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American School Board Journal
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Do public schools have an image problem? Just Google the phrase “nation’s failing public schools,” and I think you’ll get an answer. Actually, 10 screen pages of answers.
There are many reasons for this perception, beginning with the very real problems facing public schools in disadvantaged urban, rural, and suburban areas, as well the challenges facing all schools as they try to prepare all children to thrive in the 21st century.
But, as ASBJ Contributing Editor Nora Carr writes in the magazine’s November issue, this perception of school failure has gone far beyond these realities to assume a kind of mythical life of its own.
And one of many causes of this phenomenon are certain journalistic conventions — as a former newspaper reporter and current magazine writer who strives to be “objective,” it pains me to have to say this — to root for the underdog, “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” to put a “human face” on a larger problem, and, in the process risk distorting its causes, scope, and possible solutions.
“Blaming educators, unions, and recalcitrant school boards for poor student performance may not accurately portray what research says about effective schools, but it sells,” Carr writes. “It also fits the human need to assign responsibility for any perceived failure.”
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In his annual address to secondary school heads, John Dunford, the general secretary of the U.K.’s Association Of School and College Leaders, acknowledged yesterday that a culture of instant gratification has made the job of teaching today’s youth harder than its ever been.
“Success appears to come instantly and without any real effort,” Dunford told the conference audience. “It is difficult for teachers to compete. Success in learning just doesn’t come fast enough.”
Well said, Mr. Dunford, but hardly revolutionary.
For years now, I’ve heard from teacher friends and seen from site visits how much teaching has become by necessity almost entertainment like; we must engage the students by making lessons fun and relevant.
One teacher told me recently that she has to convince high school students that learning basic math concepts like multiplication and division are necessarily skills in life, even employing popular rap stars and their lyrics about money making within her arsenal.
That’s sad … but is it inevitable given how prolific and accessible technology and media are and make everything seem? Not only do we have 24/7 media, we have an endless supply of fame-seekers willing to broadcast their lives 24/7.
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A few months ago, the Brookings Institute released a report that had a pretty obvious conclusion to those of us in education and journalism: “Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is not Enough.”
While the report’s main statisticthat education only gets 1.4 percent of coverage out of all the national and local newspapers the authors analyzedhas been questioned, some of its other conclusions are indisputable. One of those is that the depth of coverage is suffering as well.
In the March ASBJ, communications columnist Nora Carr shows why coverage matters. The U.S. population is aging, and about two-thirds of residents do not have school-aged children, and most of these have no connection to their local schools. Many of their beliefs center around their experiences with schools when they were students or their children attended. More news coverage is focused on policy (such as President Obama’s recent high school graduation events).
That’s why it’s so important to build relationships with reporters and find ways to get them tips about the good thingsthe heart and soul of education, as Carr says–that are happening each day in your schools. She points to Manuel High School in Indianapolis, where the superintendent let a local reporter have unfettered access. Some might call that a risky move, but it brought enormous rewards for the struggling school. Reporter Matthew Tully’s chronicle of the students and staff members stories has brought overwhelming community support for the schoolmore than 2,000 people attended its Christmas show, bringing $10,000 in donations.
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