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I’ve been working on a theory lately.
According to the Foundation for Child Development’s “2006 Child Well-Being Index”, children’s educational achievement levels have largely “flat-lined” since 1975. They had been declining prior to this, and from my perspective, they’ve done more than flat-line, they’ve fallen down a very deep well.
At the risk of oversimplifying what is apparently a very complex issue, I’m going to tell you what I think is a large part of the reason for this decline.
Xerox machines.
Yup. Mimeographing was popular in the 70’s, and then came the ubiquitous copier. Now, instead of having to copy notes off of a chalkboard, students often have the notes handed to them, already copied. Instead of having to write questions and answers out of a textbook, they are provided with the ever-popular worksheet, made possible by Xerox. Instead of copying math problems off of the board and figuring them out on paper, they are provided with, yep, worksheets that often have part of the problem already completed.
I could go on and on.
I have so many students who I believe have brilliant minds, but they cannot read or write at what would have been considered a third grade level 40 years ago. Why should they know how to write? They haven’t ever had to do it, at least not in an academic manner, aside from the occasional research paper that they either purchase, plagerize or painstakingly write with one hand while the other is being held. They are, however, quite proficient at writing with MySpace syntax, proving that practice makes perfect.
Here is what I see many of my students do if I give them a typical fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice worksheet. They flip through the book, looking for keywords as fast as possible. They are impatient. They bubble in the correct choice and turn in the paper 10 minutes later. It may be correct. Did it help them learn to read or write? No. Did they learn the content? No way!
I keep thinking about schools in economically depressed parts of the world that manage to turn out students who speak, read and write proficiently in more than one language. Lots of times, all these schools have to work with is chalkboards. Many are lucky to have books! But still, learning occurs. Shoot, even in the war-torn country of Afghanistan, you can find many youth who can read the Koran and have memorized it. While this education may not exactly be comprehensive, my point is that the teaching methods have been effective. Would we have had plane-crashing fanatical terrorists attack us if mullahs had handed out Xeroxed copies of the Koran with a couple of fill in the blank exercises? If we want to cripple a country, perhaps we should send them a copier.
First off, the fact that some kids in our country don’t have adequate reading/writing skills is just appalling. I’m fourteen and I’m already writing a fairly popular blog.
Secondly, handing students complete copies does make things easier. As a student myself, I’ll tell you that I only read handouts if they’re essential for a test. The rest is discarded as soon as its purpose is fulfilled.
I believe the main reason students don’t do things (ones with potential, at least) is because they don’t see the practical value. For example, I see no practical value in geometry and that’s why it’s my worst and least favorite class. If students were shown that writing is practical in everyones life (resume writing, for example) then it would have a more profound effect.
In addition, fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice worksheets aren’t properly designed for intensive reading. The whole purpose of them is to memorize and learn key facts, not write.
This is probably the longest blog comment I’ve ever made.
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@Max: I absolutely agree that students don’t invest themselves in learning if there is no perceived value. My students tell me this quite a bit, actually. However, I think the problem with reading and writing is a bit more than that. Lots of people are auditory learners, and as such, may not pick up visual mediums such as reading and writing without quite a bit of practice, which we no longer provide in any depth.
I LOVE this post. AMEN! I work in the school system as well and it is embarrassing at how we “teach” these children. Oftentimes I feel the whole school is run by a bunch of wet nurses. Plus, teachers max out their copy codes, steal other staff member’s codes, literally bankrupt our school account, and then paper often goes straight into the trash! And do the kids learn? Not from what I can tell. Don’t even get me started on the the waste/recycling issue……argh.
Great point. Sounds like another disadvantage to ‘teaching to the test’ if kids learn to skim for keywords rather than reading the entire question.
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I concur. I take AS history for example, and my fellow classmates all rejoice when the teacher produces printed copies of the notes he has written or projected onto the whiteboard;but personally I find that the act of copying out the notes by hand helps me to actually absorb the context, in addition to understanding it.
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Interesting. I admit I was (am) a very impatient student. And it was not conducive to learning properly. I wasn’t dumb (I took all honors classes in middle and high school) but doing homework was beyond easy. Although I do recall doing a lot of hand writing or type writing. I loved taking notes.
But even today I find myself with a very short attention span. I can’t concentrate on anything for a long period of time. It’s frustrating for sure.
I sometimes think the educational system as it exists is not there to help students learn but to create jobs for administrators. *sigh* Or protect bad teachers (in my experience at least).
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I also prefer chalk and talk over PowerPoint. Sometimes jogging down notes is just a good way of learning things.
Sadly, I think you have something here with this theory. Our education system certainly needs a good shot in the arm, or at the very least some lessons learned from the rest of the globe. peace, JP/deb
The whole public school system needs an overall. They seem to have a way of sucking all the fun out of learning. When I pulled my kids out of school, my daughter was on a second grade reading level and she was in the fourth grade. After about 6 months of being homeschooled, she was not only caught up but passed her grade level.
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I liked it when we have to write out notes because that’s how I would learn the material–I’d pay attention in class then get away with little or no studying.
I’m in my first year of university now, and find essay writing hard. Speaking of writing, I like your conclusion.
And good idea, let’s not drop bombs on other countries and drop photocopiers. And McDonalds, to make them fat and lazy