LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ISSUES FACING SOUTH CAROLINA'S EDUCATORS
BY TODD SCHOLL In my last post, I wrote about dismantling our current system of education. But what do we build once it is dismantled? Let’s start with the end. Where do we want to go? We all want student success, but how do we define success? Better readers, mathematicians? Knowledgeable historians? Astute scientists? College and career ready? Surely, all of those things are important. Can we dig deeper than that? Can we take some time to examine what human beings need to flourish? We will go back to Maslow and let his Hierarchy of Needs, inspired by the Siksika (Blackfoot) way of life, guide us. When human needs become the foundation for an education, our priorities change. Our metrics shift from the myopic obsession with basic skills to a far more holistic framework. That shift redefines the quality of a public education by how well it meets human needs. This shift has the potential to reduce suffering and increase joy and peace. We can then reverse engineer our school system to meet those goals. Focusing on human needs, we start reimagining schools as more than schools. They are community centers, medical/dental/mental health facilities. They prioritize health, social competency, and psychotherapeutic structures. Proper nutrition is emphasized with schools not only teaching young people how to eat for health, but providing them with healthy foods for breakfast and lunch. Schools build and sustain gardens so students can experience producing and consuming their own food. Physical education is not considered an "extra." It is an integral part of every student's and teacher's day. Time and space for daily yoga, aerobics, walking/running, resistance training, etc. is provided. Mental health services are provided at no cost to every human being in the building. Everyone is encouraged to meet with mental health counselors as needed. Guided by our current understanding of neuroscience and psychology, we develop a school culture and climate that is healing, compassionate, and inspiring. We prioritize getting kids outdoors to experience the natural world. We give them the time and space to slow down and play. In this system, "race to the top" refers to the top of a mountain, not the top of imperious goals set by people who won't be forced to play the dreadful game those goals create. Field trips are strongly encouraged. Exposing students to cultural diversity becomes embedded into each day. Students taste new foods, hear new music, watch new films, experiment with dance, and view/create all kinds of art. In the framework I'm suggesting, "no child left behind" takes on new meaning. It represents a culture where every child feels loved, accepted, connected, and safe. Understanding that ANY system of education inherently promotes narratives, values, and power structures, we take a critical look at how our current system, intentionally or not, reinforces various forms of oppression, including white supremacy. Built within the context of liberatory design, students are given the means to not only recognize systems of oppression, but the tools and resources to deconstruct them so they can build a better world. A better world requires living with intention, in alignment with our humanity, and with happiness as a primary objective. We must be willing to slow down, be patient, and stop obsessing over test results. This does not mean we stop teaching basic skills or assessing student achievement. It means that we keep those things in perspective. They don't dictate every moment of the school day. But, Todd.....this isn't realistic! It's some utopian vision that can't work in reality! There is no question that this won't be an easy system to build, but fortunately we already have intrepid educators doing much of this work. We can use their models as inspiration. Check out some examples below. As a fierce supporter of public schools, I often find myself in a challenging position. I am constantly defending public schools, but I am also critiquing the current paradigm. The problem isn't the people. It's the system, and it's a system that produces a lot of misery. Within the current paradigm, people often feel they must start a private or charter school to escape the system, but that isn't the answer. At least it shouldn't be. One way to know if we are getting closer to the answer is to gauge how excited students are about going to school. Ask yourself where we stand on that measure now. How many students do you know who are excited to go to school? Heck, how many educators are excited about going to school? Our goal should be to produce a system where humans not only see relevance in what will happen in schools, but are motivated and enthusiastic about the opportunities and adventures each day holds. The ideas I'm proposing aren't new. They're just lost. Dewey, Montessori, Steiner, etc. shared their wisdom long ago. But, in our hunt to meet economic goals, we lost sight of this wisdom and, in the process, sacrificed our other fundamental human needs. It is time for us all to recognize that the current system of education in America is long overdue for a significant upgrade that will reconnect us with the natural rhythms of life and a celebration of our humanity. If, instead of overemphasizing basic skills, we set an intention to develop the whole child, resulting in a healthy, happy human being, we will have radically transformed our definition of success. Guided by that intention, we can finally build the schools our students and their teachers deserve. Note: I serve on the Education Advisory Board for WholeHealth Ed, "an independent, nonprofit program and policy organization advocating for infusing a comprehensive whole health learning experience into American elementary and secondary education. Check out their library of videos here.
