Great!

As a new teacher I am also on a quest to engage students in learning that is driven by their own interests. I have no idea why we insist on forcing upon them so much "information" while not letting them create their own knowledge based on what they want to learn about.

Last year was my first year out of University and I was struck by the apathy felt by so many students. They were so unattached to their own educational experience, so many of them were just tuned out. I have gone back to school to explore ways I can make my teaching more student centered. I want to learn how I can work within the curriculum to support my students in taking control of their education. Perhaps with more agency the students will feel more empowered and have more drive to learn (thats my hope anyway!)

Needless to say I'm excited to read the upcoming articles.

Have a great teaching year!

The fly in the ointment

Idealistic teachers often forget they are only part of the equation. Having sent three offsring of mine (to my regret) through the public school system, I would say the biggest hurdle is to separate and protect those who still come to school motivated, from those who are already scarred warriors in the struggle to gain just a little attention from a pair of parents, or even just one parent, who is again struggling with the increasingly heavy agenda of procuring a decent life for the family. The crazy balancing act of bringing up children in a community (I use the word facetiuously), where children are considered a private liability and even by some a self-indulgence and therefore slightly tacky, make some of the kids who come to school 'hard to crack' in the sense of being co-operative at all, and they don't care who knows. They won't all hang themselves in their mother's study with a garden hose, but they carry their pack of troubles with them through the school's gate.

Yes, they need help, and educators, especially good ones, are natural rescuers, but the trouble comes, when the effort to rescue the hard cases gets all mixed up with giving the whole class a decent support in learning. the two don't mix well, and often the 'regular' kids are pulling the short end of the straw.

Here's the flaw.

"Students know what they love. In order to make an educational system work for young people, we have to trust students to help guide us forward. We have to stop telling them what to do and begin asking them what they would like to learn."

In the grand scheme of things it really matters not what one learns, so much, as whether or not one actually learns how to learn. With that skill under the belt anything is possible.

I don't think that comment addresses the issue strongly enough.

Here's an article in The Province that's worthy of note.

The problem with our

The problem with our education system is that it's an industry. Our institutions of higher learning don't teach on how to think but what to think. I have 3 members in my family who are educators and they are not happy campers because the system is controlled by some politians and a small group of educated idiots in the Ministry of Education in Victoria; the 'experts' know everything about the subject and don't take kindly to anyone giving suggestions.

Exciting Topic!

I am excited to see Education as a major topic on The Tyee. Teachers, like Nick Smith, who try and fully engage students and make their learning real are the teacher heroes out there. Perhaps, if teachers got the necessary supports for their students with special needs, and didn't have a testing agenda shoved down their throats, teachers would be more innovative in their teaching. Teaching to the test isn't the most exciting way to learn.

The fly2

Dorothy's point seems pretty bang on, according to my own personal experience in teaching. Some elements are *highly* detrimental in the classroom and the public school system needs to figure out how to solve that problem. It will take more than wishful thinking to crack this nut. I hope that the author will be able to adress this critical issue.

Education back on the frontburner?

How exciting to see a major in-depth series devoted to education!

And what great timing, with both municipal and provincial elections coming up. Dare we hope that we might have an "educated" and interested electorate choosing who gets to pull the policy strings that will shape public education in Victoria and at local school boards.

We're living in times of unprecedented challenge and opportunity, where decisions about public education matter to us all more than ever, and yet we have never seen such apathy about one of the cornerstones of Canadian society, probably in large part because declining birthrates and an aging population mean fewer of us than ever see ourselves as direct "stakeholders."

I look forward to thoughtful discussion that goes beyond the usual surface cliches and generalizations to address the underlying contradictions and anomalies:

If we're among the best in the world, why are 50% of our Aboriginal students failing to graduate?

Why are we failing gifted kids and kids with special needs and ESL kids, despite having unprecedented knowledge about how to help them succeed?

Why are more parents than ever choosing private school or home schooling?

