WHAT’S REALLY WRONG WITH OUR SCHOOLS?

By Elaine-Kirn Rubin and Arthur Rubin

In a nutshell:

Many of our teachers are simply OVERWHELMED – some even driven to distraction - and thus unable to deliver the high quality education they desire to provide, and are capable of providing, to their students.

What's going on here? Too many initiatives - initiatives that come and go faster than they can be integrated into school programs. Constantly changing policies, with more and more forms to fill out. The introduction of new educational technologies that may or may not be ready for prime time.  Excessive weight placed on test results. All this results in less time and energy spent on providing each child with a learning experience suitable to his or her distinctive needs.  So much for the Whole Child approach!

As if all of this weren’t bad enough, we’ve added more students per classroom:  20, 30, sometimes even 40 more, many of whom are not native speakers, vary widely in their preparedness for learning, often come from troubled homes and communities – and without enough professional and support staff to adequately help them.

Is it any wonder that policy-makers, educators, parents, and students themselves have been throwing up their hands in despair?  For the two of us, however, what’s even more amazing is that the schools are performing as well as they are.  

Our advice? Reduce the number of initiatives. Create stability. Allow time for everyone involved to catch their breaths, only moving forward in baby steps - in other words, what we all refer to as the “continual improvement process.” Numerous public agencies have succeeded in doing this. Why not the schools?