Background: Nobody knows what the heck is going on. Even the country\’s leaders–the movers and shakers in business, politics and the community– don\’t seem to grasp what is happening inside the public schools. Who can explain why there are so many methods that don\’t work as promised?

Try to find even one doctor, lawyer, stock broker, or business exec who can explain why sight-words are kid-killers; why New Math and Reform Math are so harmful; why Constructivism is a pretentious and destructive fad; why Self-Esteem is counter-productive; etc….Our public schools are burdened by dozens of flawed methods. Understanding the flaws is the first step to getting rid of them.

The following articles can help–and quickly. Take a little time each week to learn more about what\’s gone wrong. Ask a friend to read the same material; argue the ideas back and forth. The goal is to get people talking; and thereby save the schools.

1) READING–WHY DO WE HAVE 50,000,000 FUNCTIONAL ILLITERATES? Almost nobody learns to read by memorizing words as graphic designs. Trying to do this impossible task leads to illiteracy, dyslexia, and behavioral problems. Pushing phonics out of the public schools is arguably the greatest crime in American history. Here\’s the quickest way to find out what happened: Google \”42: Reading Resources.\”

2) MATH–WHY CAN\’T CHILDREN MASTER BASIC ARITHMETIC? New Math circa 1965 and Reform Math (umbrella term for about a dozen curricula) circa 1985 employ the same improbable gimmick–making children learn advanced, almost college-level material mixed in with elementary material. Spiraling (moving unpredictably from one topic to another) is encouraged, as is reliance on calculators. Mastery, however, is actually discouraged. There is constant chatter about thinking mathematically; but children don\’t learn to do basic arithmetic. Google \”36: The Assault on Math.\”

3) CONSTRUCTIVISM–WHY IS THIS EMPTY FAD ALLOWED TO RUN WILD? The theory is that teachers shouldn\’t teach; they should merely prod and nudge. Children must invent their own new knowledge (in all subjects). Take a simple piece of knowledge: Paris is the capital of France. How will a child ever invent this? What happens in practice is that the teacher maneuvers the child into finding this fact. The problem is that Constructivism takes a lot of extra time and is simply not a practical way to learn all the foundational knowledge the children must learn ASAP in their early grades. For a deconstruction of this fad, Google \”34: The CON in Constructivism.\”

4) MEMORIZATION–WHY IS THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT HOSTILE TO LEARNING FACTS? Ever since the time of John Dewey, there has been a relentless attack on asking children to learn and retain basic information. That\’s why children can reach high school and not know where Idaho is on a map. The whole point of school since the beginning of time was to give children broad general knowledge so they can move on to a deeper study of history, science, art, literature, etc. For an analysis of this anti-intellectual prejudice, Google \”45: The Crusade Against Knowledge — The Campaign Against Memory.\”

5) LEARNING STYLES–ANOTHER FAD THAT MAY HAVE NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS SO WHY IS IT ALLOWED TO CONFUSE THOUSANDS OF CLASSROOMS? This pedagogical method is used to justify creating categories of children – some are X, some are Y, and some are Z. You have to set up alternate classroom techniques, teacher training, textbooks, etc. Learning Styles is also a way of blaming the school\’s failure on the children. Schools say, in effect, \”Your child is failing due to a defect- his learning style is W-X. Children like that tend to be slow.\” Google \”51: Learning Styles: How Educators Divide and Conquer.\”

6) INEFFICIENT TEACHING–WHY DOES IT SEEM THAT ALL THE MOST POPULAR METHODS TEND TO BE DREADFULLY INEFFICIENT… There really is a science here; it\’s called ergonomics, human engineering or, often, common sense. If the Education Establishment were interested in what actually works, they would stage elaborate comparative testing to find the best ideas. They don\’t do this. Our top educators seem all too comfortable with ideological goals, not excellence. Google \”49: How Do We Learn? How Should We teach?\”

All the referenced articles can be found on Improve-Education.org. Become an ed warrior. Translate knowledge into political action.

(Bruce Deitrick Price founded Improve-Education.org in 2005.)

Author Bio: Bruce Deitrick Price is the founder of http://www.Improve-Education.org, an education and intellectual site. One focus is problems in the schools; see \”56: Top 10 Worst Ideas in Education.\” Price is an author, artist and poet. His fifth book is \”THE EDUCATION ENIGMA.\”

Category: Education
Keywords: K-12, education, public schools, teach, learn, knowledge, intelligence, reading,