Fixing Education, pt. 3: Why is school the way it is?

In the early 1900s, the worker's movement in the US was accompanied by laws limiting child labor. The conditions workers and especially children worked in were abysmal, and the new laws were the beginning of trying to make our industrial world a bit more humane. At the same time, women were working in factories, leaving many children unattended. Kindergarten was an idea brought to the US by German immigrants and taken up by philanthropists such as Elizabeth Peabody. The idea was to provide a place for young children that was better than the streets or poor day nurseries. In addition, factory owners wanted workers with basic reading and math skills. All of this developed into a broad commitment to public education for "all" children … except for children of color or with disabilities. So the first motivations for public schools were for social welfare and to meet employer needs by developing a more skilled workforce. Later, we would add the political goal of developing a "good American citizen." Guess who gets to define that? Some families would come to see education as a means to advancement into a higher class. Families of color would fight for their right to an education for many years. In fact, they are still fighting. And the social welfare and equity movements of the 1900s continue with their struggle. The physically disabled, mentally "different" or neuro-atypical learners were routinely blocked from an education and school access until we finally got the early version of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act past in 1975. Really, if you had a handicapped kid, the schools would simply refuse to admit them. But one of the biggest influences on American education came from the Soviet Union. It launched Sputnik, the first object to orbit earth … and every American politician panicked. Suddenly, Americans were feared to be "behind" the Soviets. Thus began the deeply fear-based involvement of politics in American education. Soviets are ahead of us in space! Japan is ahead of us in their car industry! China is ahead of us in manufacturing! Must push the kids! How to educate American children became the purview of politicians motivated by fear. Who was not involved? Child development experts. Cognitive scientists. Frankly, they have not been involved in the nitty gritty of American education from the beginning. We've had business owners, robber barons, philanthropists, social progressives and fearful politicians as the guiding forces behind public education. Within this, teachers have had varying degrees of power over how and what to teach. However, since No Child Left Behind in 2001, we have steadily eroded a teacher's ability to shape and guide public education. So what are we left with? A bunch of fearful politicians making decisions about public education. Big money trying to influence those fearful politicians. Teachers who have been cut out of the loop. Teachers who have not been taught cognitive science and the science of learning. A system that has never truly been focused on the emotional and development needs of children. A system with goals that are designed to make the masses useful within the current economy. (As opposed to being designed to develop the depth and creativity of each child.) A system designed to create workers for the status quo despite the fact the world is undergoing a massive paradigm change which requires us to be flexible. A school system that generates enormous anxiety in children. Parents who see their kid's anxiety and opt them out of public education … if they have the money. A system that is deeply unfair with a failed goal of equity. So, why do we keep listening to our politicians' latest greatest plan? First, they hold the purse strings, and there's not enough coinage to go around for education. (Why we don't commit money to the growth and development of our kids is another issue.) Second, it's the answer we came up with and we're humans who don't like to let even bad ideas go. Third, a bunch of accountability garbage. Yeah, accountability is a righteous junk goal.