Badger InstituteBadger Institute
  • Home
  • Issues
    • Taxes
    • Education
    • Crime & Justice
    • Spending & Accountability
    • Economy & Infrastructure
    • Federalism
    • Licensing
    • Healthcare
    • Civil Society
  • Mandate for Madison
  • Research
  • Magazines
    • Diggings
    • Wisconsin Interest
  • Events
  • Media
    • Podcast
    • Fact Sheets
    • Viewpoints
    • Press Releases
    • Badger in the News
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Testimony
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • Team
    • Visiting Fellows
    • America’s Future
    • Careers
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Subscribe for Updates

Get the latest news and updates from Badger Institute.

What's New

State landlords hit hard by eviction moratorium

May 25, 2023

At home with politically incorrect language

May 25, 2023

Licensing reform gains momentum in Wisconsin Legislature

May 22, 2023
Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Instagram
TRENDING:
  • State landlords hit hard by eviction moratorium
  • At home with politically incorrect language
  • Licensing reform gains momentum in Wisconsin Legislature
  • When parents choose a public school with more options for their children, the state provides less money. Why?
  • Legislature protects Milwaukeeans from $15-per-rider fare-free trolley folly
  • Latest crime figures show a Milwaukee in trouble
  • Wisconsin lawmakers in the dark on broadband
  • Foreseeing the Future of Wisconsin’s Flat Tax
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Instagram
Badger InstituteBadger Institute
SUPPORT OUR MISSION
  • Issues
    • Taxes
    • Education
    • Crime & Justice
    • Spending & Accountability
    • Economy & Infrastructure
    • Federalism
    • Licensing
    • Healthcare
    • Civil Society
  • Mandate for Madison
  • Research
  • Magazines
    • Diggings
    • Wisconsin Interest
  • Events
  • Media
    • Podcast
    • Fact Sheets
    • Viewpoints
    • Press Releases
    • Badger in the News
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Testimony
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • Team
    • Visiting Fellows
    • America’s Future
    • Careers
Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
DONATE
Badger InstituteBadger Institute
Home » Half Crazy, Half True
Education

Half Crazy, Half True

By Badger InstituteMarch 5, 2012
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest

Alfie Kohn’s startling message on schools may be hurting Wisconsin’s poorest students

By Michael J. Petrilli

One hundred years ago, a progressive populist barnstormed the country, delivering fiery speeches and railing against the gold standard. Today another progressive populist barnstorms the country, delivering fiery speeches and railing against academic standards. Meet Alfie Kohn, the William Jennings Bryan of our age.

The Badger State has always been friendly territory for progressive populists; Kohn is a perfect fit. He’s been an influential voice in Wisconsin education discussions for nearly 20 years.

Kohn is a frequent guest on Wisconsin Public Radio, and his speeches have carried the imprimatur of everyone from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education to the Wisconsin Education Association Council to the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Last November, his talk on the UW-Madison campus drew more than 700 people.

Like most demagogues, Kohn knows how to tap into his audience’s raw emotions — anger, feelings of powerlessness and resentment of a ruling elite. In his case, he puts voice to what many educators already believe: That school reform is a corporate plot to turn young people into docile employees; that an obsession with standardized testing is crowding out any real intellectual engagement in our schools; and that teachers have no say over what happens inside their own classrooms.

These arguments are half-crazy and half-true, which is what makes Kohn so effective — and so maddening.

Where Kohn gets it right is in his observation that many American schools are “mindless, soul-killing” institutions, especially the schools serving our most disadvantaged communities. While this has almost certainly been the case for decades, it’s probably true that test-based accountability has made the situation worse, at least in many locales.

Even the most hawkish reformer must blush at depictions of the endless test prep and shamefully narrowed curriculum that is present at too many inner city schools. “That’s not what we intended for them to do,” we reformers say, but the combination of high pressure and low capacity too often leads educators to panic and look for shortcuts to higher test scores. We can’t just look the other way and pretend it’s not happening.

Where Kohn gets it wrong, however, is in his vision for a better education system. Here he’s an unreconstructed John Dewey acolyte, right down the line. He views all the markers of “traditional” education with suspicion, from grading to lecturing to teachers asserting their authority.

He doesn’t just think that the focus on testing has gone overboard, he actually asserts that rising test scores indicate malevolent behavior. If the scores at your child’s school go up, he claimed at his UW speech, “either it’s meaningless or it’s bad news.”
Really? Kohn refuses to consider the hundreds (maybe thousands) of “traditional” schools that produce great test scores and give their students a rich, intellectually stimulating experience. What about Catholic schools, those unabashedly “authoritative” institutions that for 100 years have helped poor, minority and immigrant children get started on a path to the middle class?

What about the nation’s high-flying charter schools, such those in the KIPP network, which boast high student achievement and a well-rounded curriculum (including art and music for everybody!)? And what about Finland — the cause célèbre of progressive educators — which boasts “authentic” learning and sky-high test scores? 

What Kohn refuses to wrestle with is the argument — made by Core Knowledge creator E.D. Hirsch Jr., among others — that progressive education might work well for children of the affluent but tends to be disastrous for children of the poor.

