SUMMARY OF REVIEW:
A child's mind is hungry for knowledge, stimulation and the excitement of learning. A child's school should provide these things. But most American schools do not. From Kindergarten through high school, our public educational system is among the worst in the developed world. For over 50 years, American schools have operated on the assumption that challenging children academically is unnatural for them, that teachers do not need to know the subjects they teach, that the learning "process" should be emphasized over the facts taught. All this is tragically wrong.
American schools need to be transformed, and to accomplish that, many ideas need to be repudiated. The enemy is not the teachers; it is the controlling system of ideas that currently prevents needed changes from being made.
E.D. Hirsch, Jr. has been involved in education for many years and is very disturbed, as many of us are, about the continual decline of quality in our public school system. His book: The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them is a very detailed, historical study of the problems inherent in the "System."
Hirsch makes an urgent case for change.
One of the main problems is that there is no "shared knowledge." There is no set curriculum as to the specifics a child should be learning at each grade level, nor is there any means of ensuring that the children do learn. Did you know that? As parents, most of us make the assumption that there are criteria and standards…
Hirsch says that there are essentially no standards for quality in our school system.
In the U.S., he says, we have also somehow placed more importance on self-esteem and freedom of expression, rather than hard work, learning the "basics," and academic achievement. These are some of the reasons why American students lag far behind almost every other developed nation.
Hirsch explains 'shared knowledge' this way: "What makes the click of understanding occur in some students, but not in others? Research has shown that the ability to learn something new depends on an ability to accommodate the new thing to the already known. When a child "gets" what is being offered in the classroom, it is like someone getting a joke. A click occurs. A classroom of 25-30 children cannot move forward as a group until all students have gained the taken-for-granted knowledge necessary for "getting" the next step in learning."
He says that our "curriculum is in chaos, in fact, there is no set curriculum."
Hirsch relates the disturbing story of a district superintendent, who for 20 years, had assumed each of his schools was determining curriculum for the children at each grade level. He was shocked to find that this was not true! No principal in his district could tell him what minimal content each child in a grade was expected to learn.
Hirsch suggests that you ask your local principal for a description of the minimal specific content that all children at a grade level are supposed to learn. He says that those who have tried this experiment have come away empty-handed. Many states and local districts have produced thick curriculum guides, which may have a lot of bulk to them, but still do not answer the simple question: what are children required to learn at each level?
He told of one frustrated mother who had identical twins, who were placed in different classes at the same school, and were learning completely different things!
Not only are there no parameters for the curriculum, but there is no accountability for schools, teachers or students, Hirsch said.
"Daunted by the length of most textbooks and knowing that the children's future teachers will likely to return to the material, American teachers often omit some topics. Different topics are omitted by different teachers, thereby making it impossible for the children's later teachers to know what has been covered at earlier grades…Major gaps in the local guidelines become major gaps in students' minds."
The core knowledge recommended by Hirsch, includes the basic principles of constitutional government, important events of world history, essential elements of math and oral and written expression, widely acknowledged masterpieces of art and music, and stories and poems passed down from generation to generation.
Hirsch, professor at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, is also president of the nonprofit Core Knowledge Foundation, whose grade-by-grade curriculum is followed by more than 200 schools in 37 states. Recent independent research on these schools has documented significant progress by both disadvantaged and advantaged students - lending further support to the arguments of this book.
Hirsch related a story about an attempt by parents to start their own core knowledge school…"Any attempt in the U.S. to create a public school that focuses on knowledge is usually met with disparagement and fierce resistance. In 1992 for example, a group of parents in Fort Collins, Colorado tried to start an elementary school based on core knowledge principles. The educational committee fought bitterly at every step, threatening to retaliate against teachers who wished to cooperate and going so far as to hire lawyers to help restrain parents from promulgating such heresy. Fortunately, the savvy parents managed to carry the day and their public school, the Washington Core Knowledge School is flourishing and has a long waiting list."
Of course, he said, American experts have come up with many reasons (or excuses) why the academic core curriculum won't work.
Hirsch speaks of the U.S. public school system as a "citadel," or an "impregnable fortress," revealing his frustration with their inability (or unwillingness) to change, when the current system is obviously failing and has been for some time.
Hirsch says that our public colleges and universities are not under this "regime" and therefore are much better.
"There is wide agreement in the international community that the United States has created the best public universities and the worst public schools of the developed world. Foreign students arrive by the thousands to study at American colleges, but well-informed foreign parents are rarely willing to send their children to our public elementary schools if the children can learn English well in any other way. What causes this startling contrast in quality?
