb as they let on.
By Michael Stillman
Do you want to know what's wrong with education today? I know. Recently, I had an opportunity to return to class with a bunch of high schoolers, some 40 years after my own graduation. Now more observer than participant, it all became clear. It's not poor teachers, old books, bad facilities, or any of the other things we blamed when we were students. No it isn't. The problem is with the students. Let me explain.
My son recently got his first car and first license. Do you know what insurance costs for a young male? If not, you don't want to. I asked the agent if there was anything I could do to reduce the cost. One suggestion was that he take a drug and alcohol awareness program. That would save him 5%. Then, she added, "you too can save 5% by taking the course." The course is given in two-hour sessions, over three days. Well, I was going to have to drive him to class, and probably sit around for the two hours anyway, so why not join in and save the 5%? The manager warned me that they did not have any sessions specifically for older drivers, so I would primarily be in class with younger people, but that I would still earn my discount. So I signed up.
Let me tell you, they weren't kidding about it being a class of younger people. My son was the second oldest student in the class, and I've got 40 years on him. This was a class of high school students, one college student, and one geezer. For three days, I reported to class, and observed the behavior and interactions between my fellow students, and came away understanding why they aren't learning anything in school.
The course was for the most part what I expected. The instructor long ago realized you can't make kids do anything. Telling them they shouldn't drink and drive or do drugs and drive is as likely to be counterproductive as successful. Not even movies about or other explanations of the terrible consequences of drunken driving was likely to move them. So he approached the course as informational. He essentially told the kids he couldn't make them do anything, so instead he would just present the data. What, if anything they did with it, he explained, was up to them. All he could do was present the facts.
Speaking aside to me before class, he explained he would be happy if someone, just one, of these kids was affected by what he taught. He was resigned to the fact that it might impact no one. As he explained, those who are concerned about the dangers aren't going to drink and drive. Those who aren't concerned, or lack the self-discipline to resist the pressures that lead them to drink and drive, will continue to do so anyway. Effectively, these kids would spend six hours ignoring what was said in the classroom and then go about doing what they were going to do anyway. They were only there to save 5%, and once they put in their time, they would get that certificate which entitled them to a discount. All else would be forgotten.
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Taken To School: What's Wrong With Education
- By Michael Stillman
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The class emerged as the stereotypical movie or television poor neighborhood schoolroom. This was Blackboard Jungle, or Welcome Back Kotter. The teacher was not another "Sir," the tough-as-nails disciplinarian portrayed by Sidney Poitier in "To Sir, With Love," but he was not a pushover either. He was a normal, middle-of-the-road teacher attempting to deal with a bunch of unruly kids who needed to be gagged and shackled. They talked to each other... constantly. Occasionally, they played games on their cell phones, tossed paper around, made fun of the lessons, talked back to the teacher, and were generally first class jerks.
I asked my son what was wrong with these kids. Is this what it's like in high school? He nodded yes. This is what his classes had been like in high school. Why do they act this way, I inquired. He explained that teachers don't make instruction interesting. Early on children find school boring. Once they conclude that school is uninteresting, they are gone. They can never be brought back again, even by good teachers. The educational system has lost them forever.
I think he is wrong. Sure school can be less than exciting, but have you ever seen some of the crap they watch on television? Being boring is no bar to their attention. No, the problem in class is the same problem that leads them to drink and drive: peer pressure. These kids were not stupid, no matter what the appearances. They understand the extreme dangers of drinking and driving. Most also understand the importance of education. However, they are slaves to peer pressure. I have no idea why acting rationally and intelligently is not considered "cool," or whatever term kids use today for that concept. I do remember it was the same way when I was young. We got away with as much as we could. The last thing any kid wanted their peers to think was that they were actually interested in learning. Perhaps it's the rebelliousness of young people trying establish their identities as people different from their parents. When you're young, it all makes sense, and you believe this attitude displays your independence and individuality. Revisiting it from the experience, if not wisdom, of age, you can see it for what it is. It is peer pressure. These kids are deathly afraid that their peers will not regard them as "cool" if they do not behave in this predictably rebellious and "individualistic" way. Absolute conformity to the rules of "individualism" must be slavishly followed. No, it is not bad schools, bad teachers, old textbooks, or poor facilities that are the major stumbling blocks to a good education. It is the insidious influence of peer pressure, which forces kids who would really like to learn to act in the most self-destructive of ways.
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Taken To School: What's Wrong With Education
- By Michael Stillman
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Why is home schooling so successful? The instructors are inexperienced in teaching, and are not likely experts in their field. Some people will tell you this proves how bad our teachers are, and how bad are our schools. No, it doesn't. The home school teacher works one-on-one with her/his student. There is no peer pressure in a classroom of one. Your child's schoolteacher could do an amazing job if it weren't for the other 19, 29, or 39 students in his/her class, in front of which your child feels he must constantly perform. When you are continually putting on a show, and that's what peer pressure forces your child to do, it is amazing that he or she ever learns anything.
Now please don't lump me in with those people who say all we need to do is get back to basics, and not spend money on schools and teachers. I think those people are more interested in buying bigger SUVs than in providing their children a good education, but are too embarrassed by this position to admit it. So they say we don't need to invest more money in education. The quality of our schools and teachers are major factors in the quality of education, even if they aren't the most crucial one. And, I am certainly not one of those people who thinks we must conduct more testing. How many times must we test our kids before we recognize that they aren't learning enough? No we need to invest more in the education of our children, but it is still clear to me from observing children in class that the major stumbling block in the path to their education is peer pressure.
So what is the solution? I wish I knew. Just because I can see the problem doesn't mean I can see the answer. This was a problem when I was young, and I'm sure it was for generations before. Some of the indirect attempts to alleviate this problem, like school uniforms which reduce the need to show "independence" may help marginally, but that's all. They do not meaningfully reduce the pressure these kids are under.
And yet, these kids are not stupid. They are not uncaring, they are not uninterested in learning. It's all there, waiting to come out, but they can't let it out. I do not know the answer to peer pressure, but I do know that until someone finds an answer, the quality of learning in our schools will never be more than a shadow of what it should be. I observed, and now I know.
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