Those Pesky Little Light Bulbs . . .

If you've had to buy a light bulb recently, you may have noticed that the old incandescent bulb we all grew up with, has been steadily replaced with the new and more energy efficient "ecobulbs". In some corners of the political spectrum, there has been a lot of hoopla over this government-mandated change and how our individual rights and lack of choice are being trampled in the process. Personally, I never felt my rights were violated over a reduced wattage light bulb, but you can cue the "slippery slope" argument here if you must . . .

Regardless of your stand on the Bill of Rights and where light bulbs fit into the picture, there is another type of government-mandate that is in fact, harming all of us and some would argue, endangering our future as well. In the rush for accountability and statistical analysis, coupled with massive cost cutting measures due to our struggling economy, the American educational system and the students themselves, are in jeopardy of losing the greatest tool for learning - the ability to understand.

More and more, our schools are turning to standardized tests as their only tool to measure their successes and avoid their failures. Large amounts of class time are being dedicated to learning a limited range of required facts and figures, with little or no time for "outside" resources or interests. In addition, huge swaths of time in the school's regular schedule may be given over to teaching students how to take "the Test", instead of allowing for real learning. When federal and state monies are at stake for positive results, there can be little or no time for deviations from a rigidly set curriculum that prizes facts over inquiry and discovery.

In addition, the pressure on teachers for their students to perform well on these tests can often force the teachers and administrators into desperate measures across the ethical spectrum. Such measures have ranged from the above-mentioned focus on test-taking over real learning, all the way to changing scores after the tests to improve an individual teacher or school's ranking. With everything from salary increases to additional government funds at risk for poor scores, it is sometimes easy to sympathize with those in the trenches.

This emphasis on a rigidly set curriculum is no longer just an issue for students in public schools. After years of conditioning to this system of performance testing, more and more parents are seeking the same rigid learning styles in private schools. There are numerous schools now catering to this market in new and innovative ways. In one increasingly familiar scenario, the arts and physical education, among other "extracurricular" offerings, are simply eliminated for more class time in the core academic subjects. All such non-essential courses have been moved to after school as "extras" often for an additional fee, or simply eliminated all together in the drive for the top scores.

Ironically, all of this focus on testing and accountability comes at time when the American workforce is increasingly asked to be more adaptable, collaborative, and innovative than ever before. These requirements are partly the result of job changes and accommodations due to the economy, but most research and studies of the needs of employers both now and in the future, point to these same needs as key requirements for success. Trained to have only one answer to a question, and provided with only minimal, yet rigid instructions, today's students and tomorrow's workers will have little or no experience with the freedom of real problem solving and possible multiple solutions and approaches to an issue or concern.

In short, we run the risk of quelling the real purpose of education for our students - cultivating in them the desire to understand. How can teachers allow questions such as Why? or How?, when it is not allowed either by time or design in the provided curriculum? Where will students learn and practice collaboration with their classmates? Be challenged to think an issue or idea through and see its connections to other ideas?

In our drive for outcome-based learning, we are sadly postponing or eliminating altogether, the true outcomes for education. While American students are becoming better at taking tests and regurgitating required information - an excellent trait for renewing driver's licenses for example - they are quickly losing the ability and more importantly, the desire to question, to explore, and to wonder . . . 

Several years ago, a screenwriter friend of mine was creating a new television series about a public school and its teachers. During his research, he once asked me what I most enjoyed about teaching. After a little thought, I told him it was the "light bulb moment" - that time immortalized in cartoons when a brilliant or creative thought pops into a character's mind, and a light bulb appears over their heads. Minus the actual light bulb appearing halo-like over my students' heads, that moment to me represents the culmination of when the facts, ideas, and calculations we have all been working with, finally come together for a student. In other words, when a student understands.

As a nation and as educators, to continue down this steadily widening path of strictly measurable outcomes for our students as our only tool of gauging their progress, is to risk forever turning off the opportunity for that all important light bulb above our heads to switch on - incandescent or not . . .