Fantasies+Our+Culture+Feeds+Us+-+Education+Reform+Is+Going+Great!

= While we laud our educational efforts, our performance declines precipitously. = = = =by Stanton Peele, Ph.D., J.D.= =//Published in Psychology Today//= =//8/27/11//= = = = = = = = = = = =Americans are being fed the fantasy that we are revolutionizing [|education] for the better -- think NBC's recurrent "Education Nation" feature, the film "Waiting for Superman" and the Harlem Success Academy and similar inner-city charter schools the movie lionizes, and the Obama administration's "Race to the Top" program and its adoption of the Bush "No Child Left Behind" doctrine. The underlying theme is that kids leap forward in their intellectual skills when we bring in tough-minded educators who //demand// students and teachers perform or else //off with their heads//.= =We //need// the fantasy that this approach will reverse our long-term educational decline relative to other countries which (a) value genuine intellectual achievement, (b) provide sufficient support for students' lives to allow them to learn, (c) don't elect [|government] officials who believe the earth was created in six days, (d) don't display a national fixation on everyone's guardian angels.= =This fantasy is behind the runaway success of "Waiting for Superman" and the deification of Michelle Rhee and of the Harlem Success Academy and its leader Geoffrey Canada, all of which embody the delusion that charter schools and tough school superintendents can take kids from deprived backgrounds and make them perform as well as kids from advantaged backgrounds by having them attend school more hours and providing them with trips to Disneyland when they do well (Harlem Success Academy), or by attacking teachers' unions (Rhee).= =Beyond these issues, the collapse of America's economic infrastructure -- which is felt most directly at the municipal level, where schools are funded -- has accelerated the decline in American investment in education, which exacerbates further our need for educational [|fantasies].= =Our educational fantasies trace back to a long list of cheating scandals in cities faking their ability to meet the new higher standards and our ignoring the evidence that charter schools as a whole underperform ordinary public schools. Every time an institution like the Harlem Academy or an urban school district displays a sudden or unexpected surge in performance, we find as the source of the surge, at a minimum, that the claimed leaps are unjustified, and very often that cheating explains the ballyhooed success.= =Here is a sample of related articles:= =August 25, 2011: "When Schools Depend on Handouts" (as funding for local schools falls below subsistence levels, wealthier school districts hit up [|parents] and students for fees and contributions, while wealthy donors like New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and [|Facebook] founder Mark Zuckerberg temporarily buoy unfunded inner-city school systems).= =August 22, 2011: "Shortchanged by the Bell" (how, in the interest of protecting our children from future economic disaster, the principal consequence of the spending crunch has been the shortening of school terms and days around the country).= =August 21, 2011: "Eager for Spotlight, but Not if It Is on a Testing Scandal" (the much-heralded and attention-seeking former Washington DC school superintendent Michelle Rhee refuses to talk to investigative reporters at //USA Today//, who uncovered the likelihood of widespread cheating under her [|leadership]).= =July 5, 2011: "Eyewash Nation" (in which I detail how the NBC program Education Nation ignores cheating and failure to highlight feel-good stories like former Notre Dame basketball coach Digger Phelps getting a new basketball floor donated to a flooded New Orleans school).= =July 5, 2011: "As Budgets are Trimmed, Time in Class is Shortened" (as Obama education secretary Arne Duncan travels the nation boasting about "Race to the Top," which emphasizes investment in high-performing schools and spreading their techniques, spending on American education is being decimated).= =July 5, 2011: "Systematic Cheating Is Found in Atlanta's School System" (about the massive cheating in Atlanta that created the sensational apparent improvement in inner-city student performances there, as a result of which Beverly Hall, now retired, was named the 2009 National Superintendent of the Year for the United States).= =February 11, 2011: "Think Education Will Be Improving in the U.S.?" (my article pointing out that, while Mark Zuckerberg was making a one-time contribution of $100 million to the Newark, NJ school district, Governor Chris Christy was lowering the statewide education budget by a billion dollars).= =November 18, 2010: "Sputnik and Charter Schools: Neither Has Moved American Education Off Center" (I write about how America has embarked on a series of education reforms since Sputnik, most recently with the charter school movement -- all with a similar lack of results).= =October 12, 2010: "Lauded Harlem Schools Have Their Own Problems" (how the Harlem Success Academy and Geoffrey Canada, who heads the Harlem Children's Zone that runs the academy, succeed primarily in terms of public relations, not measurable achievement).= =September 27, 2010: "[|Reform American Education: Reform America?]" (in which I note that while Americans are screeching to improve education, the leading Republican presidential candidates [|deny evolution], [|Americans as a whole] are preoccupied with angels and other forms of cant and [|superstition], and the racial underclass in America [|falls further behind] in every measurable way).= =But don't expect Arne Duncan or Joe Scarborough to be discussing any of these matters.= = = = = =News= =home=