education

Education Will Save Your Soul (or something like that)

Caroline Ferdinandsen — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:32:45 -0700

I am all about school. Seriously.

Investigate my lifestyle and you’ll see that education has got its fingerprints all over my life. My house smells of graduate programs and GPA’s that burned up many a report card. My three kids have collected a stack of honors certificates with gold seals dating back to the nineties, and they do their homework before they eat cookies. My husband, a somewhat unorthodox scholar, has joyfully contributed to the madness by earning degrees in postmodern literature, accounting, education, and theology. In short, every day our family trots off to five different classrooms and makes nice with Education. It’s not bragging; it’s part of our privileged American upbringing.

What has education given me? A world that’s bigger and more textured than it was before--a sprawling globe of beautiful foreigners, mind-expanding matter like black hole theories and computer gadgets and microscopic things, philosophical ideas that I might not have ever considered before, and sometimes the utterly gorgeous uselessness of information that drives my curiosity and throws opens my curtains. Education takes tiny, insular people and lights a fuse under them, exploding to bits the depressingly narrow alley that keeps us poor, closes our minds, and makes us dull. Education improves everything.

But while education makes a terrific lifestyle, it makes a lousy Savior.

Education can make me interested and interesting, it can make me sophisticated, it can give me words for my emotions, it can make me a decent citizen and conversationalist, it can help me enjoy The Matrix and Stephen Colbert, and it can pad my paycheck, but it can’t give my life inherent meaning.

Now I know that if I lived in another country, I could make a compelling argument that education really is a savior. That context would make the benefits I listed above sound awfully trivial compared to the life-saving advantages of say, food resources, medical help, and clean water. I get that.

But I’m not talking about other countries. I’m talking about my little corner of the world world where the State (that is, the state of California) is telling me that education will save our kids. If you listen to some experts, education is the best religion man has ever worshipped. According to this model, if we can just educate our kids, everything will be okay.

Education improves everything, remember?

For me, a believer in Jesus Christ, this idea that education-equals-salvation feels severely limited. Last year a Harvard study showed that 6.7% of the global population has a college degree. I guess it sucks to be you, 93.3%. Even defining education as “the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction” is awkward and confined. God gave us creativity, curiosity, and intellect just as he gave us fingers and toes. And to some he shockingly gave none of the above. (I’m not being flippant here; are not the severely disabled part of God’s children?) Yet we are all born in Imago Dei--in the image of God. Does this include an education? And if so, what kind?

Education improves everything.

Everything? Does it improve our goodness? Does education satisfy something in our souls, or can it instead deny that we have one? Does it teach us how to become good stewards of our knowledge--or does it make us like Victor Frankenstein, who announces “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been.” Does education keep us from writing pretentious sentences like Mary Shelley’s?

My education-centric students and their families think I’m a heretic when I tell them they don’t have to go to college to be a good human being. One of my parents at our open house, when I complimented her B-earning daughter on being a polite young woman with admirable character, told me that it was nice to hear, but “good character” wouldn’t get her daughter into an elite college. I told you education makes a lousy religion: too many Pharisees.

Of course, I know that faith-skeptics feel their stomachs churn when they read the uneducated ramblings of small-minded religious folk. It gives fuel to their belief that religion has poisoned the masses, caused ignorant Holy Wars, and created a species of ding-dongs who don’t know God’s voice from a case of indigestion. They believe that education can chase away the fairy tales about religion. You know, my stomach churns, too. Skeptics have their frequencies very highly tuned to hear the fairy tales in my beliefs, and to be honest, my frequencies are very highly tuned to hear the arrogance and condescension in an atheist’s voice when he pulls out one of his smug, intellectual put-downs. (Sociologists call it “confirmation bias”--the tendency to concur with opinions that are already in line with our existing beliefs while tuning out everything else.) Even so, sometimes what rubs us wrong isn’t related to intellect or faith at all, but just meanness, plain and simple. A son-of-a-bitch comes in all flavors--educated or not, religious or not.

Maybe I am a rare class of human being who believes, impossibly, that radical Christians (defined for me as people whose lives have been irrevocably changed by a scientifically unprovable Savior named Jesus Christ) can be both intellectually inclined and spiritually transformed. Lucky for the 93.3% of the population, you can be the second without being the first.

Education improves everything.

Unless, of course, the everything is nothing to start with.

