Arne Duncan, U.S. Education Secretary, sent an op-ed piece to newspapers across the country about the financial crisis of the schools. The Star Tribune published it
2010-06-09, others as early as 2010-06-06. I tried finding a master at ed.gov but couldn't. He wrote that help may be on the way in the form of $23 billion dollars in emergency funding.
In the midst of all his exhortations on the importance of schools he wrote, "We all know that schools can be more efficient…" Oh! We all know? For a contrary view on that see "Arne Duncan's History Lesson to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)". It is a radical voice on how schools were designed to turn out factory workers. There is some truth in this diatribe. It does give some insight in this call for "efficiencies" in schools and government and where the call is coming from.
Efficiency means doing more with less resources. An efficient engine uses less gas. An efficient widget factory uses less material and energy to produce more widgets.
But you can't move a busload of people in a Prius; that many people would make a Prius very inefficient.
And you can't treat a classroom of children like widgets. Especially if your only measure of success is standardized tests. Children are individuals with varying levels of preparation and interest. Some will sit quietly and absorb knowledge like a sponge; others will fidget, disrupt, fall asleep, and get very little knowledge. It takes a lot of skill and a a lot of teachers to deal with such variety.
Using standardized tests for judging students and schools is like expecting a blue-grass musician to pass a written test on playing Beethoven. Let's put it another way. One student passes an English test of spelling and grammar, but writes very dully. Another student struggles through the same test, but writes prose that draws the reader in. Whose book would you rather read? Or manual? Or business plan?
Maybe the best means to efficient schools is to require parents to have a degree in early childhood development before they have any children.