Democratic decision-making, self-directed studies, internal motivation and the like are wonderful aspirations. But when it comes to lifting children out of poverty, heavy doses of basic skills, rich content and clear expectations have been proven time and again to be more effective.

That’s not to be mistaken for the “mindless, soul-killing” teaching that Kohn bemoans, but it’s also not the progressive utopia he envisions, either.

What Kohn and other reactionaries refuse to acknowledge is that what fuels the modern school reform movement is not acquiescence to Corporate America but outrage at the nation’s lack of social mobility.

As Kati Haycock of the (very liberal) Education Trust has argued, “We take the children who need the most and give them the least” — schools with the least resources, least qualified teachers and least challenge. Kohn is right that test scores are most closely related to social class; changing that brutal fact is what the reform movement is all about.

But Kohn would rather spar with boogeymen like the “Billionaire Boys Club” — the label Diane Ravitch affixed to reform-minded philanthropists — than the pro-reform civil rights groups they support. Does Kohn think that these organizations — from Education Trust to the National Council of La Raza to the United Negro College Fund and on and on — are dupes when they equate higher test scores for poor kids with better life opportunities?

Kohn might want to familiarize himself with the recent blockbuster study by Raj Chetty, John Friedman and Jonah Rockoff, which illustrated the enormous impact an effective teacher could have on her students’ life chances. But, as the (liberal) Kevin Carey wrote at the time of its release, it also indicated the connection between test scores and outcomes in the real world:

“If you believe standardized tests are worthless or highly flawed or deeply inadequate or even troublingly limited in accuracy and scope — and many reasonable people believe these things — then you could dismiss or downplay value-added measures of teacher effectiveness, by definition. …

“But now the [Chetty-Friedman-Rockoff] study says that teachers who are unusually good at helping students score high on standardized tests today aren’t just unusually good at helping students score high on standardized tests tomorrow. They also have an unusual effect on the likelihood of students going to college, going to a good college, earning a good living, living in a nice place and saving for retirement.

“In other words, whatever the limitations of standardized tests may be, test-based value-added scores do, in fact, provide valuable information about the things most people care most about.”

Kohn argues that if test scores don’t matter and are antithetical to real learning, then the entire school-reform movement is built on quicksand. But what if test scores do matter — a lot — especially for our society’s most vulnerable children? Is Kohn willing to acknowledge that his progressive vision is too dismissive of the importance of basic knowledge and skills?

And if test scores do matter, what message does Kohn have for the state of Wisconsin — a state whose African-American eighth-graders score two grade levels in math below their African-American peers in Texas — and on par with blacks in Washington, D.C.? Is it really a good idea for the Badger State to embrace a “test scores don’t matter” mindset?

Alfie Kohn isn’t evil, as some social conservatives have implied. He’s right that what passes for education in too many of our schools should be the cause of outrage and fundamental change. But he’s wrong that resisting “reform” is a clear path to a better future for our children.

His progressive vision might do no serious harm in schools serving affluent children — kids who are getting the basic skills, strong vocabulary and internal motivation at home. But backing away from accountability, teacher effectiveness, and academic “rigor” would likely create an even bleaker future for children growing up in poverty — children for whom school matters most.

Kohn’s populism, like William Jennings Bryan’s before him, stirs emotions, but doesn’t point toward a positive program, especially for the poor. There’s plenty to criticize when it comes to testing, merit pay and the rest. Midcourse corrections are called for.

But Mr. Kohn: Education reform shall not be crucified on a cross of “no.”

Michael J. Petrilli is research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, executive editor of Education Next and executive vice president at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education-policy think tank

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Telegram Email
Badger Institute

Related Posts

When parents choose a public school with more options for their children, the state provides less money. Why?

May 18, 2023

State lawmakers want cops back in Milwaukee Public Schools

May 1, 2023

Economist vindicates Act 10 and common sense

April 27, 2023
Categories
Top Posts

Local pols filling old budget holes with massive COVID aid

December 8, 20221,485

This is not four years ago

November 10, 20221,314

Latest crime figures show a Milwaukee in trouble

March 23, 2023750

Legislature protects Milwaukeeans from $15-per-rider fare-free trolley folly

May 11, 2023734
Archives

Sign Up for Top Picks

Our weekly e-Newsletter with the latest items and updates

Connect with Badger Institute
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
About Us
About Us

The Badger Institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit institute established in 1987 working to engage and energize Wisconsinites and others in discussions and timely action on key public policy issues critical to the state’s future, growth and prosperity.

Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn

Sign Up for Top Picks

Our weekly e-Newsletter with the latest items and updates

What’s New

State landlords hit hard by eviction moratorium

May 25, 2023

At home with politically incorrect language

May 25, 2023

Licensing reform gains momentum in Wisconsin Legislature

May 22, 2023

When parents choose a public school with more options for their children, the state provides less money. Why?

May 18, 2023
© 2023 Badger Institute | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Sitemap

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience.

Privacy settings

Privacy Settings

This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit.

NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.

CRM Software

Customer Relationship Management Software

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.

For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Powered by Cookie Information