January, 2011 Blog - Teaching for America

[Greg Timmons]

Welcome back to the rest of the school year! I hope your time off was well spent with family and friends… and hopefully, some time for yourself.

 

I wanted to share with you a recent article by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, who has written much lately on the United States in the global economy. In this Op/Ed piece titled, “Teaching for America” he describes the “hole” America’s education system is in and how this translates our national security.

 

The “hole” is twofold. First, Friedman quotes Education Secretary Arne Duncan, “One-quarter of U.S. high school students drop out or fail to graduate on time. Almost one million students leave our schools for the streets each year.” [I discussed the student dropout rate in my October, 2010 TC blog.) Then, Secretary Duncan makes the second point that drives home the concern about national security, citing a report by a group of retired generals and admirals which concluded that “75 percent of young Americans, between the ages of 17 to 24, are unable to enlist in the military today because they have failed to graduate from high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit.” The conclusion is we not only have a problem here at home, but also globally, as our competitive edge has eroded economically and militarily.

 

Sounds a little bleak, doesn’t it? Might we be facing another “Missile Gap” as we did in the early years of the Cold War?  Friedman brings in Tony Wagner, Harvard-based education expert, author of “The Global Achievement Gap” and founder of Change Leadership Group. Mr. Wagner identifies three basic skills that students need if they want to thrive in a knowledge economy: the ability to do critical thinking and problem-solving; the ability to communicate effectively; and the ability to collaborate. (It’s important to mention here that these are key elements of active learning strategies which are at the core of Interact Teacher’s Center.)

 

Then the article takes an interesting turn. The focus moves to the quality and status of teachers, where one might expect it would continue to reflect on the students and how education needs to meet their needs. Friedman points out how teachers in countries such as Finland and Denmark, which are leading the United States in student achievement, have high standards for teachers and these, in turn, translate into higher achievement for students. Both Secretary Duncan and Mr. Wagner advocate for broad, systemic change in teacher training and hiring and cite that in other countries schools are insisting that their teachers come from the top one-third of their college graduating classes. Mr. Wager also notes that these countries are changing teaching from an assembly-line job to a knowledge-worker’s job, investing heavily in recruiting and  training, and supporting teachers to attract and retain the best.

 

Well, it sounds all fine and dandy. All great ideas. But where do we begin? Does the United States have the political will to address this educational crisis as it did Sputnik at the beginning of the Cold War? Can it conduct massive reform in these tough economic times? And how will the teacher unions respond?

 

Obviously, the type of education reform proposed here will require much discussion and debate. But there are a few things we do know: Students want to succeed. Sometimes their definition and concept of this is different from ours, but generally, they want to be self-sufficient and experience a feeling of worth. We know that today’s economy and political climate require students be able to adapt rapidly to changing conditions, think innovatively and effectively communicate their ideas to others. 

 

As we move through remaining months of this school year, I invite readers to send in your thoughts on any of the ideas presented in this January blog or any of the past months’ TC blogs. I’d like to have us enter into a conversation on what you think education needs to do, on what you’re doing to address the needs in your classroom, and ask questions… ask a lot of questions… on how to meet the challenges ahead.