Defending the Schools

...con-it ol of his education, as in the corrupted models of the progressive school, the teacher is responsible for the movement of children from one set of learning materials to another, from one experience to the next Turning school into a humane institution for both teachers and students is the primary aim of these programs In some cases, "admission is staggered over a period of several weeks, to make it easier for the teachers to get to know the children, and the children to know the teachers " The development of self-control and autonomy is encouraged —children are trusted to take breaks in the playground on their own, and teachers may leave them unattended during their coffee breaks We have learned much from the failure of progressive education, however, the movement advocated an admirable general approach to learning, but never instructed teachers m the pragmatic how-to-do of the classroom And Silberman repeatedly warns that a rapid swing to the "open classroom" would reduce it to another educational fad For the truly open classroom depends on specific teacher training Although Silberman details the nature of both the general and professional training necessary, he asserts that much of the direction must come from school supervisors Here he clearly prefers the British "heads" to the American principals School heads continue to teach, it is not through their position in an administrative hierarchy but by constantly demonstrating their skill in the classroom that they maintain leadership The failure of American principals to teach, he says, "helps to define teaching as less important than administration " In supporting a humane classroom—where teachers and children can enjoy what they teach and learn —Silberman opposes the current governmental-industrial juggernaut toward performance contracting and the use of educational technology The system of "payment by results" tried in England produced a "deadly uniformity in which teachers would teach nothing but the tests, while the reliance on computer technology to individualize instruction and measure what we are after tends to do the very opposite in limiting our educational activities to that which can be measured easily " Unlike other critics of teaching in the public schools who profess to have the cure for educational retardation, Silberman honestly states that no one can be certain his suggestions (or perhaps anything the school alone can do) will guarantee success Nevertheless, he has given new hope by effectively countering elitist demands for the impossible, and by showing those who would destroy public education in the name of educational heterogeneity and free choice (eg, through the voucher system) that we can provide freedom and flexibility within the public schools Liberals who still believe in public schools, teachers under constant attack, school officials looking for something not only new but also tried, should embrace the major proposals Charles Silberman has made They should not be dissuaded by the attempt of the New York Times, radio, tv, and several journals to portray this outstanding and constructive—albeit profoundly critical—defense of the public schools as simply one more attack on our educational system Crisis in the Classroom is based in large degree on sociologist Robert Merton's theory of the "self-fulfilling prophecy"—the notion that in many social situations, the expectation that something will happen can make it happen If enough people believe a bank will fail, for instance, there will be a run on the bank and it will indeed fail Similarly, teacher expectation "can and does quite literally affect a student's performance " Regrettably, few appear to stop to realize that teachers are affected by what others expect of them, too Yet, as Silberman tries to make us understand "The phenomenon ot the self-fulfilling prophecy works for teachers no less than for children if they are treated as professionals able to manage a classroom, teachers are likely to aci as professionals, particularly if they are given some support and help in making change...

