Teaching Issues
I read Paul Krugman’s column in the New York Times. This week’s thoughts were on education in America. One of the changes in our culture, during my lifetime, is the notion that education leads to better opportunities. I was an average student. Some days I applied myself and could score A’s on assignments, but other days sports or social life lured me away from the books or library. Short-term memory work is not my strength, but I do remember what I take the time to read. I would call my learning style a blend of visual and auditory. If history lessons would have been movies without author bias, I would probably know a lot more. Education provided me the critical thinking skills to recognize that no history is without bias. This is what I think young people are missing in education today: critical thinking skills.
My companion teaches at Lynchburg College. Before that she taught aspiring ministers at Lexington Theological Seminary. Her common complaint about both settings is that students could not think critically or write more than simple sentences. Do quality teachers still exist in primary and secondary schools? I am sure they must. But, curriculum changes and social pressure have pushed critical thinking skills aside for short term immersion in information so that students can score well on standardized tests. Did I mention I was a “B” student? When I listen to my companion, other professors, and teachers in public and private schools it is clear to me that fifteen years of “teaching to the test” has caused more harm than helped students learn the skills needed to succeed. That is harsh, but busy does not mean successful, nor does multitasking mean the ability to do quality work. If you can only be successful by someone giving you a study guide, then there is a problem. Is it no surprise that we continue in an age of anti-intellectualism in society and that it has seeped into the Church. This is a sweeping generalization but currently acceptable given our educational system and examples from our politicians that are supposed to be critically thinking about issues that benefit us all.
So, Krugman’s article was interesting as he reflects on, “The Uneducated American.”
“Most people, I suspect, still have in their minds an image of America as the great land of college education, unique in the extent to which higher learning is offered to the population at large. That image used to correspond to reality. But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that’s slightly below the average across all advanced economies.”