17 Jul 2005 - 16:07

Martin Gross on public education in the U.S.

Yesterday the Washington Times ran an article by Martin Gross, Weak U.S. Education Link, that is a broad-band indictment of public education.

He begins by quoting Greenspan's testimony from a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing.

In the long run, he accurately pointed out, our economic strength in the world market eventually rests mainly on one factor -- brainpower, measured by the quality of our education system. In that race, he emphasized, we are failing badly.

Why is it, Mr. Greenspan asked, that our fourth-grade students are superior in international competition, while our eighth-grade students have proven inferior? Also, why are 12th graders hopeless in the key disciplines of math and science? In the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, our high schoolers scored 19th out of 21 countries, beating out only Cyprus and South Africa. They scored 20 percent lower than the Netherlands, a nation that lives on its brainpower -- as America might one day have to do.

Asked why our students become more ignorant the longer they stay in our public schools, Mr. Greenspan's response was typical of America's uninformed leaders: "I have no idea."

Gross has an idea, though.

But for those of us who have studied public education, the answer is clear: Our educators, from teachers through superintendents of schools, are academically and intellectually so inferior that the fourth grade is apparently the outer limit of their teaching abilities. They are so poorly selected, poorly trained and lacking in general intelligence, that failure by our middle- and high-school students is foreordained.

How can we support such a potent indictment? Easily. All standardized exams confirm their shocking inferiority.

He also has some solutions to offer.

(1) Close all undergraduate schools of education, and eliminate the generally ignorant and gullible 18-year-olds from the system. Instead, adopt the system used by most European and Asian nations. They require teacher candidates be graduates of a liberal arts college, and have at least a B average. They spend one year in practical teacher training, not in studying outdated educational theories.

(2) High school teachers of calculus receive the same pay as kindergarten teachers, which is ludicrous. To get satisfactory high school teachers, we must select better and pay more. To save money, we should fire 50 percent of administrators and support personnel and bring the student-bureaucrat ratio back to where it was 40 years ago.

(3) Education is not now a free market, but a closed shop. Scholarly college graduates who might be more independent are purposely kept out. A Yale summa cum laude in math is prohibited by law from teaching math in most states because he or she doesn't have an "education" degree. But the Yalie can teach -- in private schools.

The answer? Change the law so teachers need no education credits at all. Superintendents should be able to hire better college graduates trained in a true academic field. Then mathematicians will teach math, scientists teach science, and historians teach history. For the extra money needed, see (2).

(4) The middle school and high school should, by state law, be separated from elementary school and headed by a separate scholarly superintendent with a Ph.D. in a subject other than "education."

In short, sweeping political reforms are needed; the beneficiaries are generally either vulnerable (children) or clueless (parents), and the opponents (teacher's unions and schools of education) are motivated and politically savvy. It's enough to make even me wonder about homeschooling...

Think about this. For every underqualified person teaching math in public middle and high schools, there is probably an overqualified person teaching math for $3000 per course as adjuncts to university or college faculty. The only thing keeping him out of the public schools is his lack of an education degree.

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That article ran in the Washington Times, not the Washington Post. The Post would never go out on a limb like that with respect to education issues. If they did Jay Mathews might have to write something worthwhile in his Class Struggles column instead of the umpty-ninth explanation of how he did the ranking of high schools.

-- BarryGarelick - 17 Jul 2005

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Well, DANG.

-- CarolynJohnston - 17 Jul 2005

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Believe it or not, I actually had NOT thought about the fact that are all kinds of real math types working as adjuncts.....

sigh.

-- CatherineJohnson - 17 Jul 2005

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Catherine, there are TONS of us. Them.

And I have the comic strip to prove it.

-- CarolynJohnston - 18 Jul 2005

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-- CarolynJohnston - 18 Jul 2005

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"For every underqualified person teaching math in public middle and high schools, there is probably an overqualified person teaching math for $3000 per course as adjuncts to university or college faculty. The only thing keeping him out of the public schools is his lack of an education degree."

I taught college math and computer science full time for years, and then part time for more years (at $300 per credit hour). The college never had any problems finding very well qualified part time teachers. Many of these people were very willing and able to teach math or science at the public schools, but they were not qualified! My son's pediatrician changed professions and is now teaching chemistry at a private high school. She was willing to teach at a public high school, but she didn't have the credentials.

Our state has an average teacher salary of over $50,000 with lots of time off and lots of benefits. Why not open it up and test supply versus demand. I would bet that many would be very surprised at the response. Having taught full time and having worked for companies that own you body and soul (24/7), I look fondly back on my teaching days. Don't ever underestimate the benefit of having summers off.

