Americans are poorly educated; we are currently paying a steep price for
citizen ignorance, evidenced in the presidential abomination that is Donald
Trump, fact denial in COVID-19 policy, and woeful factual grasp of the
historical forces that have determined our crises at the urban core.
Even those who hold undergraduate and
graduate degrees lack firm knowledge bases in mathematics, natural science,
history, government, economics, world and American literature, world languages,
visual art, and music; most are inept at
manual skills that they should have gained in the vocational arts. Those who have attended colleges and
universities emerge at best as well-trained specialists, devoid of knowledge
bases in the liberal, technological, and vocational arts.
Ignorance is especially cultivated by
wretched systems of K-12 education, of which the district of the Minneapolis
Pubic Schools is just a subset. The same
fundamentally abysmal level of education typifies even those suburban systems
of undeserved reputation for excellence.
Students at grade levels preK-5 learn nothing substantive about the
natural sciences, history, government, or economics. They gain little introduction to quality
American ethnic or world literature.
Instruction in the fine arts is poor.
Mathematics is poorly taught, yielding students unable to perform basic
calculations or to apply these to the realms of economics, finance, and
consumer purchase.
Middle school (typically grades 6-8)
instruction is just as bad. Students
take courses that bear labels denoting science, social studies (a problematic
mishmash of subjects), and English, and they get low-level introduction in
world languages. But instruction is so
poor and approach to curriculum so debased that the woeful ignorance that
defined them at grade 5 abides still for students graduating from grade eight.
Anything of value at the high school
(grades 9-12) level depends on availability of Advanced Placement (AP) courses,
preparation to succeed at that level, and having one of those few teachers with
the ability to teach challenging AP courses;
those conditions are rare, and otherwise the same deficiencies that define
the elementary and middle school experiences remain still even for those
students who manage to graduate, strolling across the stage to claim a piece of
paper that is a diploma in name only.
Two-thirds of students graduating from the
Minneapolis Public Schools require remedial education once matriculating on
college and university campuses. This is
typical for students graduating from
count’em---
fourteen--- that’s fourteen, years in the currently
typical preK-12 scheme, there is an abundance of time to convey a great bevy of
information in all of these subjects, with plenty of time also for physical
education and health and an array of vocational subjects (carpentry, plumbing,
auto mechanics).
Students who do manage to struggle on
through to graduation from colleges or universities fulfill a few requirements
in broad categories from key academic disciplines in the natural sciences and
humanities but chasms across the academic terrain of mathematics, biology,
chemistry, physics, history, government, economics, literature, English
literature, world languages, music, and visual art remain. Students ultimately focus on narrow
specialties defined by majors; some go
on to even narrower training in graduate and professional schools.
But this experience in our wretched
primary, secondary, and post-secondary education produces citizens who lack the
knowledge to make informed political decisions or good judgments in matters of
national crisis: Covid-19, climate
change, governmental leadership. Thus
has the United States suffered from irresponsible behavior in the midst of the
pandemic; either denied the reality of
climate change or responded inadequately;
and revealed a high enough level of comfort with a moral degenerate and
governmentally inept president that forty-five percent of the electorate and 28
states will most likely still vote for a person who manifests that quality of
ethical conduct and corrupt policy formation.
When sensing that something is wrong,
citizens have reactively marched in the streets, pulled down statues, erased
names from buildings, and issued a string of bromides; but they have yet to generate meaningful
consensus for restructuring police departments or identified those policies
most likely to address inequities across ethnicity and class.
We will get nothing of paramount importance
right until we overhaul curriculum at the K-12 level for knowledge-intensity
and train teachers capable of imparting such a curriculum, then provide
students at college and universities broad as well as specialized education.
Until we do that, citizens in the United
States will remain the ignoramuses they are at present, and that creates the
clear and present danger of current American circumstance.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Administrators,
teachers, and staff are about to be rocked with the physical circulation of my
book, Understanding the Minneapolis
Public Schools: Current Condition,
Future Prospect, inducing the implementation of knowledge-intensive
curriculum to replace the embarrassing subject area content now inflicted on
students enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Impartation of a knowledge-intensive,
skill-replete education is the core mission of any locally centralized school
district.
