Why have a public education system? Many see it as a way of ensuring their kids have the best life possible, and a better one than they themselves did.
But the truth is it exists to serve the community, not any one individual. It’s like our police and fire departments, which we created to maintain a safe enough environment in which we can prosper as individuals. Public schools aim to create an educated populace so we can all thrive as individuals. Whether that’s through developing people ready to take on or create employment opportunities or helping ensure the body politic doesn’t succumb to misguided or nefarious elected leaders.
What’s the best way to educate children? The only thing the experts I met while spending 10 years on the San Carlos School District board could agree on was that no single approach works for every child.
Should we segregate children and teach them in the way that’s best for each group? Unfortunately, there’s no way to reliably determine what kind of learner a child is, and their learning style changes and evolves over time. Moreover, people learn different subjects in different ways.
There’s also an important social dimension to learning. Seeing a peer master something you’re struggling with can give you the courage to believe you can learn it, too.
The Sequoia Union High School District, along with many others, is implementing a learning environment addressing and capitalizing on this fluid diversity. The aim is to lift all boats by including a broader range of abilities and backgrounds in most classrooms. Will it work? It’s too soon to tell. But the general sense of the teaching staff — our experts, and our boots on the ground — is that it is working and is worth pursuing.
Unfortunately, it’s run into organized opposition from those who fear it will harm their kids. Under the banner of “Students First” they want to unwind the changes. I think we can all understand how parents might feel that way. In fact, we’d probably wonder about parents that weren’t concerned.
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But this is where we need to remember the community’s goal is to educate everyone as best we can. If mixing children of different learning abilities helps those who need more support, then it’s worth pursuing. It’s a concept we have been pursuing, successfully, as regards special ed students, for many years.
“Students First” reminds me of the push back against “Black Lives Matter.” It’s true that all lives matter. But not every life starts from the same place or faces the same obstacles. Similarly, not all children are blessed with the advantages that come from being born into a well-educated, middle-class family that values education.
Do we just shrug our shoulders and say life’s tough? I should hope not; that doesn’t sound like a community most of us would choose to live in. We should want and expect our public schools to take such differences into account and try to mitigate them.
As for the fear that mixing students with different abilities limits some of them, my personal experience argues it doesn’t. Public schools helped me build a life far beyond that of my parents and even my own youthful expectations. But I’ve never forgotten a conversation with my high school biology teacher, whom I respected and admired. One day I complained he didn’t spend as much time working with me as he did the other students in the class.
His reply was both simple and profound: “Mark, I know you’ll figure this stuff out, because you’re smart and your family encourages you to work hard in school. But not all your classmates find it that easy, for many reasons, and I want them to learn the material, too.”
I hope those fighting for their children take a moment to reflect on this and adopt a broader view. The fight should be to help all kids, not just some of them.
After all, it’s in our self-interest. Holding the district accountable for educating everyone will make the world a better place for us as we age and give us confidence that the future will remain bright when it comes time to hand over the reins.
Mark Olbert is a former mayor of San Carlos. He and his former school board colleague Seth Rosenblatt host The Boiling Frog podcast, which you can find at TheBoilingFrog.net.
Equity based changes to freshman instruction at our local high schools is just plain wrong. Teachers should not teach to the middle or just to a single level of student capabilities. It would be wrong to have all kids sit in classrooms where only advanced courses are being taught, and it would be equally wrong to expect all kids to sit in classrooms where only basic content is covered. The larger curricula should be tailored to fit ALL students' needs.
That means differentiated instruction is what is needed to truly serve our students' interests. To suggest otherwise would be abandoning the development of coursework that considers what content should be presented to students with different levels of readiness to learn. One size does not fit all.
This is not an “equity” issue. While our educational system should give all students an opportunity to flourish, that cannot be at the expense of taking something away from any group of students. Eliminating honors courses for freshmen would deprive kids wanting to be challenged in the classroom the opportunity to benefit from taking those courses. That's why a differentiated instruction approach is better for everyone. Make the curriculum fit the kid... not the other way around.
There are more pressing issues for our community and schools to address. COVID has set back the education of many, many students. I believe we should be investing time, energy and money into getting kids ready for success beyond high school. That means getting them ready and providing the tools they need to pursue college, meaningful career opportunities or to blaze their own trail toward what they find fulfilling. The one size fits all desire to level load high school education will stymie the ability of students to flourish.
