When was the last time we saw a newspaper headline or lead-off story on television praising the accountability of a corporate leader? It happens, but certainly not very often, and that should worry us. What we do read and see are instances of abdication of accountability, i.e. Enron, World Com, Tyco, etc. Far too often corporate executives insulate themselves from investigative accountability, and yet, when their discretions are discovered, resulting in termination or resignation, they are well compensated with “golden parachutes” worth millions of dollars.
While not as widely acknowledged, education is not without guilt in accountability. Their concern is not necessarily a financial bottom line, but perhaps more important is the quality of the product (student) they graduate. In many ways they are as guilty as their counterparts in business when it comes to being held accountable for the product of their profession.
Accountability is a wonderful word that was used at one time to describe a virtue among business leaders, academicians and students. Today it’s become more of a buzzword than a meaningful description of one’s ability to stand accountable for their actions. In the past two years I have emphasized this word to graduate students from all walks of life. The most important word to anyone striving for a position of leadership, whether in business, education or life in general, is accountability. Former President Harry S. Truman personified accountability with the desktop sign displayed prominently in the Oval Office that stated simply “The buck stops here.”
Over the past 20 years (maybe more), we have seen our faith in business, government and education leaders dwindle rapidly. Few have followed Truman’s philosophy of accountability, but they have opted to pass the buck or reduce the standards to please more people. The latter, reducing the standards, is especially true in education at all levels. Students today are not held accountable for learning. They graduate from middle school and high school without a solid grounding in the basics of education—specifically, good communication skills (writing and speaking), mathematics and science. Reading is yet another basic that is lacking. How many students today have read the classics—and understood the meaning of the work? How many read for pure enjoyment or taking your mind to foreign lands, learning a new language or merely indulging in the excitement of learning about other people?
It seems everything today has to be quick, easy and handed to us on a platter. Our attention span is often less than two minutes. We want fast food, fast service, fast answers and very few details on how or why. This has infiltrated education to the degree that diplomas are close to being equated with “fast and guaranteed,” regardless of the education obtained. In short, we’re now experiencing a phenomenon called “Education on a Conveyor Belt.”
What exactly is this “conveyor belt?” Recently there have been newspaper editorials and magazine articles questioning the ability, or lack of ability, on the part of college graduates to read comprehensively or to write or speak the English language with any degree of correctness. Employers are increasingly shaking their heads at the apparent lack of understanding by potential new hires of the importance of good, effective communications skills.
Having taught at the undergraduate and graduate level, I have seen firsthand the decline in the ability to write clear sentences, to express one’s self clearly, accurately and confidently and—most importantly—to spell correctly. When expressing my disappointment (and low grades) to students, they have been amazed this would even be important! It wasn’t uncommon to hear their response, “We’ve never been questioned on this before.” Their impression of good writing was as long as the “thought” was understood, it was acceptable. They were adamant that this was enough. After hearing and seeing the shock the students had at being corrected, I started to look seriously at the entire process of education prior to their entering college, and quite frankly it’s kind of scary.
Today we have the “No Child Left Behind” program, which, theoretically, is a sound idea but in practice contains many consequences which were probably not fully anticipated when the program was launched. Actually, the precise enactment of the program merely exacerbates a problem that has been festering for many years. Somewhere in the mid 1960s a phenomenon began in education where children were taught competition is not really that important; in fact, the mere practice of giving a student failing grades was thought to be damaging beyond repair to the individual. Teachers were being chastised for giving failing grades—it apparently damaged the child’s self esteem and made them feel inferior to their peers. Having a student repeat a grade is now virtually unheard of. “No one should fail” has become the battle cry. In other words, regardless of how little is learned in school, students are moving along the conveyor belt to graduation. They will have progressed through 12 years of primary, middle and high school education, and a high percentage will graduate without the basic knowledge of math, science, English, history and geography. And let’s not forget physical education! Today’s teenagers are the heaviest in our history, dare we say “obese.” Most physical education programs have been disbanded or cutback to where they are of little value. Exercise, especially that which incorporates any form of competition, is deemed not compatible with the “no competition” philosophy. Dodge ball? Out—it causes students to feel inferior. Racing competition? No way, can’t have anyone come in last.
All of my adult life, I have worked and socialized with teachers—elementary, middle and high school alike. Their jobs have become extremely difficult as they attempt to bring slower students up to a higher standard of learning, only to be rebuffed by the students themselves. Today’s students know they will graduate, regardless of how well or how poor they perform in the classroom. In reality, teachers are spending less time in the classroom actually teaching. Discipline is out the window in many schools. Respect for teachers has dropped as regulations are passed that actually deter the professional teacher from doing his/her job. Parents are more prone to side with their son/daughter in disputes about grades, classroom performance or attitude. Unfortunately, out of these situations there are lawsuits filed against teachers and their schools which ultimately lead to more regulations, more restrictions, less respect and less discipline. It’s no wonder teachers at all levels are seeking employment elsewhere and usually within the first three years of teaching. It almost appears as though common sense went out the window in deferring to the wants and needs of everyone—and especially those who prefer to ride the educational conveyor belt through high school unprepared for what lies ahead.
