Dear Mr. Hirsch . . .times, they are a changing

Dear Mr. Hirsch,

I respect your research and the years you have dedicated to gathering the information that supports your findings about the state of education in America. With an open mind, I actually agree with some of the elements that you present about core knowledge and the idea that there are some ideas and terminology every student should leave my classroom knowing. With a less open mind, I cannot, with great faith, agree with the way in which you hope for me to disseminate this information. Rote memorization and full class instruction does not work for all learners. At the beginning of every school year, I ask my students to identify what kind of learner they believe they are. Many of them come to find they are kinesthetic learners. Should I neglect their needs in order to serve what you may believe is the greater good? Our classrooms are full of complex learners with complex needs. I teach students with multiple disabilities, gifted intellectual abilities, and an array of work ethics at the same time, in the same classroom, very often twenty two or more at a time. I have a lot of needs to think about, and I can't neglect to think of them when I plan instruction.

I don't think the needs of our students have changed that much over the years. In fact, I believe those same needs were present back in the 1950's when your method of education was rather en vogue. At that time, research had not been performed to understand the different learning styles of children. My parents listened, they memorized, and they failed or succeeded based on their auditory processing skills. We were considered an academic powerhouse back in that era, and so, many people may agree with your ideas of going back to basics. I think the basics can help to establish success in our classrooms, but I don't feel we will get the same results in 2010 that we got back then. The times have changed. Our students have changed and so have their family structures. Tests that benchmark their progress to meet the core curricular goals aren't going to re-establish our dominance in the global education race.

You site Japanese students and their success as a model for our students. You do not consider the additional amount of time they spend in the classroom or the investments their parents make in their education. These are the same advantages children in affluent school districts have access to. Children from wealthy families have access to tutors who help them prepare for their standardized tests. In fact, I am one of those tutors who is paid a rather hefty fee to make sure that students will be successful in their endeavors with the SAT's. Week after week, I work with students, one on one, preparing them to do better than they would have on the standardized test that will affect where they go to college. They also know many of the terms that can be found on your cultural literacy list, not because they have learned them in school but because they have learned them in their home through cultural exposure.

That being said, I have taught in an urban high school where my students did not have access to private tutors or cultural experiences and because of that, they would not recognize many of the terms on your list. Their parents did not always value education in the same way as their affluent peers did, and no matter how much material from your list I presented them with or asked them to memorize, they could not or would not do it. I resorted to project based learning, and even though I did not get total results, I did get some results. When I tried to give students experiences where they could be successful, they began to grow as people. These students who on paper, on state tests, were labeled as failures were beginning to see themselves as more than just that. Perhaps I rely far too much on the school of thought that looks to experimentalism and existentialism, but I believe school should be about the experience instead of just cold, hard facts. The value of the human being cannot be benchmarked.

Technology and its advancements have made research a lot easier for our students. They no longer need us to be the "end all, be all" guide to knowledge in our classrooms. Frankly, the internet can provide my students with more knowledge than my head holds. The internet cannot give my students "aha moments" or experiences to interact with their peers and create meaningful reflections. It cannot give my students person to person interactions that ask them to develop into productive members of society. Facts cannot do that but experiences can. Do you really believe I should neglect my desire to give them a place to discover just so they can be benchmarked and passed on like factory products? That's not teaching; that's producing.

I appreciate that you have kept an open mind and have changed the opinions that you held so close to your heart. There is no easy fix for all of our schools. There is no magic medicine that will cure all of their ills, but we could use a vitamin to support our growth. Your ideas are not completely without their merits. In fact, I see their merit, but in isolation, their merit becomes diminished.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the opinion of a humble public servant in the trenches.

Sincerely,
Gina M. Grosso