It's the Adults, Stupid

The New York Times announced the startling news that American schools are failing our students:

America’s 15-year-olds have not been distinguishing themselves in the PISA exams compared with students in Singapore, Finland and Shanghai.

"Not been distinguishing themselves" puts it tactfully.  The Alliance for Excellent Education says:

Today, the United States’ high school graduation rate ranks near the bottom among developed nations belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). And on virtually every international assessment of academic proficiency, American secondary school students’ performance varies from mediocre to poor.  [emphasis added]

Bad schools might have been tolerable before the Chinese and Indian governments decided to allow their citizens to join the world economy, but today's workers compete with a billion Indians and more than a billion Chinese.  China has more honors students than America has students; China has more English-speakers than America, and a quick walk down any American city street will tell you that they may not be all that much less proficient at speaking it.

This educational shortfall has dire implications for our future.  As the Telegraph observed, there simply aren't many jobs left for the ill-educated:

... many of our school leavers (and even many of our university graduates) are "fairly useless"; it is hardly surprising that they fail to get jobs.

Our survival as a society depends on just about all of our children being educated well enough to provide not only for themselves, but to earn enough to pay taxes to fund government.  We can't afford masses of people who can't support themselves:

Even if we have the resources, relying on an ever shrinking proportion of the population for the taxes which clothe, house and feed the rest is not politically sustainable.

Waiting for Superman?

The solution even liberals are starting to talk about is a) break the teachers' unions, b) replace incompetent teachers, and c) wait for the Utopian millennium.  There are problems with this approach - although school kids may spend more time with their teachers than with their hard-working parents, parents have a great deal of influence, for good or for ill.

The Times discussed a recent study by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA):

“Fifteen-year-old students whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school show markedly higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents read with them infrequently or not at all. The performance advantage among students whose parents read to them in their early school years is evident regardless of the family’s socioeconomic background. Parents’ engagement with their 15-year-olds is strongly associated with better performance in PISA.”

PSIA has found that helping kids get a good education isn't rocket science:

“Just asking your child how was their school day and showing genuine interest in the learning that they are doing can have the same impact as hours of private tutoring. It is something every parent can do, no matter what their education level or social background.”  [emphasis added]

How can expressing parental interest help a child more than hours of tutoring?  Children know that parents care for them out of love and duty, whereas everyone else - tutors, teachers, cops, social workers - do it for money.  Besides the built-in advantages of biology, parents have enhanced credibility because they aren't getting paid.

The Korean Educational Experience

Expressing interest helps; Korea shows that parents can do a lot better than that.  Being a tiny country next door to China concentrates the mind wonderfully - the Korean system was the first to run high-speed Internet to all schools.  Korean schools tied with Finland for top rating in 2010.

Finland and South Korea are culturally uniform; there are no battles over what schools should teach.  Parents are on the same page and can encourage each other's children.  Diversity of language is increasing, however.  So many girls who grow up on farms are moving to cities that rural men find wives online.

Asian educational systems assume that mothers stay home and push kids to excel in school, but mail-order brides from China or Vietnam don't speak Korean as well as natives.  They can express interest, but they can't help as much.  The New York Times reports:

According to the Education Ministry, the dropout rate of mixed-background children from elementary school is 15.4 percent, 22 times the national average. Part of the problem, social experts say, is the mothers' lack of Korean-language skills, which prevents them from filling the expected social role of guiding children through the nation's high-pressure education system.  [emphasis added Note - even American public schools don't have a racial gap that big!]

Test scores show a major difference between children whose parents both speak Korean and children with a foreign-born parent.  Non-Korean parents can express interest and make sure homework gets done, but they don't have the language skills to discuss the material and help their kids learn as effectively as natives.  Having parents go beyond expressing interest by delving into the material helps kids even more.

Not Just Education

History and common sense argue that adult involvement is essential for proper child development.  This is backed by scientific research.  Science News discussed a study by Robert Sampson, a Harvard sociologist:

Not all poor neighborhoods become incarceration hot spots, Sampson emphasized. In earlier research, he and his colleagues found a link between reduced violence in some poor Chicago areas and a willingness among neighbors to act as mentors to local children and otherwise intervene on behalf of the common good.  [emphasis added]

Shock! Amazement!  Adult involvement keeps children from crime.  Adult interest helps kids in school.  Parental involvement in discussing material makes a measurable difference in how well kids learn.

I saw this in action in a Tokyo suburb.  Some kids stepped off the sidewalk into the street for no good reason.  My friend had never seen the kids before, but he remonstrated with them.  They apologized and got back on the sidewalk.

Japan has only one culture.  My friend knew how they were supposed to behave and the kids knew he knew.  Having all the adults singing from the same sheet of music helps kids learn the culture.  An American parent who tried that would likely be sued for harming the child's self-esteem, if not beaten up.

The educational achievements of Japan, South Korea, Finland, and other culturally-unified places shows the importance of the cultural end of the culture - technology axis.  It doesn't matter how much technology we put in schools if parents won't support what teachers are trying to do or if kids, who watch TV as much as anyone, figure out that the adults can't agree on what they're supposed to learn.

High-speed Internet helped Korean students because it enhanced an effective educational culture that was already in place.  Without a solid cultural matrix in which to operate, buying technology is a waste of money.

Not a Quick Fix

We know how to improve our educational system, but the well-known three-step formula needs a new 3rd step: empowering better teachers isn't enough.  The complete formula is a) break the teachers' unions, b) replace incompetent teachers, and c) get parents deeply involved.

Involving parents effectively in education requires a huge time commitment.  Kids need quality time, and they need quality time in quantity.

Alas, when all the women went to work, doubling the labor supply depressed men's wages - it's hard for one working parent to support a family.   Raising children properly is so much work that many women are opting out of childbearing entirely.

We know how to fix our education system, but can we summon the will to do it?  There's an old prayer, "May God grant us vision to see the right, wisdom to choose it, and strength to make it endure."

We've seen the right and some schools and parents have chosen it.  Have we the strength to make it endure?