My household has always been filled with education. My Dad served as a superintendent of schools and principal as well as boys' counselor. In addition, he taught world and American history, typewriting, band and orchestra. In my college, I gravitated to business education because of a fine high school business teacher I admired. After bachelor's and master's in business education, I taught my first junior high school class in typewriting to 275 ninth graders every two days. After that experience, I ended up teaching high school business law, business math, shorthand and typewriting. In the meantime, I was attracted to doctoral work in business education and a minor in higher education. That resulted in struggling with a dissertation on "Automated Data Processing Concepts for High School Business Students." Three more college teaching jobs followed with courses taught in office management, introduction to business, records management, shorthand, typewriting, elementary accounting, seminar in data processing education, analysis of communications in business, word processing management (started one of the first courses in the nation), office systems analysis, and University 100 (First-time college students). I can proudly say 45+ years have been spent in the teaching profession.
Everyone has an opinion on how public/higher education can be improved. We hear how our students cannot read or write after graduating from high school. We find students who have few marketable skills for computer-enhanced environments. Our children are exposed to gun violence, drug availability, and gender and racial inequalities. Surveys of global education show American public education lagging in 27th place.
Higher education has also received considerable criticism for wealthy parents and celebrities who will do anything to get their children into Ivy League or well-known universities. With the Covid-19 Pandemic still continuing, questions are being asked whether college students are getting a traditional college education by virtual learning. Although our universities are world class, student debt accrued to attend these universities is now over one trillion dollars. In addition to financial and curriculum concerns. Will college brick and mortar buildings begin to disappear or become functional at a slower pace? Will the traditional lecture be replaced with newer technological ways to present information in a faster, cheaper manner? Will the tuition rates and college costs have to be adjusted to accommodate virtual learning and soaring costs of maintaining building, paying faculty, administrators, and staff, and keeping research programs solvent?
This S/DG will explore the "crises" in both forms of education today, learn about ideas that are being proposed by educators and others, and enjoy meaningful dialogue to define the problems and suggest solutions. We will discuss both the rational and the moral sides of these issues.
There is probably no other single issue that is as important to America's future as the education of our young.
Each class meeting will begin with a 10-minute discussion of a current news event in public and higher education.
1. January 5, 2021. Overview of American Higher Education
Expectations, Chap. 1
2. January 12. Overview of American Public (K-12) Education, Layperson’s Guide for Involved Teachers, Students. And Parents
Fear and Learning, Foreword, Layperson’s Guide for Involved Teachers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_the_United_States
3. January 19. Teacher Bashing, Student Test Scores, Budget Cuts
Fear and Learning, Chap. 1
4. January 26. Violence in the Classroom, Mike’s Case, Accountability Systems. Impact of Nation at Risk
Fear and Learning, Chap. 2
5. February 2. Bullying, Truancy, Prediction-Reliance Policy, The Fallacy of Great Schools, Misuse of Data, Teacher Quality, What Passes for Science, Contextual Accountability
Fear and Learning, Chap. 3
6. February 9. Failing to Be a Superperson, Importance of ESL, Destructive Idealism: Superteachers, Education Reform Movement, Teacher Cheating, No-Excuses Charter Schools, Fight for Academic Excellence
Fear and Learning, Chap. 4
7. February 16. Black-hat Reformers, Merit Pay, Effect of Low-Income Poverty, Disrespect in the Classroom, Satisfaction in the Profession, Public Schools: Beyond Redemption, Mendacious School Reasoning.
Fear and Learning, Chaps. 5 and 6
8. February 23. Common Core State Standards, No Child Left Behind (G. Bush), Fiscal Strain of Public Schools, “Achievement/Opportunity Gaps”
Fear and Learning, Chap. 7
9. March 2. Politically Powerless Parents and Inadequate Schools, State Funds Per Pupil, No-excuses Equality, The Failing Citizen, Nation at Risk 2?, Six Solutions
Fear and Learning, Chaps. 8 and 9
10. March 9. Skepticism about Civic Education in College Preparing Citizenry, Lasting Effect of Critical Thinking, Evaluating Social Media News, Preparing to Live in Interdependent World, Rationale for International Studies and Global Citizenship, Intercultural Competence, Issues of Study Abroad
Expectations, Chap. 2 and 3
11. March 16. Standards of Ethical Behavior and Personal Responsibility in Colleges, Students' Beliefs about Ethics Working to Their Advantage (e.g. College Cheating), Growth of Moral Reasoning Courses, Transition Courses for High School to College (First-Year Students or e.g. University 100), Teaching Empathy in College, College Plagiarism (Academic Dishonesty), Teaching Conscientiousness (Work Ethic)
Expectations, Chap. 4
12. March 23. Personal Philosophy for College Students, Greater Health and Longevity, Seeking Help from Career Offices, Changing Student Values, Effect of Great Books Courses, Happiness Courses, Taking Smorgasbord of Courses Approach
Expectations, Chap. 5
13. March 30. Softer Skills: Teamwork, Resilience, Tolerance, and Creativity, Lifelong Learning, Prospects for Change, Research Universities vs. Comprehensive Universities, Community Colleges, Independent Colleges, Three Impediments: Research, Faculty Resistance, Leadership
Expectations, Chaps. 6 and 7
14. April 6. Public Will Reforms Work? Slow Spread of Reform, Improving Educational Research, Incentives for Reform-Minded Leaders, Tenure and Persuading Faculties, Creating Teaching Faculty, Faculty Unionization, Graduate Education and Its Dilemma, Decisive Role of Faculties, Improving Confidence of Public
Expectations, Chaps. 9 and 10
Core Books
Bok, Derek. Higher Expectations: Can Colleges Teach What They Need to Know in the 21st Century? Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2020.
Kuhn, John. Fear and Learning in America: Bad Data, Good Teachers, and the Attack on Public Education. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia, 2014.
Selected Bibliography
Bastedo, Michael N., Altbach, Philip G., and Patricia J. Gumport, eds. American Higher Education in the 21st Century: Social, Political, and Economic Challenges. 4th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016.
Callahan, David. The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc., 2004.
Cohen, Arthur M., Florence B. Brawer, and Carrie B. Kisker. The American Community College. 6th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Brand, 2014.
Eisner, George W. The Arts and Creation of Mind. Harrisonburg, Virginia: R. R. Donnelly & Sons, 2002.
Ellis, John M. The Breakdown of Higher Education: How It Happened, the Damage It Does, and What Can Be Done. New York: Encounter Books, 2020.
Goldstein, Dana. The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession. New York: Anchor Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2014.
Howard, Tyrone C. Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America's Classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia, 2010.
Kirp, David. The College Dropout Scandal. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Lucas, Christopher J. American Higher Education: A History. 2d ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Neem, Johann N. Democracy's Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.
Noguera, Pedro A. City Schools and the American Dream: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education. New York and London: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 2003.
Noddings, Nel. Education and Democracy in the 21st Century. New York and London: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 2013.
Ravitch, Diane. Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
Spring, Joel. The American School: From the Puritans to the Trump Era. 10th ed. New York and London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.
Wexler, Natalie. The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System--And How to Fix It. New York: Avery, Penguin Random House LLC, 2019.