The Road to Hell . Contrarian commentary on education reform Columns by Marion Brady from the Orlando Sentinel and other Knight-Ridder/Tribune newspapers Original columns copyright © by the Orlando Sentinel Reprinted by permission. Added material copyright ©2010 by Marion Brady Marion Brady: The Road to Hell . ii Contents: Preface ............................................................................................................................... vi Education by recall cheats students’ full mentality .................................................... 1 So kids don’t know much about history? Read this: .................................................. 2 ‘Back-to-basics’ flunks with knee-jerk math reform ................................................ 3 In education, sometimes less is more .......................................................................... 4 There’s more to an education than getting job skills ................................................ 6 Education reform: The long, hard road ........................................................................ 7 Starting from scratch to find a purpose ....................................................................... 8 Standardized tests: The tail wagging education dog ............................................... 10 To achieve school reform, clear the roadblocks ....................................................... 11 A struggle for schools to think outside the box ....................................................... 13 The place to begin: Study of beliefs and values ....................................................... 14 New theory would tap undreamed-of potential........................................................ 16 Education reform: Getting a foot in the door ............................................................ 17 In schools, how it was isn’t how it’s supposed to be .............................................. 19 Good, old days in school? We’re mired in the past. ................................................. 20 The main thing: Trying to decide what’s worth teaching ....................................... 22 Assumptions teach lesson about school reforms ..................................................... 23 Student brains: Libraries, supermarkets, or junkyards? .......................................... 25 How do kids really learn? .............................................................................................. 27 Two very different views about what it means to learn ........................................... 28 Value of history as a subject has been vastly oversold ........................................... 30 Students’ brains: Another road-building project ..................................................... 31 Students caught cheating, but who is really to blame? ........................................... 33 Top-down school reform: Will it be Florida’s folly? ................................................. 35 This question could change whole course of education ......................................... 37 Marion Brady: The Road to Hell . iii If not the FCAT, what? .................................................................................................... 38 School tests: A circus ..................................................................................................... 40 Undermine public schools for a steep price .............................................................. 41 What do you do when you don’t know the answer? ................................................. 43 Most textbooks are a waste of money and paper..................................................... 44 What can a six-year-old and her buddy teach us about learning? ....................... 46 Playing with a purpose ................................................................................................... 48 Piano lesson holds keys to success in schools ......................................................... 50 Charter schools: Incubators of innovation? ............................................................... 51 Reading between the lines: Parents, teachers know best about retention .......... 53 21 not-yet-answered questions about standardized testing ................................ 55 Write this 100 times: Education is ignoring the big picture ................................... 56 Faulty paint-by-numbers: The approach doesn’t add up for schools ................. 58 High-stakes tests: The dog ate our common sense ................................................ 59 Without change, education system is a sinking ship ............................................... 61 Closed lids, closed minds ............................................................................................. 63 No students are alike—not in any respect ................................................................. 64 Boxed in: Education should be about more than storing facts .............................. 66 Ask yourself: What do you want for your kids? ......................................................... 67 Key to accountability: What are we locking out? ....................................................... 69 Standardized tests: Beware a rubber tape measure ................................................. 71 Priceless lesson ............................................................................................................... 72 How to raise test scores ................................................................................................ 75 Sometimes it’s wise to follow the crowd .................................................................... 76 Seeds of change: Blaming gardener won’t get rid of weeds ................................... 78 How to waste genius ...................................................................................................... 80 A handy mirror for studying ourselves ....................................................................... 81 Curriculum is key to schools making the grade ....................................................... 83 The writing’s on the blackboard: Listen to teachers ................................................ 84 Amateurs amok—call in the pros ................................................................................ 86 Marion Brady: The Road to Hell . iv Cheaper by the dozen: 12 ways to save money at high schools ........................... 87 One size fits all? It doesn’t work for dogs—or students ......................................... 89 Standardized tests: A road map to nowhere? ............................................................ 91 Folly to offer students a drink from fire hose ........................................................... 92 What’s the best way to skin the FCAT? ....................................................................... 94 Merit pay problematic .................................................................................................... 95 ‘Straight-cut ditch’ schools widen gap in education ............................................... 97 From classroom to tar pits? .......................................................................................... 99 Testing? YES! Standardized Testing? NO! ................................................................. 100 What Henry Ford knew ................................................................................................. 102 A true test of a student’s ability? Just doing it ........................................................ 104 Index ............................................................................................................................... 106 Thematic Index.............................................................................................................. 108 Marion Brady: The Road to Hell . v The Road to Hell . Preface Fact: America’s system of public education, imported from 18th Century Prussia, never gave professional educators a significant role in policymaking. However, a general public respect for the profession used to afford most teachers a measure of autonomy when their classroom doors closed. That autonomy allowed them to continuously adapt to the situation, contributing significantly to America’s historic edge in international competitions in technical, literary, and artistic fields. Fact: That respect for teachers and the autonomy accompanying it began to disappear in the 1980s as leaders of business and industry, waving the “standards and accountability” banner, used their influence in state legislatures and Congress to take control of American education. Many theories about their motives for taking control have been advanced. Here are a few: Theory: True believers in the ability of market forces and privatization to improve education have deliberately engineered the takeover campaign. They’ve created “think tanks” and faux “grass roots” organizations to generate press releases, slanted research, cherry-picked statistics, and propaganda to discredit what they label “government” schools. Theory: Corporate interests have convinced the public that significant innovation in regular public schools is impossible. Rather than attacking the bureaucratic constraints that lend credence to their claim, they are creating a parallel system of publicly funded charter schools they claim will foster innovation. In fact, the main reason charter schools are being promoted is to undermine teacher unions sufficiently to weaken or destroy their