Anyone who has taught for awhile knows the drill.
Every 10 years or so, the pendulum swings from one educational extreme to another. While they all carry different names, the basic pattern is a vacillation from "back to basics" to "deeper, more progressive thinking."
An oversimplified timeline:
In the 50s, we had basal readers, "Dick and Jane" books, desks in rows...
In the late 60s/70s, there were open classrooms, "New Math," and progressive schools.
In the 80s, it was "back to basics" a la Reagan.
In the 90s, we had "whole language" and "investigation math."
In the 00s, the emphasis was on tests, tests, and more tests. Remember "Open Court" textbooks which the LAUSD teachers had to read from, word for word?
After each swing toward the left, and the subsequent failure, the pendulum swings back right. Only to again fail. Because the underlying problem (lack of quality teaching / low expectations for students) is never addressed.
The latest reform effort is called "Common Core." This falls under the progressive / open-minded / deep thinking type category.
Basic premise is to teach less, cover less, expect less. In other words, fewer concepts are even attempted. However what they DO cover is expected to be done in depth. Kids have to spend a lot of time explaining HOW they got answers. In fact, the HOW is more important than actually being correct. A youtube video has gone viral actually showing a teacher talking about she'd rather have a kid say 3x4 = 11 (but explain how he got the wrong answer), then get 3x4 = 12.
Of course thinking in depth is a great thing. And any great teacher already does this. But the way this will come down will be some very vague goals like "Students will interpret and interact with data in a meaningful way." Or "Students will engage in group dialogue to problem solve."
Very cool, but how do you measure that? Answer: you can't really.
What will happen, again, is that school will be spent doing a lot of engaging, involved, fun projects. They'll build rollercoasters to study physics. They'll design their own model dinosaurs to learn about art and paleontology. They'll run a bake sale to learn about math.
But the kids will not learn the basics. The wealthy kids will get tutored, the smart kids will pick up enough to get by. And the bottom end will fall off the map.
The irony is that this new effort to improve came about because the US is failing in comparison to other countries. So committees set about looking to see how we could improve.
They found a lack of depth. Of course they did - we were in the middle of one of the "back to basics" movements.
But....in their quest for more depth and meaning, they missed something important. These high performing countries like Singapore, Japan, India, Russia, what have you....they have BOTH. (Or at least the basics.) In Singapore, for instance, you have to drill and drill on your basics. Learning 3x4 = 12 is just a given. THEN you use that knowledge to do higher order thinking. The US plan flushes the basics and focuses on the "deep thinking." Thinking the kids can't really do because they lack the foundation.
The difference this time is that instead of this coming from the usual misguided school groups and teachers associations, it's coming from the government. The feds are requiring every state to comply with these new rules, or forfeit funding. (Not sure what funding, as most schools are funded by local taxes, but I digress.)
The old vet teachers used to say this to me: when a fad like this comes, just roll along. Then, when nobody is looking, take out the old materials from the closet and actually teach. One teacher I knew used to have books from the 1960s stashed in her closet - she still used them daily.
Anyway, have fun for the next few years. The next "back to basics" movement should arrive in about 8 years, once the current kids graduate with no skills...
;)