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BY TODD SCHOLL This week's post is part one in a two-part post. Over the past two years, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on a palpable feeling of misalignment pervading most aspects of our society, including our public schools. That reflection led to a deeper investigation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs with a focus on self-actualization, which Maslow placed at the top of this hierarchy (see important note at the end of this post). Self-actualization is defined as, "the complete realization of one's potential, and the full development of one's abilities and appreciation for life." CLICK HERE FOR MASLOW's characteristics of self-actualizers:
1. They perceive reality efficiently and can tolerate uncertainty; 2. Accept themselves and others for what they are; 3. Spontaneous in thought and action; 4. Problem-centered (not self-centered); 5. Unusual sense of humor; 6. Able to look at life objectively; 7. Highly creative; 8. Resistant to enculturation, but not purposely unconventional; 9. Concerned for the welfare of humanity; 10. Capable of deep appreciation of basic life-experience; 11. Establish deep satisfying interpersonal relationships with a few people; 12. Peak experiences; 13. Need for privacy; 14. Democratic attitudes; 15. Strong moral/ethical standards. If we still value Maslow’s model, we must ask ourselves if our public schools are designed to bring about self-actualization or instead alienate students from themselves, primarily promoting a vision of themselves as a market commodity. When our students ask us why they should excel in school, what is our response? What is the purpose of education that we sell to children? Is it to truly know themselves or to prepare them to be cogs in the machinery of our global economy, acquiring degrees solely for financial purposes rather than personal development and edification? In The End of Education, Neil Postman deeply examines the purpose of a public education. He writes, “The question is not, Does or doesn't public schooling create a public? The question is, What kind of public does it create? A conglomerate of self-indulgent consumers? Angry, soulless, directionless masses? Indifferent, confused citizens? Or a public imbued with confidence, a sense of purpose, a respect for learning, and tolerance? The answer to this question has nothing whatsoever to do with computers, with testing, with teacher accountability, and with the other details of managing schools. The right answer depends on two things and two things alone: the existence of shared narratives and the capacity of such narratives to provide an inspired reason for schooling.” As we consider which narratives are now prioritized, we must identify who controls the narratives and what their objectives are. What serves those people best: self-actualized students or students who are so alienated from themselves that they can only find meaning in the acquisition of the material items produced by those who are in control? Most of us, including me, are so caught up in this system, so alienated from nature and ourselves, so far removed from our "species-essence" that we have become conditioned to accept our objectification and powerlessness. Yet we sense our misalignment. We sense it in our workplaces, our government, our systems of education, and our society at large. We attempt to distract ourselves from this misalignment with sports, entertainment, alcohol, drugs, social media, etc. But we know it's there, and since self-actualization was never fostered within us, we have no clue how to deconstruct the system that traps us and rebuild a new one. Pete Stone, Chester Education Association President, alludes to the misalignment felt by educators and students in this brilliant video. Freire characterized this misalignment as being adapted to the reality in which we find ourselves rather than integrated. Thoreau wrote about living lives of quiet desperation rather than sucking the marrow out of life. Great thinkers from diverse perspectives note how hard it is to live in a society that tends to focus on productivity and conformity, rather than realizing our greatest innate potential. Schools, whether intentional or not, reinforce this misalignment. This is because our systems of education were designed to meet the needs of power structures --economic, political, social)-- rather than individual humans. As a result, teachers, the humans tasked with helping other humans develop, find their students and themselves increasingly toxified by this system. Before the pandemic hit, we saw the harm caused by the accountability movement and education reformers who framed their initiatives with vacuous aphorisms like "No Child Left Behind" or "Race to the Top." Educational initiatives have often been framed by "reformers" in ways that mask the underlying dehumanizing paradigm. As they promote their reforms, they position themselves as the ones finally putting "students first," as opposed to the educators on the front lines, who the public then infers have been "leaving children behind." Consider the 2010 Davis Guggenheim documentary "Waiting for Superman." The title alone cast teachers and teachers’ unions as the villains. The film pinned the systemic issues in public education on the very people fighting to save public education, but educators are as much victims of this dehumanizing system as their students. The dehumanizing aspects of the system became calcified by politicians on both sides of the aisle who viewed standardized testing as the superhero that would fix problems that were first highlighted after the 1983 release of A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Our supposed falling behind international peers and the “achievement gap,” which would more accurately be termed an “opportunity gap,” were supposed to be ameliorated by increased accountability in the form of bubble-in tests. The goal was to ensure that schools created a more competitive national workforce. The entire