There is so much documentation on this subject pointing to many obvious problems in current curriculums. DEI and Social Emotional Learning philosophies are at the base of many of the problems.
Also see an important article......."Oregon's Unwise Ending of Reading, Writing Proficiency Standards"
Thank you for bringing more awareness to the community on the elimination of the 10 AS/Honors class choices for SUHSD students. Did you know the elimination of AS/Honors class choices was made without sufficient communication, broad community input, or a SUHSD Board decision/vote?
Students, families and many SUHSD teachers feel blindsided by the lack of transparency. Trustee Carrie Du Bois shared, “I also agree that our community has not been involved in the conversation. I do not believe this topic was ever fully discussed at a public board meeting.”
Have you read the SUHSD Teachers Open Letter to the Board? The letter states “we are deeply concerned about the potential wholesale elimination of AS/AP at the 9th and 10th grades.”
Did you know SF tried the detracking experiment and it failed? It resulted in creating more disparities.
The elimination of AS/Honors courses does not support educational equity - it imposes a ceiling on our students' aspirations and achievements. Instead of removing these challenging classes, we should strive to improve access and support for all students to achieve at high levels.
SUHSD Students First is doing a fantastic job in advocating for high quality public education and the restoration of class choices for students. Hopefully more people sign the SUHSD Board Letter by visiting the SUHSD Students First website https://suhsdstudentsfirst.godaddysites.com
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(4) comments
Good morning, Mark
I disagree with your perspective.
Equity based changes to freshman instruction at our local high schools is just plain wrong. Teachers should not teach to the middle or just to a single level of student capabilities. It would be wrong to have all kids sit in classrooms where only advanced courses are being taught, and it would be equally wrong to expect all kids to sit in classrooms where only basic content is covered. The larger curricula should be tailored to fit ALL students' needs.
That means differentiated instruction is what is needed to truly serve our students' interests. To suggest otherwise would be abandoning the development of coursework that considers what content should be presented to students with different levels of readiness to learn. One size does not fit all.
This is not an “equity” issue. While our educational system should give all students an opportunity to flourish, that cannot be at the expense of taking something away from any group of students. Eliminating honors courses for freshmen would deprive kids wanting to be challenged in the classroom the opportunity to benefit from taking those courses. That's why a differentiated instruction approach is better for everyone. Make the curriculum fit the kid... not the other way around.
There are more pressing issues for our community and schools to address. COVID has set back the education of many, many students. I believe we should be investing time, energy and money into getting kids ready for success beyond high school. That means getting them ready and providing the tools they need to pursue college, meaningful career opportunities or to blaze their own trail toward what they find fulfilling. The one size fits all desire to level load high school education will stymie the ability of students to flourish.
Mr. Fowler - Thank you, important comments.
There is so much documentation on this subject pointing to many obvious problems in current curriculums. DEI and Social Emotional Learning philosophies are at the base of many of the problems.
Also see an important article......."Oregon's Unwise Ending of Reading, Writing Proficiency Standards"
Mark,
Thank you for bringing more awareness to the community on the elimination of the 10 AS/Honors class choices for SUHSD students. Did you know the elimination of AS/Honors class choices was made without sufficient communication, broad community input, or a SUHSD Board decision/vote?
Students, families and many SUHSD teachers feel blindsided by the lack of transparency. Trustee Carrie Du Bois shared, “I also agree that our community has not been involved in the conversation. I do not believe this topic was ever fully discussed at a public board meeting.”
Have you read the SUHSD Teachers Open Letter to the Board? The letter states “we are deeply concerned about the potential wholesale elimination of AS/AP at the 9th and 10th grades.”
Did you know SF tried the detracking experiment and it failed? It resulted in creating more disparities.
The elimination of AS/Honors courses does not support educational equity - it imposes a ceiling on our students' aspirations and achievements. Instead of removing these challenging classes, we should strive to improve access and support for all students to achieve at high levels.
SUHSD Students First is doing a fantastic job in advocating for high quality public education and the restoration of class choices for students. Hopefully more people sign the SUHSD Board Letter by visiting the SUHSD Students First website https://suhsdstudentsfirst.godaddysites.com
Kc... you said it a lot better than I did. Thanks.
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