Arthur Camins, lifelong educators, knows that teachers can’t change what happens in the next few months, other than by casting their votes. But they can rebuild the foundation of our society by teaching these three things: empathy, ethics, and evidence.
He writes:
My driving force has always been a core assumption: What happens in classrooms has a significant influence on how students think and behave when they emerge into adulthood, and hence when they vote and interact with one another.
I hope students grow up to treat everyone with dignity and respect. I hope they develop the tools to make sense of the natural and social environments in which they live. I hope they develop confidence and passion to act to influence the personal, social, political circumstances around them based on human values.
I know I am not alone in these hopes. I know that most educators are trying. I know most Americans share these hopes. I know that many of us are frustrated and angry that our common dreams for students’ futures are being thwarted. School systems are being diverted from what matters most by persistent inequity and racism, high-stakes testing, efforts to privatize and monetize education, and most recently by pandemic disruption of in-person learning.
I know this: Despite and in response to the challenges, all of us– not just educators and parents– must demand that teaching should focus on what matters most: empathy, ethics, and evidence. Those essential foci cut across all subject areas, all grades, and whether students are engaged at home or in school. Students may lose facts, concepts may fade, and skills may wither but they, like the rest of us, remember how we were treated. In the short term, that influences how, whether, and what students learn. More important, it influences how they will see one another and act as humans for a lifetime.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
1000% agreement with this statement: “What happens in classrooms has a significant influence on how students think and behave when they emerge into adulthood, and hence when they vote and interact with one another.”
**DEAF EARS:* Educators who teach in the humanities and the arts have been screaming these points for years but have been bulldozed at every point by “the sciences,” STEM, testing, etc., which are NECESSARY to education, but certainly NOT SUFFICIENT to develop the whole child . . . who must live life with themselves and others in the world, and where that kind of education is what lasts into adulthood, and is needed especially in a democracy where a person’s civil and empathetic comportment is so essential.
But apparently the rightness of providing a critical-scientific education has been offset by its systematic OMISSIONS, leaving students’ psychological, social, philosophical, moral, and spiritual development up to chance, entertainment purveyors, or whatever family background they happen to have. That background, however, even when excellent, has been tacitly denigrated by the ABSENCE of formal support and consideration in the curriculum.
The loss of well-taught history has a special place in problems we are experiencing today. A study of history gives students a set of broad comparisons . . . to what their own political system, culture, and way of life are, and so a basis for both critique and for betterment. But there has been a systematic washing-away of history in the curriculum also over the last 50 years.
What do we expect, or what SHOULD we expect?
Trumpism CBK
Common Core and STEM removed all the learning from education. They removed all the content from our courses.
LeftCoast Yes, the “reformer” movement is just the latest version of the takeover of public education. It started with control of the curriculum over performance accountability . . . . un-thought-out as it DID NOT ACCOUNT for the complex transition between what we can expect, e.g., in testing (a) in the natural-physical sciences and (b) in the human fields where the complexity and long-term developments of humans in history are a part of the data to be considered.
Human education is much more than rocket science ever was. CBK
They’re not even teaching rocket science. They have the students play with small remotely operated vehicles and call it a robotics class, as if the kids are engineering new robotics. They have the students learn the basics of coding, as if the kids are engineering software. The students aren’t learning to be rocket scientists; they’re being taught to use domestic products already developed. There is really no such thing as an engineering class in k through 12. Call it a product marketing class for accuracy.
Science education–learning to make sense of the natural world, connecting claims and evidence– is complementary with humanities and the arts, not in opposition. Kids need it all.
The “war” between science and the humanities is artificial.
Techie s (particularly computer “scientists” who are not even real scientists in the traditional sense of natural scientist) have made matters much worse by claiming that the ONlY subjects worth studying are STEM.
This is not only absurd on its face but very detrimental.
SDP, how do you figure computer science is not real science “in the sense of natural science”? It has a huge overlap with electrical engineering. But it is more precisely applied math. Math lays out the conceptual framework for the natural world. We’d have a tough time studying nature without it.