system soon warped itself to maximize test scores, setting up an insipid and miserable game that neither educators nor students ever wanted to play. As teachers saw the system become increasingly dehumanized, in an effort to appease the standardized testing "Gods," they became increasingly demoralized. In subsequent decades, inadequate funding, increased workloads, lagging teacher pay, and deteriorating working conditions added to the toxicity experienced by educators, so they began leaving the profession in record numbers to rid themselves of the poison. Now the pandemic has laid bare just how dehumanized our public education system has become. In South Carolina, we have seen 17,000+ students contract COVID-19 in the first few weeks of this school year. Three students have died along with dozens of educators and support staff. And what has been the response from our state leaders? They won't even allow local districts to do what is needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect human lives! If this isn’t proof of just how dehumanized the system has become, I don't know what is. Throughout my life, as I've wondered out loud about broken systems and illogical policies, I've always been told to follow the money. This helps us understand exactly what our leaders value, and I think that advice applies here. The health of our economy seems to always supersede the health of the people. When the purpose of life is reduced to a quest for material gain, success is then measured by the numbers on our bank statements, the value of our homes and cars, and our ability to purchase everything we are convinced we NEED to be happier. As the purpose of public education became aligned with these materialistic ends, our educational systems began deifying test scores. If the success of an adult is the number on a paycheck, the value of a student is their score on a high stakes test. And the worth of an educator, a school, or district is tied directly to these test results. Because it is solely based upon externally imposed metrics, this system forces students and educators to adapt rather than integrate. It alienates us from ourselves, preventing self-actualization. And, sadly, it has largely led to lives of quiet desperation. This system has to be attacked and deconstructed at its roots. Until we recognize that our problems primarily stem from this toxic system, our advocacy efforts will remain mostly palliative. We will perpetually be treating the symptoms of the diseased system rather than dismantling the system itself. We will grasp at technology, "innovative" methods, and interventions with the sole purpose of playing the game better rather than deconstructing it. We will be led to believe that kids just need more time in school, more access to technology, and more rigor. We will see state leaders continue to ignore the voices of educators. We will see more legislation that prioritizes the economy over the health, safety, and well-being of the people. And the destructive game will go on, driven by arbitrary goals created by people who value dollars more than humanity. This week we identified the problem and what needs to be dismantled. In part two, coming next week, we will identify some potential solutions and ways we can build the schools our students deserve. *Self-actualization has been taught as the pinnacle of Maslow's Hierarchy, but before he died, he wanted to add a higher piece, self-transcendence. Rather than stray too far from the overall point of this post, you can read about this here or watch the video below. BY TODD SCHOLL Sitting through boring, irrelevant professional development sessions is awful. How many times have you spent an entire session thinking about all of the better ways you could be using your time? I suppose the one positive thing about terrible professional development is that it makes the rest of your day seem more exciting and useful in comparison. Educators deserve better. We deserve autonomy over our professional learning and access to the kind of learning that WE believe will improve our practice. In South Carolina, we have seen mandates force us to take courses we would never choose on our own. If that weren't bad enough, most of us were forced to pay for those courses out of our own pockets. By dictating to us how we must grow our professional practice, we are stripped of our voice and choice. This has to end! Fortunately, The SCEA and NEA are here to help solve this problem. The NEA now offers over 175 micro-credentials to our members. This is a HUGE benefit of membership. For those new to micro-credentials, these are short, competency-based recognitions that allow an educator to demonstrate mastery in a particular area. NEA micro-credentials are grounded in research and best practice and designed to be:
The NEA organizes these micro-credentials into "stacks." Within each stack you will find specific micro-credentials related to the stack topic. As you complete these micro-credentials, you not only collect renewal credits, you also can add these credentials to your resume. Sample NEA Stack & Micro-CredentialsThe SCEA is also hosting a series of webinars throughout the year. These are free and open to ALL South Carolina public educators. The SC Department of Education has stated that districts can grant educators renewal credits for NEA's micro-credentials. They recommend a minimum of 12 renewal credits per earned micro-credential. The SCEA will also issue you a certificate of completion for each of our webinars you attend. We recommend that you consult with your school's or district's certification specialist to discuss the acceptance of renewal credits. Together, The SCEA and NEA are working to elevate professional learning for all teachers. By providing choice and quality, educators can get excited about honing their craft, and this will help us build the schools our students deserve. |
AuthorTodd Scholl is a Professional Practice and Policy Teaching Fellow. Archives
October 2021
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