As with America itself, the basic compact—in the case of America, agreement to cooperate and accept government by well reasoned, reality based consensus; in the case of public education, a commitment to a good, comprehensive education for everyone—has broken down as intolerant, anti-democratic constituencies have broken with it and sought to undermine democracy in America generally and public education in particular everyday in every way since, oh, 1954.
Great issue today! Parent of a sixth grader here. Screen usage in school was a hot topic on our class WhatsApp last week, with the majority of parents expressing concern about the same points mentioned here. Our school issues iPads to all students, but is now pulling back and trialing less screen usage in five classrooms; positive developments with student engagement and information retention are already apparent.
The teachers around me would agree wholeheartedly with this. We are finding that it's often the parent push back that is a challenge (often fueled by the distrust this country has for the education system). We tried to have an "off and away" policy for cell phones. Who pushed back? Parents. Our high schools allow kids to make up work up until the last day of the semester, causing a huge onslaught of grading for teachers and giving no accountability to kids. Why? Because some parents get real loud and blame-y when their kid gets a bad grade.
I am lucky to work with amazing educators who see all of this and are trying to do something about it. But we are one school in an entire system. It's simultaneously inspiring and disheartening.
If I make it to Kenya, we can have a few sundowners about this. After 25 years in education, I'm burned out and leaving in every way possible. Education was the canary for all of the government inefficiency/mistrust/dismantling that is happening wholesale now at the Federal level and a lot of Dems participated fully in that effort.
I love this column--or rather this essay. Not only do you correctly diagnose many of the problems in American education, but you provide realistic solutions. If your ideas were adopted and implemented, schools would improve markedly.
2 (relatively) minor disagreements.
First: Sadly, it seems to me grade inflation at colleges in general and (ironically enough) especially at elite colleges is an unsolvable problem. There is simply no constituency out there among the stakeholders (professors, administrators, parents, students) who would favor a return to more stringent grading.
Second: I am open to rebuttal and counterevidence, but in my considerable experience (homeschooled my 3 kids, 2 K-12 and one K-8; attended many homeschool conventions and worked with lots of homeschoolers) homeschooling parents are in general extremely conscientious and capable, and most of their children are academic overachievers. Indeed, homeschooling seems to me a rare bright spot in American education.
I completely agree with you Jill. Schools can be rigorous and supportive at the same time while preparing students for real world challenges. To balance the advantages wealthier students have, we should provide disadvantaged students with support for test prep and college applications.
While I agree with and appreciate your citations to reputable studies & articles on COVID & its health & learning implications, I disagree that Jill has a "tendency to make broad generalizations with extraordinary policy implications." I think you can share the former while not lambasting the author with the latter. It's a conversation worth having many times over and, I, for one, am grateful Jill's using her platform to discuss it.
Let's get the context right for your comment:
(1) This is a substack and Jill is a writer, not a policymaker or leader in the sector or government.
(2) She literally asks for your thoughts and opinions at the end of the piece on what she's missing, etc.
I know she's used to critical feedback and will take it in stride, but I'm really exhausted by the eat-your-own and overall lack of decorum in conversations that have a lot of nuance, particularly when the person is literally asking you to engage and to learn from others.
Don't let your very valid points get buried under your own overly broad generalizations.
If Jill were on a Sunday morning show talking about this, then sure, I think being more critical is valid. But, again, this is her substack and she is asking for conversation. I think you're just going a bit too hard.
As with America itself, the basic compact—in the case of America, agreement to cooperate and accept government by well reasoned, reality based consensus; in the case of public education, a commitment to a good, comprehensive education for everyone—has broken down as intolerant, anti-democratic constituencies have broken with it and sought to undermine democracy in America generally and public education in particular everyday in every way since, oh, 1954.
Great issue today! Parent of a sixth grader here. Screen usage in school was a hot topic on our class WhatsApp last week, with the majority of parents expressing concern about the same points mentioned here. Our school issues iPads to all students, but is now pulling back and trialing less screen usage in five classrooms; positive developments with student engagement and information retention are already apparent.
The teachers around me would agree wholeheartedly with this. We are finding that it's often the parent push back that is a challenge (often fueled by the distrust this country has for the education system). We tried to have an "off and away" policy for cell phones. Who pushed back? Parents. Our high schools allow kids to make up work up until the last day of the semester, causing a huge onslaught of grading for teachers and giving no accountability to kids. Why? Because some parents get real loud and blame-y when their kid gets a bad grade.
I am lucky to work with amazing educators who see all of this and are trying to do something about it. But we are one school in an entire system. It's simultaneously inspiring and disheartening.
If I make it to Kenya, we can have a few sundowners about this. After 25 years in education, I'm burned out and leaving in every way possible. Education was the canary for all of the government inefficiency/mistrust/dismantling that is happening wholesale now at the Federal level and a lot of Dems participated fully in that effort.
I love this column--or rather this essay. Not only do you correctly diagnose many of the problems in American education, but you provide realistic solutions. If your ideas were adopted and implemented, schools would improve markedly.
2 (relatively) minor disagreements.
First: Sadly, it seems to me grade inflation at colleges in general and (ironically enough) especially at elite colleges is an unsolvable problem. There is simply no constituency out there among the stakeholders (professors, administrators, parents, students) who would favor a return to more stringent grading.
Second: I am open to rebuttal and counterevidence, but in my considerable experience (homeschooled my 3 kids, 2 K-12 and one K-8; attended many homeschool conventions and worked with lots of homeschoolers) homeschooling parents are in general extremely conscientious and capable, and most of their children are academic overachievers. Indeed, homeschooling seems to me a rare bright spot in American education.
Teach history, science, math and civics. And make it interesting and meaningful. Give kids goals to aspire to.
I completely agree with you Jill. Schools can be rigorous and supportive at the same time while preparing students for real world challenges. To balance the advantages wealthier students have, we should provide disadvantaged students with support for test prep and college applications.
TYPO: change "back" to "bad" in you subtitle.
While I agree with and appreciate your citations to reputable studies & articles on COVID & its health & learning implications, I disagree that Jill has a "tendency to make broad generalizations with extraordinary policy implications." I think you can share the former while not lambasting the author with the latter. It's a conversation worth having many times over and, I, for one, am grateful Jill's using her platform to discuss it.
Let's get the context right for your comment:
(1) This is a substack and Jill is a writer, not a policymaker or leader in the sector or government.
(2) She literally asks for your thoughts and opinions at the end of the piece on what she's missing, etc.
I know she's used to critical feedback and will take it in stride, but I'm really exhausted by the eat-your-own and overall lack of decorum in conversations that have a lot of nuance, particularly when the person is literally asking you to engage and to learn from others.
Don't let your very valid points get buried under your own overly broad generalizations.
If Jill were on a Sunday morning show talking about this, then sure, I think being more critical is valid. But, again, this is her substack and she is asking for conversation. I think you're just going a bit too hard.