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Closed lids, closed minds
By Marion Brady
*November 30, 2003
The Oct. 10, 1987, Orlando Sentinel carried an Associated Press story on page
A-3 which began, "TACOMA, Wash -- A boy was penned in a coffin-sized box for two
years because his step-grandmother feared he was brain-damaged, and when he
emerged he was amazed to learn that not all children are shut up in the same
way, prosecutors said Friday."
The kid spent two years in a box. Did he scream to get out? No. Did he feel
abused? Apparently not. Was he unhappy? The news item gives no hint that he was.
He illustrates, literally, the difficulty of "thinking outside the box."
The main problem, of course, wasn't the box. It wasn't even locked. The main
problem was in the boy's head. He stayed in the box because he was convinced
that his situation was right and proper.
We're all bundles of little boxes of unexamined beliefs about what's right and
proper.
Lots of those boxes have to do with schooling.
Box: There's such a thing as a "standard" 6-year-old, 9-year-old, 12-year-old.
Once this idea is accepted, putting all kids of the same age into slots called
"First Grade," "Second Grade" and so on seems to make good sense. And, once that
idea is accepted, grade promotion and retention seem to make good sense.
Box: Kids won't learn the multiplication tables (or anything else) unless
they're threatened with low grades or promised good ones. Few believe that the
satisfaction that comes from doing quality work is a more powerful and lasting
motivator than rewards and punishments, threats and promises.
Box: Everything of importance can be measured. Once this proposition is
accepted, that which can't be measured -- things like curiosity, determination,
complex thinking, enthusiasm, intellectual flexibility, creativity, teamwork, a
lifelong love of learning -- stop being important.
Box: Monster schools are an efficient, or at least fiscally necessary, thing.
(However, on this one, there's a bit of hope for out-of-the-box thinkers.
Americans respect money and admire those who make it. Bill Gates has a lot of
money. That he's spending many millions of it in states willing to experiment
with high schools enrolling no more than 400 students just might prod a few
school boards to join him outside that particular box.)
That's barely the beginning of a list of the mental boxes that keep America's
schools stuck in unexamined ruts. School building location and design,
textbooks, staffing, lines of authority, funding, schedules, student roles, the
curriculum, sports, extra-curricular activities, community involvement -- these,
for most people, are neatly boxed arrangements and the lids are closed.
There are endless opportunities for fresh thinking in education, but rarely is
it welcome. Much of the resistance stems from educator worries about negative
public reaction. I used to joke with school principals with whom I worked about
their timidity, their fear of the telephone call from a parent or (far worse)
from a newspaper reporter. Many would have loved to adopt innovations they knew
were solidly researched and would benefit students, but they went to their
retirement dinners maintaining the status quo.
There is, for example, a mountain of research about the long-range
counter-productivity of assigning letter grades. In Punished By Rewards -- The
Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes, Alfie
Kohn's research reference citations run to 31 pages of fine print. But a
principal who pointed to that research and advocated ending the traditional
A-through-F grading system would face a school board meeting packed with
outraged citizens.
And face it alone. No delegation of citizens would commend her or him for going
where the research leads. No newspaper editorial board would suggest to readers
that the use of extrinsic motivators might explain why so few students leave
school with a genuine love of learning. No panel of business leaders would make
the rounds of civic clubs pointing out that the principal was attempting to
bring modern business management principles to bear to motivate students more
effectively.
I used to believe that it took smarts to think outside the box. I've come to
believe that it isn't primarily a matter of intellect but of emotion. The
protesters at that school board meeting will very likely be smarter and better
educated than the average citizen. But their demand that the principal be
disciplined or fired won't be a product of their having used their heads to
thoroughly examine the evidence and study the research. It'll come from their
emotional attachment to the intellectual box they're in.
*Originally published in the Orlando Sentinel. Published here by
permission of the author.
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