When David Berliner arrived on February 5th, 2015 on Ball State’s campus, I assumed he’d be a stuffy philosopher. I figured he’d come in with facts and statistics of why education was in trouble and rally teachers around his cause to change the world. I was both right and wrong. Berliner enlightened me in so many ways, but he was anything but stuffy. In his commentary based around his book “50 Myths and Lies that Threaten American Public Schools,” I fell in love with his insights on how the United States compares to other schools on testing, poverty, and legislation that affects our schools. When comparing the United States to other countries I hear that the U.S. falls short. When Yong Zhao came to campus, I began to see how the United States really compares to international education programs. Berliner brought even more insights of how our country fits into the education scheme.
This is exactly one of the big myths that Berliner busted. We, in fact, compete quite well with other countries. Something I had never truly considered is how data can be manipulated. Something he pointed out is countries, like Shanghai, rank high in education. For one, he pointed out Shanghai is NOT a country. Secondly, the students in their schools are high achieving because they live in the city. The data doesn’t account for children with disabilities or those in rural areas who are working etc…. Of course, those who are in school will be the ones doing best! In the United States, once again, our data is sometimes skewed. Berliner pointed out “We group poor kids with poor kids, and rich kids with rich kids, and it shows up in our data.” It is easy to see where educational inequities lie based on poverty and the opportunity gaps that come from it. Berliner eloquently pointed that one of the problems with education in the United States is that “we’re trying to put a metric on everything…let’s get our kids career and college ready at the age of five.” Overall, Berliner just barely began touching on how our schools do compare to those in other countries, but our scales and metrics are completely different.
Even the PISA is skewed based on the populations taking the test. Understanding poverty and being responsive to the issue of poverty has become more relevant to my educational journey here at Ball State. I’m taking an education and social justice course, and we’ve touched on the basics. Berliner, as I briefly mentioned above, believes that we still live in a segregated society. We have unreliable scores that are “wobbly” because we have gaps in our educational equity. Something that Berliner seemed to skim was this conversation, and I wish I had been at his earlier session that focused completely on this topic. However, Berliner talked about how our segregated society groups kids based on where they live. He explained, “It’s not the hours, the teachers, or the core standards that hurt our schools, it’s poverty that affects scores and inequality.” When Berliner hit that nail on the head, my heart soared. Right now in Indiana, it seems that we have forgotten how poverty plays into the greater scheme of politics. We’re choosing testing and metrics that disregard where a student comes from, their individuality. Berliner beautifully explained that college and career readiness is great, but “what’s good for the mind is deep knowledge in some subject, it doesn’t matter what.” Right now in Indiana, I think the achievement gap and inequity have to be taken into account by legislators, but that just hasn’t happened.
Berliner never picked a side of politics, which is why I loved his presentation most of all. He was honest though in his beliefs and observations of the pitfalls of education. He once said “Why don’t your legislators act?…. They’re meanies.” His humor was wonderfully placed, but I feel that Berliner really meant that there is a lack of awareness. We have a “Fake Think Tank” society, with our children racing to the top, not being left behind, and hopefully we’ll be ready for college. But when we run education like a business, with money involved, educators sometimes forget the biggest point of the whole education system… the kids. Berliner stated, “You’d think if you had a billion dollars, you could afford a fact checker.” What facts would I want our legislators to check? I wish they’d take into account the individuals their policies are affecting. I wish they’d understand that maybe comparing districts for financing and A-F grades doesn’t have kids’ best interests in minds. Perhaps being top on a test isn’t the biggest priority. Overall, Berliner just skimmed the surface of the myths and lies in education. He hit the nail on the head for the big issues, and opened a good starting point for conversation and a place for me to start my thoughts on these topics in education.
