#763 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday October 2)
Good morning,
EDUCATION IN AMERICA, REDUX
I have been writing for some time that, in all the hoopla over what books kids are permitted to read and all the angst about the history that such be taught (or, often, what shouldn’t be taught), we are missing the essence of education. As our kids fall behind in math and writing, we are at something of an inflection point. We have a duty to the future by improving education today—and that’s not either classes unconditionally extolling our history and ignoring some of our shortcomings, nor is it indoctrination of a narrative of oppression and failure.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
In my view, education needs, first and foremost, to teach both literacy and numeracy. Children must be trained in how to communicate and work with texts and numbers. These kids grow up to be adults and, without sufficient literacy and numeracy skills, they not only will be suffering in their own lives but they will not have the skills to be good citizens. There is nothing without these skills. Here are some statistics for why we should be concerned.
In the US, 79% of US adults are literate, and 21% of them are illiterate, according to data from the World Population Data on Literacy Statistics.
The average national numeracy rate in the US is 70.8%.
There are more than 43 million adults in the US who can not read or write above a third-grade level.
The average American is thought to be literate at the level of a 7th or 8th grader.
1 in 4 children in the U.S. grows up without learning how to read.
It is seen that 2 out of 3 students in the U.S. who can not read properly by 4th grade end up on welfare or in jail.
READING FOR CONTENT AND EMPATHY
Building upon the basic skills, texts should be reviewed not only for sentence structure and the close reading of small passages, but in complete works of literature (i.e., reading the “whole book,” capturing not only the grammar and writing style, but also the meaning). Reading books (and these don’t even need to be great literature) allows young readers to live outside of their existence, in order to develop perspective, context and empathy. These skills, in turn, can lead to an appreciation of the arts—not only the artistic accomplishments of their society or locale—but that of other cultures and people different from themselves.
Beyond the basics, we also need to teach life skills. We need to teach critical thinking, so children are better able to evaluate and analyze information in this increasingly complex world. We need to teach the ability to compare ideas and sources against each other. We need to teach the ability to interrogate a statement, in order to ascertain its veracity and/or relevance. We need them to understand that sometimes a thing can be both good and bad simultaneously, albeit most often for different reasons. And we need them to understand that two seemingly contradictory ideas can coexist in their minds simultaneously.
We need to teach children how to deal with the day-to-day. That means such mundane things as financial literacy, how to obtain and complete a ballot, how to lease an apartment, how to open a bank account, and how to respond to questions in an interview. Perhaps most importantly, we must teach children how to be good citizens, with an appreciation of what they have been given by past generations, as well as their duty to improve the world. With all that must be taught, political indoctrination—from the right or left—must cease being the focus of our national debate on education.
KNOWING HISTORY IS CRITICAL AND ITS INSTRUCTION SHOULD BE NUANCED
In his Atlantic article, “School Shouldn’t Be a Battlefield,” George Packer notes that “a functioning democracy needs citizens who know how to make decisions together.” Truer words have not been spoken.
We need to tell kids that history is complex, yet educational. Not everything is an arc toward justice. Not all good people always do the right thing—and that goes for nations as well. Even the best of intentions can lead to unforeseen tragedy.
Packer quotes W.E.B. Du Bois, who noted that “Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth above all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?”
Packer provides the example of an assignment on John Brown, the complex, colorful, perhaps even slightly deranged, abolitionist, most notably famous for the raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal that presaged the Civil War. He notes that “The goal isn’t just to teach students the origins of the Civil War, but to give them the ability to read closely, think critically, evaluate sources, corroborate accounts, and back up their claims with evidence…” As he then notes, “This kind of instruction, which requires teachers to distinguish between exposure and indoctrination, isn’t easy…”
“It is easy and satisfying for adults to instruct children that America is an exceptional experiment in freedom, or a benighted system of oppressions. It’s harder, but infinitely more useful, to free them to think about history for themselves.”
Packer argues “let’s give children a chance to read books—good books.” Treating reading “as just another skill, like long division or woodworking” is stifling of creativity and thoughtful analysis. Kids should read books in their entirety, and not in snippets…”The ability to enter a world that’s far away in time or place; to grapple with characters whose stories might initially seem to have nothing to do with your life; to gradually sense that their emotions, troubles, revelations are also yours—this connection through language to universal human experience and thought is the reward of great literature, a source of empathy and wisdom.”
BILL’S WISDOM—AGAIN
My father, a pediatrician, used to say that if you want kids to always behave as children, treat them as such. If you want them to behave as adults, you need to treat them as adults—not all at once but little by little. Eventually, they will be prepared to function in the world. Denying them access to books or trying to teach them only one extreme version of history, or sparing them the discomfort of difficult stories ensures two things. First, they may never be able truly to function as adults. Second, they will look elsewhere—beyond their parents, family, school, and church—to guide them as they take their steps toward adulthood (and we might not like those influences very much). Unfortunately, the primary source to which they likely will turn—and the source of much disinformation, salacious material, and hateful content—is, of course, the Internet. That not a good option…
Have a great day,
Glenn