[On Teachers and Students]
As we head into the school year, districts in the U.S. are contending with a grave shortage of teachers. . . teachers are quitting, and the ones who are staying are unhappy; 90 per cent say they are suffering from burnout. There’s no puzzle about why. In red states, teachers are threatened with criminal sanctions for saying the wrong thing, and the very notion of education as anything more than training for efficient workers is treated with contempt. In blue states, meanwhile, schools are seen first and foremost as engines of equality, where conformity is prized, disagreement is discouraged, and striving for excellence is viewed with suspicion.
In principle, everyone who talks about schools claims to be in favor of teaching “critical thinking.” Mostly, they are not, and there is the crux of the problem. The reality is that teachers face constant demands to convey the perspective of local school boards, bureaucrats, and politicians. And students are expected to more or less uncritically receive it. As anyone who has ever had genuinely inspiring classes in high school or even middle school knows, that is a miserable model of education. Among the best teachers I had were nerds, poets, socialists, and (memorably) a self-avowed right-wing reactionary too. None of them had any interest in hearing students parrot their views, let alone in marking down the work of a student who had a different outlook. What those teachers valued most was independence of thought — and when we take that away from our teachers, we just as surely take it away from our kids. . . [The Week, Sept. p.3]
[On Teachers and Students]
As we head into the school year, districts in the U.S. are contending with a grave shortage of teachers. . . teachers are quitting, and the ones who are staying are unhappy; 90 per cent say they are suffering from burnout. There’s no puzzle about why. In red states, teachers are threatened with criminal sanctions for saying the wrong thing, and the very notion of education as anything more than training for efficient workers is treated with contempt. In blue states, meanwhile, schools are seen first and foremost as engines of equality, where conformity is prized, disagreement is discouraged, and striving for excellence is viewed with suspicion.
In principle, everyone who talks about schools claims to be in favor of teaching “critical thinking.” Mostly, they are not, and there is the crux of the problem. The reality is that teachers face constant demands to convey the perspective of local school boards, bureaucrats, and politicians. And students are expected to more or less uncritically receive it. As anyone who has ever had genuinely inspiring classes in high school or even middle school knows, that is a miserable model of education. Among the best teachers I had were nerds, poets, socialists, and (memorably) a self-avowed right-wing reactionary too. None of them had any interest in hearing students parrot their views, let alone in marking down the work of a student who had a different outlook. What those teachers valued most was independence of thought — and when we take that away from our teachers, we just as surely take it away from our kids. . . [The Week, Sept. p.3]
Hear! hear! Mr. Malm.