The Story of School Part 4

This section brought us up to date (well, to about 2000) in the history of school. It was fascinating to see all the different ideas that spring up when the government started saying that we weren't up to par in our education system. In reality, there is much truth to that when you look at the lifestyle education that was going on in the 70's. Clearly, school needed to be a little more academic and incorporate a little less social grooming. The problem is that, to combat this problem, the focus went too far in the other direction. Suddenly it was all about the testing. Test the students to see if the teachers are teaching. Test the students to see if the school is working. Test the students to ensure the state is successfully educating their youth. Test the students to see if the U.S. education system is effective. Somewhere, there needs to be a middle ground.

It was interesting to note that, as all this stress increased in the schools and students began to be more and more segregated, students became more violent and suddenly we had 200 kids shot in school. That's clearly not ok. Obviously, there is a problem and while it may have been building for a long time, all the changes in the education system and this stress on competition may have helped to push more students to desperate extremes. It is good that more students are going to school and graduating and going to college, but the education system clearly has many flaws still in existence.

What worries me the most after watching this is that the cycle continues. We go round and round, making many of the same mistakes and jumping from one extreme to the other. I am not claiming to have the answers, but I do see a problem. If we don't come up with better solutions we will continue to be forced to choose between being invested in the success of the individual versus the society as a whole. We need to work together to make sure all students are reaching their full potential. If we do this, our society will grow and excel.