Thoughts on “The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future”

Although I am now embarrassed to admit it, I once espoused the idea that teachers should receive low pay.

Now hold the pitchforks, let me defend my old idea.

As a college student, I saw many students chasing lucrative career paths instead of passions. Every business and engineering student was not in it for the love of the discipline– they weren’t like pre-service teachers. Teachers to be were crusaders, they were believers– there were no riches to be had. I thought low wages were a deterrent to the “impure”.

As a teacher, I’ve realized this is off target. There are in fact teachers that join the ranks for steady income and long vacations. And sadly, low wages don’t just deter the bad, they deter the good as well.

In The Flat World and Education, Linda Darling-Hammond talks about equitable funding for schools. My interpretation of her work is that we need to make an investment in our education system if we expect a return. Her descriptions of North Carolina vs. California show that to be fact.

Part of a comprehensive investment in education is an investment in teaching. As Darling-Hammond points out, that means subsidizing quality teacher education. College students should not be going into debt to serve their community.

That also means paying well. Each year we lose great college grads to business, engineering, medicine, and other high paying fields. Even current teachers have to leave the profession to make more money for their families (often resulting in being able to spend more time for their families).

As a society, we need to pay for the great teachers we desire.

Thoughts on “We’re Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education”

“Without higher learning, higher education is just a series of steps that lead to a degree…. (Keeling and Hersh 2012, 2)”

In last weeks reading (Gateway to Opportunity), the author wrestled with the purpose of community colleges. He suggested that they were lost because of a lack of a single, intentional vision. In We’re Losing Our Minds, Keeling and Hersh suggest that Universities have a vision, it’s just wrong. It seems, that universities are essentially becoming job training and outlining the process for becoming certified in a field. Before exploring their recommendations, I want to evaluate their assumptions. Is it really a bad thing that universities have become a training ground for work? Does that necessarily mean higher learning isn’t taking place?

As a former education student and current business student, I have engaged in what can only be called job training often. Case studies, sample lessons, student teaching, business simulations… all of these experiences were created solely to look and feel like “the job”. Moreover, I think my greatest learning experiences were had in these mock job experiences. I was forced to learn about the type of thinking that would prove beneficial in my career. Putting my skills into context were as beneficial and interconnected as any capstone course. I don’t believe any core curriculum in the arts could have challenged my thinking and pushed me into higher learning as well as those situations in which the rubber meets the road. Nevertheless, I will set this dissension aside to discuss the authors’ outline for a successful university.

“We offer them as a package, or constellation, when practiced together and applied intentionally or rigorously, make a significant difference in the quality and quantity of learning and thereby promise a greater educational bang for the buck. (Keeling and Hersh 2012, 131)”

Keeling and Hersh require several components in a quality higher learning institution. Those components and short descriptions are listed below:

1. Intentional Emphasis on Learning – Making learning the deciding factor in operating the institution
2. Holistic Learning – Creating learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom
3. Cumulative and Collective Learning – Classes that logically build and extend learning sequentially
4. Coherent and Integrated Learning – Linking learning experiences
5. Challenging and Rigorous Curriculum – High expectations for all learners
6. Academic Engaged Time – Students committing time to learning
7. Engagement of Students with Full-Time Faculty – Good professors, advisors, and mentors for all students
8. Advising/Mentoring as Teaching – Supporting students in academic decisions well
9. Assessment as Teaching and Learning – Formative assessment benefiting teacher and student
10. General Education as Introduction to the “Great Conversation” – Intro classes should be intro to ideas

When I read this part of the book, I was not moved or shaken. Honestly, I’ve heard this in every training I’ve ever been to and every book I’ve ever read about EC-12. Of course this makes sense for higher ed. What stuck with me is a few words from the quote on page 131 – when practiced together. That’s where we miss the boat in EC-20. We know it sounds good, so we say, “We’ll try 1, 6 and 10 this year and revisit our CEIP in May.” We’ve got to become leaders that are willing to infuriate the community and change the system in the name of learning (and communities willing to give them a few years before pulling out the pitchforks).

Thoughts on “Gateway to Opportunity? A History of the Community College in the United States”

My biggest fear with sending students to community colleges is that they won’t leave. As Beach points out numerous times, the mission of a community college is multifaceted. While many of my students and friends enroll to “get the basics out of the way” before attending a four year institution, often things don’t go according to plan. Even when students do manage to take some classes and transfer out of a community college, they seem to struggle. According to Beach, community colleges reduce the likelihood that students will graduate from a a 4 year university by at least 15% (pg 50). This type of data makes me very nervous. Coupled with the idea that a two year degree could actually hurt students (I’m not sure I actually buy that), I am tempted to discourage my students to attend a community college no matter how much money it could save them.

Still, given the choice between no post secondary education and a community college education, I will most likely choose community college.