Being different to make the difference

It was the morning of Christmas Eve, and I was standing in line at the post office.

The line was already down to the other end of the building. There were still 10 minutes before the window even opened. So, I began to read the newspaper I brought anticipating a long wait for that one last package. There were folks greeting each other as they passed to move to the end of the line. Some were engaged in conversations with the party next to them, sharing the next stop on their busy schedules. Then a gentleman made a comment regarding our state of the union and how long lines will become the normal for all governmental services in the future. He added, we will experience less satisfaction with the services received and that there is only one alternative. We had better take notice, and his parting shot was: We need to take our government back.

I took a break from my newspaper as I reflected on his declaration. If that meant the people decided and made it work better, then sign me up. Sign me up to be treated as the educational professional I am, allowing me the academic freedom in my classroom to teach with depth and understanding. And I would not stop there, if I had any say. I would challenge students, along with their solid, deep foundation of knowledge, to apply that knowledge to real life problems, and finally, debate their critical findings seeking those solutions.

The reality of my classroom is quite different. My classroom is inundated with a barrage of routine tasks that hinder the teaching process.

Also, the mandated programs have scripted lessons that create robotic and mechanized teaching. I push curriculum using a “pacing” schedule that slots every student in the same box. The consistency and management aspect of the delivery model does not allow for any divergent thinking or the teachable moment to enhance and create food for thought for students.

I believe we are losing the battle to regain our national standings and for our students to compete on the international scene. For our students to meet the challenges of our future, that future being global, they will have to use their imagination and be creative like never before. Besides needing to be creative, they will have to be innovative, because the old tools are becoming obsolete before our eyes. Thus, new, faster and better tools will need to be invented. And to be marketable, a different mindset will be required. As it is, our best and brightest minds are truly being left behind and we will all reap the consequences of being “just average.”

The federal government’s programs to provide money and effort helping low-performing, poor and minority students opportunities has ignored those with the highest potential. Those highest-end students are the would-be entrepreneurs and inventors that could redress, recreate and redesign new systems for our future to compete with the rest of the world.

Yet, the entire field of students, those targeted by the federal mandates and those on both sides of targeted group, will also need increased learning and achievement. In short, all students will need more than the status quo of instruction to compete even at a national level, much less global. We need to overhaul the entire educational delivery model to ensure all students experience and engage in higher levels of thinking, with communication skills and problem solving. They cannot afford average reading, writing and mathematics. Our communities, states and nation cannot afford “run-of-the-mill.” We have to be sharper and on the cutting edge with no leftovers. The same will not do any more. Global markets are not looking for the same.

Let’s move beyond models of education that only target particular groups and leave our most gifted and talented behind. It is time to provide those necessary skills for all students to be part of the solution. We need to regain our status as the pace setters, pushing the limits and have others look to us for that creativity and innovation.

The outcome of a limited focused educational model will look like long lines, lack of satisfactory services, and no one to blame but ourselves. The time is now to move forward, be visionary, and expect out of the box originality so as not to be the last great frontier, but the new, global frontier.

Michael P. Carson has taught in schools for 34 years and is at Pioneer Peak Elementary.