Safeguard your Students From the Damage School is Doing to Them

The future of education is going to look like this, Sal Khan Let's Teach for Mastery, 

but not in time for our children or our ESL students. What can we do today to safeguard our learners from the dysfunctional education they are experiencing now?  

We know the resistance to change is mostly political (and the teachers themselves - we get paid if students succeed or not). We also know other countries are much more successful with education than we are in English speaking countries.  How the Finnish School System Outshines U.S.Education. The internet is loaded with hard-to-ignore articles and studies. 

Is it possible we only have to adopt what is working elsewhere? Sadly, NO.

"For the most part, we are still in survival mode here in Canada when it comes to public education. To think of finding money to expand the system and pay for more highly qualified teachers is the stuff of dreams." Why Finland's Schools are the Best in the West

I'm just a humble teacher but from the inside of education looking out, there is no way our politicians, education boards or teacher training programs are capable of leading the kinds of overhaul necessary to provide our children and adult ESL students with an education that is going to prepare them for life. We are pretty much on our own with this.

The biggest two factors in the success of other education systems over English speaking education systems aren't mentioned in most studies but here they are:

1) The English language is fundamentally flawed. Letters (26) don't represent sounds     (40). Spelling is random: to two, too, do, due, dew, no, know, air, ere, aire, heir, err, eyre... There is no way to speak English from reading it or read English from speaking it. Other languages make sense - English doesn't.

2) Education completely ignores that English is broken. Stepping over this critical issue is criminal and a big reason why native English education is an epic fail. We step over the mess because we don't know what to do about it. And we find it very handy to blame   students when things don't go well. Shame on us.   

There is something you can do today to help learners. Read to them.

Native English speakers - you can fortify your children against the abysmal education they are going to receive in the school system. Chances are excellent children are not going to become strong readers in school (40% functionally illiteracy rates in all native English speaking countries). It is up to you. Read to your children.

In fact, students who excel at reading by the end of third grade and demonstrate regular school attendance are 90 percent more likely to graduate from high school. I like to take this one step further and hazard they are more likely to succeed at life.

Non-Native English Speakers are never going to speak confidently unless you can reconcile the craziness of the ABCs. Read to them. Their amazing human brains will sort it out if you give them a chance to follow the words with their eyes as they are being read to.

Read Dr. Seuss to English learners. Children, adults, native speakers, non-native speakers... this is where they go off the tracks and this is where you fix everything. It's not too hard for you and it doesn't take long. Reading and Speaking fluency live here. 

Until next time, 

Teacher Judy