For most professional/technical jobs, there really isn't anything like true time off, like summers for teachers. One Dilbert cartoon, if I recall correctly, had the woman engineer complain that she had to choose between taking time off or meeting her quarterly goals. And, if she didn't take her vacation time by the end of the year, she would lose it. This is almost exactly what happened to my wife. Then there was another "Far Side" cartoon showing all of these people at the beach with thinking bubbles over their heads. Each was calculating how many emails they would have to deal with when they come back from vacation, assuming that they didn't have to bring their laptops along on vacation.

-- SteveH - 18 Jul 2005

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This area between 4th and 8th grade is exactly where the problem lies. My perspective is that elementary teachers and the Math Dept "leads" in Middle and High School are especially suspectible to the mantra of the "new math". I can speculate as to why this is the case, but that's not the point. The point is that in elementary school, in general, students are probably being taught math by people who are not particularly good at it and don't especially enjoy it. My oldest daughter, on at least 2 occassions, had her math errors corrected incorrectly... and this was by a teacher that was actually pretty good! Last spring I tested 8th graders on multiplcation facts (i.e. 0x0 through 12x12), the poor results left me stunned. Where did this happen? Elementary school!

-- ChrisAdams - 18 Jul 2005

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Steve, that is horrifying.

I had no idea it was that bad.

OTOH, I've looked into these things myself.....so I should know.

I'm a science writer; I've been published in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN; I have a Ph.D. (yes, I have a stupid Ph.D., but otoh, I've found that my years of graduate work made me.....smarter, or better able to research, or something....)

You'd think that a science writer good enough to be published by SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN could teach science courses to grade school kids WITH some extra training.

But no.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Our state has an average teacher salary of over $50,000 with lots of time off and lots of benefits. Why not open it up and test supply versus demand. I would bet that many would be very surprised at the response. Having taught full time and having worked for companies that own you body and soul (24/7), I look fondly back on my teaching days. Don't ever underestimate the benefit of having summers off.

Don't get me started.

As Barry would say.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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The point is that in elementary school, in general, students are probably being taught math by people who are not particularly good at it and don't especially enjoy it.

The other thing is that, from my perspective, having to teach EVERYTHING seems simply overwhelming.

I taught writing for years, and was good at it.

Lately, I'm obsessed with teaching math.

Obviously I get pretty involved with whatever topic I'm focused on....but still: for me to try to focus equally on reading & on writing & on math & on 'social studies'--I just can't imagine it.

And the thing is, you're not just teaching the 'regular' kids in all these subjects, you're also teaching the kids who find these subjects challening, which means you have to have pedagogical content knowledge for 5 different subjects for 'regular' kids AND ADHD AND ld kids....

I don't know how teachers do it.

(And I do know that some of the researchers--I think Stigler among them--feel that teachers can't do it; it's not a reasonable demand.)

Maybe I'm wrong (I don't have a strong opinion on this), but it strikes me that teachers ought to be able to specialize way before they do.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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There's an association that gives 'alternate certification' to people who want to teach in the public schools....I'll get the URL & post it at some point.

BUT FIRST--Christopher is back from Boy Scout and severely resisting getting down to work.

So it's time for the math wars.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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I saw that about alternate certification -- Martin Gross really fussed about that in the article that started all this -- apparently it's most often used by UNDERQUALIFIED rather than OVERQUALIFIED people to get into public schools.

-- CarolynJohnston - 18 Jul 2005

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I have to agree with Catherine. One of the things never discussed in the Liping Ma book is the big white elephant in the room. I don't know how school teachers are picked in China, but I certainly remember how the Soviets did things way back when.

Also, most American teachers now have to deal with BD, ADHD, LD, etc. on one end, and gifted on the other, with about 25 other kids in between. Between the huge disparities in ability along with society's ongoing pressure for schools to solve social problems, a couple of degrees in sociology and psych seem to be needed on top of a solid knowledge of child development.

Part of the claim of the NCTM curriculums is that they serve all levels in the classroom at once, so kids that normally might go with a gifted coordinator for more intense math instruction now stay in class. Also, tracking is "out" and "inclusiveness" for the LD crowd is "in."

And that's for just one subject. American teachers have to teach reading, writing, etc., in grade school to this varied group, as well. I think it's impossible and grossly unfair for a teacher to be expected to meet the needs of all these kids in all subjects. But the administrators and parents in a lot of places are making it harder rather than easier.

-- SusanS - 18 Jul 2005

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Susan--how did the Soviets pick teachers?

I don't remember at all--or I never knew--

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Plus I'll put my 2-cents in for teacher release time.

In all the high-achieving countries, as far as I can tell, teachers have specific time during the day to meet & confer with colleagues.

Our teachers have zero time to do this. Zero!

And I've seen education critics complaining that teachers are asking for release time, which they see as Just One More Fuzzy Thing.

I can understand that; it's hard to sort out the 'union noise' from the real issues. (I can't even say 'issues' these days without hearing Carolyn saying, 'nobody has problems any more.')

If I could wave my magic wand and make one change, overnight, to improve public school education, it would be granting teacher release time.

The need for colleagues is one of the main reasons I wanted to start ktm.

