'Race to Nowhere' ...

Last night, I attended the only Calgary screening of the documentary film, 'Race to Nowhere', a parent-made film about the achievement culture of American schools.  The film interviewed hundreds of students, teachers, administrators, parents and people from the medical profession about the pressures facing students in America's testing culture.  The film certainly reinforced and perhaps strengthened what I already knew about the scary inadequacies of the American education system.  What was even scarier was that this film focused mainly on middle class students, not even touching on the dilemmas of schools in poverty and the current budget cuts.  

Perhaps the most important message that I took from the film is the importance of families establishing their own ideal of success.  For some students, getting into a top university is not a priority.  The American education system needs to accept that this is okay.

The American system is certainly in some trouble and it seems likely that American society will soon be in trouble if schools continue to churn out students for whom their best skill is colouring in bubbles on multiple choice tests.  As Art Costa recently said at the ASCD conference, are we preparing our students for a life of tests, or are we preparing them for the test of life?  So, here you have it ... my somewhat simplistic and idealistic suggestions for the transformation of American schools and American students:

Homework - Abolish homework for the primary grades and heavily reduce the homework load of high school students (perhaps by discussion and negotiation amongst subject teachers to ensure students are not receiving hours of homework each night).

Assessment - Abolish traditional grades and instead, use narrative based constructive feedback and increase peer/self evaluations.

Classroom organisation - Re-arrange the traditional seating arrangement of single desks facing the front and allow students to sit and learn in groups, either at desks or on the floor. 

Let them play!  Students of all ages can learn by playing.  They're children, not mini-adults.

Ah, we can only hope.  Until then, let's prepare ourselves for 'the world' (according to America) to be run by bubble-filling-in students who just want to know 'will it be on the test?'