My Vision for Public Education


Let's face it, public schools today are in crisis. Due to political and parental pressures to get results, we are seeing more emphasis on standardized testing, entrance and exit exams, and a total lack of concern for whether a kid can actually do anything with what they've supposedly learned. My vison for what schools should and should not be is in some ways similar to the current model and in other ways radically different.

Perhaps you are familiar with "magnet schools," which emphasize either Math and Science, or Art and Literature, or Technology, and so on. I wonder why ALL schools aren't following this model. Kids are forced to COMPETE for a chance to get into these special schools, which understandably have limited seats. I would like to know why ALL SCHOOLS aren't using these innovative and exciting methods? Why they don't all raise the bar? I wonder if it is because half the kids in a classroom would be hopelessly lost unless they are sat in neat little rows facing a black or white board listening to their teacher drone so they can take notes? Or is it because so many students are disruptive and frustrating to work with? Why is this? Perhaps it is because they are smart enough to recognize the bunk they are being taught.

I believe that early schooling should be in the Montessori style- a more discovery and exploratory approach to learning with a teacher guiding them. Middle school should be the skill reinforcing and building time. By the time they are in high school they should be ready for a more open approach. They should be broken into teams and given problems to solve, they should be expected to produce results that work, they should be able to take what they learn in one subject and apply it in another. They should be able to act upon inadequate data, they should not have individual classes and teachers, but rotated through various parts of the curriculum--so many weeks spent in one part, then into another part and so on. If you follow the current business model, you'll find that this is how most of the world does its work these days. They should have to do paid internships with local businesses and report to a coordinator on their progress, problems, what they are learning, and how they can apply it to their lives. They should have to present projects and findings to an oral board, they should be fluent in technology, hands-on, and service-oriented situations. I'm suggesting a radical new approach for the four years they are in school to culminate not only with final written exams, but an oral board exam as well. If they feel they are not ready, they can take an extra year to prepare. This is more along the lines of the British and Scottish models of education. When they do graduate, they will be more able to handle new situations, they will be able to think on their feet, they will be able to sort though data to determine what is important and what is not, they will be able to cope with a fast-paced small global economy we are moving towards.

Here is a breakdown of my vision.

  1. Elementary years-K-3: Start with Montessori methods, as well as skill building and memorization skills


  2. Intermediate years- 4-5: Review, reinforce, and build upon previous learning


  3. Middle School- 6-8: Begin to "remove the classroom from the classroom" by group rotations. Continue to reinforce and build skills. Expect students to demonstrate mastery through testing and skill demonstration. Each student should have a progress chart that indicates their level of mastery, which is kept between the child, the parent, and the teacher. Any assistance towards their graduation should be fostered through interaction between resource teachers, parents, classroom teachers, and the student. The student should be present any time there is a meeting concerning his or her education, they should be encouraged to be a part of their own learning.


