I have been a teacher at Harrison High school for the past thirty years and after reading your prescription for school reform, I feel the need to respond.
The Harrison School District is one of the Abbott Districts in the state of New Jersey. This identifies us as a lower income school district. Most of our students come from homes where English is not the primary language spoken at home. After reading your list of words and terms that all students should know and be able to be tested on, I have no idea how this could be implemented here at Harrison. This philosophy cannot work when there is no reinforcement at home or where there isn't a similar frame of reference. This is similar to when the United States gets compared to Japan in standardized testing results. We are a nation of many cultures, whereas Japan has one culture, therefore they can have national standards to abide by. Unfortunately, education is viewed differently in some cultures here in the United States, with some cultures holding it in high regard while it isn't emphasized enough in others. However, these children are sharing the same classrooms.
In regard to school funding, your silence speaks volumes as we see the success of many Abbott districts, who are now able to compete with more affluent districts due increased state funding. I wouldn't even like to imagine how our schools would perform if it wasn't for increased state aid.
Furthermore, Mr. Hirsch, children do not learn strictly by memorization or the rote method. I believe some concepts are better taught without "telling" and "rote" memorization. These two teaching techniques have a place in the educational process, but should not be the sole method. For instance, the multiplication tables must be memorized, and words and terms in foreign language class must be memorized. It is my opinion that in all subject areas , many lessons may achieve positive results with techniques such as physical experience, or the "hands on" approach, an example of which would be a science experiment.
In conclusion, I was pleased to see that you amended your theories and philosophies in recent years. Education must be an ever evolving process, lest we become like the cavemen in the "Saber Tooth Curriculum."
Sincerely,
Lawrence J. Manning
Dear Larry,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments.
I believe that the students in your classroom will benefit from a unified core curriculum. If the ESL program was centered around a common curriculum then perhaps students would have stronger comprehension of vocabulary on standardized tests. While I believe that my list of terms is highly exemplary, another model can be followed.
To challenge your argument that rote memory is not important, students are not required to memorize enough in today's classroom. As a result the student memory is weak and when they are asked to memorize it is more difficult for them to do so. It is important to be able to solve a problem and think critically, but the process is useless if the correct formula and symbols are not memorized.
Sincerely,
E.D. Hirsch