Subject: Root cause of the 'teaching systems' problem

Posted by Richard Turnock on 12/23/2010
In Reply To:Root cause of the "teaching systems" problem Posted by Jack Harich on 12/23/2010

Message:

Everyone has eighty-three problems. When they resolve one of them, another arises to take its place. Thus we always have eighty-three problems. The eighty-fourth problem is that we don’t want to have any problems (“Being Zen”, by Ezra Bayda).

Jack Harich said:
“Schools are where the symptoms of the rest of the system appear.”
“Thus quality of schools is a low leverage point. Something exists outside of school that’s the real source (the root cause) of the problem. Fix it and the result will feedback to automatically improve schools. This runs against conventional wisdom.”

Here is my attempt to define only two issues out of many possible.

“…about 60 percent of achievement is explained by non-school factors, such as family income.”

Socioeconomic factors correlate with, but are not the root cause of, academic achievement in public schools. However the solution to this problem is counterintuitive. Lower income and social issues cause stress over long periods of time that lead to anxiety. Children experiencing anxiety episodes at school are unable to focus and pay attention, and their academic performance is low. They are prescribed Ritalin or antidepressants so that they are not disrupting the classroom. The parents are blamed for not teaching them to behave properly in school. The school maintains control while the children are in school, the parents and children are blamed and schools don’t need to change. The solutions attack the problem but in the wrong way and limit the learning opportunities for children.

Root Cause: Children do not have a non-drug way of dealing with stress in their life that happens outside of school. They are not ready to learn at school.

“…the bulk (about 60%) of the influence on children's education does not occur in schools.”

Parents and teachers have limited influence. The primary influence on middle school and high school students is their peer group. However the solution to this problem is counterintuitive. Academic performance at school depends on the peer group. The school offers study halls and detention. The school maintains control while the students are in school, parents and teenagers are blamed for academic problems and schools don’t need to change. The solutions attack the problem but in the wrong way and limit the learning opportunities for children.

Root Cause: Insufficient adult involvement positively influencing the activities of the teenage peer group outside of school. They are not ready to learn at school.

Maybe we can talk about the other eighty-one problems later.
Richard

Follow Ups:

Root cause of the 'teaching systems' problem - Wade Schuette 12/23/2010 
Root cause of the 'teaching systems' problem - Della Robinson 12/24/2010
Root cause of the 'teaching systems' problem - Pedro D. Almaguer Prado 12/23/2010