If, as Minister Bond keeps claiming, we're spending more on education than ever, why are our teachers more frustrated and stressed and stretched than ever and why is public confidence in our public schools in steady decline?

An open invitation

Dear Nick Smith,

Thank you for starting this conversation in a public forum. I'd love to wade in right now, but I'm getting ready to take my senior students on a three-day hike into the back country of Garibaldi Park. I'll try to get in here when I'm back.

In the meantime, I'd like to extend an invitation to you to come and visit me, the students and staff at island pacific School on Bowen Island.

IPS is a co-ed, non-denominational middle school delivering a revitalized, classical liberal education. That is, we think education is fundamentally teleological, and that its ultimate purpose is to develop human virtues. Admittedly, this can only so far in the four years we have the kids--from grade 6 through grade 9--but it so very important always to have the object in mind. We've built in a twice-monthly, in-house pro-d meeting to talk about what, and more importantly I think, why we teach.

We don't always get things right, of course, and we're always tweaking our programs. But the important thing is that we have the conversations.

Last year I also competed and extensive review of the literature on best practices for middle schools and I have a stack of articles and references I'd be happy to share.

I look forward to a chance to talk with you.

Best regards,

Brad Ovenell-Carter
Assistant head
Island Pacific School

author responds to me2

As the author of this piece, it has been interesting reading your comments. I love this interactive aspect of online media.

A couple of your comments have begged for a response. I will begin with the first question posed me by me2.

My line about not taking swings at the education system was not a value judgment, but a statement of purpose. This series presents solutions rather than pointing out faults, which is not to say that there are no faults. However, if you look at how BC students measure up on international tests, such as the PISA, you will see that Canada ranks in the top seven countries in the world. The last OECD survey puts BC students as average in Canada. The only information you will get on how poorly we are doing as a province are in the form of anecdotal comments.

As you read the series, however, you will see that I do not think that improvements to education in BC will come in the form of a return to basics including the "3 r's" as you say. As much as older generations like to think that kids today can't spell or do their times tables, in fact, this generation is much better educated than any that came before. More graduate from high school and go on to post-secondary, they take a greater variety of courses (how did your dad do in Planning 10, or Info Tech?), they have a far greater general knowledge and could squash any IQ test from the fifties as though it were an over-ripe tomato. Working with teenagers today, I am always surprised by how incredibly hard-working and smart they are.

So, I am not advocating basket weaving, but giving students more freedom and responsibility, and learning environments that are less like institutions and more like the real world.

I appreciate your comments, as I think they represent the views of many. I may not change that, but hope to get a few people talking.

hi nick

Um, I'm sure that BC students do fine in tests ranged against their fellows around the world and I suppose that's a good thing. But it doesn’t mean much, in my view.

They certainly are capable of doing technical things better than kids were a couple of generations ago - but that has NOTHING to do with their intelligence - it's simply a function of the fact that they've been exposed to a range of IT and other technologies that weren't around then.

As for the other point ME2 made in his post, I'm sorry, but it's absolutely accurate as anyone exposed to college writing these days knows.

That isn't anecdotal, it's a fact. And there’s a good deal of research around to support it.

Kids out of high school can't write, they can't spell and, absent their computer or a hand-held calculator, they can't figure.

Shut off the computer and disable spell-check and a lot of the kids graduating in BC are illiterate. You might want to try it sometime.

Try marking some of their papers. The knowledge most graduates of BC schools have is hectares in area but about a millimeter deep.

I’m sure you’re a great teacher, and we clearly need to spend lots of time motivating kids in high school and giving them chances for enriching experiences, but, unless they have some other tools to go along with that they’re still not educated – no matter how much knowledge they ‘know how’ to look up.

And ME2 - here's a long-winded, but decent, place to start

If you're interested in some research, this book from a couple of profs at Western is as good a place as any to start:
Ivory Tower Blues: A University System in Crisis, by James E. Côté and Anton L. Allahar (University of Toronto Press, 2007).

