The Briefing Book – Education (Part One)
In every political campaign (at least the good ones) there is a “book,” outlining the issues the candidate will face, and the arguments and positions the candidate takes. It is so everyone on the campaign is literally on “the same page” when it comes to that issue. I’m not running for office, but over the next several weeks, I will be presenting a series of issues for my “briefing book.”
Public education is a topic where I have some expertise. I was a public school teacher for twenty-seven years, ranging from sixth to twelfth grades. After that, I was the Dean of Students of a 1200 student high school for the last nine years of my career. As as teacher I was the President of my local union, and I did a lot of curriculum and policy development. I also was on the forefront of our schools response to the “testing” phenomenon of the late 1980’s, an era that dramatically changed public schools. I’ve seen a lot of public education.
I also have a Masters degree in the subject, as well as a “liberal arts” under-graduate education from Denison University here in Ohio. With only a single semester hiatus, I spent my entire student and working life in the education system.
There are three areas of education that need to be “fixed:” public schools, curriculum and testing, and post-high school education and debt. That’s a lot to talk about, so let’s start with the public school.
Class Size
Like it or not, there is a strong correlation between smaller class sizes and better educational outcomes, or to put it in “English,” fewer kids in a class usually means those kids learn more. It makes common sense, a good teacher can spend more time with each student, dealing with their individual learning issues, and kids do better.
There are two problems with this. First, it is the most expensive solution in education; teacher salaries (and benefits) are 75 to 80% of the costs to a public school district. More teachers cost more money. But there is no substitute: no computer, no television, no packaged program from an educational corporation; can replace a good teacher with a reasonable number of students.
We all recognize this in college. Basic classes are usually bigger, with lectures the primary educational tool used. More advanced classes are smaller, with each student directly accountable for learning and teaching, with greater direct interaction with the professor. In more advanced classes we are expected to learn more, and are given the individual attention to do so.
It is just as true in public schools. A teacher in a first grade classroom is responsible for the learning of twenty-four or more kids. The success those kids have in first grade may well determine their educational success throughout their lives. To give them the best shot at success, the solution is: a great teacher with fewer kids.
Great Teachers
Several times in this essay I have already used the phrase “good” or “great” teacher. There needs to be recognition that teaching is not a “science” where a single solution can apply to all cases. Teaching requires a combination of subject knowledge, technical (teaching) knowledge, empathy and dedication. There is an “art” to teaching as well as a science. Just as every student learns differently, each teacher needs to find a process that works both for the student and the teacher. The greatest learning tool for a teacher is to teach – all of the “education” classes in the world cannot teach what experience can. Teacher training should be an apprenticeship; beginning under a “master” teacher, learning from them, and continuing until “journeyman” and “master” status are achieved.
But you get what you pay for. The average pay for teachers is $58,353 per year (Money.) This is the AVERAGE, including all of those teachers who have been in the profession for many years. The average college graduate last year started their first year of employment at around $50,000, and improved from there (CNBC.) The average starting salary for teachers is from $30,000 to $40,000 (MaGoosh.) From a pure money standpoint, it’s difficult for teaching to compete with other professional fields for “the best.”
Of course the argument often heard is that teachers only work 38 weeks a year. The reality is that teachers are required to work 38 to 40 hours a week at school, and still need to put in 10 to 20 more hours “homework.” This puts most teachers at around 2000 hours a year, the same as a “normal” 40-hour per week, 50-week per year job.
May the force be with them
This all means that while teaching is a “calling,” the “call” doesn’t include even a competitive salary compared to non-teaching peers. The “call” is strong in some (like the “force” to use a Star Wars analogy) but many great teachers simply can’t afford to go or stay in the classroom. It’s America: you get what you pay for. A discount education, with poorly paid teachers and crowded classrooms, will get exactly what you’d expect; sub-par educational outcomes.
The new burden
In addition, public education is now burdened with providing many of the social services that were not a part of the 1960’s public schools. From nutrition, breakfast to lunch to snacks; to health screenings, to emotional support and family counseling; public schools aren’t what they used to be. The finite resources that schools receive are stretched even thinner, and the kids lose out.
Are there wastes in public education? Sure, though I would argue that one of the biggest wastes is the dozen or so days lost to testing each year. Are there administrations that are top heavy, bureaucratic and expensive? Absolutely, and current administrative models concentrating power in the bureaucracy of a “central office” fail to serve their kids (or, in the “business” model of education, their “stakeholders.”) Instead, schools should solve the kids’ problems on site, with the expert staff (that’s the teachers) and hands-on administrators.
Today’s reality
But the reality of public education is that it is underfunded, and evaluated on a “grading system” that has little to do with student learning or outcomes. State legislatures have applied “business model” solutions to public education, despite that fact that education is not manufacturing “widgets” (but we can teach you what widgets are!!) So we are told that schools are failing, given “grades” on “metrics” that have little bearing on real world outcomes.
Those “grades” become the rationale for NOT supporting funding for schools, and put education into a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Common sense would say to put our money where our needs are, and make students succeed. The best way to make students succeed: smaller classes with great teachers. It will cost more – and be worth every dime. That should be our public educational goal.