The reason education has made me richer and more vibrant is because the books, travel, schooling, conversations, and ideas I’ve been lucky enough to experience complement the satisfied soul inside of me. It is not a replacement, not a religion, not a creed. It is a blessing. My soul, under the sway of education alone, doesn’t have enough fuel to right wrongs or glimpse eternal hope or recognize my Creator. My soul, under the sway of the Holy Spirit, can use my education for its best purposes: goodness, grace, justice, humility, and love.

So I guess I’d say yes, education, most definitely, improves everything.

Waiting for Superman DVD Review

Christopher Faris — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:31:54 -0800

Several months ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Davis Guggenheim’s documentary about teaching called “Waiting For Superman” in theaters (Click here read the full review.) To summarize, I liked the film, but felt it had one or two shortcomings in its final message and was frustrated that Guggenheim stayed clearly on one side as opposed to being more objective. Tomorrow, it hits DVD and BluRay for general release. I had the chance to sit down with the film again and see what the total package offers.

There is a commentary on the film with Guggenheim and producer Lesley Chilcott. Guggenheim is quite talkative and enjoyable to listen to while Chilcott chimes in as necessary. He actually addresses some of my concerns right out of the gate – he says that he intentionally chose a side because his first documentary essentially follows teachers silently and lets the events play themselves out. From that experience, Guggenheim said he wanted to make a strong statement. The difficulty of course is actually calling the film a documentary when it is so strongly biased. When does it become propaganda?

The first bits of special features are hollow. “Changing the Odds” is a strangely unfocused bit about different teaching styles and funds. “Updates” is a disappointing 2 screen read about what has happened since filming completed (though I am not sure what more could have been asked since filming stopped in April 2010). “A Conversation with Davis Guggenheim” is a roughly 2 minute long animated PSA that reaffirms Guggenheims bottom line: Great teachers = Great schools. “Future is in Our Classroom” is another roughly 2 minute bit that appears unnecessary.

“The Making of Shine” is a short bit about John Legend working on the song he wrote for the film. Legend visits his home town and tours around with the camera crew in tow while in studio writing or visiting his Mother. It’s actually quite intimate, but there isn’t a whole lot of talk about the song itself.

The real meat on the DVD is in the 32 minutes of deleted scenes. There is some great stuff here that Guggenheim understandably had to cut. Well worth watching, and inspiring, they highlight creative and motivated thinkers in the education battlefield.

The DVD itself looks flawless and is well mixed. Colors are rich and images are sharp and detailed. Guggenheim’s technical approach is visually appealing and it translates surprisingly well in the home theater. Also a nice touch is that the DVD comes with a 25 dollar gift card you can use to donate to the public school of your choice.

However you may feel about the contents of Guggenheim’s previous work, this is a great movie to add to your collection. It is a movie I would be happy to loan out to friends and an interesting conversational piece. The extras are nice where they need to be – deleted scenes, commentary – and meager and unnecessary in others. The inclusion of the gift card is a sweet deal. I may disagree with some of Guggenheims bottom line, but certainly agree on his message – schools are in trouble, and trouble within education has scary long term effects. Check it out for yourself this week!

Your Worldview!?

Heal the World — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The children at the Shalom school are inspiring, and they have worked their magic on me. Without education their future isn't bright, or it wouldn't seem bright to us Westerners. In America it's stressed that if you don't finish high school then your future will be flipping burgers and digging ditches. Here finishing primary school is barely a goal, flipping burgers and digging ditches is a career, and anything more is a gift from god. When I get home from Burkina I plan on fund raising money for the Shalom school. I want those kids to have all the tools necessary for their education. Even though they'll most likely never have electricity, I want to fund raise enough money to spoil them in every other regard! Look around and be thankful for what you have. We are a a society privileged to the fullest. It takes coming somewhere like this, and working on a day to day basis with the people to truly be grateful. If you think you are, well think again.

The children.


Their situation.

That photo was taken at the Shalom school, that is their village, Rimkieta, in the background.

Renewed Enthusiasm!

