>From the examples the Ken, Marc, and Christopher have added to mine, I think that there is something wrong with K-12 and higher education today. Notice (Louis) that I am not blaming the students for this! When people who graduate from high school can't read, or people who have passed two courses in college writing can't write, or when people who have passed courses in college math can't divide, or when graduate students must have copies of the Powerpoints because they can't take notes, we can't blame them. In fact, I made the point to those students who couldn't divide 26 by 4, that it wasn't their fault. It is every math teacher from elementary school through college who told them they needed a calculator that is to blame.
One more example: On the first day of class I ask introductory psychology students, and graduating seniors in History & Systems, to define "psychology." Two percent of intro students include "science" in their definitions. For seniors (majors!) this climbs all the way to about 20 percent. I assure the seniors that it isn't their fault that they can't define the field in which they decided to major--and that they will be able to before they are handed their diploma. Now, having admitted the widespread problem (and it's not new, which is why Christopher wrote, "etc."), what should be done about it? I understand that there are some legitimate concerns about No Child Left Behind (compounded by its association with our current president). However, if we don't come up with some creative ways of confronting the problem, we can't blame Spellings for taking a swing at it. On a side issue, it is a past president of the American Federation of Teachers (Albert Shanker) who is usually given credit for introducing the concept of charter schools in the United States. Most of the early charter schools sprung up during the Clinton administration. It is interesting that today they are associated with conservative political agendas. In this atmosphere, asking the AFT to compare charters to traditional public schools is like asking the UAW to compare the fuel efficiencies of Fords and Hyundais. Michael T. Scoles, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology & Counseling University of Central Arkansas Conway, AR 72035 --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