There will always be scientists who don’t value the humanities, & vv, but that’s not what not drove curricular choices toward STEM at the expense of humanities. That pressure came from political forces: fallout from automation, the rise of Asian tech mfg, wholesale offshoring of mfg labor, the disappearance of large supporting American corporations which offered countless jobs for humanities majors. Same forces that pushed vo-tech out of our hischs. “OK, I know: we’ll be a service economy!” was the declaration of the ’70’s. The subtext: if they want mid/ upper-mid jobs, they’ll all just have to go to college and either become sw engrs, or do finance & manage the $, cuz that’s all that’s left. The rest get the crumbs [wait service, housekeeping, retail & shipping]. The fact that we have Gates echoing & influencing the mindless continuation of such misguided curriculum is strictly due to simultaneous reverse-Robin-Hood choices of that era which spawned absurdly-rich idiots with the power to tinker with our pubschsys.
Bethree
This summarizes the case pretty well
”
The primary definition of “science” from Princeton’s
Wordnet is: “The study of the physical and natural world
using theoretical models and data from experiments or
observation” [10].
While I have already discussed the first part, I would
argue that the second part of the definition involving the
empirical aspect of science is likewise not the chief method
of investigation in CS (although there are recent exceptions,
as discussed in Section 3.2). Science follows the scientific
method, which involves forming falsifiable hypotheses, de-
vising experiments to test them, and observing the results
with the hope of building converging evidence for or against
them. This model of investigation is appropriate for observ-
ing and predicting natural (and evolving) processes, but not
for eternal objects such as proofs and algorithms, which are
not directly observable. Surely, as our knowledge grows, we
develop a richer set of abstractions with which to express
and investigate them, but the objects themselves have always
been there and always will be, waiting to be “discovered”
by those interested in the “how to.”
Ultimately, because algorithms are abstract and exist in
neither the natural (or even physical) world, and because we
therefore do not use the scientific method as the primary tool
to investigate them, CS is not fundamentally science.”
Computer Science: Not about Computers, Not Science
Kurt D. Krebsbach
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin
I don’t understand making STEM the bad guy here. Camins was head of Stevens Inst, an engineering school. A well-rounded ed includes STEM, taught together with humanities. Neither can be excluded.
And why “They have the students learn the basics of coding, as if the kids are engineering software”? “Learning coding” does not have to be “they’re being taught to use domestic products already developed.” You can start from geometry proofs as an intro to logic trees, from there write code to complete a real-life circuit to light a bulb, then BASIC, maybe going on to DOS: this is how you learn what computers do and what software is.
These are curriculum choices. If today’s geometry excludes proofs due to some ed-reform whim– If coding is taught via some shallow package that skips the basics because of marketing– if humanities are pared back by some penny-wise pound-foolish careerism scheme– blame the culprits.
bethree5 I didn’t say and don’t mean that STEM is the “bad guy.” It’s when “the culprits” systematically develop an unbalanced curriculum that over-emphasizes STEM and diminishes or omits humanities, the arts, the social sciences. Or, as you say: “A well-rounded ed includes STEM, taught together with humanities. Neither can be excluded.”
Besides students getting less-than a full education that speaks to their long-term development, they tacitly get the impression that such courses that include, for instance, literature and writing, the social sciences, history, etc., are (wink nod) not as important as science and engineering. CBK
“get the impression” — the entire system bowing down more and more to tech’s view of what matters
Bethree
Nobody is actually making STEM the bad guy here.
Catherine makes the correct distinction.
The govt-industrial push promoting STEM over humanities was the epitome of poor imagination in the wake of automation, & policies offshoring mfg, that made it look like gosh anyone who wants to be middle-class will have to go to college for hi-tech careers cuz there’s nothing else left. Simultaneous w/ deleting funding for vo-tech in hisch as tho we’d never again need HVAC, elec, plumbing, automechanics—2 generations lost from home-bldg trades that had to be filled by immigrants. Natch the public picked up on this anxious vibe & translated it to STEM-good humanities-bad, why are our taxes supporting ed loans for humanities majors, & consequent denigrating of well-rounded tertiary & eventually secondary ed. The upshot: we started turning out far more STEM grads than we had jobs for https://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth
True there are many fewer jobs for humanities majors in the wake of automation/ offshoring than in ‘70’s-‘80’s. It’s partly due to the disappearance of major US mfg corporations, which had many admin depts open to humanities BA’s & the $ to train them. But also to do w/the pop-econ-mgt movement that promotes bean-counting MBA’s, often humanities types, to run biz in which they have no tech background.
bethree5 Another hidden effect of diminished or loss of humanities courses in K-12 is that even those interested in STEM lose the long-term effect of such engagement.
