Educational Psychologist James Farwell gives his attempt to answer the question “What would Real School Reform Look Like?” It is a long-list of highly impractical suggestions. It is also a list I completely agree with, and wish more individuals in charge of education would consider when making policy. Some of my favorites from Mr. Farwell’s piece:
“We need to create a system of funding for this education that is not compromised by the ebbs and flows of the economy or by political whims.”
“We need to approach each child as a whole person, as someone who has physical, emotional, social, intellectual, artistic, and spiritual needs. Children are more than just brains to be filled and candidates for the job market.”
“We need to realize that not all children are developmentally ready for learning basic skills at the same time, nor do they learn in the same way. Moreover, they cannot show what they have learned by using only one means for measuring learning success.”
“Each child in the primary and elementary grades requires a needs assessment at the beginning of the school year. Each needs to be provided with an individualized learning program. This would be closely monitored and, at year’s end, evaluated to determine how well the teacher and the child did in meeting the goals and objectives initially established. This could be part of the teacher’s evaluation process.”
“Each school site reflects the community within which it is placed, and each needs to perform a needs assessment to determine how best to provide for its students. Part of this assessment should determine the impact that poverty, abuse, gangs, violence, family transience, and lack of parent support have on children’s learning and well-being.”
“We need to reintroduce the teaching of civics in middle and high school, and implement a test on the U.S. Constitution that students would have to pass in order to graduate from high school.”
“Moreover, training programs need to weed out those credential candidates who are emotionally, temperamentally, or intellectually unsuited to work with children.”
“We need to view the role of unions as a necessary check and balance, protecting staff members from managerial abuse and ensuring due-process rights.”
One of the criticisms I read in the comments section of the article (besides that raising taxes for schools is akin to slavery) is that he doesn’t share what his he thinks the ultimate goal of education should be. This is a fair point. But if Mr. Farwell is of the same mind that I am on education (and everything I read here seems to indicate that he is), then we probably share a similar view on what the ultimate goal of school should be. What is that goal?
The purpose of a good school should be to mold ALL young individuals into happy, healthy, and productive members of society.
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