Creative school solutions

The first round of Teach for America applications was due yesterday. My bright yellow application booklet for the program -- which places college graduates in two-year terms as teachers in struggling city schools -- had sat on my desk for the last month. Yesterday, I finally did something about it -- I stuffed it into the bottom of a drawer. And there it will stay, a testament to my exasperation and confusion over the plight of our public schools. I want to help reform our country's educational system. But my idealism crumbles in the face of an issue so complex I can't find the front door to the problem. According to Gallup polls and the media, education is the top voter concern this election year. A meager 36 percent of Americans say they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot of confidence" in our public schools. It's easy to be disturbed when only 31 percent of fourth-graders and 41 percent of 12th-graders read at proficient levels. Schools in low-income neighborhoods suffer overcrowding and decay. The Philadelphia public school teachers' strike, which ended Monday, is a painfully proximate symptom of unrest in our school system. However, the most troubling warnings come from international exams that show our kids pulling mediocre scores in math and science. History and Public Policy Progfessor Ted Hershberg, the director of the Center for Greater Philadelphia, suggests that the global economy -- in which multinational corporations compete on a high-stakes, technology-driven battlefield -- requires a new type of worker. "We need a different school system for a different economy, a school system that produces graduates who are flexible, adaptable, quick learners, and problem solvers," Hershberg wrote in a 1996 report. Education needs an overhaul. But what does it take to revolutionize education in America? I think we need to experiment with new methods of teaching and relentlessly pursue ways to engage every child in the classroom. Memorization and multiple choice questions don't challenge students or stimulate a love for learning. Accountability -- the buzzword of the day -- means students and teachers will be held to national standards. Standards are a crucial way of setting and keeping our goals, but only if we arm students with the tools to achieve on these tests. We must also promote life-long learning. Hershberg suggests that schools focus on "the first 15 to 20 years of life, with precious little aimed at the remaining 40 to 50 years of working life in an era when technological change requires that education be treated as a life-long learning process." We need teachers ready to help reform the system. Half of our nation's teachers will retire in the next 10 years; we must make teaching an attractive profession to our nation's best and brightest. Finally, we must stick to our conviction that quality primary education is every child's right. Currently, education is run by states and local governments, which means that schools are often funded largely through local property taxes. So richer communities have better schools. George W. Bush claims to want to close this gap, yet his general theory is that students in failing schools should be given passports out in the form of vouchers. What he doesn't say is how he will help those students who are left behind. Al Gore plans to fix failing schools rather than abandon them. He wants to invest in our public schools instead of dumping the problems on the private sector and hoping that everyone will end up with a good education. Bush wants to give $2.4 billion to states to enact teacher accountability programs but says little about teacher retraining. Meanwhile, Gore will recruit 100,000 new teachers, raise pay for good teachers and remove failing teachers. Gore approaches the problem creatively; Bush is threatening a mean rap with the ruler to anyone who doesn't pass muster without giving them the chance to get in shape. I chose not to apply for Teach for America -- yet. I'll have a second chance to apply in the spring or else decide to direct my energies down another avenue. Either way, I want to help rebuild a system in which all children have a chance to learn. The first thing I'll do is vote for the candidate who has a thoughtful, sensible plan for the future of our schools.

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