And, if you're looking for more evidence, in exhaustive detail, start here:
http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report/docs/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report.pdf

Please note the average amount of time spent by students on academic work as revealed in the survey.

None of which is meant to disrespect the point that Nick is making, or at least what I think he's saying: that 'engaged' and committed students do well and are as creative and intelligent today as they have ever been.

Of course that's true - it's also a description of the problem.

IQ

Hi Nick:

Can you provide some evidence to back this statement up? I'd like to believe that it's true, but I find myself doubting that assertion.

author's response to Stump

That IQ tests need to be recalibrated every few years due to the rising intelligence of the general population is known as the Flynn Effect (you might want to do a search on it). Its exact cause is still open to debate, while the effect itself is well documented, and is in fact, an international phenomenon.

However, it has also been observed that every generation perceives the following as duller, lazier and more cowardly, in a word, softer. You can observe this in writers going back to Plato, who feared that the young people of Greece no longer exercised intelligence as they had come to rely upon books rather than their mental capacities. Now we fear that it is calculators that result in mental decline. Meanwhile, topics once reserved for university, such as calculus and literary theory, continue to trickle down to the high school level. The percentage of students who graduate from high school has also seen a steady rise.

In our bones we know that young folks these days are just lazy, spoiled and don't know a thing. It's kind of annoying that the facts betray us.

Generalization West

I usually enjoy your posts, but you are a little off here.

G West wrote:

Shut off the computer and disable spell-check and a lot of the kids graduating in BC are illiterate. You might want to try it sometime.

That is a pretty major generalization. Where is your proof.

Are you suggesting that the rote art of "spelling" is a measure of academic ability?

What is education for?

As you often do, GWest, you've consolidated my thoughts and put them better than I could. So, in the spirit of one-upmanship, I'll try to push the bar a little higher. :-)

I agree with Nick that it is very likely that today's generation of students are, on average, no dumber / smarter that those of days gone by.

And along with the rest of us, I concur with his objective of turning out a more inquiring, broadminded individual.

But for me it is in how that is to be done that the differences arise.

Can we dispense with a primary emphasis - even an authoritarian emphasis - on the 3 Rs? After all, we think in English, a very precise language. We learn reasoning with Mathematics, and with Writing, we learn communication skills. IMO, those skills provide the foundation for further learning.

Since learning those skills has to involve memory work which our brains rebel against, doesn't overcoming this laziness teach us the mental mastery (and control of the will) which is necessary for further study as well as enhancing other areas of living?

These last two paragraphs sum up some 300 words previously written, which were just now shot down by a group of friends, so I'm now just asking, nothing more. LOL

I look forward to learning from Nick's essays.

And BTW, if communication is your objective, Nick, giving your readers an opportunity to comment before you've published, grts you off to a running start. Well done.

Moat

Hardly.

Did you actually read what I wrote?

Try marking some of their papers. The knowledge most graduates of BC schools have is hectares in area but about a millimeter deep.

I’m sure you’re a great teacher, and we clearly need to spend lots of time motivating kids in high school and giving them chances for enriching experiences, but, unless they have some other tools to go along with that they’re still not educated – no matter how much knowledge they ‘know how’ to look up.

I have marked their papers – and spent endless hours helping students who are willing to take the time to make something coherent and intelligible of their written work – instead of a pastiche of material copied from other sources, often out of context, and almost always done hurriedly and carelessly, frequently without actually understanding the words and their implication(s).

You might also find looking at the two references I posted would provide some more of the 'evidence' I think is readily available.

Besides, you obviously missed the qualifier in the sentence you seem exercised about:

Shut off the computer and disable spell-check and a lot of the kids graduating in BC are illiterate. You might want to try it sometime.

I bolded it for you.

Okay?

