I had a teacher once who called his students "idiots" when they screwed up. He was our orchestra conductor, a fierce Ukrainian immigrant named Jerry Kupchynsky, and when someone played out of tune, he would stop the entire group to yell, "Who eez deaf in first violins!?" He made us rehearse until our fingers almost bled. He corrected our wayward hands and arms by poking at us with a pencil.
Today, he'd be fired. But when he died a few years ago, he was celebrated: Forty years' worth of former students and colleagues flew back to my New Jersey hometown from every corner of the country, old instruments in tow, to play a concert in his memory. I was among them, toting my long-neglected viola. When the curtain rose on our concert that day, we had formed a symphony orchestra the size of the New York Philharmonic.
I was stunned by the outpouring for the gruff old teacher we knew as Mr. K. But I was equally struck by the success of his former students. Some were musicians, but most had distinguished themselves in other fields, like law, academia and medicine. Research tells us that there is a positive correlation between music education and academic achievement. But that alone didn't explain the belated surge of gratitude for a teacher who basically tortured us through adolescence.
We're in the midst of a national wave of self-recrimination over the U.S. education system. Every day there is hand-wringing over our students falling behind the rest of the world. Fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. trail students in 12 other nations in science and 17 in math, bested by their counterparts not just in Asia but in Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands, too. An entire industry of books and consultants has grown up that capitalizes on our collective fear that American education is inadequate and asks what American educators are doing wrong.
I would ask a different question. What did Mr. K do right? What can we learn from a teacher whose methods fly in the face of everything we think we know about education today, but who was undeniably effective?
As it turns out, quite a lot. Comparing Mr. K's methods with the latest findings in fields from music to math to medicine leads to a single, startling conclusion: It's time to revive old-fashioned education. Not just traditional but old-fashioned in the sense that so many of us knew as kids, with strict discipline and unyielding demands. Because here's the thing: It works.Read the rest HERE and find out what Education today...IS MISSING!
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2 comments:
Great article, I had several Mr. K's during my schooling. It's a shame how schools got away from teaching and into allowing students to...Do their own thing.
Structure...Discipline...Memorization...went the way of the dodo bird....So did our kids rankings when compared to other nations.
I also had some great teachers. They commanded the respect of their students, either by their vast knowledge of the subject matter which they successfully converted conveyed to their students; or their demand for excellence from us. One problem I am seeing now is the arrogance of college grads, especially from certain schools and certain states, who believe that they are just so much smarter than everyone else that they don't need to engage in actual debates with those who disagree with them. Refusing to allow anyone with differing point of view to engage your mind for any length of time is death to intelligence and education.
My daughter had s science teacher from Massachusetts last year who was a zero population global warming believer. I'm certain that our cowboy thought patterns of freedom and personal responsibility here in Arizona are a constant offense to her liberal mindset. My daughter was offended nearly every day by what was taught by her teacher, which opposed many of our ideas of science but also opposed our religious beliefs, as well. This is one of my children who is a great student, shy at school, and unlikely to rock the boat. One day when this teacher was telling the kids that mankind aren't indigenous to Arizona, my daughter had enough. She raised her hand and asked the teacher that if mankind weren't indigenous to here, where were we indigenous to? Stunned her teacher for a moment. Guess she didn't like to have her religious beliefs questioned. She finally have some insane remark about Western Europe and moved on. My daughter wishes she had dared ask her teacher why if Arizona shouldn't have people living here, she and her husband didn't take their two children and move somewhere else. After all, we were here first....
Just as a note, Mormons do not eschew science as some Christians do, and we have produced some brilliant scientists, so that's not ,why I objevt to global warming. I think it is flawed science. I remember seeing the Time magazine cover in 1979 that talked about the coming ice age. Scared me to death. When I asked my mom and dad about it, my mom said they've been scaring people with stuff like this her whole life. My dad said they would day and do anything to prevent people from having children. I think they were both right.
AZ
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