Hard Times versus Better Times

I stumbled upon an HBO documentary entitled Hard Times at Douglas High and learned that I have observed similar problems for years in public schools as those documented at Douglas. Douglas is a failing school by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) standards and is located in a poverty stricken area of inner city Baltimore. The NCLB requirements are rooted in a serious false premise: You can force people to learn. Also, NCLB focuses on student weaknesses, not strengths. The premise and focus do not bode well for any student.

As I watched students at Douglas roaming the hallways, acting up in class, not participating, and being down-right out of control, I knew that from my experience this behavior appears to be common in too many schools. People who make laws affecting education, obviously value education; but can schools make a student value their purpose? If your answer is yes, then expand your thoughts to any other socially deemed benefit: health, finance, the environment, social welfare, etc. Can or should government institutions force, cajole, or convince people to value these? What is the standard of value, and who determines it? These are questions that go deeper than the peripheral mantra exhorted by the usual spokespersons. Another question should be: Why not focus on students’ strengths; instead of, their weaknesses?

There is no doubt that many schools and school leaders work endlessly to improve student success, but there comes a time when reality, not hope or faith, has to drive political decision making. This is especially true when we have a limited amount of financial resources. Every dollar spent on education that doesn’t result in meeting goals is a dollar that could had been spent curing disease or on some other benefit. Not all students value education to the n^th degree and forcing them to a standard will result in drop-outs, social promotions, or crash course remediation with dubious results. The other spill-over cost is a disruptive school environment where bad behavior is a contagion and actions of a few will impact the whole. This spill-over results in schools devoting significant resources away from students who want to be successful as noted in recent research.

Throughout all of the problems, the one thing for sure is that schools will focus on student weaknesses. This is the focus of NCLB sanctions and funding. Imagine if every day you were told that you were weak in your job by your boss, or you received the worst assignments. You eventually would become numb, angry, or look for another job. Do you expect at-risk students to feel differently? I do not mean to insinuate that teachers are degrading them, in fact, most try to inspire them. But when students face remedial classes, constant tutoring, or mediocre grades, what are they to think? Research shows a significant increase in college drop-out rates when those students are faced with remedial classes.

I have raised the question of why not focus on student strengths. Recently school districts have bought into a Gallup Insight Test to screen teachers. Applicants test scores are a dominant indicator as to whether or not an interview will be forthcoming. The test consists of multiple questions that measure candidates’ strengths to a model of successful teachers as deemed by Gallup and its research. I mention this because the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths supports the Gallup research and proposes what school should be like: “[A] focused hunt for a child’s area of greatest potential.” If a search for teacher strengths is good for employment screening, you would think that it would be good for determining a student’s strengths and then lead to the development of an individualized education plan.

Douglas appears to be shackled by NCLB and is forced into compliance using the same old aforementioned remedies. The students hate the treatment and drop out. Consequently Douglas has 1,200 students, but only 158 graduating seniors. The wisdom of the common man holds true: “You can take a horse to water, but you cannot force him to drink.” Students deserve options in the educational system that fit their strengths, and schools should make it a priority.