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SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
The Silent Killer of Education Improvement
An often-heard assertion in the comments to this blog is that more money in general - and higher salaries for teachers in particular - will lead to better education results. While this theory seems plausible on the surface, a moment's thought will reveal evidence that increased spending does not necessarily lead to better performance. For example, there's the fact that private schools, which on average receive less money, tend to get superior results. There's the fact that poor teachers like high salaries just as much as good teachers. There's the fact that there appears to be virtually no correlation between education spending and academic achievement in educational jurisdictions around the world (except in conditions of extreme poverty). And there's the fact that per-pupil spending in constant dollars has tripled or even quadrupled over the past 50 years or so - yet there has been no corresponding improvement in academic achievement.
So why is this? Why has increased spending not led to better educational results? The answer appears to be lie in the way the extra money is spent. It seems that, far from going to pay for first-rate teachers and excellent programs, the money is diverted in ways that are actually counter-productive. The following passage from Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo discusses the unfortunate effect that foreign aid largesse has on government personnel (pp. 50-51). It is quite possible that there is a similar process at work in North American education systems.
"Development agencies would have us believe that aid helps build a lasting, credible and strong civil service. Indeed, the World Bank recommends that by providing more aid, rich countries actually assist in the fight against corruption. Thanks to aid, poor governments can afford to support ethics training, increase the salaries of their public-sector employees (police, judges, medical staff, tax collectors), thereby limiting the need for corruption. Moreover, higher salaries will attract competent and higher-quality employees to the civil service.
"Unfortunately, unfettered money (the prospect of sizeable ill-gotten gains) is exceptionally corrosive, and misallocates talent. In an aid-dependent environment, the talented - the better-educated and more principled, who should be building the foundations of economic prosperity - become unprincipled and are drawn from productive work towards nefarious activities that undermine the country's growth prospects. Those who remain principled are driven away, either to the private sector or abroad, leaving the posts that remain to be filled by the relatively less-educated, and potentially more vulnerable to graft.
"Endemic corruption also targets public contracts. In these environments, contracts which should be awarded to those who can deliver on the best terms, in the best time, are given to those whose principal aim is to divert as much as possible to their own pockets. What ensue are lower-quality infrastructure projects, and enfeebled public services, to the detriment of growth.
"Similarly, the allocation of government spending suffers as corrupt officials are likely to choose projects less on the basis of public welfare and more on the opportunities for extorting bribes and diverting funds. The bigger the project, the greater the opportunity. Projects whose exact value is difficult to monitor present lucrative opportunities for corruption - it is easier to siphon money from large infrastructure projects than from textbooks or teachers' salaries."
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Don’t Write Kids Off
John Mighton is the founder of Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies (JUMP), a elementary school numeracy program based in Toronto. Dr. Mighton came to Waterloo last week to speak about the wonderful success of JUMP Math and his belief (based on the unbelievable results achieved by JUMP) that every child can succeed at math. His passionate address was received very enthusiastically by the hundreds of people in the audience. Here is a passage from Dr. Mighton's book, The End of Ignorance, that discusses the mathematical potential that is possessed by virtually every child (pp. 188-190).
"People fundamentally misunderstand what distinguishes people who do work at the highest level in the arts and sciences from those who are merely competent. It is not a special intellectual gift; at the highest levels of achievement, intelligence is almost secondary. Factors such as passion, confidence, creativity, diligence, luck and artistic flair (even in the sciences) are as important as the speed and sharpness of one's mind. Einstein was not technically a great mathematician, but he had a deep sense of beauty and a willingness to question conventional wisdom. A person's willingness to train relentlessly and to learn in the most efficient manner - by studying and synthesizing the work of other experts - is also a factor in success. The least acknowledged factor in success is undoubtedly luck: many breakthroughs in the arts and sciences occurred because the right combination of ideas happened to fall into the right person's lap. For every breakthrough, often a great many people might have made the advance but were unlucky enough to get beaten to the punch, or were held back by a missing piece of information, faulty data or an invalid presupposition.
"Through proper instruction, I believe we could raise the level of virtually all students to the point where they could do well in every subject at school. Of course, whether students would go on to do exceptional work in a particular field would depend on factors beyond the school's control - their level of passion and diligence, their willingness to train efficiently in the subject, even their luck. But schools could control at least one thing: they could educate and inspire students to the point where the majority could choose to follow their passion in virtually any artistic or scientific endeavour.
