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Every school
is different.
There is little one can say about a school in South Central Los
Angeles that is also true of one in Beverly Hills, Montecito,
Lompoc, Santa
Ynez, or Guadalupe. And that’s good!
Many schools are thriving, innovative, and successful. Many are struggling
with pathologies borne of poor neighborhoods and children of poverty.
Many fall on the continuum in between those two extremes, being very
strong models in some areas, and facing real challenges in others.
Some schools have low test scores; some have high ones. Most vary
from year to year. Some of those with high test scores are fortunate
to
have a student population that is motivated, resourceful, and likely
to succeed in most academic settings. Some schools with low test
scores have nonetheless brought their students to levels of achievement
that
would have been unfathomable without the school’s skilled intervention.
Some do not succeed well at all.
Some schools, like ones I have visited in Harlem, New York, have
impressive and innovative programs individualized to each student,
with stunning
success. Others use more traditional programs, steeped in the basics,
with time-honored teaching strategies that also manage striking success.
Others use those same strategies with far worse results.
In short, there is no one-size-fits-all model for a good school,
because every student body and every community is different. That
is exactly
why schools were set up to have local control, with policies established
by local elected officials and carried out by leaders hired by those
elected officials.
The best schools are those led and staffed by educators who understand
that each child is different, that different strategies are needed
to reach different students, and who have the flexibility, the motivation,
and the resources to try to meet all those individual needs. It is
also why educational innovations seem to come and go, only to surface
again and fall out of favor once more. The basics of teaching remain
the same, but as different populations of students emerge, different
strategies must be used to meet their needs and the standards that
have been set.
Some children learn best by listening to instructions. Others must
read instructions to understand them fully. Still others learn best
through manipulating objects that provide them with hands-on demonstrations
of concepts. No one technique can possibly work equally effectively
with all children, because every child has unique strengths and weaknesses.
In fact, there have been eight forms of intelligence or genius identified
by Dr. Howard Gardner:
• Linguistic: the intelligence of words. (Example: William Shakespeare)
• Logical-mathematical: the intelligence of numbers and reasoning. (Example:
Albert Einstein)
• Spatial: the intelligence of pictures and images. (Example: Pablo Picasso)
• Musical: the intelligence of tone, rhythm, and timbre. (Example: Beverly
Sills)
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: the intelligence of the whole body and the hands.
(Example: Michael Jordan)
• Interpersonal: the intelligence of social understanding. (Example:
Margaret Meade)
• Intrapersonal: the intelligence of self-knowledge. (Example: Mahatma
Gandhi)
• Naturalist: the intelligence of observing, understanding an organizing
patterns in the natural environment. (examples: George Washington
Carver, Rachel Carson, Charles Darwin)
Test scores traditionally measure only two of those areas, linguistic
and mathematical. It is important that schools provide all students
with access and exposure to all academic fields, but it is equally
important to recognize that the vast majority of humans cannot excel
equally in all areas. Nor will all schools. We can keep working toward
that ideal, as long as we keep in mind that it is a lofty goal. The
only shame would arise if we stopped attempting to reach that goal,
as the times, the resources, and the student body dictates.
We never hear people say “banks are…” or “ice
cream parlors are...” or “restaurants are...” or “hospitals
are…” because we know they are all different. So beware
of those who start a sentence with “schools are...” or “schools
should…” Little can be used to end that sentence that is
both true and meaningful. That’s why the superintendents of
Santa Barbara County have taken such strong issue with state-directed
initiatives
that must apply equally in all situations. Schools, like the students
they serve, are different.
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