{"id":2002061,"date":"2023-08-16T03:14:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T07:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/embracing-old-school-education-is-the-key-to-acing-this-school-year\/"},"modified":"2023-08-16T03:19:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T07:19:27","slug":"embracing-old-school-education-is-the-key-to-acing-this-school-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/embracing-old-school-education-is-the-key-to-acing-this-school-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Embrace traditional education for a successful school year."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fembracing-old-school-education-is-the-key-to-acing-this-school-year%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2002061&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>It\u2019s time to go old school in education.<\/p>\n<p>Enough with the endless torrents of education\u200b reform and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/technology\/misguided-use-of-ed-tech-is-a-big-problem-how-schools-can-help-prevent-it\/2023\/03?s_kwcid=AL!6416!3!602270476281!!!g!!&#038;utm_source=goog&#038;utm_medium=cpc&#038;utm_campaign=ew+dynamic+recent&#038;ccid=dynamic+ads+recent+articles&#038;ccag=recent+articles+dynamic&#038;cckw=&#038;cccv=dynamic+ad&#038;gclid=EAIaIQobChMI89_rndjFgAMVAv7ICh0d_QPhEAAYASAAEgLbI_D_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">modern obsession<\/a> with infusing technology into every facet of the learning experience. Enough \u2063dumbing down of the curriculum, tolerating egregious student behavior,\u2063 and <a href=\"https:\/\/edsource.org\/2023\/stop-escalating-culture-battles-that-are-dividing-our-schools\/694749\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">politicizing the curriculum<\/a> of the classroom. Enough self-censorship of America\u2019s teachers and administrators who know deep down (but are often afraid to say out loud) their students are graduating with\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.educationnext.org\/lower-bars-higher-college-gpas-how-grade-inflation-boosting-college-graduation-rates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a depleted battery of skills and knowledge<\/a> that would have been unrecognizable and unacceptable a generation ago. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-778421559\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-56a6a95ff02c506f003d543b12230ef2 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-56a6a95ff02c506f003d543b12230ef2\"><\/div>\n<p>Going \u201cold school\u201d\u2064 is much more than a cranky trope or cantankerous canard extolling the \u201cgood old\u200d days\u201d when kids worked hard and had respect for their elders. Going old school\u2062 means recognizing that the \u200dsolution to many of our\u200c problems does\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/commentary\/2022\/07\/will-more-school-money-improve-academic-outcomes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not require \u200cmore \u200cmoney<\/a>, more innovation, or\u200d elite schools of education\u2064 promoting vogue (and usually leftist) notions of instruction and curriculum. It\u2019s time to bring back <a href=\"https:\/\/schsnews.org\/1773\/showcase\/op-ed-why-schools-must-revert-back-to-paper-and-pencil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pencils \u200band paper<\/a>, teachers who lecture rather than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/embracing-old-school-education-is-the-key-to-acing-this-school-year\/\" title=\"Embrace traditional education for a successful school year.\">largely facilitate class projects<\/a> and\u2062 online activities,\u2064 discipline policies that\u200b actually discipline, and, most of all, adults who are ready to be in charge of the children they\u200c are educating.    <\/p>\n<p>While the headlines about education these days are often centered\u2063 around the razzmatazz of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">critical race theory<\/a> \u2064and the\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/teaching-learning\/lawmakers-push-to-ban-1619-project-from-schools\/2021\/02\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1619 Project<\/a>, the controversies of <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6297583\/trans-sports-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">transgender\u2063 bathrooms and sports<\/a>, and the conferences of <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/moms-liberty-fired-philadelphia\/story?id=100554051\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Moms for\u2063 Liberty<\/a>, they pale in comparison to the real crises in American \u2063education. These topics certainly make for flashy television spots and\u200d viral op-eds, but the hardship for \u2062most teachers is \u2063rooted in a more banal reality: We ask little of our\u200d students\u200d and in return get even\u200d less from them. Many are borderline illiterate, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2023\/04\/25\/1171773181\/social-media-teens-mental-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">can\u2019t pull themselves away<\/a> from their devices, and their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/in-depth\/news\/education\/2023\/06\/12\/why-students-teachers-miss-so-much-school\/70258140007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attendance is spotty<\/a> at best.