The Schools Our Children Deserve

In The Schools Our Children Deserve, Alfie Kohn delves into the research that demonstrates what I have always felt in my bones: the educational system needs a massive overhaul. Yes, there are great schools out there. There are even more great teachers. But ask a great teacher, and many will tell you that they, too, feel hamstrung by a system that is overly concerned with achievement, competition, coercion, standardized testing, and the belief that 'harder equals better.'

When we focus on how we are doing, we are not paying as much attention to what we are doing. In education, this means that the more important we make grades, the less the students actually learn. This creates a classroom environment where the student's priority becomes 'Is this going to be on the test?' rather than ‘How does this relate to everything else I know?’  This focus on rank has more insidious effects, as well. If we need to give children grades, then we may only assign them work that is easy to grade. Multiple choice quizzes give a tangible number that the instructor can write in a grade book.  It is much harder to grade students on a lively, classroom debate on a topic that isn't even covered in the textbook.  Which do you think makes a deeper impression on the student? Where is more learning taking place?

  

This focus on ranking creates a climate of competition. Classmates are looked at as people to outdo, obstacles on the road to the top. Winning becomes more important than learning. Collaboration is left at the door.  This is unfortunate, and has implications beyond childhood. Research demonstrates that deeper learning happens when people collaborate then when people are isolated. Collaboration fosters creativity, communication, and mutual understanding.  Working together is essential in the modern world; the problems of the 21st century are far too big for any individual to solve alone. Collaboration is a skill we can develop and nurture, yet we give it little time in the traditional school. Those schools that do make the space for collaborative effort often find it has extraordinary outcomes.

Learning to submit to authority begins early in the traditional school, where students must ask permission to tend to their bodily functions, and get gold stars when they do exactly what is expected of them. Kohn covers the inherent problem of Punishments and Rewards in his book by that name. This behaviorist approach to child development stems from the work of B. F. Skinner, and likens the human mind to a machine or pet that can be trained to the 'right' response by the proper use of reward and punishment. We are not pets or machines, though. Children can be taught to give the right response through these behaviorist methods, but true understanding is not inherent in such rote learning. Understanding comes through engagement with the material because learning is an active process, not merely the memorization of data. One way helps them win at Trivial Pursuit; the other way fosters problem solving and critical thinking.

Conditioning our children to submit to authority has more ominous implications, as well.  In 1963 Stanley Milgram published a well-known study in which he learned that people will do surprising things, things far outside their comfort level, if they are told to do so by someone they believe to be in authority. Such studies question the wisdom of raising generations of children who have learned to 'do what they are told.’

As if all of this isn't convincing enough, Kohn takes on standardized testing as well. Textbook and testing companies have been given enormous power to decide what our children should know. But corporations aren’t people, and have different goals than people. What is best for business is not necessarily what is best for our children. These companies design tests which have proven confusing even to professional adults, and give us little meaningful information about what our children actually know. Yet budgets, salaries, and other important decisions are being made using these numbers. Remember, testing companies are in business to make money for the stockholders. When the law requires every child to take their test, the company can be sure that they will leave no profit behind.

  

Finally, Kohn calls into question the idea that 'harder equals better.' If test scores are down, drill them on testing more. If they aren't learning in school, send more of the same work home with them. If a strategy is ineffective, why do we act as if more of the same will eventually get the results we are aiming for? This perspective is endemic in our culture, and we shouldn't be surprised to find it in our schools. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. Neuroscience tells us that learning is an active process, but also an integrative one. Sometimes, we need to let our mental fields lie fallow for a while so they can grow a new harvest. Harder isn't always better. As John Holt once remarked, “One ironical consequence of the drive for so-called higher standards in schools is that the children are too busy to think.”

So what is better? Learners learn better when they are actively engaged in the material. They become more engaged when they are allowed choice in their education, when they are allowed to collaborate, and when they are allowed to make mistakes. We can take the pressure off of our kids to produce tangible results, and free up energy for them to pursue that which they are passionate about. In some ways, this may be easier for a homeschooler, or a private school to accomplish. But teachers across the country are growing weary of methods that don't work, and recognizing that they might have to think outside the box if they really want to reach students and rediscover the joy and passion in their work. As more people wake up to the ways in which the current educational model doesn’t serve us, they will demand a different approach that honors the humanity and creativity in everyone.