On balance: Thoughts on passing between Scylla and Charybdis
Post date: Apr 10, 2013 10:57:41 AM
Consider the following pairs of opposing statements:
Students need to know a baseline of facts and core concepts in order to succeed.
But in the era of smartphones, Google and Wikipedia, the ability to repeat fixed knowledge is becoming an obsolete skill.
Project-based learning teaches creative problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership.
How can the project be completed in a meaningful way without a foundation of knowledge and skills as a starting point?
Standardized testing stifles creativity, wastes money, and turns teachers into automatons teaching to the test.
So suppose we did away with almost all testing. How would we know how our kids are doing? How would we measure our success?
Athletics are expensive and we should spend some of that money on academics instead.
We have an epidemic of obesity in our society. Does reducing opportunities for physical activity make sense?
We must fund our schools well if we expect our kids to get into good colleges and succeed in life.
But if we raise taxes too much to pay for it we will drive members of our community into poverty.
They are all reasonable points. Students need both core knowledge and the ability to evaluate, analyze and apply those concepts to synthesize new solutions. They need to know how to do both short-term and long-term work. As parents and teachers we need to know what abilities our kids bring to the classroom, and measure whether they are learning according to their potential – but we also need to foster skills which go beyond the easily testable. We need our kids to be both smart and healthy. We need strong schools to maintain our property values, but we must still be able to afford to live here.
It is the job of a board of education to steer through these difficult waters, and come up with a vision for our schools, our children, and our community which avoids the rocks to the right and whirlpool to the left, and in the end meets the needs of all. We must come up with a mix which works, and see that it gets implemented efficiently. We must avoid the distracting extremes and focus on doing what is right for all of the kids.
I pledge that, if I am elected, I will be a thoughtful pilot. I will strive to take these disparate needs into account and together with my colleagues on the board of education make the Croton-Harmon School District an exemplar of excellence in education.
For more about my candidacy for the Croton-Harmon Schools Board of Education, please see http://joshforboe.windowoffire.com or find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JoshDiamondForCrotonSchools.
Joshua Diamond