Heal the World — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Okay, when I first came to Africa I pledged to blog at least once a week, which obviously hasn't come true. Here's what I've prepared in the way of excuses: We didn't get internet for the first two months; I forgot which email I used to set up with blog site; I am way too busy. Obviously the later isn't true, and in reality the reason for no blog in the last month is more from apathy than anything else. Due to sudden realization that time goes by faster if you're always busy I've decided to redouble my efforts in blogging and teaching. I've added two more classes to my schedule, outside of my normal students for Heal the World. I'll be teaching one class split into two units every Sunday, one unit focusing on grammar and basic English, and the other more abstract, focused on conversation through fun activities, from debates on international topics, to playing cards, to skits. Also, every Thursday I'll be teaching our guards Emmanuel and Jean Baptiste for an hour or two. Two of the nicest guys in the world, gave them a composition notebook and a pencil last night for our first lesson! It's going to be a big project, Emmanuel will have to learn how to write, and Jean Baptiste doesn't know much French, so crossing the language barrier is a little difficult.

Alright now, a look at the Shalom School. This is as much a synopsis for Heal the World as it is a check of progress for my own benefit. I plan on doing a weekly update on progression, however, my track record will test that theory.

Class 1: My most challenging, a class of grade 1 (kindergarten) rambunctious kids. They always bring me a smile and a headache at the same time! They have an attention span of about five minutes, so I cover three topics at once with them, I began with A,B,C's then colors, and now numbers. Friday I will start with days of the week and see how it goes. I've struggled with them now, but this new approach of five minutes on each subject for the whole fifteen minutes seems to be working. Memory retention for all the classes is minimal, so might spend a week just on review, going over the same things over and over again. Drilling is extremely boring, but anything else and they get too excited.

Class 2: They are a year two or three class that is doing extremely well for how young they are! I have taught them a number of adjectives and nouns, and pushing for verbs, however their applications of the verbs into forming sentences is minimal. Only two or three kids can do this. They can translate for English to French extremely well though, for example, they know the verb"to go"so when I write "I go to the school" on the board they say "Je vais á l'école". Their vocabulary builds everyday, and they have a ton of potential!

Class 3: This is a year three class that I am pushing hard! They are grasping, struggling as they might be, simple S+V+O sentences. Every week I teach them two or three more verbs and as many nouns and adjectives as I can fit in that go with the theme of the week! This weeks theme is all about the kitchen. They are learning the verbs to eat, to drink, and to cook. Every single week more and more of them get the grasp of forming sentences and speaking.

Class 4: My favorite class! They are the oldest, at year four or five they are the oldest in the school. They are quickly grasping English, and are always excited to learn! I was stretching my time limit with these guys a little too much though, I have to keep my time down to twenty minutes with them :(. The little time I have we always have a blast and the kids are learning quick! I teach this class and the class before it the same lessons every week, so they are also learning all about the kitchen. If I call on a student in this class randomly they almost always can do what I ask of them, whether it be translating or answering a concept check question!

Class 5: They are grade 0 (pre-k) and the cutest class with the shortest attention span. Keeping their attention for the entire class (fifteen minutes) is a nearly impossible task! Lots of singing the A,B,C's and fun counting exercises. If you want them to learn anything you almost always have to turn it into a song! These guys are amazing though, they are always trying to touch the white man, when I walk around the class room they all reach for my arms!

Class 6: Another grade 1 class, this one is the best behaved in the school! Eager learners they all willingly participate and are always smiling! They are an amazing bunch and never fail to inspire me! I wish I could give them more in the way of teaching, wish I would've gotten that extra 40 hour class on teaching young kids! They know their colors, numbers, and greetings. The biggest problem facing this class is disparity in learning ability. A couple of the students are extremely advanced, grasping topics immediately, while the others just copy the answers that those few shout out.

Oh, and to conclude this blog entry, we got a puppy! His name is Karé!

Forget the Enlightenment, Be Enlightened

bo.white — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:38:40 -0800

The plight of public education has been a topic of debate worldwide for quite some time. Who has access? Who has the capacity? Are the teachers teaching properly? Are students growing?

Maybe we need a paradigm shift and that's what this video shows.

it's worth a look:

After you watch the video, I would be curious if you think this works in the West or if it's wishful thinking. Are there any paradigms like it that you know of being practised aroudn the world?

Like it or not, public education and the future of the next generation is linked and whether you home school, private school, Christian school, charter school, magnet school, public school, or skip school, this will effect all of us.

-bo

here we go

Heal the World — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 05:14:50 -0700

I have taken a long hiatus from this. But I see the benefit to blogging. To process the day. To remember what God is doing around me, through HtW and I. No promises...but I want to make this a regular event. Hope some benefit comes from it...if even just for me.

We started the Teacher's College this week. An unceremonious start to a new era in our work - bringing what we have learned to scale. It could seem scary, taking on more - committing to more families, kids, smiles and disseminated thoughts. I once said to Patrick (VP comm.) - let's go big or go home. He was a bit taken back, but my perspective was and is that this work isn't worth sleepless nights unless it really reaches the masses. I hear Mother Theresa when she says she looks at the individual, not the masses - but that doesn't work for me. If I wanted to help the individual I would sponsor a kid, donate my clothes, etc. Which are all good things to do, and in fact if we all did that, I wouldn't have to look at the masses. But were not, so I do.

A friend who I argue with often likes to always find the exception to my point. I find his style of thinking honorable, but again - that doesn't work for me. I want printing presses, assembly lines, huge block apartments. I'm not talking about taking away the beauty of artisanal - but I am talking about a pen that costs 5 cents not 50 or 1000 bucks for that matter. Once everyone has a pen, I say cool - buy the Mont Blanc with the diamond floating in the top - but I say wait. Wait until we've clothed the naked, fed the hungry and educated every kid on earth - how about wait until we've achieved the millenium development goals???

Can you imagine how hard we would all work to end poverty if we truly denied ourselves everything beyond basics until the deed is done. I wish I could say I did this. I don't though. Why? I think I normally rationalize it as "work hard, play hard". I see the thought process...but am I right? Do I really need two weeks of vacation to prevent burnout...maybe. Not sure...yet. But maybe. I guess the that really frustrates me is that I could have those two weeks, maybe even a month like the French, but I can only have that without guilt if everyone pitches in to HtW. I literally feel guilty when I am on vacation. I still go, saying it's for family. I don't know though. I think I am rationalizing. Or I am just week and really do need it.

Sorry, we were talking about teachers college. So on Monday, shouting instructions over skype from Singapore to a West Africa cell phone, I gave instructions to the students through the mouth instrument of one of our local workers on how to sign-up for our online courses. These students will be the foundation of our ever evolving and strengthening model. They will be the start of what will actually allow us to make a serious dent in the abismal educational stats that we read in such places as the UNICEF's annual report, or the occasional NYT article. The students are high school graduates (a significant increase in standards vis a vis the local requirement for a primary school teacher), they will be giving training that is borrowed from a structure refined by Teachers Without Borders and reinforced by us through the likes of iTunes U/MIT OCW/etc. Not to mention guest lectures by live local and international education experts.

To us each of these students represents another 100. 50 for each year that they will teach for us before they go on to study at the University of West Africa. 1 for a 100, and then 100 for 1. As that teacher ages, those 100 will be the foundation of the workforce, taxpayers, contributors to a system, that by God's grace and through efforts such as ours, will lead to a harmonious symbiotic existence for the men and women of their society, young and old. God bless Africa. God bless the world. Give us strength. In the word of World Vision's founder, break my heart for what breaks Yours.

Waiting for Superman

Christopher Faris — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:19:03 -0700

I am surrounded by people in the helping vocations. My Father and brother are pastor’s, my Mother is a nurse, my wife and my brothers wife are teachers (one in inner city LA at a school featured in the film, both a part of Los Angeles Unified School District), and I worked as a School Based Therapist in inner city Los Angeles (essentially functioning as a Clinical Social Worker). My experience and family environment have informed me and colored my biases about the problems of education - especially in areas where poverty and immigration create challenges for teachers. I have been and am presently surrounded by people in the trenches of the education war.

I was cautious going into “Waiting For Superman” due to its director – Davis Guggenheim. He is responsible for “An Inconvenient Truth,” a film that has polarized while igniting a political fire. On the other hand, his most recent film “It Might Get Loud” inspired me to play music again, and as a result I started a band for the first time in 9 years. To say that Guggenheim’s films leave an impact is an understatement. He gets people to talk and act.

“Waiting For Superman” chronicles the failure of the public education system. He cites several sources for blame, among these issues are Teachers' Unions, lack of accountability, and bureaucracy. The film tells the stories of several children from various neighborhoods in the United States, all but one of whom are from what appear to be low income areas. The film chronicles these children and their family’s journey’s to get kids into Charter, boarding, and other advancement level schools. Meanwhile, several administrators, teachers, and parents are given the opportunity to speak up on the issue.

As a film, it looks slick and moves at a good pace in spite of a long running time (the version I saw was 120 minutes long). The students themselves are the highlights – their candid comments and truthful expressions leave an immediate impression. However, for the genre of documentary, this feels less like a documentation of a problem and more like a message movie. My main problem is that Guggenheim plays mostly on his side of the fence and doesn’t present both sides of the arguments.

The main example is with regards to the argument made about tenure and the Union’s power. In the film, we see student captured video of teachers getting paid by the state to do little more than babysit as kids play craps and socialize during what is supposed to be classroom instruction. We learn that these teachers got fired as a result of the video. However, we also learn that not only did these teachers get their jobs back a year later, they were back paid for a year’s worth of not teaching. It’s maddening. In addition, Guggenheim alleges that Teachers' Unions are the most powerful in DC, and have given more money than any other group to Democratic candidates for office. The film appears to allege that a dollar to the Union is a dollar to a Democrat.

But, Guggenhiem never interviews Union members, nor does he spend much time interviewing the teacher’s themselves. What do Union leaders think of his arguments about tenure? What about the pressures teacher’s face to appease unreasonable parents (something I have witnessed first hand), peer pressure from card carrying Union members (“side with us, or we won’t be helping you out anymore”), or the natural problems of many “failure factories?” Like, how do you address the fact that students are bringing English written homework home to parents who are monolingual Spanish speaking? What about the devastating effects of poverty – that some elementary and middle school aged children are forced to work because they would rather have food to eat as opposed to doing their homework?

My last social criticism of the film is in Guggenheim’s conclusions. He doesn’t look at the parents and make them take responsibility for their children’s performance. True – he does chronicle and we do see parent’s helping their children do homework and fight for the lottery system, but he sees the problem strictly through the lens of the school system itself. Agreed – the school system is a giant mess. However, parent’s have to follow up on their children’s homework, provide accountability at home, and support teachers who at times don’t give their children “good” grades. The school can’t do the parenting part, and Guggenheim’s neglect to confront this is curious, if not frustrating.

That’s a lot of criticisms, but what about the positive? Well, there’s a huge amount to give – this film will provoke you. You will feel sad, you will laugh, and you will be left asking the question “what can I do to help?” On these merits, the film is successful. The film also knows how to balance entertainment with information. His bottom line is glaring – shouldn’t every child be at a school where there are quality teachers who care about the students and do a good job? Why is it that some children get to by chance enter lottery schools, while the rest get the crummy ones? Shouldn’t each child have an equal share of the same slice of educational opportunity? Additionally, Guggenheim’s statistics hurt. The United States is producing 120+ million skilled labor jobs, but due to the poor academic performance of our schools, but we are only producing 50 million qualified students. The labor is being filled elsewhere, because across the globe, we are being beat.

I could continue writing, which I suppose is high praise to the film. See it with your family and think about it. Discuss it – education is the vital component of our nation. But think critically about it – how do you hold your child accountable? How do you support your child’s teachers? My wife saw the film with me and she was engaged wholeheartedly. She later commented that she felt the film could have been even longer. She is right – there is so much ground to cover in a conversation about education. But then again, if I have learned anything over the years, it’s that she is always right.

College Never Ends (Or Shouldn't)

Brett McCracken — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:38:20 -0700

One of the things I love most about working at Biola University (a Christian university in Southern California) is that every day feels like I’m back in college myself. It’s an environment overflowing with ideas and discussions and lectures and interesting people. And my job requires me to interact and intellectually engage with professors and students on a regular basis. I absolutely love it.

Today, 1,300 new students arrive at Biola. The campus is buzzing with nervous freshman and weepy parents, carrying IKEA chairs into dorm rooms and making shopping lists for Target. It reminds me of the day 9 years ago when my own parents helped me move in to Traber dorm at Wheaton College, when my dad said goodbye to me in my dorm room while mom stayed behind in the car (she was too emotional to venture into the dorm to bid me farewell).

It reminds me of the first awkward orientation week of college, which was a weird and wonderful mix of making new friends, playing get-to-know-you games, and developing early crushes on girls from our “sister floor.”

It reminds me of the insane, life-altering blur that was college: Plato, theology, dorm parties, Neil Postman, media ecology, liturgy, falling leaves, Dostoevsky, art galleries, C.S. Lewis, David Lynch, late night debates about Calvinism, taking the train to Chicago, jazz festivals, football games, roadtrips, and on and on and on.

