ADF – Education Reform

The chapter of American Democracy Forever on education reform was the result of a discussion about the education industry with my friend Dr. John Wands who had been the chairman of the English department of a private high school for girls. After bemoaning the generally sad state of American education, ADF proposed a bottom-up approach in which high school Forum Clubs would agitate for better financing of education and better teaching.  The chapter should have gone further and proposed specific reforms. Here are two:

• A system of teacher education similar to that of medical doctors, in which a university degree in education qualifies someone to be an Intern Teacher under close supervision by a Resident Teacher and an Attending Teacher, with advancement on this career path subject to proven abilities.
• A system preserving “best teaching practices” as they evolve over time. Today, best practices are not preserved because the teacher who pioneered them retires or moves on in some other way. An example is the Skills Lab program developed by teacher Lois Demers for behaviorally challenged high school students.

Readers of this post are welcome to discuss these proposals or suggest additional education reforms in the Comments section, below.