  4. High School- 9-12+: Students will be randomly placed in groups. They will rotate through various problems and simulations that teach ALL subjects simultaneously. These problems will have deadlines. They will have to learn to rely on each other and themselves to solve the problem and create a solution. No set "solution" to each will be created, instead the solution the team comes up with will be evaluated on its own merits- does it adequately address the problem? Students will have access to simulation software, project management software, and whatever else they may need. They will be expected to chart their progress, track their contributions, and publish their solutions in the form of a report. A teacher will be assigned to keep them on track and see that they are making progress, mediate any disputes, and provide counsel and suggestions. The group will have to learn to work out issues and put things to a vote if they get stuck. They will learn leadership and followship skills. Each problem will require a change of groups and present its own requirements, restrictions, and guidelines. The students will rotate through various areas of the school being guided and given their problem by a teacher who specializes in that area of study. The students will hone their math skills, communication skills, written skills, oral presentation skills, team skills, and thinking skills. There will be problems they will have to solve individually, as well, but we'll save that for their Junior and Senior years. The object is to keep the situation flowing. There will be times these groups will fail. They will be asked to explain and discover what went wrong. These will be considered learning experiences. The students will be able to choose to attend lectures on subjects related to their problems and simulations. The students will have to identify the skills and abilities they used to solve the problem when they present their solution orally, using any and all technologies they choose, to an evaluation board. They will, before the deadline, schedule their presentation with the board and be responsible for all aspects of the presentation.
    Teachers, administrators, members of the community, and local businesses and corporations, will postulate the problems and situations that the students will work through. They will also be responsible for evaluating the solutions the students come up with.
    The Senior project shall be the most important of all. By this time the students will have very little need for daily interaction with their teachers. They will be able to solve problems and situations with or without a group, present their findings to a large group effectively, use research methods and technologies, and sort through large amounts of data with ease, removing the extraneous and collating the important information. They will individually choose a research topic, design models and structures, collate statistics, and be able to present their findings to the board. They will do this for the first semester of their Senior year. The second semester is preparation for their oral and written exams in order to graduate. They will be given the criteria by which they will be expected to meet, they will be given their materials to study, they will be given a small cubicle/office with a computer and room to study and they will also be assigned to a teacher/advisor who will help them as needed. They will be expected to give a weekly progress report to their advisor. They will be able to request an extra semester if necessary to prepare if they feel they are not ready.
    Once this intensive semester of study and activity is complete, they will submit a request for their written exams, some parts of which will be timed, other parts they will take with them and work on over a series of days. These exams will be geared to the individual student, his/her abilities and skills. The written portion of their exams should not take more than 30 days to complete. Once the review board has evaluated their responses and they are deemed to have passed, they will apply to take their oral board. This will be a several hour exam where the board will ask the candidate questions concerning their knowledge and experience. The candidate can be asked to demonstrate using diagrams, notes, and experience. All the problem reports and notes he took while in high school, plus all the information he studied and collected during his semester of study will be available to them. If the student fails either portion of the exam, he/she will have another semester to study and prepare and try again. If he/she still fails, then they will receive what amounts to a GED stating that they can perform basic skills, but did not fully graduate. These candidates will be able to enter into trade schools, junior colleges and apprenticeship programs, but not college. They can choose to go to a 2-year prep school (which they pay for) and apply to the board again to take whichever portion of their exams they failed, and thus get the full diploma, this will be decided on a case-by-case basis. It should be nearly impossible to fail with the right guidance and experiences they had prior to this. If they pass both portions they are to receive a diploma stating that they have achieved the required mastery of subjects and skills to apply themselves to further study in a college or university.


The requirements of this program should be that as they rotate through their problems and solutions they cover and master the following skills, (Note: these items will often be mixed together):

The end results will be:

Yes this is an awfully Utopian vision and most people would claim we do not have the money or resources to make it come true. Others may argue that without defined subjects of study there will be no basis of evaluation for each student, no "score," no number or letter assigned to their activities. No way to know who came out ahead of whom. Is that really so important? Is that what a "free and appropriate education" should be? Often our failures are just as important learning tools as our successes, yet in our current system the only way to fail is to not do the work or do it so shoddily that it doesn't merit a high enough "score." Instead students should be held to standards of mastery, rubrics of individual and group abilities will have to be designed for evaluation purposes. Yes this world will be less objectively measured and more subjectively measured. The bottom line will be:

Can you time and again succeed in solving a problem or situation in a given timeframe with a team, without a team, with technology, without technology, can you get results? Are those results worth anything?
The numbers will come into play but not have as much impact as the students who can effectively communicate and convey a vision they came up with and presented. The education community as a whole would probably object to this idea, preferring to stay within the comforting confines of the familiar rather than venture into the new territories of the unknown future. I challenge all to honestly think about it: a teachers role would be guides instead of boring lecturers. No more lesson plans, they wouldn't have to take any work home with them, they would get to see their students perform and present information rather than the "chalk talk" and "drill and kill" they are used to doing now. Schools would be transformed into vital centers buzzing with energy and enthusiasm. Students would recognize the value of hard work, responsibility, and attention to details. I daresay that once the transition took place, (starting at elementary and moving up through the grade levels) students would be literally "chomping at the bit" to get to school each day. School would be much less of a separated world from the one they will encounter when they go to college and go to work. What a better world it would be…*sigh*

Some of My Earlier Thoughts Concerning Education

© 1998-2002 J. S. Brown




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