Gary K. Clabaugh
Professor Emeritus of Education, La Salle University
23 October 2016
School reform efforts typically employ key terms that are vague and
undefined. Consider the late unlamented “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001.
What exactly did “left behind” mean? That remained conveniently obscure. It came to mean that any child,
including special education students and non-English speakers, who failed to pass
high stakes tests in math and reading had been "left behind." But that is clearly nonsense. How in hell can a child pass a reading test when they don't understand English? How about a badly damaged special needs child with a 30 IQ? Were they left behind because they failed a high stakes math test?
Who established such mindlessness? An unholy amalgam of
crafty politicians, federal and state bureaucrats and professional test makers.
All of whom were far, far removed from the realities of the
classroom.
Here's another thing. In the past learners had at least some responsibility for
learning. This “reform” placed the entire burden on educators. Even youngsters
who adamantly refused to learn had no responsibility for failing. They were
victims, carelessly, even callously, “left behind.”
I once heard a youngster defiantly tell a teacher: “You aint gonna teach
me shit.” Was he being “left behind," or willfully refusing to get on
board? Youngsters like this young man were not a rarity then, nor are they now. Nevertheless,
the NCLB Act placed 100% of the responsibility for learning on the shoulders of his teachers.
How did such a one-sided arrangement ever become reality? Well,
for one thing the term “left behind” was a slogan.
Slogans are useful if we want
to establish a broad but very shallow consensus among people of varied
interests. That is why they’re employed in harmless ceremonial situations
such as marriage, award ceremonies, ship christenings, building dedications, funerals,
and so forth. They create the momentary solidarity necessary for common
celebration. But it is an entirely different matter when slogans are used to
sucker voters, justify wars or, as in this case, sneak entirely unrealistic education
“reforms” goals into law.
So
what will the next generation of presently gestating “reforms” produce? If past is
prologue, they will produce nothing but distraction, wasted time and superfluous
effort on the part of frontline educators. But at least they will provide
protective cover for wily politicians and busy work for a lot of otherwise largely useless
bureaucrats.
[1] These
numbers are based on 2016 Oklahoma averages as compiled by the National Center
for Educational Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/SASS/tables/sass0708_2009324_t1s_08.asp
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