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From Mensagenda - June 2001
Dumbing Down
Jean Swenson
The "Dumbing Down" of
Minnesota's
Education System
Most Mensans value a well-rounded
education that prepares people to continue learning and exploring new endeavors
within a free society. However, Minnesota's system may actually hinder students
from reaching that goal. My concern is the education system itself, not the
dedicated educators who work hard within it.
For years, Minnesota students scored among
the nation's highest on ACT and SAT tests. Recently, however, nearly one
third of
our 1999 graduates attending public institutions needed remediation. Why the
dismal results? Perhaps because our education system has been de-emphasizing
academic achievement and focusing on workforce preparation.
At various stages in implementation, all
districts and schools eventually will come under the same federal and state
mandates.
Part of Minnesota's system, the Profile of
Learning (POL), is outcome-based education (OBE), which aims at minimums and
equalizes outcomes for all. Under various names, OBE has been in Minnesota for
years. Rather than teaching for individual academic excellence, OBE overlooks
gifted students, while trying to bring the lowest students "up" to the
minimum standards.
A minimum-competency system inherently
lowers high school graduation requirements to ensure everyone
"passes," regardless of academic achievement. The only two
requirements for graduation are passing a sixth-grade-level "safety-net"
reading and math test in eighth grade (or every year thereafter until passing at
75 percent), and scoring the minimum mark on up to 24 of the state-mandated POL
projects.
The POL projects, called "performance
packages," are time consuming and require excessive teacher paperwork.
Some
projects are menial, such as a math project counting cars at an intersection.
Some projects focus on changing students' values and beliefs.
Students are "assessed" rather
than graded, and need only obtain the minimum mark of "1" in the 1-4
rubric system. A "1" indicates an "Emergent Learner, one who
tried to apply the skills and knowledge and showed mastery of few or no parts of
the standard." High school students quip, "Take a one and run."
These mandated projects are replacing
knowledge-based curricula. Some districts no longer teach multiplication tables,
and students learn to estimate rather than find correct answers. U.S. history,
classical literature, science, and the arts also take a back seat to busywork.
Proponents argue that critical thinking
skills are more important than academic knowledge. However, one cannot develop
such skills without a foundation of knowledge from which to draw. This leads to
superficial reasoning, based on emotion or assumption, not logic and fact.
Another part of Minnesota's system,
School-to-Work (STW), being implemented in every state, transforms pre-K through
college into vocational training and tracking. Many government documents call
students "human resources," and curricula teach children to see themselves
as such.
The Minnesota Department of Children,
Families, and Learning (DCFL) states in its "School-to-Work Resource
Guide" that the mission of STW is: "To create a seamless system of
education and workforce preparation for all learners, tied to the needs of a
competitive economic marketplace." Do we want our futures tied to the needs
of the marketplace, or a quality education enabling us to choose our own
futures?
In 1992, the U.S. Labor (not Education)
Department listed occupational skills (SCANS skills) needed by entry-level
employees. SCANS skills form the POL backbone. A high school friend fills out
"SCANS worksheets" at school to see how well he is developing these
skills.
When fully implemented, students beginning
in kindergarten explore various career options and begin developing their
"lifework plan." Minnesota's STW contract with the federal government
states: "All Minnesota learners will develop
a lifework plan which will be included as one component of the stated Profile of
Learning." Home schoolers and private schoolers take note —
"all
Minnesota learners" means all.
By eighth grade, as this system is
implemented, students select a "career cluster" (such as health
services) that will be the focus of their education (training?) thereafter.
A
March 7 Pioneer Press article states that St. Paul students "will enroll in
'career clusters' in secondary schools," and lists the six clusters to be
offered.
Students will be guided into a particular
"career cluster" based on their lifework plan and recommendations by a
government-appointed workforce board that determines the labor needs of the
region. Minnesota currently has 53 workforce centers that will eventually
coordinate the system.
Students spend time at job sites, further
reducing academic learning. All students at my friend's high school work 180
hours in "service learning" for no pay, and then do a 400-hour
internship. High school vocational training may be a good option for some students, but it should
build upon a solid academic foundation.
A superintendent I interviewed said it's
difficult to take a national or state mandate and make it valuable to a local
community, and that successful programs are best developed and owned locally.
Minnesota's system of federal and state
mandates makes it difficult for schools and teachers to help students fulfill
their highest potential as individuals and as free citizens. We and our children
are not "human resources" whose purpose is to meet the needs of the
economy. We must open our eyes to the truth about this system and return
academic excellence and freedom to our schools.
Contact me at jswerson@mi.net
or [call the Mensaphone at
(952) 953-8575
] with your feedback or for more
information. Also see www.mredcopac.org.
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