Part of me envies the incoming freshman, coming to Biola (and universities across the country) this weekend to start the journey that will forever change the way they think about the world. I lament the fact that college goes by so fast and the crazy concentration of learning and living in community is, at the end of the day, the exception in life rather than the rule.

But then I realize that it’s silly to envy these new students, because the intellectual journey they’re beginning now is one that I’m still very much on. It’s not something that has to stop, or even slow down, after graduation. On the contrary. Just because I no longer have to read 300-page books in a day for a class, doesn’t mean that I won’t still want to read 300 page books in general, as often as I’m able to.

The mark of a good college is that it trains you to want to keep learning, to keep reading, and to keep broadening your experience and understanding of the world, long after the days of worrying about credits and GPA. Sure, the “real world” of earning a living sometimes makes it hard to continue one’s intellectual journey. After an 8-hour-day at work, it’s usually not the case that I feel like picking up The Brothers Karamazov. But when I do make the time to keep developing my mind and challenging my perspective, I never regret it.

To the new students who are nervous, excited, and overwhelmed by the beginning of college, I urge you to enjoy every second of it and make the most of your education. And to the graduates who look back nostalgically on the cherished “college days,” I remind you that education doesn’t end with a diploma.

The world is far too complex, troubled, beautiful and dynamic for us to ever just exist in. It beckons us to make sense of it. To carve at least some comprehension out of the vast incomprehensibility of existence. This is what education is about. For anyone who cares about the destiny of this world, education is a high calling: a pursuit without end that is never wholly futile and never fully satisfying.

To attain knowledge, think critically, and ask questions is to engage the world in all of its furious complexity and elusive mystery — a maddening endeavor, to be sure, but one that will never grow tiresome and certainly not be exhausted by 4 years of college… Awesome and unparalleled as those 4 years may be.

Can We Afford to be Multicultural in Education?

bo.white — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:14:43 -0700

In the next 30 seconds, a little boy or girl in Africa will die of malaria.[1] Other research tells us that nearly 1 billion people in the world are illiterate[2] and another 1.4 billion can’t get to clean water[3]. So, what would those stuck in poverty have to add to a discussion about education and what could they possibly teach those of us who not only have drinking water flowing from a faucet, but who also sleep free from mosquito nets, with the ability to read ourselves to sleep? Let me pose the question a different way: are there universal methods of education that transcend cultural and socioeconomic lines to the point that we can articulate a core set of principles that may guide educators around the world, thus forming an international set of ideals that blurs the lines of the literate and illiterate and transcends the borders of East and West, North and South?

From another perspective, the utilization of Western educational methods also reiterates a power position in which those with economic wealth exert further influence over those living below the poverty line. The posture of ‘we know more,’ was unwittingly, but consistently communicated. Don Eberly proposes valuable counsel when he writes, “Whether liberal or conservative, work to ensure that your agenda and message are shaped with input from the poor themselves, and not merely from intellectuals, ideological activists, and other elites who presume to know what the poor want or need.”[4] For the NGO or other organizations to truly take an international approach to its internal staff development and interdepartmental educational plans, issues related to educational principles and economic power must both be addressed.

So, do you support globalization, internationalization, multiculturalism, or multiethnic diversity? If the list of big words and big ideas seems daunting, consider for a moment how either you or others are using such words. Do you feel these words clarify or further confuse issues? At the risk of simply adopting en vogue language without definition, let me explain my own position that will shape the context of the discussion that follows.

Globalization is a slippery word. “Part of the problem in thinking about the nature and effects of globalization is the term itself. There is no agreed definition of globalization for a number of reasons. It represents an uneven process that has no ending.”[5] Despite the vague definition, globalization seems to have dug its heels in to the mainstream lexicon. “In the early 1990’s, globalization was greeted with euphoria. Capital flows to developing countries had increased sixfold in six years, from 1990 to 1996…Globalization was to bring unprecedented prosperity to us all.”[6] So, globalization itself, historically tied to economic goals and realities, has been used as an all encompassing word in recent years to represent increased connectivity and opportunity. For many globalization is a fire sparked by the promise of increased wealth or prosperity and technology is the accelerant. “The current wave of globalization seems to be beset by paradoxes. Our world grows more fragmented even while it becomes more interconnected.”[7] Perhaps, the unique aspect of globalization lies in the speed at which these paradoxes occur.

