Leaving "competition" behind

[Jennifer Lubke]

Cross-posted at ThinkTime

I've been steeping in a brew of educational conversation this week -- first at a meeting on Monday afternoon in which board members, school personnel, and community leaders debated the future of the Great Schools Partnership and then tonight at a gathering in which Sallee Reynolds outlined an ambitious curriculum design for Hardin Valley Academy.

So I was really primed for this column by Alfie Kohn, which appears in this week's edition of Education Week. (Reading it requires a free registration at Education Week.)

Kohn, a longtime critic of the grading and testing procedures used in U.S. schools, critiques some loaded education verbiage we all know well: "competitiveness in a 21st century global economy."

Kohn questions the conventional wisdom that treats test scores as a barometer of a nation's economic health. But he goes beyond that to question the values system that links financial terms to teaching and learning:

Is the main mission of schools really to prepare children to be productive workers who will do their part to increase the profitability of their future employers? Every time education is described as an “investment,” or schools are discussed in the context of the “global economy,” a loud alarm ought to go off, reminding us of the moral and practical implications of giving an answer in dollars to a question about schools.

It worries me that educators and educational leadership co-opt language from the business community -- "investing," "buy-in," "clientele, " and so on. The prevalence of this language is everywhere, especially in my field of study, which is instructional technology. This is a passionate group of people who believe in technology's power to foster creative problem solving and other-centered thinking and learning on a global scale. Yet, our advocacy is frequently framed in terms of "we must have x or y tool if we expect to compete in the 21st century."

Is it because we believe that is the only way to get the establishment to listen?

For the last several months, I've been trying a little experiment. You can try it, too. It goes like this: next time you catch yourself saying "global economy," try saying "global community" instead. Rather than "compete," try "contribute." Instead of "competitive," use "compassionate," and "collaboration" makes a nice substitution for "competitiveness."

What do you think? (Thank you to Connie Weber at Classroom 2.0 for sharing the link to Kohn's commentary.)

[Jamey Dobbs]

Thanks so much for the update. I'm greatly looking forward to the school-community partnership events this week. I've been involved in school partnerships and advocacy for years, and hope lots of folks will see the logic of partnership after hearing the speaker, Ira Harkavey from Univ of Penn. He will talk about it, not from theory, but from a decade of direct experience. There is now a bill before Congress to support it and we need our legislators to co-sponsor. Read about the Full-Service Community Schools Act of 2007 (HR 2323; S. 1391) at: http://hoyer.house.gov/onepagebilldescrptn110th.doc

[Jennifer Lubke]

Jamey,At last Monday's meeting, the president of the Partnership's board of trustees, Dr. Allen Edwards of Pellissippi State, proposed a new structure, which would bring the GSP into the school system as a "research and development" wing working closely with the new superintendent. The GSP would still have a degree of autonomy, but the details have not been worked out.I had to leave the meeting before its conclusion, but the following day there was a story inside the local section of the News Sentinel that described the events of the meeting. It is my understanding that the Partnership and the School Board have agreed to take Dr. Edwards' proposal under advisement for further study.Members of School Matters who want to learn more about the Partnership specifically and school-community partnerships in general might want to participate in some of the Baker Center events scheduled for this week. Check out the announcement posted by Pamela Treacy in the forum.

[Jamey Dobbs]

What can you tell us about the Great Schools Partnership meeting? By the way, interesting column...many of us might have to think about it before responding.