It's all in the details

I have to agree with GWest here. There is definitely a lot of laziness (and dare I say- disrespect) for the finer details of the English language.
My mum drove it into me at a young age to "speak correctly" and pay attention to my writing. If I point out a spelling or grammatical mistake to one of my friends, rather than thank me they roll their eyes and shrug it off like it's not important. I teach ESL and though they don't necessarily love it, my students appreciate learning the rules of grammar. So why do Canadians run screaming when exposed to the topic? Why would the average Canadian simply stare blankly if you walked up to them on the street and asked how to use the perfect tense?
I think students these days are definitely savvier, but if I see one more "should of" or hear "laying" instead of "lying", I might run off screaming myself.

Regarding The Flynn Effect:
"One might expect that the Flynn effect would be more clear for tests that emphasize culture or education. The opposite is true, however: the increase is most striking for tests measuring the ability to recognize abstract, non-verbal patterns. Tests emphasizing traditional school knowledge show much less progress. This means that something more profound than mere accumulation of data is happening inside people's heads. None of the scientists who have studied the effect can offer a simple explanation."

Certainly interesting...

GWest, Gwest…

Yes, I read what you wrote. In fact, I will quote it for you again…

GWest wrote...

And I also read your “qualifier”….

So, what is “a lot” then? I still suggest that you are making an unfair generalization about today’s high school students.

Yes, and I did read one of your references – the 56 pager. It was interesting, but really it only applies to a minority of our population – those attending colleges and universities. Besides, it also was measuring a US experience.

A mechanic I used to know was barely literate and avoided certification. He had to struggle to read and write, and was frustrated at school (as a kid) where the emphasis was on learning these skills. School was not a place where he could demonstrate success – good grammar was a measure of success.

He was always a little jealous (in a good natured way) of my “fancy” university degree.

I always admired how he could customize and create his own vehicles from the ground up.

I suggest you read the above article again… and don’t worry if the kids are using a spell checker… and no longer taking Latin lessons.

I would rather have them shut the TV off, spend, more time outdoors, and create cool stuff.

Sorry Moat

On page 57 is the list of Canadian Universities included in the study...

Yes I am talking about university students - products of the BC school system...and I too have lots of friends and acquaintances who didn't go to college either. I'd suggest the relative rates of literacy are about the same in each cohort of students, those who go on to higher education and those who don't.

I'm all in favour of teachers like Nick and the other models he describes in his latest piece who are successfully doing what I said in my last paragraph:
None of which is meant to disrespect the point that Nick is making, or at least what I think he's saying: that 'engaged' and committed students do well and are as creative and intelligent today as they have ever been.

Of course that's true - it's also a description of the problem.

The only point I'm trying to make, and it is important, is that a great deal of the student work I see at the post-secondary level is second rate. Many of the students producing this work ARE capable of correcting the holes in their education - if they're given some help and a reasonable opportunity to do so - but some of them never make it.

I am not a big fan of more testing and I certainly don't pretend to have all the answers, however, the fact is that a great many students are not well educated when they get their high school diploma - whether they go on to college or become carpenters or mechanics.

I do expect that a school system we spend so much time and effort on can do a lot better than it's doing now. Next time you’re in a line-up at the grocery store and you’re being served by a young clerk (often a student trying to make enough money to afford to continue at university) see how well they handle it if you give them enough paper money and whatever coins are necessary to make your money back equal a five, ten, or a twenty and no loose change.

That's all from me. Oh and by the way, where’d the suggestion about Latin come from?

Gee West

Whoa...

GWest wrote

If you feel that how fast a cashier makes change for you in a grocery lineup is a measure of success of the educational system, then you the BC liberals, Canwest Global (spelling bee people) are most likely cut from the same cloth.

Of course not everyone should be at university or possess the academic skills to succeed. They are generally weeded out in the first two years of attendance.

However, many young people that should be attending university choose not to because of financial constraints.

Although the cost of post-secondary education is not that much relative to say, the price of a car... it is a lot in the eyes of a 18 year old high school graduate.

Until they we the cost of post-secondary education it will be difficult to ensure that the "right" or deserving students are attending.

At the moment, it is mostly about a little effort or some money that determines post-secondary attendance.

Moat

oops... typos... shame