“While on the one hand, the communication revolution of the last few decades—the irrepressibility of the CNN camera, the satellite dish, the mobile phone, the fax machine, and the internet—are influencing many countries toward more participatory forms of governance and more global interdependence, at the same time they have bombarded the ‘have nots’ with images of precisely what they don’t have, breeding resentment, anger, isolationism, and even aggression….The promise of globalization is a fallacy if it is not shared.”[8] Globalization, then, in its current form is a limited and often unhelpful descriptor. Is there a better word? Time will tell. For now, it is an umbrella term under which sits more specific, more tangible phenomenon.

Internationalization is a word that describes the effect of an interconnected world and interdependent world. The economic evidence is a bit obvious. In 2008, when the news of the recession in the United States grew, the Asian markets and European markets reacted within hours. The reports reflected the inescapable truth that what happens in other countries economically really does matter. In the world of education, top Universities are trying to do more than react.

“Where universities are heading now is toward becoming global universities,” said Howard Rollins, the former director of international programs at Georgia Tech, which has degree programs in France, Singapore, Italy, South Africa and China, and plans for India. “We’ll have more and more universities competing internationally for resources, faculty and the best students.”[9] And so the posture isn’t simply a reaction to ‘globalizing’ forces, rather there’s also an intentional element where cultural diversity and a clearly international classroom is desirable and increasingly common. In other words, the abilities forged in globalization empower many to intentionally ‘internationalize’ their work and their classroom. A global economy is becoming increasingly wed to international integration. Yet, it’s this wedding that remains a bit troubling. The enjoyment of email, internet, and global travel remains limited to those who can afford it.

-bo

[1] Dale Hanson Bourke: A Skeptic’s Guide to Global Poverty. Authentic Books, Colorado Springs, CO; 2007, p. 55.

[2] Ibid, p. 27.

[3] Ibid, p. 73.

[4] Don Eberly: The Rise of Global Civil Society. Encounter Books, New York; 2008, p. 293.

[5] Hugh Lauder, Philip Brown, Jo-Anne Dillabough, and A.H. Halsey: “Introduction: The Prospects of Education: Individualization, Globalization, and Social Change,” from Education, Globalization, and Social Change. Oxford University Press, Oxford; 2006, p. 30.

[6] Joseph Stiglitz: Making Globalization Work. W.W. Norton and Company, New York, NY; 2006, p. 7.

[7] Queen Noor of Jordan: “Globalization and Culture,” the 50^th anniversary address of the Aspen Institute, August 22, 2000, p. 2

[8] Ibid, p. 3.

[9] Tamar Lewin: “U.S. Universities Rush to Set Up Outposts Abroad,” in the New York Times, February 10, 2008.

Revisiting the One Size Fits All Education System

Christy Tennant — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

I bought a sweater once that was "one-size-fits-all," but I quickly discovered that "one-size-fits-all" is a bold-faced lie. When it comes to clothing, one size most definitely does not fit all. I am a size four, and the sweater practically swallowed me whole. It was supposed to be one of those items that stretched and retracted to accommodate its wearer, but instead it was bunchy and bulky and unflattering. It quickly moved to the back of my closet, only to be donated to Goodwill for some other gullible shopper to get suckered into buying.

One-size-fits-all is a lie when it comes to clothing. And, I am coming to learn, it is a lie in pretty much everything else. When the IAM staff first got our iPhones, mine felt clunky and large in my smallish hands, while my coworkers who are men with much larger hands did not find it awkward at all. When I go somewhere, I slide easily into my Nissan Sentra, but when I recently gave my friend Allen a ride, his height and girth made my small car a bit of a challenge. For him, a truck or larger sedan would fit much better. The more I think about it, one size does not really "fit" all. Rather, "all" adjust or accommodate or simply get used to using something that doesn't fit all that well. The more I think about it, life depends on "all" adjusting to the "one-size." I suppose, in some backward way, that is how manufacturers can get away with saying that "one size fits all."

I subscribe to Books and Culture, the bi-monthly book review publication, but because of the profusion of reading material that fills my days (not to mention my desk, bedside table, coffee table, and dining table), each issue usually gets shuffled around from living room to bathroom to briefcase to Staten Island Ferry, and back again before I finally get to read it. That's why it took me until January 13 to read Rebecca Ward Lindsay's very helpful review in the November/December issue.

