Tamara Mosar
As I followed the Chicago Teacher Union’s strike, getting
past the noise about evaluations, salaries, the right to organize, it became
evident to me the underlying issues point to a conversation about education in
this country few are engaging in. Namely, are we as a nation still willing to
provide a free “quality” education to all children? Now many will tell me there
are numerous people engaged in the Should We Privatize Education debate. I
know. I live thirty minutes from a state that chose to spend a significant
portion of the budget for teachers’ salaries on laptops for every student from
a certain company. But that is not where I am going with this post.
I don’t think we can enter the conversation of public and political will regarding continued provision
of public education until as a nation we come to consensus as to what
constitutes “Quality Education”. There have been volumes of back chatter
regarding the impediments to a “quality education”: relentless and rising poverty,
bad teachers, bad administrators, bad parents (just once I’d like to hear bad
policy or bad politicians), community violence, limited if any early childhood
education.
But what is “Quality Education”? Does “quality“ mean all
students graduate? Does it mean if a student graduates they are ready to enter
the workforce? Does a “quality” education mean students are prepared to enter college
without the need for remediation in math and English? Or does “quality”
education mean students can demonstrate mastery of subjects in end of course
exams or standardized tests like HSPE, SAT, AP, or IB? Does a “quality”
education include the provision of health care and social services? Does “quality” education produce a just and compassionate citizenry?
What say you? Any
takers for this conversation?
I don’t think “quality education” should be tied to a specific end result. It should prepare and allow students to go forward to whatever life path they desire be that university study, a trade, or even the fast food industry. They just shouldn’t need instruction on how to make change after they leave us.
Rob-I agree we need to work on improving the measures we have. I think the coversation is one that needs to be had even if answers fell elusive. Look where it got Finland.
Free Public Schoolings’ role in society has shifted over the past century and a half. To generalize- Free public education started as necessary for a functioning democracy (i.e. the public needed to be educated to govern itself). Education shifted to being a means for supplying a skilled work force (Education as necessary for an thriving economy). There was a time when education was centered around the development of the child (Dewey). Education also has a role in determining student merit (grade point average, SAT, ACT). With Sputnik and later “A Nation At Risk” education became central to national security.
Each of these roles has their own criteria for “quality”. Quality depends on your perspective… I doubt we’ll find consensus. But no matter your perspective you could find cause to believe education needs to be improved.
So maybe “quality” will remain elusive. In the meantime I think we can work at improving our performance on the measures we’ve got- Common Core, graduation rate, MSP, etc.
I think part of the problem is that we believe there is one desired end result that should be agreed upon for all students. It’s a messy argument.
To be sure we need to take kids where they are at. But we also need to take them somewhere and that is where consensus seems lacking. Now I am certainly not suggesting or advocating a one size fits all direction. The debate about how to deliver education in our country is not new. Perhaps if we could agree on the desired end result we might actually have something to show for all the noise.
To me, it is less about “beginning with the end in mind” than some would like to hear. To me, it is about paying attention where the kids are (skillwise) when they walk in the door rather than being too preoccupied with where they are supposed to be.