David Gamberg is superintendent of the Sourhold district in
Long Island, Néw York. He
understands something that state commissioner John King
does not. Children are different. They develop in different ways
and at different rates. They have different strengths and
weaknesses. Experienced educators know this. The standard for high
achievement in mile-long races is 4 minutes. Runners tried for
years until 1954, when Roger Bannister
broke the barrier. Now many runners have, and it is the
standard. Does that mean you are a failure if it takes you 9 or 15
minutes to run a mile? No. Should all children score “proficient”
on a test that was deliberately made so hard that only 30/35% would
“pass”? What about the kids who are gifted artists and musicians?
What about those who can fix things and are great at solving
practical problems? What about those who are English language
learners? Should they “fail”? Should they be denied a high school
diploma? Sure, it is necessary to test kids periodically to see how
they are doing, but tests should be used to help kids and teachers,
not to punish them.
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David Gamberg, thank you for your common sense words. The list of brave Superintendents is growing stronger and longer, and I am proud to see Long Island and New York leading the way. Bravo!
Thank you Dr.Gamberg for your eloquence in expressing how school reform has gotten education so wrong. I hope you are sharing your thoughts with the Southold community as your analogy makes the problem so clear to everyone, whether or not they have any background in education. I hope that you and our other LI superintendents continue to push for change louder and louder.
More than 400 American male runners have bettered four minutes, yet that portion of distance runners is an incredibly small percentage of the overall total for the past 150 years. Would one consider David Oliver the world champion in the 110m high hurdles or Brianna Rollins the world champion and new American Record holder in the 100 meter hurdles “failures” because they cannot run a sub 4 minute mile? I suspect that world shot put record holder, Randy Barnes would have a very difficult running a sub 4 mile….or even a sub 7:00min mile. All children are different, every human brain is different from every other human brain. The vast majority of children are brought up in differing socio-economic/cultural/religious environments. YES, we can have expectations of them, but to assume that a single set of standards can address the differences among 38,000,000 million students nationwide is little more than educational/sociological hubris. We do NOT use these differences to say that children cannot learn, but that these differences, along with genetic influences, determine that most children have different learning readiness patterns. The failure to understand this and to plan for it is a recipe for disaster.
Scoring a 3 on the NY State ELA and Math tests is not remotely equivalent to running a 4-minute mile, which as you note is something that the overwhelming majority of people, and the overwhelming majority of athletes, will never be able to do under any circumstances. I tend to agree with the main sentiment you’re expressing, but I’m not a fan of this analogy.
FLERP, the New York Common Core test is designed so that not more that 1/3 of students will “pass.” You are right, that is not a four-minute mile. Think of it as. 7- minute mile, which I could never do.
“Should they “fail”?
Of course they should all fail, they’re losers!
There you go again, Diane, using the four letter “F” word.
I would like to see every child on an Individualized Learning Plan and school re-envisioned to be about frequent diagnosis of children’s interests and capabilities and providing explorations, mentoring, and various facilities that children and their parents can draw upon in order to discover and nurture their gifts and prove their accomplishments via certificates of attainment of particular knowledge and skills. We need to START from the proposition that CHILDREN DIFFER and that a diverse, pluralistic society NEEDS THOSE DIFFERENCES. We need to do a LOT of thinking about how to make school different to accommodate and build upon those differences.
Kids are not widgets to be identically milled by schools-as-factories. This is the central problem with the whole totalitarian, one-size-fits-all “reform” agenda–it takes is in PRECISELY the OPPOSITE direction from recognizing and building upon kids’ unique combinations of interests and gifts. It’s not what kids need. It’s not what their parents need. It’s not what the country needs. And it’s inhumane.
Remember the ancient Greek myth of Procrustes? This ogre would waylay travelers and put them in an iron bed and hammer them out or lop of any body parts so that they fit. Well, our schools are Procrustean beds, and the “reform” agenda is to make them a lot more so.
I agree with your frustration but not your solution. I see individual education plans for every student as micromanagement in a different costume. I demonstrated some “artistic talent” as a child. I emptied the waste basket and doodled on the insides of envelopes of reject mail from a very young age. I loved art projects and classes. I still do! However, I did not need someone to give me certificates to prove my accomplishments or to dictate what constituted the particular knowledge and skills needed to qualify for recognition. As soon as someone else is telling us what is worthy of recognition and what knowledge proves that recognition, some of the joy of learning may be lost. I’m all for providing a rich environment and the necessary resources which includes the teachers who notice each child’s unique spirit. There is a fine line between nurturing “talent ” and trying to control it. I hope you understand what I am trying to say; I suspect that we are on the same page. How my feelings translate into a philosophy of K-12 education definitely needs work.
“Can you run a 4 minute mile?” Well, I can run one in around 6:30 now. However, back 18 years ago as a high school senior I had my GPA reduced because I got a C (I think) in PE because I couldn’t run a 13 minute mile.
But to be serious, thank you for your continued posts on CC. Americans of all walks are upset with this. It definitely seems to be an end run around the system in order to completely federalize our educational system. It also has many similarities with healthcare moving to a single payer system over time.
Oh, he understands. This is about union busting and privatization – not about kids. The very sad part is that he’s willing to sacrifice a generation of children.
“Should all children score “proficient” on a test that was deliberately made so hard that only 30/35% would “pass”?”
Things could be worse. On a recent university entrance exam in Liberia, all 25,000 applicants failed the test.
“Earlier, Etmonia David-Tarpeh, the national education minister, expressed doubts over the dismal showing. “I know there are a lot of weaknesses in the schools but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one of them to fail, I have my doubts about that,” she told the BBC. “It’s like mass murder.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/27/all-candidates-fail-liberia-university-test
This is one so you will know others are out there that are old school and “get it” like we do. Enjoy and take care of yourself.
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