TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Reinvent education

ADVERTISEMENT

By CARL ZIMMERMANN

Special To The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2009

Our education system is failing. Despite the FCAT, remedial reading classes, rigorous curriculums, legislation that demands higher math classes, charter schools, vouchers, educational think tanks, and even threats of more or longer school days, we have been sliding faster than glaciers have been melting.

Yet all anybody seems to come up with is to demand more, threaten repercussions and turn management problems over to the local schools to try to solve their own problems. The real problem is that the 160-year-old public school model is obsolete, and it's time we reinvent it.

We have been delivering education the same way since public education began in the mid 1800s. Students come to school to learn to read, write, add, subtract and become good citizens. The teacher lectures, and the students listen. That was more than sufficient when people grew their own food and didn't have to worry about selling their skills and talents in order to survive. But the world has changed.

We want everyone to go to college. Yet only about 20 percent of the students who enter 9th grade will get a four-year degree. Only about 20 percent of them will work in the field they get their degree in.

For the 80 percent of students who won't get a four-year degree, what has high school prepared them for? The vast majority of students have no practical business experience. They don't know bookkeeping, manufacturing, nursing, mechanics, management or just about any other field that someone can make a living at.

This isn't the teachers' fault. It is the system. We need to take a fresh look at what we want to accomplish for our children, what will help them succeed even if they don't go to college. We still need to turn out good, ethical citizens who can read, write, and do the math they need to be successful.

Schools are creating more advanced placement courses that are more "rigorous." They are motivated by increased money for AP classes and ways to improve their FCAT ratings. Meanwhile, hands-on electives are being eliminated.

More than 90 percent of the people in this country will never use math beyond basic algebra. Half of those who do are engineers and scientists. The rest may have failed math in high school but learn it on the job in weeks as tile layers, carpenters and builders - the backbone of this nation. Why are they able to learn this knowledge on the job but not in class? Because "on the job" is applied education.

Academies are working examples. There are engineering academies that require very advanced math and academies for agriculture, criminal justice, journalism, theater, etc. They use students' avocational interests to add meaning to the knowledge and skills they need. This works just as well for college-bound students as it does for the other 80 percent. They can sample a field and get the starter skills they need to enter the workforce in a career should they not succeed in college.

We build schools that cost $30 million to $50 million each and corral as many as 2,500 students in one facility - 5,000 in Miami - with tremendous operating costs. Yet under the academy model, industrial and retail properties can create a working environment, cost considerably less and be sold when necessary.

And academies can create a product - enhancing a real-world education and maybe even generating money. They can offer businesses apprentices or interns where both groups can benefit.

To reinvent education, we need to rethink our goals. In economic times like these, we need to make sure this generation is ready to work.

Carl Zimmermann, a six-time "Teacher of the Year" in Pinellas County, is a former state House candidate. He teaches at Countryside High School.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT