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The less
visible side of ed reform
There is a
powerful tension that exists in schools today. Initiatives at
the federal, state, and local levels are focusing energy on
improving the academic experiences of students through new
pedagogy, updated curricula, and ongoing assessment. Many of
these initiatives, like our state’s curricular frameworks, MCAS,
and the Federal No Child Left Behind Act have received
considerable exposure in the media. Not quite as well exposed in
the news, however, is a set of increasing demands within the
schoolhouse, pulling faculty members in a very different
direction. These demands stem from an array of social concerns
that schools have slowly inherited over the past 100 years.
The influx
of waves of immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries,
economic forces that led people toward cities, and intellectual
shifts within the thinking of our nation during the turn of the
last century, helped redefine the role of schools as more than
simply teaching disciplinary knowledge. Schools were given the
responsibility for solving social problems. Commonly accepted
practices of today, such as serving lunch, providing health and
medical assistance to children with school nurses, offering
guidance services, and teaching practical arts courses, are just
some of the changes that emerged at the early part of the 20th
century when schools were seen as a resource for social
improvement.
This change
in the role of schools did not receive immediate, universal
acceptance. The core academic faculties of this earlier period
often argued vigorously for preserving the traditional academic
mission of the schools. In ensuing years, particularly when
resources were scarce, the social role of schools often came
under attack. I saw firsthand a bit of this resistance when a
number of German students and their teachers recently visited
Canton as part of a longstanding German Exchange. Elsa
Nicolovius, our German teacher at the high school, has
facilitated this valuable program for 29 years. The German
teachers were very interested in our cafeteria services because,
for the first time in their educational history, German
administrators now have to serve lunch to their students. In the
past, their school day ended early enough to simply send
students home. Now, with an extended day, German educators are
struggling to accept this new aspect of schooling.
In America,
the social role of school has continued to expand. Some of this
expansion has come in an explicit way: drug and alcohol
awareness, social competency, and sex education are a few of the
new, officially adopted, school responsibilities. Other
alterations to and extensions of school activities, however,
have been added more subtly. Teachers, for example, have had to
become much more skillful at working with students who do not
have the emotional and social foundation that supports academic
learning. These students often grapple with limits and
self-discipline. Faculty members speculate that an increasing
number of students contend with these problems as a result of
changes in the fabric of our lives. As more and more families
operate with working parents who return home with little time
and emotional energy left after a long day, as technology has
gained the capacity to have a significant influence on children,
and as our living has become more separate from the reach of
extended family members and neighborhood supports, the
tremendous increase in stress for many families is
understandable. This is without considering the additional
burdens that scarce social resources or the ravages of
alcoholism and abuse place upon a number of our families. The
net result of these forces is that an increasing number of
children arrive at the classroom door unable to focus their
energies and exert the discipline and habits of mind that can
unlock their potential.
Is this the
sole responsibility of our schools? While this may be an
important national debate, teachers have little time to ponder
the question. Classroom teachers have a deep commitment to the
welfare of all children. This commitment, in light of the new
social fabric within their classrooms, has added a challenging
and often strenuous responsibility. With demands for higher
academic standards and with the rapid changes afoot in all
domains of learning, teachers struggle to keep up with their
craft, serve the daily academic needs of their students, and
provide sustenance, discipline, and nurturance to an increasing
number of students.
Teachers
need help with these daunting tasks. Without others joining and
supporting our ongoing efforts, we risk overburdening our
schools with too much responsibility for improving the lot of an
increasing number of children. In the absence of more resources
or more assistance from the community, schools risk fulfilling
neither their academic nor social role.
Without
placing blame, it would be revitalizing to engage politicians,
business people, senior citizens, parents, and teachers, in
clarifying what is the responsibility of our schools as we
advance more deeply into the 21st century. With increasing
expenses and calls for a smaller government role in supporting
the welfare of families, we are in an era of higher needs and
fewer resources. As we approach a new budget season, and examine
the impact of large class sizes, it would be helpful to remember
that while schools may appear to look the same as when we were
students, the landscape of education, as is the case with other
aspects of our society, has changed dramatically.
November 1, 2007
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