Diane Ravitch, a well-known historian of education, and Research Professor of Education at New York University, recently published an indictment of the standardized testing movement in the form of a book titled The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Her book addresses the basic fact that schools and teachers are punished for failing to meet impossible federal standards.
Just over a year after her book is published, the background to the ongoing plight of teachers is being retold in news stories across the country in occasional teacher strikes, looming budget cuts, and reports of college grads lowering career expectations in the face diminished employment opportunities.
Add to this increasing class sizes in public school systems and a largely disengaged society of struggling parents doing their best to provide for their families.
Something that Diane states in her book that needs to fill a gap for children are stronger neighborhoods, neighborhood schools, and more engaged communities. Most parents are also finding themselves spread too thin to manage the most memorable parts of a child’s schooling: the activities the children may enjoy outside of the classroom.
In her book, Diane proves and illustrates that in order to take the learning experience to a level of higher quality and greater student performance, the first step is to resist a cookie cutter approach to eduction in general.
Standardization appears to have many shortcomings since it does not address the unique individual interests and skills a young mind may possess. Especially if the student has a learning disability, a natural talent or a physical disability. These poor souls will be the first to not benefit from a standardized approach to public education.
Another issue that gets overlooked are the neighborhood and community factors in a student’s environment.
Essentially what Diane and other concerned observers can hope for is a curriculum more adaptable to the unique strengths of neighborhoods and communities.
And as the debate continues we at Hemisyncforyou.com foresee the benefits of “nature-time” to be re-focused into the regimen of daily schooling. Also we recognize the importance of communities and neighborhoods and how they should be as active as possible to offer up role models and after school activities. Ideally, discipline of the 3 R’s classroom for a child can be complimented by the rich experiences of athletics, arts and creative expression that can happen before and after class.
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Editors Note: Hemisyncforyou would like to mention that student creativity and inventiveness can be nurtured with the right tools and set of approaches. Many teachers have discovered how effective and affordable Hemi-Sync audio therapy solutions can be for their students when working within a tight budget (many teachers pay for materials right out of their own salaries) . Please view our ADD/ADHD packages here.