A long-time friend (he was best man in our wedding) is a conservative. One night I was opining that Donald Trump would go down in history as our worst president. My friend came back that America was going down the drain because of Nancy Pelosi and her fellow liberal Democrats. We stopped talking about politics that evening and haven’t really picked up the conversation since.
But my friend is one of ABPTL’s biggest readers. Both he and I agree that the American public education system is broken and needs to be fixed. He’s started sending me posts from some of his conservative feeds. I must admit I’m behind in responding to what he is sending me (that’s one of the reasons I have a rule that I don’t respond to readers, but hey, he was our best man and continues to be one of my best friends), but one article caught my attention. The title of the article is “Are Our Youth Being Intentionally Dumbed Down?” and was published by American Thinker. The online publication has an interesting pitch while asking for a donation –
“America’s strength rests on the freedom for every voice to be heard. Yet too often, conservatives are told to stay silent. Free speech is not a privilege but a birthright, and when one side is silenced, open debate and democracy itself are diminished. We must defend the right to speak boldly and disagree openly – or risk losing freedom for all.”
Other than the line that “…too often, conservatives are told to stay silent”, I’d pretty much agree with the donation pitch. But I digress. Let’s discuss the article.
According to the post’s author, Allan J. Feifer (whose story can be found at the website www.1plus1equals2.com),
“It takes three things to take a young person and grow him into a scholar. A scholar must learn to think critically, read, write, and be both emotionally and logically prepared to live in the real world. That young person must eventually (with the help of loving parents) decide which direction to strike out into, whether it be a specific trade or higher skills requiring college or university. Treading water jobs that used to be transitional are now becoming permanent, stymying growth for millions because their schools failed them, and too often, their distracted parents as well. When we don’t give children the ability to grow, learn, and yes, even fail, thereby lea[r]ning to pick themselves up again, we rob them of the essential life lessons needed to make a success of themselves.”
Feifer points out that, in our current K-12 system, there are too many administrators who make too much money, that the country is experiencing academic decline as evidenced by falling test scores, international rankings, and the fact that more kids are challenged by reading these days. He points to grade inflation and “equity grading” along with curriculum erosion as additional reasons for our failing system. And chronic absenteeism and the disappearance of accountability haven’t helped matters.
ABPTL believes that scholars are built through a process by which young learners are trained to define, plan, execute, and evaluate their own learning. An adult learning leader and an individualized learning plan are requirements to assist in the process. Instead of parents only, any loving adult caretaker can help with the journey. A young learner’s plan is what starts them on the pathway to success. Instead of failure, ABPTL likes to talk about “struggle”.
In order to create this type of new learning system, and it’s hard to argue with Feifer’s indictment of our current K-12 setup, it will require adults helping young learners move out of failing schools. It will require a new training program for adult learning leaders. It will require personalized learning plans for all kids. It will require money, money that supports more than the current play of only families moving out of our public school system into a private school.
Feifer concludes by writing,
“America has a history of facing challenges and then overcoming them, and saving our young people should be no different.”
“Fixing obvious issues can be easily remedied with rigorous and unflinching honesty, but only if we focus our minds and implement a national Marshall Plan that eliminates social promotion and demands direct accountability for schools, teachers, and administrators – no more excuses. Fix the problem or give the money to the parents.”
“The question remains as to whether we can agree that a good education trumps politics.”
I appreciate Mr. Feifer’s “rah rah” attitude, but there will be no Marshall Plan. If that was going to happen, it would have happened 50 years ago. Our country just isn’t in a good position to pull something like that off.
Giving money to just parents might not be the best idea, but allowing parents, along with well-trained adult learning coaches, to make decisions that align reading, writing, problem solving, and individual passion with how money will be spent for each individual young learner might be a good start.
And finally, our present condition about public schooling surpasses politics. It’s now a moral, ethical, and civic situation.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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