education, is connected to the others. Influences will
flow between them. It’s reasonable to think a nation’s
educational institutions will rise and fall together.
College professors may hope they can retreat to an
ivory tower, untouched by the mediocrity in our public
schools. Some professors may believe they are an
intellectual aristocracy, and as such cannot be
contaminated by the rabble below.
However, the contamination relentlessly spreads and has
for almost 100 years, ever since John Dewey and his
progressive educators began to control public
education. They did this so they could shape the type
of society that the US becomes. Naturally they want to
control higher education too.
To understand the depth and longevity of the
contamination, we merely have to look at one of the
seminal books of the 20th century, “Educational
Wastelands -- the Retreat from Learning in our Public
Schools” written by Professor Arthur Bestor in 1953.
Imagine that; 60 years ago a distinguished professor of
history took on the saboteurs of education at every
level.
During the mid-1950's, Professor Bestor tried to
mobilize all the academics in the country to join him
in supporting traditional standards. He complained that
left-wing professors were undermining higher education
and trying to corrupt the training of future teachers.
Simultaneously with his campaign at the university
level, Bestor unleashed his lightning bolt of a book at
the phony k-12 educators he called “educationists.”
In short, Arthur Bestor was a tough-minded visionary
and should be the patron saint of all who see the
interconnections between every level of education.
Bestor promoted his views aggressively, and at risk to
his career. You can imagine the criticism directed at
him by “educationists.”
Bestor wrote from a sense of urgency. The situation, if
anything, is more dire now than when he published his
book.
K-12 education undermines higher education in two
important ways. First, many high school graduates are
poorly prepared for college. To accommodate these
marginal students, colleges must spend more resources
on remedial education and as well lower their own
standards. (The National Association of Scholars tracks
college requirements The pattern, year by year, is
that college grads know less history, literature,
Western Civ, foreign languages, etc.
Second, K-12 education undermines higher education in a
more subtle way. Public schools are overrun by dubious
pedagogical theories and methods. Professors should be
concerned that these empty fads will infiltrate and
damage colleges.
The simplest way for academics to support the spirit of
Arthur Bestor is to fight for high standards, and to
oppose quackery at all levels. Mainly, know thine
enemy. Ideally, professors would be able to explain the
sophistries found in public education, and provide
leadership to their communities.
A half-dozen theories and methods do the bulk of the
damage. Some show up at all levels, in every subject:
Constructivism prevents teachers from teaching.
Instead, students are told to find information for
themselves. There is a lot of beautiful sophistry in
support of making sure that less teaching takes place.
Cooperative Learning mandates that students are always
cocooned inside a little group. Occasional cooperative
projects might be a good idea. But nowadays many kids
are always sitting at a table with 4 or 5 other kids.
This is good training for socialism, but not for
serious independent work.
Prior Knowledge forces the teacher to waste time
assessing what each child already knows, instead of
simply teaching all children what they now need to
know. Apostles of Prior Knowledge pretend that students
are trapped inside their previous knowledge. In real
life, people pick up new knowledge easily. (Oh, the
party’s not on Friday? Saturday?! Okay.)
Learning Styles dictates that teachers find which
learning style each student uses--visual, auditory,
kinesthetic, etc. This theory urges teachers to have a
different curriculum for each student. Truth is,
everybody learns with all their senses. And let’s say
someone is mainly a visual learner--why wouldn’t you
want to sharpen the other senses?
Reading and Math Curricula, at the elementary level,
are among the most destructive of all. College
professors don’t normally hear of these things but do
feel the effects as the damaged students work their way
up to the college level. Whole Word, the biggest
blunder in American education, requires that children
memorize English words as graphic designs. This is the
foolish approach that Rudolf Flesch exposed in his
famous 1955 book. As for Reform Math, it’s widely
reviled by parents and mathematicians; Saxon Math and
Singapore Math are preferable.)
Point is, public schools are filled with
counterproductive ideas. Who can oppose these gimmicks
better than an informed and feisty professoriat?
The National Association of Scholars is one logical
choice to lead the charge. Insist that K-12 education
be taken up a notch. Make sure that college professors
know how to deconstruct the scams.
QED: the best way to improve college academics is to
improve K-12 academics. Indeed, the best way to improve
the entire country is to improve K-12 academics.
Bestor was, by the way, remarkably accurate in his
appraisal 60 years ago: "Until public school
educationists...acquire sufficient intellectual
humility to accept the guidance of past experience and
of the considered judgment of the modern learned world,
no amount of financial support can possibly raise their
schools above mediocrity." Bingo!
Bruce Deitrick Price explains theories and methods on
his site Improve-Education.org.
You'll find 70 original articles on a range of
cultural, intellectual, and educational subjects.
Article Source:
http://www.edarticle.com/articles/42821/college-
professors-should-be-more-involved-in-k-12-
education.php
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