Currently it is estimated that approximately 35 percent to 50 percent of students entering their freshman year of college are requiring some form of remedial instruction in basic course work, predominantly in mathematics and science. This doesn’t count the aforementioned lack of ability or understanding of all forms of communication, be it written or spoken. They are graduating from high school with inflated grades, inflated expectations and limited knowledge of the tools required for successful collegiate work.
Believe it or not, there was a time when students actually had to perform satisfactorily in the classroom, receive passing grades and show a knowledge of the subject matter they studied before a diploma was issued. For those who couldn’t/wouldn’t master the basics, there were alternatives. Those who showed an interest in improving would receive extra assistance from their teachers. Those who preferred to spend their time on areas other than academics received the appropriate grade, which resulted in a repeat of the class or possibly a repeat of the entire year. It wasn’t uncommon to have a few non-graduates every year, and no one accused the school of damaging their child’s self esteem. Accountability was part of growing up and soon to be a part of their adult life. It behooved the students to realize they were accountable for their actions and lack of preparation would place them significantly behind.
Studies underscore just a few of the reasons why today’s students are far less prepared for life in a global economy than ever before. John Fahey, president of the National Geographical Association, is concerned about a survey his organization conducted in January 2006 on geographical literacy. He stated, “Young Americans are on shaky ground on geographic smarts.” Further, “geographic illiteracy impacts our economic well-being and our relationships with other nations and isolates us from the world.” His concern is well-founded, for based on the results of the survey on young adults ranging in age from 18 to 27 we have a long way to go in global knowledge. Some results: One-third couldn’t find Louisiana on a map (this was during Katrina) 48 percent were unable to find Mississippi 60 percent were unable to find Iraq 75 percent were unable to locate Israel Perhaps even more telling, only three out of 10 young adults believed it’s important to know the location of countries in the news.
Not only do we have our students on a moving conveyor belt of education, we are not doing a very good job of preparing them for living in a world that is growing smaller every day. The United States spends more money on education than perhaps any other nation in the world, and yet we are not providing students with the importance of taking full advantage of their educational opportunities.
This has not gone unnoticed by the students themselves. A student written article recently appeared in a local Charleston newspaper citing the same concerns. “Since teachers are required to focus on bringing less-successful students up to average mastery, it is possible to forget or disregard the talented students also in the class.” Another quote in the same article indicated, “I can see the need for special assignments given to the below-average pupils. They need more on-on-one instruction. But the time for that should be in special tutoring sessions, not intermingled with students far above mastery level who have to listen to lectures about things they already know.”
So, what’s the answer? Multiple options would appear viable; however, before any could be seriously considered we must first agree it is necessary to stop the education conveyor belt. Let’s bring some accountability back to the classroom, especially on the part of the students. Let our teachers set their classroom standards and expectations. Let them teach at a level that will challenge students to think, to be creative and innovative in their thought processes. Like all of us, students need to be challenged, and when classroom expectations are geared to the lowest performing student in the classroom, any hope of intellectual challenge to the high performers is virtually gone. Additionally, many schools are too busy teaching students how to take tests to enable the school to meet state minimum requirements. Teaching how to take a test does not equate to learning, it merely aids the student to prepare for one specific task. Once taken, it’s usually forgotten. Just another step on the conveyor belt.
Protecting our students is one thing (no competition, no failure), but failing to prepare them for life after high school is not acceptable. Employers and college professors are less forgiving—they expect performance. They expect respect and discipline. They expect good communication skills. They expect the best performance the individual can give, and not just enough to get by. In the real world, the conveyor belt of employment doesn’t guarantee a continuous run to retirement. Those who are prepared and perform will reap the benefits. Those who think this conveyor belt is the same as high school will be very surprised when they are kicked off.
It has taken roughly four generations to create the educational conveyor belt, but it shouldn’t take that long to make corrections. President John Kennedy, shortly after the Russians launched “Sputnik,” issued a challenge to the American people and specifically to our educators. He stated that we were behind in technology, especially in science and math, and urged educators to adopt programs that would challenge our students to overcome the apparent disadvantages in our system. To underscore his conviction, he decreed the United States would send a manned spacecraft to the moon and return unharmed. On both subjects he was correct. Our educational system responded with programs designed to improve subject matter and to make it attractive to students. We did send a manned space exploration to land on the moon, and it returned unharmed.
No less challenge exists today. We have shown in previous times how our educators and leaders can respond to difficult situations. The current educational conveyor belt is putting us behind in learning. Other nations are now ahead of the U.S. in many areas of education. Ignoring our present situation much longer will result in an educational crisis not unlike that faced by President Kennedy in 1960. Will we respond accordingly? In a rapidly shrinking world of technology and education we cannot afford to do less.