No Child Left Behind–they All Fail Together
by Recent educational rhetoric like "No Child Left Behind" and Differentiated Instruction" are not the "Holy Grail" of education as those in charge like to profess. Many real-world educators have not jumped on the bandwagon because these ideas and strategies are as imperfect as the people who created them.
The educational “czars” use differentiated instruction in order to legitimize multi-level classrooms–no more red groups and green groups, no more college preparatory students and no more technical preparatory students. All students receive the exact same instruction in the exact same classroom. Thereby they can all pass the exact same graduation tests, end of course tests, and whatever other kind of test imaginable Therefore, all have received equality in education. Again, the fallacy of either or reasoning suggests that if an educator does not embrace, use, and perfect the art of “Differentiated Instruction” then he/she is not a good educator. “Differentiated Instruction” could possibly work in a utopian educational world where all students want to learn. However, once again, utopia cannot exist when the constituents are imperfect.
The popular satirist Kurt Vonnegut buttressed this truth in his short story “Harrison Bergeron” wherein he wrote of a society made to be equal. If someone is born beautiful, then she must wear a mask. If someone is born intelligent, then he must wear headphones that blast loud noises intermittently, thereby interrupting thoughts. Vonnegut’s message is that we are not all equal. We deserve the right to be treated equally and given opportunities to excel, but we each excel and fail in diverse ways. The end effect of a society where all are made equal is a society of mediocrity–A society where the winning baseball team receives a trophy the same size as the worst team in the league. A society where everyone receives a medal whether or not he gave 10% or 110%, a society, that quenches intrinsic motivation by devaluing winning.
Just such a dilemma exists today in the non-tracked classroom. Of course there are exceptions to the rule; however, they are the exception not the rule. Today’s heterogeneous intelligence grouped classroom lacks discipline and focus. The future doctor or lawyer sits side by side with the future mechanic, the future homemaker, and the future drop out. Those who want to learn must contend with those who cannot or will not learn, who have no problem disrupting class and most certainly, slowing the pace of learning. However, the burden of this outcome does not lie with policy makers and budget cutters, but directly at the teachers’ feet, rationalized of course by “Differentiated Instruction”. Those who point fingers at teachers suggest that despite the varied intelligences, varied motivations, extra paper work, more duties outside of the classroom, and less pay the teacher is to blame. However, the fingers need to point to those who control the money. “Differentiated Instruction” is simply a red herring. With the decrease in the economy, the policy makers and those who dole out funding have not only set up the teachers to fail, but also the students.
Perhaps, if we all looked in the farmhouse window as do the animals in the end of Animal Farm, we might find differentiating between the men and the pigs, the politicians and the great pretenders of education, impossible. One has become the other.
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