On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Nancy Sattler wrote:
> I thought you all might be interested in seeing this.
>
----- S N I P -----
> >
> >
> >
> >More than 4,000 third-graders and 7,000 fourth-graders from 190 U.S.
> >elementary schools took part in the study, which is the most comprehensive
> >attempt ever made to compare the academic work of students from around the
> >world.
> >
> >Last year, a similar study by the same group raised alarm about the quality
> >of teaching and curricula because U.S. eighth graders scored so poorly. In
> >that study American students finished below the international average in math
> >and only a bit higher in science.
> >
> >This positive fourth grade report, which was presented by President Clinton
> >at a White House ceremony on June 10, suggests that the problems American
> >students have with math and science may be focused in middle rather than
> >elementary grades. "It seems our kids are getting a good foundation in the
> >primary grades," points out Pascal Forgione, the Commissioner of the National
> >Center for Education Statistics, "but we need to focus more on the years
> >after that."
----- S N I P -----
Maybe the kids are NOT getting a good foundation, if they do badly in
subsequent courses. But it should not surprise anyone who has taught in
American middle schools that not much is learned in most of them.
The schools in Hawaii may, indeed, be worse than average, but we have the
same social and legal constraints on teachers that keep them from managing
discipline (legal protection for diagnosed behavior disabilities and
threats of lawsuits or even personal harm for imposing discipline) and the
lack of meaningful support from administration or parents create a
situation where teachers simply cannot do the necessary task of teaching.
It seems that it is easier to pretend that these conditions do not exist,
or that they are not really that bad, or that teachers can reasonably cope
with them, than it is to take meaningful steps toward improving them.
No one should feel free to minimize these problems unless he has had to
cope with them himself.
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