Just a quick note that the very cool Shamrock origami Rukuku Owl design is out and available for download. This is the most advanced owl design so far as it incorporates self-similarity in several dimensions. Don’t worry, it is still just as easy to fold as all the previous designs—only this time the 5 minutes that it takes to fold the Rukuku Owl will bring you great luck!
So go ahead and download it, print in color, and enjoy.
Now that we’ve dabbled in the topic of teachers, it may also be useful to direct some attention towards curricula. Here are the questions we think should be asked in evaluating the quality of what is being taught at American primary schools, colleges, and universities.
Are students in our education system acquiring valuable, relevant, actionable skills?
For too many people, especially those in higher education, instruction yields very little in the way of a useful skill set that can be applied towards a real job. Employers often quip that their entry-level employees are woefully incompetent at actually doing things – a result of four years of learning abstractions rather than skills.
Are they receiving complete, factual information about the world?
Studies expose major gaps in what US students are taught. Geography is one of the most glaring examples: despite constant news coverage since 2003, a 2006 survey revealed that 63% of Americans aged 18-24 could not locate Iraq on a map of the world. Even worse, a more recent study showed that 50% of young Americans couldn’t even identify the state of New York on a map of the US!
Are they being challenged to think critically and develop ideas?
Although American schools are better at encouraging critical thinking and creativity than some of their counterparts around the world, the overall picture remains bleak. Too often, merely following directions is encouraged while reasonable questioning is discouraged. Getting good grades on multiple choice tests is rewarded, while learning profoundly and thoroughly is not. Following a formula is lauded, but explaining a formula, or questioning one, is ignored.
Are they being taught how to effectively use technology and be players in the modern economy?
Even today, most curricula in US schools do not include incorporating or learning about technology that is vital to becoming a productive player in the global economy. Aside from those specialized in technological fields, most American students’ computer knowledge is a result of personal initiative rather than a systematic approach in education.
Visit us on Sunday for an analysis of what factors may be responsible for America’s curricular woes.
It sure doesn’t look like it; otherwise the United States would be the unrivaled world education leader.
Here’s a very interesting infographic comparing spending to a few indicators of student achievement:
[IMG source: http://blog.socrato.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/us-schools-vs-international-spending-education-infographic.jpg]
Could it be that there are other, much more influential factors at play?
Check back this week for a continuation of our discussion of the culprit(s) behind the lagging education system in the US.
According to the OECD, in 2010 the United States ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science, and 25th in mathematics (all out of 34), to earn the fantastically run-of-the-mill overall rating of “average.” For a country that, in the not-too-distant past, produced most of the world’s technical innovation and boasted an unparalleled productive and creative output, this is a jarring wake-up call.
On Wednesday, we talked about why standardized test based teacher evaluation is very bad at identifying and rewarding good teachers. This is definitely a big part of the problem in US education.
Another part of the problem – one that is more controversial to discuss, to be sure – is the problem of bad teachers. We have a lot of them, and they don’t seem to be getting any better.
When I was in school, I once had an English teacher who told us with a straight face that the Soviet Union was not involved in World War II. Granted, this wasn’t his subject, but… really? Slightly dumbfounded by this bold statement, I tried to convince him otherwise. My disruption was to no avail, and only earned me looks of disdain from most of my bored classmates.
In the years since, I’ve often wondered about that incident. How could a person become a teacher without knowing undeniably basic things like that? As it turns out, there are several factors that make this possible.
Some of them are:
Flawed methods of teacher evaluation. This relates straight back to Wednesday’s post. The Department of Education, along with local school boards, seems hell-bent on turning our schools into standardized assessment factories, complete with teachers whose only purpose is to teach students how to take a test (does anyone else hear Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” playing in their heads?).
Low pay. In 2009, the average yearly salary for a US primary school teacher who has been employed for fifteen years was less than $44,000. For most other professions requiring a college degree, that’s a standard entry level salary. How can schools possibly attract passionate, knowledgeable, proficient, competent professionals when pretty much every other employment option pays better? The result of this is that schools are left with people who either have no other choice but to become teachers, or are very passionate about educating people (bless them, but they’re rare).
Teachers’ unions and entrenched bureaucracy. Teachers’ unions do provide some recourse against unreasonable teacher evaluation, but they also prevent students and parents from having any recourse against bad teachers. Bad teachers are consistently protected from scrutiny and replacement by their unions.
“But Alex,” you might say, “the last two arguments are always used by opposite sides of the political spectrum. I thought they were mutually exclusive!”
The reality is funny. In two-sided political discourse, each party generally tries to convince us that the other’s position is the problem. But as H.L. Mencken once noted, the ironic beauty of it is that they’re usually both right – about each other.
Today is International Women’s Day.
First created by the Socialist Party of America in 1909, this holiday’s political baggage means it doesn’t get much recognition in the West.
Ironically, in Eastern Europe and Russia, March 8 doesn’t carry any political overtones: it’s merely a day to show respect and appreciation for the women in one’s life, as well as women in general.
In this vein, Rukuku would like to take this March 8th to reflect upon the extraordinary progress that girls and women have made in education, and to recognize that there’s more work to be done.
Cheers,
The Rukuku Team
Following New York’s recent release of teacher rankings, the chatter in the education community has once again focused upon an old question: is it wise to evaluate teachers based on student performance on standardized tests?
For us, the answer seems quite obvious. No!
Simplistic political demagoguery aside, teacher accountability is actually a complex issue. Children in different areas and of different backgrounds are subject to different circumstances, capabilities, and opportunities. Mandating one-size-fits-all standards to an endlessly diverse body of students and educators is great at making politicians seem tough, but very bad at improving the quality of education.
The entrenched standardized evaluation system also creates the phenomenon of “teaching to the test” – that is, educators focusing all their efforts on ensuring that students are able to answer formulaic test questions rather than learn in a meaningful and permanent way. The incentives created by standardized testing are all wrong: teaching students how to fill in circles with a number 2 pencil is rewarded (a la Monday’s comic), while showing them how to think critically, be creative, and learn with real depth is discouraged. This is, by the way, to say nothing of the rampant teacher cheating that the system invites.
Sadly, the stories of the machine’s latest victims – New York City’s teachers and students – seem unlikely to meaningfully diminish the bureaucrats’ heavy-handed influence on education.
The fact that local school boards and the DOE continue to defend rigid educator evaluation based on standardized testing shows that today’s educational bureaucracies are totally out of touch with reality (at best).
For years, it has been plainly obvious that standardized tests are a dreadfully inadequate way of measuring how much students have actually learned. It should follow, then, that using them to measure teacher performance is downright stupid.
Why on earth are we still doing this?