Dr. Michael Hynes, superintendent of the schools in Patchogue-Medford on Long Island (New York) really knows what “whole child education” is. I wish he were advising Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, who throw the term around, as in “whole child personalized learning.” Hynes could set them straight.
They could start by reading this article, which appeared in Newsday.
Hynes recommends this startling documentary about “hypernormalization.” Unlike Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, he knows what “whole child education” means.
He writes:
The hypernormalization of public education has been creeping into our schools, becoming the official party line with a federal mandate of testing our children to death with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This legislation required that students in grades three through eight be tested every year in English Language Arts and mathematics. The later incarnations of the law have only upped the testing ante by making high test scores such a priority that a school’s existence might well depend on making the mark.
This means that what most of us consider “normal” is no longer normal. School days filled with reading, writing, math, science, social studies, playing outside, working out problems with friends, art, music and taking an occasional trip are no longer normal. If we compared our public school experience from 25 years ago with the “new normal,” we witness children losing the ability to play in the classroom (when true learning takes place), the significant decline of recess and the loss of social and emotional experiences that benefit all children. This new normal is teach less and test more. And because of the high stakes attached to the tests, schools are forced to focus on academic outcomes at the expense of a child’s social and emotional growth. Under this hypernormalized model, teachers now rank and sort children based on a proficiency model instead of how much growth each individual child might show…
I recognize that the obstacles in achieving a new healthy normal are huge, as our politicians at the state and federal levels, along with so-called reformers and business opportunists who have reaped financial profits from this system, continue to praise and fund a high-stakes, test-driven school model.
But make no mistake: This new normal, as research has shown, is taking an unacceptable toll on our children. Focusing on the whole child, regardless of scores, is what desperately needs to become our newer normal.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Has the Professor contacted them? I totally agree with his findings and am convinced this emphasis on testing is harming many students.
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Corporations and billionaires are trying to create a paradigm shift about what constitutes a public school through relentless attempts to brainwash the public. What they want are a cheap “education” in children sit in front of screens pecking for their reward of corn. Corporations want compliant workers that do not question.
Authentic teachers understand that education is not just about convergent thinking. Education is acquired through complex human engagement that elevates and engages the whole student through comprehensive exposure to the arts, social sciences as well as STEM and literature. Authentic education is result of being guided (the true meaning from Latin: Educare, to draw out what lies within) by professional teachers.
By the way, the video lost me at the LSD.
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Correction: What they want is a cheap “education” in which children…
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When I first started teaching, I would occasionally get off the subject for days. One geometry problem sidelined us for three days. Children would offer solutions and I would publicly follow their logic until it obviously failed, then we would take another suggestion.
It has been years since I had this experience. A friend who taught in a neighboring county shared the same experience. One day we were talking and realized when this stopped happening. It was with the group of children who had gone through the mid 1990s with an emphasis on test scores. Even without the draconian emphasis on testing that came with NCLB, it was affecting the way our students were behaving.
It made me recall my cousin’s experience in Germany. He was an English teacher in California. Early in his career, he got a chance to teach in Germany for a year on some kind of exchange program. He was struck by how respectful the German kids were and how attentitive as well. But he noted that they were so focused on the exam they had to take to pass the class that anything else would lose their attention.
Why is it so impossible to convince some of our leaders of the deleterious effects of testing?
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Zuckerberg and Chan are so WRONG about so much. But $$$$$ talks and BS walks. They both need to GO AWAY, not mess with others’ lives.
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I call it systemic child abuse–the no play, all instruction and testing regime, in preparation of little fascists.
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I would call the tendency of “hypernormalization” of public education as being abnormal. I am relatively new to the US, however, I am not new in the profession. I worked as a teacher in my home country before. The experience to see third grade students sitting for many hours during multiple consecutive days participating in high-stakes testing was shocking. I think the price that we (children, teachers, schools, parents) pay for this “hypernormanlization” outnumbers the benefits (if any) of it. No Child Left Behind resulted in high-stakes testing environment where the results can determine the future of students. As Hinchey points out test scores determine promotion to the next grade, or tracking into a particular course of study, and most often graduation. Poor test scores often mean that teachers and principals can be denied raises, or fired and schools may lose funding or be entirely taken over by state authorities. I am convinced that testing puts unnecessary pressure, anxiety, failure and inferiority especially for the most disadvantaged students, such as English language learners. I agree with Hinchey that high-stakes tests eventually encourages schools to get rid of the struggling students in order to improve their test scores. All that said, politicians and corporations should finally understand that they undermine learning and cause harm for our students.
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