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Terrible Reckoning<\/h2>\n<p>Three years after locking down our schools, we \u2062are now reckoning with one immutable and terrible \u2063truth: Our students are now fundamentally different, many of them broken in ways we are only beginning to understand. Half of our students now <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/06\/19\/number-of-teens-who-dont-enjoy-life-has-doubled-with-social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">utter sentiments like<\/a>, \u201cI do \u200dnot enjoy my life,\u201d or, \u201cMy life is not useful.\u201d Every week\u200d a new headline seems to\u200c blast the unique misery of our young people. <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2022\/09\/why-are-young-people-so-miserable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A recent Harvard<\/a> study confirmed that today\u2019s\u2064 students are the most miserable generation in every\u200b category of well-being, even physical and mental health.<\/p>\n<p>If outsiders to the world of education doubt that modern students are often denizens of dysfunction, consider the topics \u200bof the various trainings I, and the teachers in my district, am required to complete this summer before this school year begins: grooming, bullying, cyberbullying, \u200bdiscrimination awareness, human trafficking, students experiencing homelessness, and youth suicide, among others. Just a few decades ago, when\u200c I began my teaching career,\u2062 trainings were\u200b oriented around\u2063 prosaic topics like, \u201cHow to be a better teacher.\u201d\u2063 How things have changed.       <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4b8521fc1a363d887db715330b283a1c fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4b8521fc1a363d887db715330b283a1c\"><\/div>\n<p>While the emotional turmoil of our children began well\u2062 before Covid-19, the academic catastrophe is just now coming to light. The avalanche of bad \u2064news about American education in a \u2062post-pandemic world is like a raging spigot \u200crefusing to\u2063 be turned off. In American \u200cschools that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scientific-community-should-admit-it-was-wrong-about-covid-medical-researcher-says\/\" title=\"Scientific Community Should Admit It Was Wrong About COVID, Medical Researcher Says\">stayed closed longer<\/a> than\u200c other developed countries, the damage was colossal, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/accepting-lost-learning-today-will-have-big-costs-later\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wiping \u2063out all the progress<\/a> that\u2062 had been made since 1980 and causing the largest declines\u200c ever recorded in certain subjects and grade levels such \u2063as math for fourth and eighth graders. Knowledge of American civics and history continues to fall, with <a href=\"https:\/\/edsource.org\/2023\/latest-test-results-underscore-declining-knowledge-of-u-s-history-and-civics\/689766\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">only 13 percent<\/a> of the \u2062nation\u2019s test-takers scoring proficient on the National Assessment of Education Progress exam.  <\/p>\n<p>The most under-reported crisis in America these days is our literacy crisis, with 60 percent \u2064of third graders already reading below grade level. And here is another\u2063 dirty little secret we don\u2019t discuss: Once students are \u200cbehind in reading, they tend to\u200d stay\u200c behind\u200c to the titanic detriment of their future professional and educational aspirations. Eighth-grade reading levels are now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parents.com\/teachers-aren-t-the-solution-to-america-s-literacy-crisis-parents-are-7558471\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lower than they have been<\/a> in \u2062a quarter of a century. <\/p>\n<p>Our educational\u2063 system has responded to these dreary realities by insisting \u2064schools offer more \u2062funding, more services, more leniency \u2063cloaked as \u201cgrace,\u201d and always \u2014\u2063 <em>always<\/em> \u2014 more technology,\u200b as if the\u200c latest gadget or gizmo is the great panacea we have \u200dall been waiting\u200c for.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Going Back to Basics<\/h2>\n<p>While schools should\u2062 certainly offer \u201cwrap-around\u201d services to \u2063support our most disadvantaged students, the solution to almost all of \u2064these problems is to look backward, to go old\u200c school. Schools should \u2063remember a time when they were <a href=\"https:\/\/edsource.org\/2022\/teachers-are-not-therapists\/665250\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more than counseling centers<\/a> \u2062and places where breakfast and lunch are provided, a time when teaching was \u2062more academic than therapeutic, a time when highly objectionable \u200bstudent behavior (like cursing at a teacher) had serious consequences for student and parent alike, and a time when high expectations were\u2064 considered a blessing, not a clandestine form of bourgeoise oppression.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-56a925aede76fdb152b163338fb43802 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-56a925aede76fdb152b163338fb43802\"><\/div>\n<p>In what areas of modern education would an\u2062 old-school approach be preferable? A few.