The Real World

One of the biggest lies we tell our students on a regular basis is “you’ll need to know this some day.” Some day, if the world still worked the way it did in 1950, they would. But not today, not in a post-industrial economy. Today, what they really need to know is problem solving, thinking on your feet, creative solutions, and ingenuity -- none of which are they taught in school. In fact, all four of these attributes are unilaterally squeezed out of our students until they resemble a crumpled toothpaste tube that excels at following directions.

This may sound like an overstatement. Maybe it is. Regardless, the truth of the matter is that kids are born with insightful, ingenious minds. Kids ask “why” in a world where not enough people do. It’s the people that keep asking “why” into their twenties that go places. The ones that question everything around them are the ones that eventually hit on a solution that no one else saw because, well, “that’s just the way things are.” It was the way things were until someone asked why.

The reason we as adults get so annoyed at those obnoxious kids who ask why all the time is because we don’t have the answers. Sometimes we spout off scientific reasoning for questions like “why do trees grow up?”, but in those situations we’re proud of how smart she is; when we don’t know the answer, when the kids ask “why are some people poor?”, and no matter how many insightful economic answers we come up with, the kids aren't satisfied, that’s when we get angry. You’ll understand when you’re older! we snap, and then feel a pang of guilt when the child lowers his head and stops asking. We don’t like the question why because it reminds us that somewhere in our own minds, we aren't satisfied with the answers either, but we don’t have the guts to step up and do something about it.

Those are the times when we say because I said so or Just do as you’re told. The movers and the shakers in this world, the ones who get places and change things and become independently wealthy at age 30, are the ones who were the trouble-makers in high school. Their teachers saw them as pests, their parents didn't understand why they couldn't just do the busy-work because it wasn't even that hard, and their friends always told them to give it a rest. But at the end of the day, they’re the ones who didn't take because as an answer and instead found that maybe things didn't have to be that way. They’re the ones who asked why not? when they were told it just can’t happen.

And now, I’m going to be the one asking why. Why does our school system have to be an ordeal that kids have to make it through to get to college and if they’re lucky, the real world? Why can’t we foster the out of the box thinking that makes for a successful world changer? Why can’t we actually give our students something that they can grab on to and chase after and use, no matter where they end up? To those of you saying “because we have to work with the way things are; we can’t just have a complete overhaul,” I say Why not?

Now, I understand that a complete overhaul is not in immediate reach, but I also understand that there’s likely to be a revolution if we don’t. Either that, or one of those students who asked why and was shoved aside starts a revolution himself. I also know that I’m by far not the most qualified person to change the system -- I don’t have a PhD in education (though I hope to get one someday) -- but I, for one, refuse to take because as an answer, and so I see no reason -- or at least no viable reason -- why we can’t make at least some changes in the meantime.

The biggest change we need to make is scraping the standardized testing. Yes, I can see your immediate reservations shooting up. Hear me out. I can see the benefits of standardized testing -- everyone is held to the same standard and there are objective, numerical ways to judge applicants for colleges and jobs.

The problem is that the damage these tests do far outweighs the benefits. What they are really testing, after all, is something arbitrary determined by men in suits spending their time in towers away from civilization. Ultimately, the tests measure your ability to take a test, a skill you will never again need, not what you've learned, and certainly not your potential. Ultimately, each of the “benefits” of standardized testing is a drawback.

For instance, holding everyone to the same standard is actually detrimental to the students. When a child falls behind, he finds it almost impossible to catch up because all of the other students are progressing at a rate he wasn't able to attain in the first place, causing what’s called “warm body syndrome” (if you’re a warm body in the classroom, eventually, through social promotion, you’ll graduate). However, when a child wants to go ahead, he is punished and told that he is belittling his peers who are falling behind, which leads to “testy teenager syndrome,” where he becomes frustrated and gives up on school.

Numerical standards are also detrimental to students. Though I've already made this point in my post about grades, I think it deserves an extra push here. We all know that colleges look at more than just your SAT scores and GPA -- they look at where you came from, what your hobbies are, and usually conduct an interview to see if you’re the kind of person they would like to have at their school. We, as the general public, have long sported this idea that standardized tests are a necessary evil, but that’s simply not true. What if, instead of making each child pass a high-stakes test that will determine her future, we had our students create a portfolio of themselves? In their portfolio, they put their absolute best work, the things that they are proud of, and the things that show who they really are. Elementary school students could create their portfolios every quarter with the help of the teacher, including items from each subject and examples of strong improvement. High-school students could have one or two a year in each subject, but ultimately be working with their college advisers every year to create a yearly overall portfolio that represents them. It could sports or performing arts footage, debate scores, even volunteering hours. These portfolios, surely, would be a better tool for college admissions than a GPA that can mean something completely different in each school.

But it’s more than just standardized testing that’s got to go. We need to make a big change in our curriculum, too. So much of our focus is on getting kids ready to eventually be in college, that we forget that many of them never make it. So with that in mind, each moment of our time with students should count toward making them, no matter where they end up, better informed, intelligent persons that can independently life a fulfilling life. We need to include citizenship classes in our high schools. Students need to learn about the responsibilities and rights of being a US citizen. We need to include classes on pro activity and statistics to teach our students how to set goals, accomplish them, take their lives into their own hands, and always do their own research before believing hallo-baloo arguments they hear on the street. We need to have a sociology class to teach students how to break the patterns they have been born into for themselves, and eventually, for entire communities. We need to have a basic financial skills course that teaches students not just budgeting, but also the benefits of banking, stocks, and bonds, and how to use those things to your advantage. We need to teach them to use technology and be prepared for the assumed basic-fluency in the workplace.

All of this passing the buck has got to end. If we don’t teach our students these skills, particularly our disadvantaged students, chances are high that no one else will. So we have to do it. Now. While we have them. Before it’s too late.