Reforming the Educational Welfare System.

As the Republicans took control of the 104th Congress with a mandate for reform, high on their agenda was the failed social welfare system. Most agree that the welfare system has created and perpetuated a far too large dependent segment of our population.

In light of this rising concern for citizens who are dependent upon others in our society, public school educators who are preparing future citizens should examine how our school practices, programs, structures, or cultural norms foster dependency in our graduates. This examination seems imperative given the demand for workers who are lifelong learners, critical thinkers, communicators, and team players, as well as the Republicans' desire to end the welfare state.

Creating Dependency

When we talk about creating dependency in people, we are talking about socializing people to believe they have little or no control over their present or future. Our search for such socializing features should begin in the classroom because that is where the primary interaction with students occurs. The types of student-teacher relationships and the quality of instructional strategies will influence these interactions.

Research tells us that most classrooms can be described as teachers talking and students listening. The teacher sets behavioral standards and maintains power by controlling the information flow to students and the grading practices. At the secondary level, students often must obtain the teacher's approval to gain admission to a course.

Motivating students is usually accomplished through a reward system. Yet paradoxically one frequently finds an adversarial relationship between students and teachers because students have not been taught self-discipline or how to be responsible for their own learning. (Just think about what happens to a substitute teacher in these classrooms.)

To create the entrepreneurial worker of the 21st century, these classroom practices and norms must be changed radically. The classroom of the future must place the responsibility for learning, behavior, and assessment solely with the student. If site-based management and quality circles have worked for adults, why not create the same environment for students?

Motivating students will be achieved by engaging them in active learning that is stimulating through its relevancy and meaning. Students will understand that learning requires making choices and a commitment.

The classrooms needed to create independent, entrepreneurial graduates will not exist in schools where teachers work alone and in their "cells." These schools are controlled by principals, who view their role as decision-makers and maintainers of the status quo. If we expect teachers to create independent graduates, then we must create working conditions and job descriptions for teachers that empower, not control.

This job description must ensure that teachers become involved in a decision-making process and view continuous improvement at the school level as their job. They must understand that as independent professionals true power and autonomy are realized when they operate as a collectively autonomous team.

Principals must ensure that leadership and power are spread throughout the school family as a result of a new working relationship among the adult workers in the organization. Teachers must be leaders of student work teams, and principals must be leaders of these leaders.

Community Engagement

One frequently reads that the short tenure of superintendents and the turnover of membership on boards are major barriers to sustaining change in public education. This is certainly true in many districts, especially those in which district-level leadership has sought to control constituents by limiting access to information and decision-making.

Since the school board sets policies that institutionalize a long-term direction for the district, it is imperative this direction be set as a result of a long-term process that engages the community and involves educators, students, and parents. The community dialogue will educate and empower the participants and must result in the commitment to serve the interests of all children. In our district we say this process creates Schools of Voice--schools that, through a democratic process, are able to become genuinely unique places that meet specific student needs.

Congress ultimately will reform the social welfare system. However, the long-range success of these efforts will be closely tied to the success of educators attempting to reform the educational welfare system.

Can we create an independent-thinking, entrepreneurial graduate for the 21st century? This question must drive all of our reform efforts.