In "School Daze," Lindsay touches on three books that address the broken educational system in America. She rightly points out that, "No country can boast as many spectacular universities as the United States. And yet, our primary and secondary schools lag behind dozens of other nations." The three authors mentioned in this piece have differing opinions on the cause of our educational woes, and they each offer contrasting solutions to the troubles facing children in the public school systems as they are presently operating. Yet all seem to be unified on one thing: the system is in need of repair.

At International Arts Movement, we are not only interested in addressing issues facing artists and creative catalysts. Our interest as a movement is in the broken systems in all spheres of culture. And one system that is undeniably broken is our education system, from the current proliferation of standardized testing that has alienated and marginalized not only many students, but also teachers, to an imbalanced emphasis on critical thinking and problem-solving divorced from the creative arts. As the daughter of a retired public school music teacher, I witnessed the evolution that seemed to begin in the late '90's and early '00's, when Standards of Learning (SOL's) became the obsession of the public school system. Teachers, who had cultivated their programs through spending years in the classroom, had to suddenly become like drill sergeants, hammering information potentially covered by SOL test questions into their students so that they could keep their jobs and their students could be promoted to the next level.

As I was reflecting on this today, I called my mom, who is now retired from teaching but serves as a substitute teacher in the system in which she taught for years. In fact, she happened to be subbing today, and she called me back during her short lunch break. After we discussed her experiences as a public school teacher, she said, "There are cycles in education," she said. "What they're doing now is not what they will be doing later. We (teachers) just have to wait and adapt to those changes."

I remembered hearing about changes that my mom's programs experienced as the pressure mounted to pass SOL tests each spring. Mom used to produce school musicals that gave all of the children in a given grade level a chance to learn about performing, stage craft, dance, story-telling and other cultures. Occasionally, during the weeks of rehearsal, she would pull soloists or groups of dancers out of class for additional rehearsals. The teachers were very supportive and accommodating of this. However, as SOL pressure grew, the teachers no longer allowed students out of class for those short rehearsals. Instead, Mom was expected to mount school musicals with only two 30-minute rehearsals during her classes each week.

As a result, Mom had to "dumb down" her programs. Whereas in the past, she would invite a professional Spanish dancer to come in and teach one group of gifted movers some more challenging choreography, she could no longer do that with the limited time she had. She had to use simpler music, simpler movement and simplified dialogue. However, Mom pointed out optimistically that "a creative person can find ways to both accommodate the SOL requirements and keep it engaging for the kids." In fact, she adapted a musical for her school that incorporated lessons in Virginia history, which were part of the SOL prep, and the musical was so popular with the kids and effective as a teaching tool that other schools in her system requested the materials for their schools too, proving that, once again, necessity is a wonderful creative catalyst. She also used "Schoolhouse Rock" material liberally throughout the year, which "the kids loved."

In his excellent TED lecture, delivered in February 2006, creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson bluntly proposes that education, as we currently approach it, kills creativity. Challenging the way we're educating our children, Sir Ken champions "a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence."

The "one-size-fits-all" educational system that presently marks our nation simply doesn't work for everyone. But, as with every other broken system, most people adjust. (I almost said "simply adjust," but the adjustment is far from simple. Rather, the adjustment often requires a team of paraprofessionals, administrators, counselors, advocates and teachers working together to help certain students fit in to the one-size-fits-all system in whose margins they spend a third of their days.)

One of the questions that will be addressed at IAM's upcoming Encounter 10 will deal with this issue of how the one-size-fits-all education system is broken. We want to push people to wrestle deeply with the questions surrounding this issue and to cultivate creative, alternative approaches to a system that leaves so many floundering on the sidelines. While the actual question is still evolving a bit, we plan to ask something to the effect of, "Are we teaching art - and everything else - all wrong?"

Meanwhile, we would love to hear your thoughts. Do you agree with Sir Ken Robinson's assessment:

What these things have in common is that kids will take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a go. Am I right? They're not frightened of being wrong. Now, I don't mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. If you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this, by the way. We stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities. Picasso once said this. He said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately, that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it. So why is this?

Are you an educator or parent who would like to connect with others who are displeased with the one-size-fits-all system currently being proliferated by our schools? Do you want to participate in this discussion?

Please send me your thoughts at christy (at) internationalartsmovement.org, and please consider joining us for Encounter 10, March 4-6 in lower Manhattan. Details can be found at www.IAMencounter.com.