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The Basics in Education
Shouldn't Be Agenda Driven
Education/Nancy
Salvato |
March 8, 2005
- I have a colleague to whom astute observations come
naturally. He isn't even aware when he makes a brilliant suggestion. This
happens frequently during our many conversations. Truly witty people tend to
be this way; they connect ideas quickly and usually either remark wryly
about the topic of discussion or draw a simple conclusion that wouldn't
necessarily occur to a person who has become too close to the subject.
One of our most recent discussions centered on the idea of school choice and
how education would function better and meet more individual needs if
schools were forced to compete for students through private enterprise.
Realizing that it might take years to educate the public about how everyone
wins by implementing this type of solution, we switched subjects to a recent
article reporting that several schools are teaching kids how to put condoms
on cucumbers as part of their sexual education curriculum. While you never
know when you might have to have safe sex with a cucumber, we agreed how sad
it is that many of these same kids won't graduate knowing the basics.
My colleague said he often wondered why the public schools don't simply
offer the basics of Reading/Writing, Science and Math. I quickly countered
that he forgot Social Studies. He said that Social Studies can be considered
part of the problem. I asked him to expound, remembering that Civic
Education is one of my passions. He said that any subject that can be agenda
driven should not be offered through the public schools; the mandate of
public school should be to graduate students with a foundation in general
education.
Many of my own ideas for fixing education center on countering the agenda
driven curriculum that is deemed acceptable because it reflects moral
relativism. I see teaching the origins of the US Constitution and the
history surrounding its inception and continuing influence as vital to a
republican form of government. Also, textbook company driven instruction
must be replaced, but I won't go into these ideas in this piece. Instead, I
want to talk about the idea of just teaching the basics of Literacy, Math,
Science, and the how and why of our republican form of government.
If teachers could just focus on the basics and teach just four courses a
day, the other half of their and the students' time could be spent on
practicing concepts (translation; time formerly designated for homework and
grading papers completed at home). Half the time teachers could use direct
instruction to teach about new ideas. Students would have the rest of the
time built into their school day when they would be required to work
independently to master these new concepts. Sometimes there would be group
work but only if it is conducive to the assimilation of ideas, not for the
purpose of sharing in accountability for what is being taught.
What about Art, Music, Physical Education, or even Religion? Since time
after school would not be designated for homework, students could register
for classes offered through the private sector by specialists in these
particular areas. Day care would be eliminated. Kids hanging out on street
corners would be less of a problem. A whole second shift of professionals
would compete for the time and opportunity to work with these children.
Because families would choose the electives, these instructors would be
afforded the respect they so richly deserve.
Most people would agree that the basics are all that is needed to succeed in
learning and performing a job. Skill in these other areas can enhance
performance in the basics, provide a system of morals which reflects the
value systems of individual families, and foster an appreciation for the
innate aesthetic beauty that exists, yet sometimes must be developed.
By separating any "special interest" agenda from education, we could open up
a whole new avenue of choice for parents and students. It would cost less to
educate our children in the public schools because there would be less
instructional time spent on extracurricular material and more time spent on
mastering the skills necessary to succeed in a capitalist society. By using
the KISS principle, keep it simple stupid, families will be given more
choice in education, and tax dollars saved could be spent on a whole new
private industry in education that will assuredly develop to meet the need
for elective classes at the close of each school day.
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