"Why haven't we seen any evidence in our schools to suggest that students could do well in every subject? The evidence has never emerged because we have never created the conditions in our classrooms that would allow it to emerge. The problem is clearly circular. We will never foster emergent intelligence or abilities in weaker students until we remove the psychological and pedagogical barriers that create artificial hierarchies in our schools and prevent weaker students from succeeding. And teachers will never make the effort to remove those barriers until they have seen evidence that emergent intelligence can appear in weaker students. So the hierarchies persist.
"The scientific evidence suggests that children are born with roughly equal potential, and that what becomes of them is largely a matter of nurture, not nature. So how does so much potential ultimately disappear in so many children? Why do we observe such extreme differences in students even by Grade 3? Some people believe that children's potential can vanish even before they enter school if they are not properly nurtured in the early years. While I believe this may happen in extreme cases of neglect, the evidence in cognition shows that the brain is plastic beyond the early years, and the results of JUMP suggest that weaker students can make remarkable gains in subjects such as mathematics. I am convinced, as are many teachers who have used JUMP, that the differences that exist between students when they enter school can largely be eliminated or minimized through rigorous training and instruction, to the point where the vast majority of children can work at a very high standard."
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Adam’s Rib
Margaret Wente's column today tackles the new reality of women outnumbering men in the work force - and having better jobs. Women can do this because they are better prepared for the work force than men - 58% of university graduates are female and they dominate the fields which are poised to grow in the future. The trend is only going to strengthen.
There are many theories as to the cause of boys' poor performance in school, including lack of male role models, having to sit still, reading materials that cater to females, and the like. Here is School for Thought's contribution: boys do badly in school because of progressive teaching methods. This article from our archives discusses boys' disastrous performance in England, where exactly the same scenario is playing out. Interestingly, in Scotland where reading is taught using systematic phonics (see this article from our archives), this phenomenon does not seem to be occurring.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Read Them and Weep
The sample student responses from the EQAO's grade 10 literacy test are rather eye-opening. A quick glance will reveal that they are, for the most part, of a pretty low level - inarticulate, grammatically faulty, riddled with spelling errors, and revealing impoverished vocabulary and understanding. But there's something else. Did you spot it? Not one of the approximately 30 student responses is written in cursive - every single one is printed! (Aside to TDSBNW: did the Ontario government remove cursive writing from the curriculum when we weren't looking, by any chance?) Furthermore, most of the printed samples bear a close resemblance to chicken scratches - cramped, painful scrawls that predispose the reader to devalue them.
There are several obvious benefits to fluent, elegant handwriting, for example: the ability to write quickly on examinations; the favourable impression it makes on, say, prospective employers and exam markers; the pride in doing good work (which often leads to extra care being devoted to the content of the writing); and the certainty that one's work will be able to be read. In addition, there is strong evidence that good handwriting leads to the production of more creative and well-written compositions. The importance of good penmanship is well summed up in this short article. There are other good articles about penmanship in our newsletter archives (scroll down to "Penmanship"), in particular this one.
Really, to look at the EQAO samples is to despair. To quote Thomas Hobbes, these kids are doomed to lives that are poor, nasty, brutish, and short. We have failed them.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Are Public Schools Segregation Academies?
The poverty excuse for poor school achievement is also one of forced school boundaries as this guest op-ed on Jay Greene's blog points out. When the Toronto board was proposing alternative schools, particularly the controversial Afri-centric school, people screamed about such schools promoting segregation.
Our argument at SQE is that people are already segregated by the neighborhoods they live in. The op-ed looks at Manhattan school districts. There is, however, a growing movement in the US to "de-segregate" kids not by race but by income. It is not without controversy either, as you can imagine. In a city like Toronto it would mean bussing kids from Rosedale or Forest Hill to Rexdale or Malvern and vice versa. Would that stop the SES excuse? Maybe. A better solution is proposed in the op-ed:
- "What's the quickest and easiest way to create a nationwide system of segregation academies? Force people to go to school based on where they live.