"Our colleges and the scholars, who control their destinies, place great value on depth, breadth and accuracy of knowledge, as well as on independence of thought. But this is not the case in K-12 system. Knowledge is considered less desirable than more "practical" all-purpose goals such as "self-esteem."
All of our difficult to enter universities must now maintain remedial censers from writing and math and in some cases for reading. This will lead to a decline in standards overall…"
Educators, according to Hirsch, also don't seem to want to "force" children to use their brains early on, yet in other countries children start with academics at three and love learning.
"It's crazy," said Pasko Rakic, a Yale neurobiologist.
"Americans think kids shouldn't be asked to do difficult things with their brains while they are young. 'Let them play; they'll study at the university…'
The problem is that if you don't train them early, it's much harder. It is never too early for a child to exercise his mind. The greatest use of the brain is between the ages of two and 11. In child hood there is an opportunity to learn quickly which is unparalleled."
Contrast that quote in the book with the position statement issued by the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in the Department. of Education: Children should not be expected to comprehend abstract/symbolic concepts or master skills or content that can be acquired more easily later on.
Head Start is referenced as "a politically popular tool for achieving equal educational opportunity." Yet in 1985, the Department of Health and Human Services published a review that concluded, that in the long run, Head Start students do not remain superior to those of disadvantaged students who did not attend Head Start. Researchers implied that while Head Start may have given children an initial edge, once they entered the public school system, the benefits were "erased."
Naturally, we have to wonder, why?!
Hirsch refers to many preschool programs outside of the U.S. that do achieve long term academic benefits for disadvantaged students. He compares the Head Start program with the ecole maternelle, a French preschool for two to four-year-olds.
Head Start is only for three hours, is staffed by non-professionals and is non-academic. The ecole maternelle (attended by over 90% of French three- and four- year-olds, lasts all day and is in session for 12 months a year. It is staffed by professionals and has well-defined academic goals.
The clincher: the French children then enter a grade-school system that also has a well-defined academic and cognitive core.
"Every nation that manages to achieve universal readiness in the early grades for all its children does so by following grade by grade standards. This is especially needed in our country, where our children are so mobile! A recent report from the U.S. General Accounting Office reported that one sixth of all 3rd graders attend at least three schools between 1st and 3rd grade. The fragmentation and incoherence of the education provided to frequently moving students are heartbreaking…" said Hirsch.
The book also explores the controversy surrounding standardized tests. The schools don't seem to want them. "Why shouldn't we have the means to measure students and schools? Well-conceived and properly used tests have been employed with great success to motivate students to put forward greater effort. It has been shown convincingly that tests and grades strongly contribute to effective teaching," Hirsch argued.
Hirsch describes the philosophy of our school system as "romantic" in nature. Translated: not practical.
"We cannot afford to accept the untrue belief that adequate schooling is natural and painless, and mainly a function of individual talent rather than hard work. We must reject the false claim that delaying learning until the child is ready will speed up learning in the long. We must cease listening to the siren call that learning should be motivated entirely by inward love of the subject…There is no age when a child is developmentally ready by nature to learn reading and writing. Learning builds on learning…"
The author wrote a sort of "dream philosophy," he would like to see in use in our schools one day:
All teachers at our school have not only training, but also a detailed knowledge of the subject matter that they teach. We instill in all children an ethic of toleration, civility, orderliness, responsibility and hard work. Our staff has agreed on a definite core of knowledge and skill that all children will attain in each grade. We make sure that every child learns this core and gains the specific knowledge and skill needed to prosper at the next grade level. We provide parents with a detailed outline of the specific knowledge and skill goals for each grade and we stay in constant touch with them regarding the child's progress. Attaining this specific and \well integrated knowledge and skill gives our students pleasure in learning as well as self-respect.
E.D. Hirsch, Jr. has authored a well-respected grade-by-grade series, dealing with core knowledge recommendations, for example: "What Your 1st Grader Should Know." The series is written for parents and teachers and spans from Kindergarten to 6th grade.
After completing this book review, I did go out and buy the guide for my 4th grader, who is in the public school system for the first time. I plan to supplement her with the book, by setting a realistic goal of just a half an hour a day following her homework. The guide is very thorough and easy to follow.
It's quite "beefy," with everything from the classics to world geography (which, incidentally, is usually not taught until the 6th grade in this country).
You may want to refer to the core knowledge web site at www.coreknowledge.org/. The site can refer you to schools in your area, where the core knowledge curriculum is in use.
Other articles by Tracy Levine about education quality
You may also be interested in understanding trends in education
quality of U.S. public schools vs. private schools and international
competitors, where a 'picture is worth a thousand words' - as
hard data is displayed by color graphics in easy-to-understand
format - - in the Grandfather Education Report at http://home.att.net/~mwhodges/education.htm