Juxtaposed: failing schools and the race to nowhere

Two recent news items caught Common Sense's attention recently.  One had to do with a White House DOE proposal for failing schools the other with placing undue burdens on children.  The DOE proposal targets 5000 "dropout factory" schools and proposes, according to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, possibly firing an entire staff and bringing in a new one, replacing a principal or turning a school over to a charter school operator. The point, he said, is to take bold action in persistently low-achieving schools.

Juxtaposed is a recent film being shown in schools titled "Race to Nowhere."  According to the film's web site:

Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren't developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.

These two news items clearly represent two very different views of American public education; failed schools on one hand and hyper competitive schools on the other.  How can this be?

It is clearly true that there are many failed schools in America.  When compared to other countries American students rank somewhere between 15th and 25th in academic performance in math and science.  Yet the United States spends several times more money both absolutely and per student than other countries with much better results.  If American education is judged as a whole, it is a failure.  Yet when talk with friends who are teachers, principals, and even college professors they have a litany of complaints including parents and students that don't, incompetent colleges, poor overcompensated management, and inept school boards.   Juxtaposed systematic failure there is strong evidence that at least some schools are hyper competitive.  So the common sense question is what's going on here and how we improve education in America.

Some argue that more money is needed.  Yet as a nation we already spend far more than many other nations with much better student performance.  Common Sense doesn't think money is the answer.

Consider that increasingly the United States is becoming a divided society.  A society split along ethnic and economic lines.  The worst of our schools are generally those in poor Black and Hispanic inner cities. Areas burdened by hopelessness, broken families, and drugs where education is not generally valued and the American dream seems all but dead.  Schools in these areas are often abject failures.  Yet there are exceptions.  Schools in poor areas that do succeed.  A few of these are public schools staffed by exceptional principals and teachers that do care and do succeed.  Many are charter schools populated by students supported by parents that view education as a road out of poverty.

Common Sense thinks that this dual reality informs how to deal with America's education crisis.  Are bad teachers and principals responsible.  Some are and they should be fired.  Are lazy students and uninterested parents to blame.  Some are and they should not be allowed to destroy the education of other students who are interested in education.  Are some schools in some neighborhoods such complete failures that they should be closed and replaced by charter schools.  Some are and charter schools have generally outperformed public schools.

But how about this "Race to Nowhere?"  Are we pushing students to hard?  Common Sense thinks generally not.  There is a notion, popular today, that our children and young people should have a responsibility free ride to a future good life.  Common Sense thinks that notion wrongly encourages a world view and value system very inconsistent with reality.  We live today in a world of global competitiveness.  To succeed in that world our students need a first rate education.  To get that education they'll need to work very hard indeed to acquire the skills needed to compete; to acquire a first rate education in math, science, reading, and history.  Can we push our students to hard?  Certainly, but Common Sense argues that more often than not we are not pushing hard enough.

Just a POV.