Brain Drain
Compared to the rest of the developed world, we are breeding retards. In science, we are 16th to 21st depending on the study. In math, we are 23rd to 25th. In reading, its anyone's guess because the testing agency botched the survey. However in 2003 we were 15 out of 29 . And in the most important category, problem solving, we are 29th!
29th. One of the most resource rich countries in the world is 29th in figuring it's way out of a wet paper bag. Out-thunk by 28 other countries, many with only a fraction of the means of the US. And we wonder why debts and deficits soar. Economies and health tank. Why little Johnny can't get off the couch or stay out of jail. Why little Sally ate herself into the best parking space in the lot.
The New Behind
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) we are now realizing was a colossal charlie foxtrot. Essentially a civil rights bill, NCLB was a response to academic achievement gaps between minority kids and white kids. Blacks and Latinos were scoring at a fraction of whites in all areas. 30 years after integration something was clearly amiss and NCLB aimed at righting the discrepancy. Bush's strategy was to strong-arm the States into narrowing the gap by threatening access to Federal dollars. And it worked.
Sorta. The gap narrowed. Drop-out rates declined. But were kids more motivated? Smarter? More prepared for college or life after high school? Better able to compete at home or abroad?
Hardly. Although States did begin requiring continuing education for teachers, mandating how-to-teach workshops or training in effective student management their most expedient response was to lower the bar. Standards were reduced and to ensure better performance on the new benchmarks - math, reading and test training, jettisoned was a good part of the traditional curriculum. Problem solved. Federal dollar stream preserved.
NCLB left the brightest students bored whilst struggling students continued to struggle towards a still unattainable benchmark. The REAL result: high school seniors as a whole were less developed, had less breadth of understanding and were less prepared for college than before NCLB. They were the new behind. Gap closed.
Theory Fail
Whilst the center of the bell curve shifted south, something quite extraordinary and counter-cyclical was emerging: a new class of student. One who disproved the theory that a student is only as good as their teacher, their school, their principal, the amount of resources available, the quality of the physical environment, their classmates, their class size or the amount of money spent on constructing and maintaining their education apparatus. This new student defied all odds, all expectations. In many cases defied severe economic disadvantage.
These students were scoring in the 99 percentile. Ghetto school or great school, they were blowing curves, shattering paradigms, standing as valedictorians, winning national science fairs and bees, scoring 2,400 on the SAT, taking the grand prize at international competitions...leaving everyone else including their teachers in a trail of intellectual dust. Educators scratched their heads. Civil rights activists looked the other way. College recruiters lined up. Who are these wonder-kids?
They of course are the Asians. Immigrants or their descendants. Minorities but not really. Driven. Focused. Strategic. On a mission. This anomalous group has given new meaning to NCLB. Talk about gap.
Rice Not Wheat
Of course the Asian wave got the attention of just about anybody interested in improving our education system. How could 4% of the population account for 25% of the slots in Ivy League schools. Why are they so consistent regardless of their economic status? How can the Asian kid go to a failing school with inept teachers and little resource and still out perform non-Asians at prestigious private schools? These kids aren't operating with higher IQs but what gives them such a huge advantage? What makes these kids tick?
Studies were commissioned and the greatest education minds in the country mobilized around this phenomenon. Into the crucible went the Asian student. Analysis occurred from every angle. Limiting reagents were added and subtracted. Venn diagrams constructed. Litmus tests applied.
And what emerged as the single most important and profound factor in the success of these students, of this class of students?
Parents! Period. Parents, parents, parents. Parent push. Parent owning responsibility. Parent involvement. Parent prioritization. Parent value iteration. Parent carrots. Parent sticks. Parent psychology. Parent cunning. Parent puppeteering. Parent partnership. Parent-in-your-face. Day in. Day out. Parents, parents, parents. Parenting.
The core of their belief: it's not the responsibility of the school or the teacher or the government or society to educate the child. It's the parents job. The other stuff, the professionals, the whole architectural apparatus, the bells and gimmicks - all mis-en-scene. Revolutionary in a WTF kinda way I know. But it's that one tiny bit of thinking that makes all the difference. In a culture where your ancestors grew rice - a year around affair - it's relentlessly boring to grow seasonal wheat. Why crack the book once a week when you can crack it several times a day.
Accountable?
Which brings us back around to Obama's education reform. From his webpage:
"We need to stop paying lip service to public education, and start holding communities, administrators, teachers, parents and students accountable."
How exactly do you hold any one of these entities accountable? The definition of the word 'accountable' is: subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable. Are you going to make them testify before congress on why they didn't pack a nutritious lunch for lil Sally? Keep a journal? Submit progress reports? Write on the blackboard 1,000 times, "I will not let my kid watch 7 hours of TV a day'. Yes judge I was watching porn instead of helping little Tommy with his homework and offering motivational support. You gonna sue them for their kid flunking english?
Or by 'accountable' do you mean, dangle the purse like Bush? Really? More old-skool punitive response? Sounds tough. Oh wait you state in Solution 1 punishment = bad. Never mind. And what about your 3 solutions? Nary a mention of 'incentivizing' parents to take responsibility. Chatter about an army of new teachers. As if. Did you not read the Asian report?
How about this.: If you're truly serious about preparing kids for college, regaining a respectable standing in the brain game, raising standards, increasing graduation rates, raising test scores and benchmarks, putting us back on the R&D map, why not apply the Asian model? Which really, is no more Asian than it is common sense. As it wasn't too long ago we harbored similar motivations and method.
Otherwise, it sounds like more lip service.
