Dichotomizing Education: Why No One Wins and America Loses

Abstract

We must fight against any single model, structure, method, or system of education, Mr. Glickman warns. Ultimately, however, we must hold every school and district responsible for whether it has provided an education for children that can be documented to increase choices of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is an American education. I DID NOT lightly take pen in hand (yes, I still use a pen) in writing this article. I have devoted my entire professional life to working with colleagues to create, establish, and sustain public schools that are driven by collaboration, personalization, and active and participatory student learning.1 And I will continue to do so, as I personally believe such is the best way to prepare students for the intellectual, social, and aesthetic life of a democracy. Yet, even in the fervor of my beliefs, I still see other concepts of education that generate degrees of uncertainty in me. My memories of my own best teachers are revealing. Most taught in highly interactive ways, but one grand elder taught from behind a podium in a huge auditorium and engaged in little interaction with students. He was perhaps my greatest teacher. Such discrepancies don't change the strength of my own beliefs; they simply remind me that the viable possibilities of educating students well are broad indeed. Ultimately, an American education must stand on a foundation that is wider than the beliefs of any one individual or any one group. It should encourage, respect, and support any conceptions - no matter how diametrically opposed to one's own - that are willing to be tested openly and freely. Furthermore, it should involve the willing and nondiscriminatory participation of students, parents, and educators. That is what should be at the core of an American education. But with the winner take all wars being fought today, I am seriously concerned about the future of our students and of our public schools and about the vitality of a better democracy. Ideological Absolutes The either/or debates about standards versus no standards, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, core versus multicultural knowledge, direct instruction versus constructivist learning, and phonics versus whole language are symptomatic of ideologies that attempt to crush one another and leave only one solution standing. Whether the ideology is education anchored in traditional, behaviorist authority or progressive, inquiry-based learning, the stance toward the final outcome is the same. One group possesses the truth, and the other side is demonized as a pack of extremists: scary, evil persons. Articles and books present educators and the public with a forced choice that unfortunately disregards reality and endangers the very concept of an American education.2 Let me illustrate the incompleteness of ideological absolutes with one of today's most emotional issues, the relationship of race to socioeconomic achievement. One side of this debate argues that America is the land of opportunity, where freedom rings, where anyone - regardless of race, religion, gender, or class - can work hard and rise to a position of authority, success, and accomplishment. The other side argues that America is a hegemonic system, protecting the ruling class and extant privilege while keeping the poor, the dispossessed, and people of color stifled, oppressed, and marginalized. Well, which side of this debate is correct? The answer to that question has important implications for what our society needs to change in terms of practices, programs, and the targeting of resources. But the truth is that both contradictory realities have compelling evidence and must be used together to figure out what needs to be done next. Consider the economic component of this debate. Seymour Martin Lipset compares the United States with other Western industrialized nations.3 Since the post-Civil War era, America has been the wealthiest country, with a steady rise in living standards and unparalleled social and economic advances for the poor and working class. …