- "How do you make them even worse? Let the district lines be drawn by an unaccountable bureaucracy that claims to care about kids but actually doesn't care how many children's lives it has to destroy in order to keep the gravy trains running on time.
- "What is the only - the only - empirically proven way to successfully smash segregation? School choice."
Economist David Johnson's work has shown that outliers of excellence do exist among low SES school populations. The TDSB yet to be released report (discussed by TDSBNW) may prove illuminating as well. All of it brings me back to Dr. Fuller's comments about empowering poor parents by giving them mechanisms to choose their children's schools. I wonder, if given the choice, how many would actually stick to the local school?
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Reading Between the Lines
The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) has just released the highlights from the most recent grade 10 literacy test. In a convincing demonstration of their spinning abilities, the EQAO trumpets that Ontario students are maintaining a high level of achievement. What exactly does this mean? Well, it means that the percentage of successful fully-participating students dropped from 85% last year to 84% this year. In most people's minds, this would be a deterioration in academic achievement.
Furthermore, most people would probably think that the 84% pass rate means that 84% of all Ontario grade 10 students are good readers and writers. But this is not the case at all. In the first place, only 93% of eligible students participated fully in the test, meaning that the percentage of eligible students who passed was only 78% (84% of 93%). Secondly, an unknown (to us) percentage of students were deemed ineligible in the first place - due presumably to issues like severe physical handicaps or lack of proficiency in French and English - and then of course we can't forget the sizable cohort of students who have already dropped out of school by grade 10. Thirdly, something like a tenth of test-takers were provided with "accommodations" (for example, having the questions in the written component read aloud to them and/or the use of a computer).
It seems likely that the EQAO's 84% pass rate translates into a legitimate pass rate of only about 60%-65%, if that. Perennial status quo defender Annie Kidder was quoted as saying that it would be unreasonable to expect a higher percentage of students to pass. Here are some links to sample questions and answers, which suggest that the test is pretty easy - something that a grade 6 student shouldn't have much trouble passing. You be the judge.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Power Corrupts….
Guest Blog by Frank Gue
The following item appeared in today's Hamilton Spectator.
'NORTH BAY A teachers union is warning that student teachers from Nipissing University may pay the price if the institution confers an honorary degree on former Ontario premier Mike Harris on Friday.
"Reno Melatti, president of the Ontario Teachers Federation, said teaching affiliates such as the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and the elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario are vehemently opposed to the honorary degree.
"'They are also upset the new learning library could be named to honor Harris,' he said.
"'That opposition could include boycotting Nipissing student teachers,' Melatti warned.
"'I don't know what actions will be taken, but if affiliates no longer take Nipissing student teachers, we can't compel them to do so.'
"Melatti said the OTF sent a letter to Nipissing's board of governors May 12 on behalf of the 155,000 teachers who are employed across Ontario, asking it to reconsider its position."
Words fail me. All I can say is: take note that this position of the teachers unions presumably represents the mental, intellectual, emotional, and professional level of at least some of the people who are teaching our kids.
PS Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines 'extort' as: "to get (money, etc.) from someone by violence, threats, misuse of authority, etc.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
You Can Do It If You Really Want
Most people probably think that Cicero, a very accomplished Roman orator, was born with a talent for speaking and oratory. But, as this passage from Robert Harris' Imperium clearly shows, this was not at all the case.
"Cicero's voice at this time was not the fearsome instrument it later became, but harsh and occasionally prone to stutter. I believe the problem was that he had so many words teeming in his head that at moments of stress they jammed in his throat, as when a pair of sheep, pressed by the flock behind them, try at the same time to squeeze through a gate. In any case, these words were often too high-falutin for his audience to grasp. 'The Scholar', his restless listeners used to call him, or 'the Greek' - and the terms were not meant as compliments. Although no one doubted his talent for oratory, his frame was too weak to carry his ambition, and the strain on his vocal cords of several hours' advocacy, often in the open air and in all seasons, could leave him rasping and voiceless for days. Chronic insomnia and poor digestion added to his woes." (pp. 4-5)
In order to overcome these handicaps, Cicero decided to undergo training in Greece and Asia Minor.