Fundamentals of an excellent liberal arts
education include teaching with breadth and depth the subjects of mathematics,
biology, chemistry, physics, government, American history, world history,
economics, psychology, English and world literature, English usage, music, and
visual art. In---
count’em---
fourteen--- that’s fourteen, years in the currently
typical preK-12 scheme, there is an abundance of time to convey a great bevy of
information in all of these subjects, with plenty of time also for physical education
and health and an array of vocational subjects (carpentry, plumbing, auto
mechanics).
At grades PreK-5 (elementary school in most
locally centralized schools districts as now structured), students should have
detailed, knowledge-intensive, information-heavy introductions to all of the
key subjects in the liberal arts. At
grades 6-8 (middle school), impartation of knowledge and skill sets in the
liberal arts should continue at ever higher levels, and students should have
increasing access to courses in the vocational and technological arts. With this approach to curriculum, students
will arrive in high school ready to take Advanced Placement (AP) courses in
calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, world history, United States history,
government, and economics. They will
also have opportunities to take specialized courses in those fields, explore
vocational interests, and conduct formal research with a resulting 20-page
paper.
Specifically, at
the three major levels of preK-12 education at the Minneapolis Public Schools,
the following curricular matters will pertain.
>>>>> All preK-5 schools will impart specified
knowledge sets in grade by grade sequence pertinent to mathematics, natural
science (biology, chemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology, nutrition), social
science and humanities (government, history, economics, geography, psychology),
English usage and literature (classical Western, world, ethnic-specific), and
fine arts (visual and musical). PreK-2
students will have a strong grasp of phonics and phonemic awareness, and they
will develop fluency and comprehension by reading a bevy of high-quality
literary works. Students at all grade
levels will continue to read fiction and nonfiction of high quality and
rigor; and they will graduate from grade
5 with a very strong foundation of subject area knowledge.
>>>>> All middle schools (grades 6-8) will
provide a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education that proceeds logically
from curriculum at grades preK-5.
Students will have the opportunity to study foreign languages provided
on the basis of student expressed interest, student ethnic composition, and the
importance of certain languages worldwide:
Those to be considered at each site will include Spanish, French,
German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Somali, and Hmong. Students will study algebra I, geometry, and
algebra II in succession; master the
fundamentals of American and world history, incorporating a wealth of
information germane to the histories of all major ethnic groups and world
populations; continue to acquire strong
knowledge sets in Western classic, world, and ethnic-specific literature; master standard courses in biology,
chemistry, and physics; and pursue
instrumental and choral activity options, as well as continuing the academic
study of the fine arts (visual and musical).
>>>>> On the strength of such rigorous academic
curriculum at grades preK-5 and grades 6-8, students will arrive in high school
(grades 9-12) ready to focus on Advanced Placement courses in Calculus,
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, United States History, World History, Economics,
Psychology, English, and Spanish. They
will be offered a range of subject area electives and multiple options for
acquiring skills in vocations that match students’ driving interests. In grade 12, each student will conduct an individual
research project, producing a paper that follows manual of style guidelines,
with abundant citations in proper form, and meeting specifications of research
papers at the four-year college and university level.
……………………………………………………………………………
Thus, students
will graduate from the Minneapolis Public Schools with knowledge and skill sets
that should be associated with first and second year college students but in
reality will exceed the actual knowledge and skill level of typical students at
those stages in the current college and university experience.
All pre-K through
12 teachers will be given rigorous subject area training and knowledge of
constituent student populations.
Teachers will be
mandated to develop pedagogy capable of imparting the knowledge and skill sets
of the rigorous curriculum. While a
variety of pedagogies can possibly deliver such knowledge and skill sets,
academic decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools will stress that
knowledge directly imparted by teachers in the context of whole-class
discussions is typically the most efficient and provides for vigorous critical
analysis and exchanges by students expressing a wide variety of
viewpoints.
……………………………………………………………………………
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