Education and the Economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkrnzu15RpY
This may be some of the most disturbing things I've heard Obama say. Granted I have a very particular perspective as a pre-service social studies teacher. You can take my bias against too much emphasis against the extremely "practical" education (i.e. Math, Science, Economics, etc.) and take that into account when weighing this thought. However, I think it should be troubling to anyone when the President starts talking about education more like an international conflict. Saying things like "China and India aren't playing for second" isn't just wrong in its focus, it's damaging to the heart of what education should be about.
It seems like no matter who you ask people are talking about "America's global competitiveness" or The link between the economy and education seems to have dominated the conversation ever since economic considerations replaced military ones following the cooling of the Cold War. With our need to outpace the rest of the world in terms of economic growth, also comes a sense of the looming crisis represented by our relatively low test scores and the future that represents. Even accepting the dubious claim that test scores clearly cause economic growth, this emphasis is nearly as bad as a system viewing children as pawns in the global war on the Soviet Union that it replaced. However, the economic warfare terms have become the dominant lingo used to discuss education in documentary films, on the news, and on the tongues of politicians.
When people talk about education in these terms, I often have to hold my tongue. These calls for reform usually begin with something like "Our education system is in crisis," something everyone seems to agree with. Then, it provides the concrete proof that we all are supposed to feel outraged about. For example, I heard one educational reformer note how utterly horrible it is that Iceland's student's test scores in 12th grad math outpaced America's test scores! The analyst then reminds us how small Iceland is and how little else Iceland is notable for. Clearly, we should all be upset at the thought of our eclipse by a country known mainly for the creation of the show LazyTown.
But should we ? Does it really matter if Iceland places above America in finding the integral of x² -42x? Are we at war with Iceland? Are children economic warriors preparing to take on Icelandic children and their Icelandic sheep armies? I suppose in a warped way you can see it this way. But this is troubling to me both because it ignores entirely that these children are human beings. They shouldn't be used by adults to try to statistically compete for some worthless title of being number one. This way of looking at things leads to a deadening sort of education that makes school into an institution more built around the masculine need to be the best than around allowing children to live.
Why not focus on something more relevant and qualitative like students abilities to express themselves, reflect on their lives, or to help their community? Putting reflection and community at the center of the curriculum rather than economic usefulness would mean teaching kids to think for themselves, to look critically at the world around them, and to make sense of their own experiences. Yes, globalization does mean that there is a need to consider a larger perspective. But why does that always seem to create oppositional lingo rather dialogue based around an opportunity to see the larger global community?
Of course, this viewpoint is completely incompatible with the economic "imperatives" represented by the current view of education. Imagine with me for a minute though if America opened up a global dialogue of cooperation about the best educational policies instead of seeing our relationship with other countries in the same way we look at a horse race.
Hey, I can dream.
Nick
This may be some of the most disturbing things I've heard Obama say. Granted I have a very particular perspective as a pre-service social studies teacher. You can take my bias against too much emphasis against the extremely "practical" education (i.e. Math, Science, Economics, etc.) and take that into account when weighing this thought. However, I think it should be troubling to anyone when the President starts talking about education more like an international conflict. Saying things like "China and India aren't playing for second" isn't just wrong in its focus, it's damaging to the heart of what education should be about.
It seems like no matter who you ask people are talking about "America's global competitiveness" or The link between the economy and education seems to have dominated the conversation ever since economic considerations replaced military ones following the cooling of the Cold War. With our need to outpace the rest of the world in terms of economic growth, also comes a sense of the looming crisis represented by our relatively low test scores and the future that represents. Even accepting the dubious claim that test scores clearly cause economic growth, this emphasis is nearly as bad as a system viewing children as pawns in the global war on the Soviet Union that it replaced. However, the economic warfare terms have become the dominant lingo used to discuss education in documentary films, on the news, and on the tongues of politicians.
When people talk about education in these terms, I often have to hold my tongue. These calls for reform usually begin with something like "Our education system is in crisis," something everyone seems to agree with. Then, it provides the concrete proof that we all are supposed to feel outraged about. For example, I heard one educational reformer note how utterly horrible it is that Iceland's student's test scores in 12th grad math outpaced America's test scores! The analyst then reminds us how small Iceland is and how little else Iceland is notable for. Clearly, we should all be upset at the thought of our eclipse by a country known mainly for the creation of the show LazyTown.
But should we ? Does it really matter if Iceland places above America in finding the integral of x² -42x? Are we at war with Iceland? Are children economic warriors preparing to take on Icelandic children and their Icelandic sheep armies? I suppose in a warped way you can see it this way. But this is troubling to me both because it ignores entirely that these children are human beings. They shouldn't be used by adults to try to statistically compete for some worthless title of being number one. This way of looking at things leads to a deadening sort of education that makes school into an institution more built around the masculine need to be the best than around allowing children to live.
Why not focus on something more relevant and qualitative like students abilities to express themselves, reflect on their lives, or to help their community? Putting reflection and community at the center of the curriculum rather than economic usefulness would mean teaching kids to think for themselves, to look critically at the world around them, and to make sense of their own experiences. Yes, globalization does mean that there is a need to consider a larger perspective. But why does that always seem to create oppositional lingo rather dialogue based around an opportunity to see the larger global community?
Of course, this viewpoint is completely incompatible with the economic "imperatives" represented by the current view of education. Imagine with me for a minute though if America opened up a global dialogue of cooperation about the best educational policies instead of seeing our relationship with other countries in the same way we look at a horse race.
Hey, I can dream.
Nick