"The young man who stood on the quayside that spring morning was thin and round-shouldered, with an unnaturally long neck, in which a large Adam's apple, as big as a baby's fist, plunged up and down whenever he swallowed. His eyes were protuberant, his skin sallow, his cheeks sunken; in short he was the picture of ill health." (p. 5)
Here is a sample of the regimen he then embarked upon.
"Molon's first action was to feed him that evening a bowl of hard-boiled eggs with anchovy sauce and, when Cicero had finished that - not without some complaining, I can tell you - to follow it with a lump of red meat, seared over charcoal, accompanied by a cup of goat's milk....
"At dawn, the physical exercises began. 'Speaking in the forum,' said Molon, 'is comparable to running in a race. It requires stamina and strength.' He threw a fake punch at Cicero, who let out a loud 'Oof!' and staggered backwards, almost falling over. Molon had him stand with his legs apart, his knees rigid, then bend from the waist twenty times to touch the ground on either side of his feet. After that, he made him lie on his back with his hands clasped behind his head and repeated sit up without shifting his legs. He made him lie on his front and raise himself solely by the strength of his arms, again twenty times, again without bending his knees. That was the regime on the first day, and each day afterwards more exercises were added and their duration increased. Cicero again slept soundly, and now had no trouble eating, either."
"For the actual declamatory training, Molon took his eager pupil out of the shaded courtyard and into the heat of midday, and had him recite his exercise pieces - usually a trial scene or a soliloquy from Menander - while walking up a steep hill without pausing. In this fashion, with the lizards scattering underfoot and only the scratching of the cicadas in the olive trees for an audience, Cicero strengthened his lungs and learned how to gain the maximum output of words from a single breath. 'Pitch your delivery in the middle range,' instructed Molon. 'That is where the power is. Nothing too high or low.' In the afternoons, for speech projection, Molon took him down to the shingle beach, paced out eighty yards (the maximum range of the human voice) and made him declaim against the boom and hiss of the sea - the nearest thing, he said, to the murmur of three thousand people in the open air, or the background mutter of several hundred men in conversation in the senate. These were distractions Cicero would have to get used to." (pp. 7-8)
There was more, but it should be clear that Cicero became perhaps the greater orator the world has ever known by means of his own determination and willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to overcome his personal handicaps. And, this is an important lesson for everyone. Epictetus summed it up perfectly back in the first century AD, "First, decide who you would be. Then, do what you must do."
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Time to Shine a Light
This blog entry from a journalist in York Region raises a number of points. The main issue is the rampant bullying in area schools - and the York public board's apparent inability or unwillingness to put an end to it. Which brings up a very related issue - school boards' lack of accountability and parents' powerlessness. The journalist mentions the desperate recourse to small claims court on the part of several frustrated parents - and the McGuinty government's attempts to shut down this potential lifeline. The Ontario ombudsman is seeking permission to look into this situation, and it would be awesome if he were permitted to shine his light into the murk. So far no Ontario political party or parent group has commented.
Well, we would like to make it clear that the Society for Quality Education is on record as endorsing the extension of the Ontario ombudsman's mandate to investigate unchecked bullying in Ontario schools in particular - and overall lack of accountability in general.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Highly Distinct - But Not Highly Distinguished
Guest Blog By Chuck
We attended our son's convocation at the University of Oshawa Institute of Technology last Friday. It was standard fare, as far as graduation ceremonies go. Our son graduated with his Honours Bachelor of Engineering and Management with "distinction", meaning his cumulative GPA was between 3.5 and 3.79. "Highest Distinction" is awarded only to students with a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher. As you might expect, not many of the graduating students received either a "D" or an "HD" on their diplomas.
Well, all except for one discipline. Of the 264 graduates who received their Bachelor of Education degree, EVERY SINGLE ONE graduated with "HD".
Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
Of 160 graduates, 19 graduated with "D" and 8 with "HD".
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
Of 200 graduates, 20 graduated with "D" and 12 with "HD".
Bachelor of Commerce (Honours
Of 190 graduates, 25 graduated with "D" and 12 with "HD".
Bachelor of Science (Honours)
Of 277 graduates, 26 graduated with "D" and 23 with "HD".
Bachelor of Education (Honours)
Of 264 graduates, 264 graduated with "HD".
Wow! All of the talent in the teacher gene pool must have gone to this school!