How else could I talk to people like Carolyn, Barry, Susan, Anne, Steve, Becky, Carolyn M, Cardinal Fang, Chris, and all our other KTM Guests.

The people writing comments and creating pages on ktm are my colleagues.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Actually in our district there is a lot of release time, in the form of Teacher in-service days.

But they're not using this time, as far as I can tell, to confer with each other. I know the special ed teachers are going to day-long presentations and workshops by "experts in the field", and I wonder whether regular teachers are doing the same.

-- CarolynJohnston - 18 Jul 2005

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Well, I am now seriously speculating so I suppose I need to go find out how people ended up in the occupations they did in the old USSR. I thought I remembered that in the Soviet system children were tested pretty early and got "tracked." Certainly, the Soviet athletes were always picked out in early childhood.

I guess I'm a little curious how Chinese Communism affects choice of careers and the ways in which it differs from the United States. I can't see how both systems would be exactly the same, but now that I've opened this can of worms I suppose I need to go find out somewhere. Thank God for the Internet, huh?

-- SusanS - 18 Jul 2005

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Actually in our district there is a lot of release time, in the form of Teacher in-service days.

But they're not using this time, as far as I can tell, to confer with each other. I know the special ed teachers are going to day-long presentations and workshops by "experts in the field", and I wonder whether regular teachers are doing the same.

That stuff is cr**.

We used to have that in L.A.

People sitting around listenint to a consultant.

Teachers need face-to-face colleague time.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Singapore has this amazing selection system.

I haven't read that section of the Singapore report yet, but it's fierce.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Carolyn--The search engines are working fantastically well.

I've found all kinds of stuff I thought was lost forever.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Yay! I did some testing with the search engines last night and had the same experience you did (I was able to find things quite easily).

Of course, as with any search engine, you have to pick your words well in order to get what you want.

If they would get rid of the consultants I think they could make some good use of the in-service days, There are tons of them spotted all over the schedule.

-- CarolynJohnston - 18 Jul 2005

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Absolutely.

Our teachers get almost no in-service days.

I wonder why that is?

We have maybe...a couple of 'Superintendent's Days' a year?

One at the beginning of the year, and one at the end.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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That means other states already have the release time in place.

They just need to use it for something real.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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The search engines are fantastic.

I found all kinds of stuff, and I found it fast.

Amazing.

Getting WAY closer to blooki-land here.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Search engines are 1 of the 2 reasons I'm interested in e-books: the ability to search a book text electronically.

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Carolyn--what's your title at work?

I've got the Education Carnival submission ready to go--

-- CatherineJohnson - 18 Jul 2005

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Okay, back from the web... I found an interesting straightforward article concerning China.

"There are three main educational aims for elementary schools in China today. The first is to develop the students moral character by teaching them to love the motherland, the Chinese people, manual labor, socialism and the Chinese Communist Party, and public property. The second goal is to enable students to obtain a fundamental education, develop skills in reading, writing and science, possess social knowledge and cultivate good study habits. The third goal is to enable students to develop physically. At least one hour a day students are required to perform some type of physical exercise."

"Originally, the duration of general middle schools was five years, but now in many places this has been changed to six years. The six years are divided into two levels: junior middle school and senior middle school. There are over 162,000 middle schools in China with over 65,400,000 students, more than sixty times higher than the number in 1949."

(This is kind of interesting....)

"Professional middle schools train middle level personnel for various vocations. Students entering these schools are required to have graduated from junior middle school and have some professional knowledge in a special area. The duration of these schools is from three to four years. Because all professional schools were closed during the Cultural Revolution some students entering these schools now have already graduated from senior middle schools and are completing the professional program in two years."

"There are seven types of professional middle schools: technical, agricultural, forestry, medical, financial and economic, physical education, and art. There are more than 1700 professional schools in China with more than 500,000 students enrolled."

"Teacher training schools are included in these schools. Students are drawn from senior middle school graduates and complete their training in three years. Tuition is free. Elementary school tuition is five yuan a year, middle school is 10 yuan a year. There are over 1,046 teacher training schools in China with an enrollment of more than 360,000 students (29% women)."

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/4/82.04.02.x.html

I'm not certain of the validity of the source, but it's a place to start. I do believe that we can learn a lot from the Chinese and the Liping Ma book is absolutely a great book for any parent or teacher. But there are obviously some things that we probably can't do on any official level.

-- SusanS - 18 Jul 2005

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Catherine, I apologize for not seeing your question on this thread until it was too late. I wouldn't have ignored your question.

My personal opinion is that the kindergarten teachers who I know work awfully hard and put in long hours. They do an important job of starting children in the proper direction. I have a hard time saying they are less important than calculus teachers.

Let's agree that they are both vitally important and deserve excellent pay. The pay should be high enough to encourage them both to stay in the profession. We need them both.

-- CarolynMorgan - 21 Jul 2005