...That optimism is gone Today the discussion centers around very different questions "Are public schools manageable'' Do they have any educational effect'' Do we need them at all'" And the answers reflect the fact that for the first time in our history, the continued existence of public schools is m dangei The signs are everywhere -Responsibility for the massive development of publicly funded early-childhood day care centers has been entrusted to private companies and agencies -Rapid expansion of performance contracting, in which private companies (for the most part) subcontract parts of the public school network, is being sponsored by the Office of Economic Opportunity -Support is growing for a system of educational vouchers—a "gi Bill of Rights" for all children in elementary and secondary schools that will enable famdies to use the public education dollar to opt out of the public schools and select private and parochial schools The "voucher system" comes in many versions—ranging from the unregulated free-market model advocated by Barry Goldwater and conservative economist Milton Friedman, to the complicated liberal-left model of Christopher Jencks—but it is clear that any of these would end the public school system as we know it, or reduce it to a place for children who could go nowhere else There are many reasons for this shift from over-optimism in the '30s to an apparent willingness to dismantle the public schools m the '70s One could cite the avalanche ol criticism, much of it legitimate, launched by civil rights groups and teacher organizations—the former in their drive toward school integration, the latter m their collective bargaining campaigns Another contributor to the current pessimism has been the series of extremely, and often unfairly, critical government and foundation reports on public schools These have great impact, being "independent" and "impartial," and as each new report emerges to support previous ones a popular climate is created What the public does not know, of course, is that the neatly reinforcing "independent" studies frequently are authored and/or controlled by a single individual or group David J Rachman offers amazing but well-documented evidence of this in his article, "Bundy Revisited, A Look at the Quality of Government Reports" (Marketing Review, May 1969) He shows how one person, Mardyn Gittell of the Institute for Community Studies at Queens College, was responsible for a succession of presumably unrelated studies—including the Bundy Report—which played a large part in persuading the public that New York City's schools had totally deteriorated To these reasons should be added our growing awareness that we know less than we thought about what makes some children learn and others not, that indeed the schools are failing large numbers of youngsters Yet all of the above taken together would still not provide an adequate explanation for the present negative attitude toward public education There are three more potent factors to consider First is the emergence of a powenul new opposition coalition This consists of parochial-school interests continuing their drive for public funds, middle-class parents demanding tax dollars for their children's private (and usually segregated) education, Southern segregationists seeking a new gimmick to undo the Supreme Court's integration decisions, separatist and nationalist Blacks who want to set up their own tax-supported training schools, and taxpayer groups who see that by giving parents a variety of packages to choose from in the private educational market, pressures on the local government to improve the single (monopolistic) system are reduced The second factor spurring dissatisfaction with public education is related to the change in employment requirements There has been a contraction rather than expansion of opportunities for unskilled workers, and practically all industries need more personnel with high-school diplomas and college preparation This situation is further complicated by the social turmoil arising from the greater expectations and increasingly urgent needs of the poor and lower middle class, particularly of minority-group origin Ironically, the third and most important element in today's public-opinion transformation is testimony to the success of the public schools A positive and optimistic attitude toward them prevailed mainly at a time of massive illiteracy, when a high-school graduate was considered a well-educated person and college was reserved for the elite The public schools, by educating millions upon millions, by reducing the learning gap between the teacher and the average citizen, have created a body that feels knowledgeable enough to do a better job than the educators Against this background it becomes apparent that Charles Silberman's sober and brilliant analysis, Crisis in the Classroom, has arrived at precisely the right moment It has the virtues of accuracy and authority, too, being the product of the $300,000 Carnegie Study of the Education of Educators that the author directed from 1966-69 In a very real sense, Silberman must be viewed as a staunch defender of the public schools He notes that from reading such persistent critics as Edgar Fneden-berg, Paul Goodman, John Holt, and Jonathan Kozol "one might thmk the schools are staffed by sadists and clods " Their writmgs reflect "the general snobbery of the educated upper middle class toward the white-collar, lower-middle-class world of teachers, social workers, civil servants and policemen In recent yeais this snobbery has become a nasty and spiteful form of bigotry on the part of many self-made intellectuals, who seem to feel the need to demonstrate their moral and cultural superiority to the lower middle class from which they escaped " These critics frequently provide a convenient educational rationalization for white liberals to remove their children from integrated schools, Silberman observes They romanticize the "virility and violence of lower-class life" and are unable to empathize with the problems of the middle-class teacher, "whose fear of violence they deride as effeminate and whose humanity they seem, at times, to deny " Silberman insists that teachers are human, that while the profession has its share of incompetents (as does every profession), most teachers "are decent, honest, well-mtentioned people who do their best under the most trying circumstances " If they are treated as "professionals and as people of worth, teachers behave like the caring, concerned people they would like to be They, no less than the students, are victimized by the way in which most schools are currently organized and run " In most elementary schools, 25-35 children are seated at their desks for over five hours a day With the exception of gomg to lunch, a trip to the water fountain and another to the bathroom, they are expected to sit still, listen and be quiet The teacher who cannot compel his pupils to do this is regarded as weak by supervisors and parents, the child who cannot comply for this period of time is defined as disruptive and disobedient In other words, the normal organization of school and classroom is a form of cruel and inhuman treatment of children (If a parent sat her youngsters down at home and ordered them to be still and listen to a lecture for five hours, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children might well intervene ) Given this "normal" organization, the teacher's job is virtually impossible—one of "trying to teach the entire range of abilities at one time" while "being a timekeeper, traffic cop, and disciplinarian " That some teachers are capable of doing all this Silberman rightly acknowledges For those who can hold the audience in the classroom spellbound, teach to various levels and maintain order, there is nothing wrong with the traditional approaches Such genius among teachers, though, as the author quotes John Dewey, "is as rare as genius in other realms of human activity Education is, and forever will be, in the hands of ordinary men and women " The snobbish and ehtist critics who want and expect every teacher to be extraordinary are destroying an essential social institution by making impossible demands upon it To his credit, Silberman concentrates on ways of changing the structure of school and classroom life so that the "ordinary" teachers can teach Arguing that this is possible because it is already being done, he points to the British infant schools, the New School approach in North Dakota, Lillian Weber's "open corridor" in New York City, and a number of other "open classroom" examples These have common ingredients teacher lecturing is either absent or limited, children move about within the class, and learn in part by talking to each other But in no case is the child in...

...Defending the Schools Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education By Charles E Silberman Random House 552 pp $10 00 Reviewed by Albert Shanker President, United Federation of Teachers In the early 1930s George Counts expressed the optimism many Americans felt about public education when he entitled his book, Date the Schools Build a New Social Order...