I
have described and explained the natural rights construct. I have
stated that this construct has become the prominent perspective among
Americans. Again, that is not to say that other constructs don't
have influence on how we see our social world. But what I am saying
is that this particular construct is the most influential of these
perspectives. And as such, it is being applied to the policy
formation of more and more endeavors. One such endeavor is the
running of our schools.
We
expect our businesses to be run in accordance with natural rights
thinking since, in a capitalist economy, we depend on individuals to
take their fates in their own hands, be courageous, risk the
resources they can bring to bear, and begin a business. By doing so,
they increase our wealth, provide a wanted product, and create jobs.
The natural rights construct is a view of the world that encourages
such actions by promoting the individual to define, for him/herself,
the values, goals, and aims he or she will pursue. For many, aiming
to maximize his or her financial and material well being is central
to his or her value system. Business pursuits, experience tells us,
are prominent ways to seek such rewards. This, in itself, is
admirable and desirable. The problem is that when such thinking
comes to be the prominent way of seeing things, it can influence our
view of how we should run just about all of our affairs. To
illustrate, let's look at how the natural rights perspective is being
applied to education in the US.
In
writing about this, I have to depend on reports from others, because
I have not been a classroom teacher since 2000. That year is rather
pivotal, with the soon to be inaugurated administration of President
George W. Bush. Through his efforts, the reform legislation, No
Child Left Behind, took effect. Of course, of more recent vintage,
the reform, Race to the Top, has also been initiated. In both cases,
several policy options have been started. These, in turn, have been
inspired by natural rights views. In short, policy makers have put
into effect practices that either reflect business thinking or
provide opportunities for entrepreneurs. Let me share some of them
with you.
The
first aim of an entrepreneur is to create a demand for a product or
for some change in an existing product. Those who are spearheading
our view of business thinking in running our schools have sponsored
and actively engaged in convincing us that our existing school system
is a total failure. This effort started a long time ago. In 1983
(that was thirty years ago), President Reagan had a commission report
on the state of American education. The report, A Nation at Risk,
described an educational system in dire straits. Not only were
things terrible; the conditions posed a danger to our national
security – even though we have since been able to win a Cold War
and still enjoy, as the only nation, a superpower status. In her
recent book, Diane Ravitch1
– someone who bought into this dire argument initially – points
out that National Assessment of Education Progress results,
graduation rates, and college admittance numbers all point to the
fact that education in America has been improving since the sixties
when we began desegregating our schools. Yes, our improvement has
been slow and there are gaps in this general trend, as is the case
with black and Hispanic students, but it seems that any shortcomings
are more a result of income inequalities than anything else.
Comparing our income distribution situation with Finland's, a nation
reputed to have one of the world's best educational systems, they
have 5% of their children living in poverty whereas we have 23%. In
addition, Ravitch points to another condition that is highly
responsible for our shortcomings; that is, we have re-instituted
segregation – this time reflecting residential patterns, not
segregation statutes – and the current practice is legal and has
been generally accepted. The problem is that the effects of poverty
and a general lack of resources among these segregated schools make
improvements in them extremely unlikely.
After
a demand is created, then a set of reforms is suggested. These
include
- sanctioning charter schools – many of them being organized in a way that provides profit-making opportunities for those entrepreneurs so disposed
- instituting high stakes testing which has affected curricular choices such as eliminating non-tested subjects, arts and such, from course offerings and has also motivated cheating on the part of educators who know their employment depends on test results
- outsourcing of public school functions to private agencies instead of providing adequate staffing such as psychological and counseling professionals – a change that provides even more for-profit opportunities – and –
- instituting carrot and stick strategies to motivate teachers to adopt desired practices – these include merit pay, which has never worked, and posting teachers' names alongside the testing scores of their students
All
of these changes are meant, we are told, to increase competition and
accountability. The results of these changes, so far: None. The
rate of improvement has not changed.
Ravitch,
in her book, has several recommendations. They make sense and
deserve a try. But I am afraid, given our current views of schools
and what we see as the optimal ways of getting things done – as
defined by the natural rights construct – we are very unlikely to
give such reforms any chance. She, for example, calls for diagnostic
testing – which aims to identify students' needs instead of high
stakes testing. She also calls for toughening entry requirements for
those who seek to enter the teaching profession. This would bolster
the status of teachers and increase our trust in them so that they,
in turn, can be allowed a level of autonomy that encourages
professionalism and innovation among our teacher corps. I have a
number of other changes to recommend, but let me end with a general
observation.
From
my dated first-hand knowledge of schools and from what I have been
able to find out about what is currently going on now in our schools,
I think that any effort toward improvement needs to be holistic in
its approach. While some insights from the world of business can be
helpful, that perspective should not serve as our central mode of
thinking. To begin with, education is not a consumer service such as
having your vacation planned or having your plumbing fixed. It is a
service that represents a discipline. Education is something you
commit to and are willing to sacrifice to attain. It is a complex
service with multiple factors affecting how it transpires. A lot of
this I have written about before, but Ravitch's new book provides the
opportunity to address this topic anew. I am not as readily disposed
to viewing our educational system as “successful” as Ravitch
seems to indicate. There are serious problems with the way we run
our schools. But I agree with her that a lot of the problems stem
from “business practices” being applied to education. We have
adopted a view of education as a typical consumer product; we have
applied “bean counting” practices that, in the search for short
term efficiency, that have overburdened our school staffs; and we
have underestimated the challenges of poverty, segregation, and low
morale among school personnel in running truly successful schools.
All of these defy a “magic bullet” solution or the adoption of a
business model. Instead, we need to see a school as a potential or
existing community – a community that is born from a community and
should maintain, within and without itself, communal characteristics.
1The
account in this posting of Ravitch's book is taken from Kozol, J.
(2013). This is only a test. New York Times,
Book Review section, September 29, p. 21. While I have not had the
opportunity to read Ravitch's recently published book, I have read
and can recommend her previous book, Ravitch, D. (2010). The
death and life of the great American school system: How testing and
choice are undermining education.
New York, NY: Basic Books. In this earlier work, she introduces
many of her concerns with the effects on business thinking on our
school system.
