Reclaiming Education from Fads and Phonies.

The late Howard Cosell was a sportscaster who was popular (or vilified, depending on your viewpoint) for his creed of "telling it like it is." Cosell was known to many as "the man you love to hate." This is understandable since the world never has been kind to those who puncture our balloons of self-satisfaction.

At the risk of sharing his dubious distinction, I believe it is time to look closely at what has transpired in education since the much-ballyhooed national goals conference in Charlottesville, Va., seven years ago. In reflecting recently on the value of that historic summit, Joan Beck, a Chicago Tribune columnist, provided excellent food for thought, writing: "Goals 2000 was an exceedingly clever political ploy." The president and the governors gave the impression of doing something "wonderful and immediate" about the problems of education, she observed, yet they actually "pushed accountability 10 years away."

That point virtually was conceded earlier this year at the governors summit in Palisades, N.Y., where the educational goals were realigned. Some governors acknowledged that "educational excellence will be a priority well into the first decade of the 21st century."

Shortchanged Learning

Educational fads and political sensitivities have detracted from learning. Chief among these is the increased emphasis on improving students' self-esteem. Some well-meaning educators correlate self-esteem with the ability to learn. Thus, to avoid the trauma of failure, students are passed from grade to grade by social promotion or, worse, graduated from high school with only the bare minimum of educational tools.

In many instances, a separate curriculum based on fostering a strong self-concept has supplanted academic material. Sadly, some teachers even have lowered their standards for fear that a child may not be able to cope with difficult material.

This concern for the student's self-esteem even carries over into practices of grouping students. Students are assigned to classes by age rather than by ability. This practice is done principally out of concern that a child may have his self-esteem "damaged" by being labeled. Thus, all students, regardless of their ability or potential, are taught the same material at the same rate and the same pace. This means slower students struggle to keep up while brighter students are held back.

Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, views the situation this way: "These (slower) students need more one-on-one teaching and must remain successful at all costs. Classrooms are disrupted by ... students who do not understand the lesson."

Nevertheless, it is often politically expedient to pretend that all students bring to school the same capabilities and the same desire to learn and that separating students by ability only serves to "deny equal access to education" for all learners. But the grouping maladies do not stop here. In the past, slower students (i.e., those with "special needs") were taught in separate classrooms by teachers with several years of training in special education. These teachers were dedicated and specially skilled to work with children of this nature.

More recently, however, the inclusion movement has made it possible for these children to be assigned to the regular classroom. Why is this done? According to researchers Douglas and Lynn Fuchs, "Inclusion improves the special education students' social competence and helps prepare them for the real world." Opponents, like the Fuchs, argue that securing a sound education also would help prepare these students for the real world.

While few today would advocate total isolation of children with disabilities, does it not make sense to educate them in an environment that best serves their educational needs?

The pervading theme among these educational practices of the moment is education's preoccupation with the child's self-esteem. The Howard Cosell question that begs to be asked is, "Do our children feel better, but know less?"

Reclaiming Control

What will cure these educational ills? The answer lies in reclaiming education from ambitious politicians, amateurish school board members, anxious parents, special-interest groups, and all others who would pull or spin education to serve their own ends.

Public schools need to be reclaimed for today's educators and the students they serve. Alvin Toffler once wrote, in an article titled "Getting Set for the Coming Millennium," of the need to reinvent government. Perhaps the same could be said of public education.

Jack Kaufhold served as superintendent of two districts in North Carolina.