This means that, when STEM-only students go on to their professions (“jobs”), and the more influential and powerful they become, the more that loss of “humanities” manifests in those professions, the more systematic those losses become. Insofar as professions influence a culture, and insofar as a culture influences adults who have children in that culture, the more pervasive the original loss becomes.
There is still the inherent humanity of family and of group belongings of all kinds; and the “culture,” such as it has come to be. Of course there is great hope in that.
However, there is still the pervasive sense that, if it’s not formalized and paid for, then it’s REALLY not that important (wink, nod).
Even though we might still resonate with human concerns (as in the novel 1984) . . . it becomes more and more difficult to articulate those concerns, much less act on them, when everything systematic is so wrong. Still the resonance is there towards a missing depth of purpose and wonder that would generate a spontaneous regard for what is human and, BTW, not testable-for at 17 years of age.
The takeaway for education, and for real reform, is that cultural degeneration usually takes generations; and if teachers and leaders cannot recognize its signs when we are in it, and take concrete steps to change it, down we go. CBK
What is this thing called STEM? It may not be the ram it down their throat for non-existent jobs thing some might image: https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/leadership_360/2015/06/what_is_this_thing_called_stem.html
Arthur Camins Keep in mind it’s not science, technology/engineering/math, as such, but curriculum that are developed as ONLY-STEM; or where the humanities, arts, social sciences, history, government, etc., are diminished and/or eliminated from the curriculum.
The humanities as formal curricula do not and cannot guarantee the development of good and thoughtful people. However, that’s at the core of their intention; and when these are diminished or omitted, especially systematically, it cannot help but have long-term and similarly systematic influence. CBK
Beautiful, Arthur, and true.
As someone who was once a teacher, and later a school principal, I have worked with hundreds of children and seen them become good learners and capable adults. Nether teaching or learning is difficult when schools are places to do meaningful work and be supported by there teachers.
An important part of this teaching is to work tirelessly to remove Donald Trump from office, so that our children do not see an example of the opposite in the highest office of our country.
Amen to this
Bob If Trump survives, he’ll probably win in the “sympathy vote.” My Trumpism gauge in my family has Trump paying millions of dollars ahead of time to pay his later tax bill, which makes it LOOK like he only paid $750.00. I kid you not. There’s no talking to them.
If the democracy burns down, it will have Fox “News” and those other two networks’ fingerprints all over the incendiary devices. CBK
I hope you explained to them that Trump overextended himself and lost a billion dollars on his casinos, and it was that loss that reduced his later tax bill.
** Sorry Bob. NOTHING WORKS. They just come back with some phony explanation saying that all scientists and news media like CNN and MS-NBS are “democrats.”
So of course they are ALL lying or omitting.
EVERYTHING is seen through those politicized eyes. I always remember them when I begin to soften my resolve. The poison didn’t kill them, but they drank it nevertheless. And it’s pervasive and strong. CBK
I don’t wish I’ll health for Trump, but I have no sympathy for a man who encouraged his followers not to mask, not to socially distance, and to go about their life without regard to public health including their own. His failure to lead has cost many thousands of lives. When asked about the 200,000 dead at the debate, he boasted that it could have been 2 million but for his “leadership.” No one pointed out that the US has 4% of the world population but 20% of deaths.
diane Trump also apparently continued his tour AFTER he knew he was sick (Wednesday), further endangering his followers who were not wearing masks or distancing. Trump’s personal arrogance and subsequent denial further reveals his incompetence, danger, and responsibility for others’ illnesses and deaths.
It’s a cult, however. Those who are involved in it only let in what their blinders will allow. CBK
Bob For some in my family, if it were Hillary who got sick, they’d say it was God’s will . . . he didn’t want her to be President. And the lie that Trump cannot be a “good businessman” and have millions of dollars in losses in his casinos doesn’t register. We should never forget that these folks in my family are only ONE set among many who think like that. CBK
When Hillary got the flu and collapsed at a 9/11 event in NYC, Trump ridiculed her.
diane . . . Yes, . . . Trump ridiculed Hillary; and his base cheered. CBK
So, the White House medical team let it slip that Trump was diagnosed with Covid-19 before his last rally and before he met with donors at Bedminster who paid $250,000 apiece for Trump to expose them to the virus.
