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Blog: FCAR
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Seeds of change: Blaming gardener
won't get rid of weeds
By Marion Brady
*August 7, 2004
'Accountability" is the monkey on the back of school administrators and
teachers. Should other backs be sharing the load?
Dr. Mark D. Filidei of San Francisco, summing up research, says millions of kids
under 6 are exposed to lead in paint, plumbing and pesticides. Lead levels in
the body, he says, contribute to learning disabilities, hyperactivity,
aggressive behavior, temper tantrums, fearfulness and attention-deficit
disorders. Children with high levels are much more likely to drop out of school,
and even exhibit criminal tendencies. Mercury is worse than lead, and airborne
particles of it reached their all-time peak about the time today's 10-year-olds
were born.
Who should be held accountable for learning problems caused by heavy-metal
contamination?
A study of second-graders by Gordon Shaw, a physics professor at the University
of California Irvine, found that musical training affects brain functioning and
increases the likelihood of success in school. In his experiments, as little as
four months of piano lessons improved certain math skills such as working with
fractions and proportions.
Exposure to music apparently meets a brain-development need.
Who should be held accountable for failure to provide musical instruction to all
students?
Typing a few words into Google brings a bundle of research about relationships
between physical conditioning -- muscle strength, body fat, flexibility,
cardiovascular endurance and so on -- and the kinds of brain functioning
necessary for learning. Although schools, which cut out recess and "phys ed" to
devote more time to test preparation, should have some explaining to do, getting
kids into shape has never been considered the schools' main job.
Who, then, should be held accountable for the physical conditioning of America's
young?
Orlando Sentinel editors recently cited research saying there's a strong
relationship between toddlers' TV exposure and learning problems. The more time
spent staring at the tube, the greater the likelihood of problems.
Who should be held accountable for excessive TV viewing?
Between 1940 and 1990, the U.S. population shot up from 132 million to 249
million. In that same 50 years, the number of public schools went from 200,000
down to 62,000. Do the math -- 132,000 fewer schools serving 117 million more
people!
Common sense and research agree that schools where principals and teachers know
every kid and something about each one's family situation are superior. Bill
Gates is so convinced of that fact that his foundation has given millions of
dollars to encourage the building of schools with 300 or fewer students.
Who should be accountable for today's monster schools? And how acceptable,
finally, are the reasons given for continuing to build them?
Three of every four high-school students work more than 15 hours a week, many
far longer. Studies say the workplaces themselves often contribute to
depression, poor self-esteem, tension, fatigue, insomnia, illness, a greater
likelihood of drug and alcohol use, higher rates of delinquency, loss of
parental control and other conditions affecting academic performance.
Who should be accountable for this problem?
To say it's the kids' choice vastly oversimplifies the issue.
It's pretty hard, educators say, to teach a parade. Americans move a lot, and
take their school-age kids with them. The better-off are usually following the
job market; the worse-off are often trying to stay ahead of the rent collector.
Whatever the reason, about 35 percent of moved-around kids are more likely to
fail a grade, and about 77 percent are more likely to have behavior problems.
Who should be held accountable for how America's economy often works?
Increasingly, county and municipal officials across America are taking on
education reform. If they're to be more successful than Congress and state
legislatures have thus far been, these are matters they should keep in mind:
Quality teachers, yes. But also: Lead. Mercury. Music. Physical conditioning. TV
exposure. Gigantic schools. Teenage work demands. Population mobility.
And neglected sight and hearing problems. Non-native language speakers. Cultural
deprivation. Class size. Highly transient student populations. Sneaky
manipulation of school performance statistics. Political agendas.
And that unappreciated, never-addressed but critically important matter I hammer
on constantly -- a curriculum not rethought since the 1890s, changes in which
the public invariably fights.
Education advisory groups of local opinion leaders and power brokers are a great
idea. But if they come at the challenge in the same way as Congress and state
legislatures -- if they ignore the myriad causes of poor performance, choosing
instead to blame educators -- nothing will change except the propaganda.
*Originally published in the Orlando Sentinel. Published here by
permission of the author.
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