<\/p>\n<p>Our obsession with technology and digitalizing as many\u2064 elements of education as possible hasn\u2019t improved educational \u2062quality. Maybe adding more hours \u200cof screen \u2062time per day for children who\u200b are already monomaniacally obsessed with their devices <a href=\"https:\/\/jonathanhaidt.substack.com\/p\/phone-free-schools\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">isn\u2019t the answer.<\/a> In fact, it is probably making the crises of absenteeism and mental health even worse. Meredith Coffey of the Fordham Institute <a href=\"https:\/\/fordhaminstitute.org\/national\/commentary\/ed-tech-contributing-chronic-absenteeism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has persuasively argued<\/a> \u2063 that students have \u201creceived the message\u2064 that school was school, whether in-person or not, and they \u200bwere getting \u2018the work\u2019 done, whether they were raising their hands in the physical classroom or clicking\u200c through checklists on learning management systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Replacing phonics hasn\u2019t worked, either. Instead of employing the traditional method of mastering vowels, sounding out words, and broadening a student\u2019s knowledge base to bolster reading comprehension, a trendy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/op-eds\/expert-idiocy-on-teaching-kids-to-read-is-beyond-comprehension\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cbalanced\u2064 literacy\u201d<\/a> approach that has \u2064been embraced for many years\u2062 uses tools such as looking at pictures and guessing\u200b words. Moreover, this approach, whose goal is to foster a love of reading, often puts the children in charge of which books to read instead of relying \u2064on the expertise of their teachers. What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n<p>So-called\u2062 equity policies, like the one in <a href=\"https:\/\/readlion.com\/school-district-axed-advanced-math-in-the-name-of-equity-parents-say-it-made-things-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cambridge, Massachusetts<\/a>, which aim to neuter advanced classes and stymie the efforts of students attempting to go the extra mile, are a glittering spectacle of unabashed stupidity. Their aims are neither education nor excellence. Not to \u200cbe outdone, in \u200bmy home state of California, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/teaching-learning\/california-adopts-controversial-new-math-framework-heres-whats-in-it\/2023\/07\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a new math framework<\/a> aims at \u201cmeaning-making\u201d\u2062 and \u2064\u201ccultural relevance\u201d instead of, I don\u2019t know, learning how to do math well enough to get the correct answer. Such policies are triumphs of utter mediocrity in the making.         <\/p>\n<p>Restorative practices, which aim to reduce suspensions \u2062and expulsions, have been instrumental in collapsing teacher morale. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2023\/01\/the-coming-school-discipline-wars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Behavior\u200c in our schools<\/a> has noticeably worsened since the\u2064 pandemic. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nea.org\/advocating-for-change\/new-from-nea\/survey-alarming-number-educators-may-soon-leave-profession\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">teacher exodus<\/a> in our country \u2064is actually not about pay and pension, but about the terrible working conditions of our schools punctuated by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-teacher-shortage-looms-states-get-creative-by-lowering-qualifications\/\" title=\"As Teacher Shortage Looms, States Get \u2018Creative\u2019 By Lowering Qualifications\">horrendous student behavior<\/a> that is now overlooked as a matter of policy.    <\/p>\n<p>We need to do more than \u200c\u201cget back to the \u200cbasics.\u201d We need a didacticism based on common sense, on remembering what\u200d has always worked, not obsessively\u200b inventing anew. We need to get back to adults being in charge of our schools. We need \u200cto remember the timeless truths of teaching and\u200b learning that we apparently have forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>Most of all, we must acknowledge that compassion is not, and never will \u2063be, tantamount to laxity.  <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a2086e52eb810169d13bd39d51034f5b fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a2086e52eb810169d13bd39d51034f5b\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for a return to traditional education. No more excessive education reforms or overemphasis on technology. Let&#8217;s stop simplifying the curriculum, tolerating bad behavior, and politicizing the classroom. Teachers and administrators in America should no longer self-censor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2304,"featured_media":2002062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2002061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2002061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2002062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2002061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2002061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2002061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}