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12/10/04 WSJ Article on How Schoolchildren Learn
Posted by John Gunkler on 12/13/2004
In Reply To:12/10/04 WSJ Article on How Schoolchildren Learn Posted by Sandy Harlow on 12/11/2004
Just to make matters worse there have been educational reforms that did work (based on at least some empirical evidence), that either were never widely implemented or (worse), if widely implemented, were never properly implemented. When improperly implemented, surprise!, they did not work. As an example of the latter, John Dewey's educational reforms were widely misadopted and "we" decided they didn't work -- even though his Chicago school had some well-documented success.
As the National Research Council reported, teachers feel free to modify their methods based on their own idiosyncratic perceptions (or "ideology") and experiences -- which, in my opinion, lies at the root of why much attempted educational change fails. But, on the other hand, this ingrained habit also lies at the root of why many poorly designed curricula do not fail completely.
What a trade-off to have to make! Either we handcuff teachers, insisting that they ignore what is happening in front of their very eyes in the classroom and teach precisely as some new method dictates that they teach -- and suffer horrible consequences from what is all too often poorly designed curricula -- or we allow teachers to use their judgment and modify methods that are apparently not working well -- with the result that no education method is ever truly implemented as designed and no empirically worthwhile data can be generated.
It is also my personal experience that discussions with practitioners in the social sciences are more vehement when there is less empirical basis for the science. Perhaps this "inverse law relating evidence and being sure of one's position" is simply my cynicism; or, maybe, it reflects a more fundament law of human nature -- something to the effect that when one is a practitioner (which means one must go out there and do it day after day), one needs to feel some sense that what one is doing is correct. The less empirical evidence there is, the more we need to substitute self delusion in order to "feel good" about what we do.
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