100% agree that working tirelessly to remove DT from office is critical. Our children/teens already have seen an example of America at its worst.
Teach civics, art, history, science, and mathematics. Read. Good. Literature. Ethics, empathy and evidence? They’re in there.
I spent a good part ofmy career as a software developer (specifically developing software for scientific instrumentation ) and the best programmer I ever worked with actually had a master’s degree in philosophy.
Go figure.
On the other hand, the CS grads i worked with were among the worst programmers that I worked with. They had a tendency to jump right into coding (which any monkey can do) without properly defining what it is they were trying to do. The latter is far more difficult than the former and , in my opinion, encouragement if the former is woefully lacking in many university CS programs. That’s why we end up with such crap software coming g out of companies like Microsoft.
Encouragement of the latter (defining the problem) is woefully lacking
Schools that taxpayers shouldn’t pay for-
Ones that have a science class with evidence as a foundation followed by a religion class that tells students to accept on faith what appears illogical and that defies scientific evidence.
Linda NO. A good humanities education does not include an exercise in dogmatic religious propaganda as you seem to think.
Rather, in part, it’s an exploration of history and its relationship to religions of the world. To leave out a study of religions and religious texts in history would be a severe distortion of history. Overlook that and you put yourself walking around in serious na-na land.
FYI, and in case you are listening, in the religious institutions I subbed in they had classes that taught their own religious studies, but they were different/separated from their secular studies, like history as such. And they taught their religious studies in Sunday Bible School according to their parents’ wishes for their children.
Can we get off religion now? For Linda it’s ALWAYS about religion. CBK
Science has The Theories of Evolution and Relativity. Those aren’t facts. “Many” diseases still await a cure. The scientific community uses “might” and “may” often, but they’re the experts. 🤔😮
Actually, Eddie, evolution and relativity are facts. By “theory,” in science, people mean a consistent set of principles with strong explanatory power, not an idea that “might” be true, as in, “I have a theory that Trump is sicker than his people are saying he is.”
This is a perfect example of what scientists mean by theory
Brontosauruses are thin at one end , much thicker in the middle and thin at the other end” — Anne Elk
Thanks Bob. 🙂
Yes, teachers are role models for their students but the parental/guardian influence as a role model is much more significant.
The gap is so wide, that it is almost impossible for a teacher to overcome the bad influences of a parent and/or guardian like Donald Trump and his father.
Parents are who they are. I am far more concerned with policy makers, politicians, and privatizers who seek to limit and interfere with educators who want to help students become empathetic, critical thinkers who want to make a difference in the world.
Please don’t “teach empathy.” Teach knowledge.
Flerp, how about engaging kids in learning environments that encourage and enable empathy?
People should be good people. Teachers should be good people. That models good behavior. Teachers don’t need to “teach empathy,” in my view. Parents can do that.
My kid went to school yesterday for the first time since March and his class watched this video.
By “teach,” I don’t mean tell. All classrooms establish expectations, explicit or implicit. There isn’t neutrality with respect to empathy. The expectations teach one way or another. As a teacher, I encouraged and expected students to identify with how one another felt. I expected kindness. Stuff happens in classroom because kids interact. They bring the world with all its empathy or lack thereof with them. Dealing with it in the classroom when it happens that was my job, not the parent over whom I have no influence.
FLERP, what grade did they show this video to? Not that I can pick a grade it’s suited to. The younger the student, the more likely they would get the message, this is just how our stinky society is so don’t even try (there was exactly 1 sec spent on a possible solution flashed at the end). The metaphor of life as a race is deplorable. The message of fairness & the cartoon format is K-2 level, but the politics and history are maybe 8th gr & up – issues for study and discussion, not reductionist statements. It’s a so-called “educational video” put out by the African American Policy Forum, but a look at their staff reveals mostly legal scholars, with some sociologists, anthropologists, policy wonks, a couple of artists—couldn’t see a single person w/K12 teaching experience. Poor choice by your son’s teacher.
FLERP-
Children sharing resources in kindergarten-
present it as a rule, not a lesson in fairness?
Flerp-
Two teachers, one 57 and the other 28 (mother and daughter), died of Covid last month. A joint funeral was held at the end of Sept.
The taxpayers didn’t pay for the teachers to get the same life saving drugs and care that Trump received.
Colonialism’s apathy for the 99%. Socialism’s best for the rich.