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Show Beyond Discipline to the Real Worry Are Our Kids Learning? "More control." "... the way it used to be." "Keep them in their seats and shut up." These are attitudes expressed by a few parents following last week's article on discipline in the schools. The Record, in examinat-ing examinat-ing those attitudes, discovered that parents most in favor of tighter controls on the students, less democracy in the classroom, and a return to old-fashioned authoritarianism, were not actually actual-ly as worried about behavior as their attitudes seemed to indicate. indi-cate. Their real concern was whether their children were learning. Somehow they felt that "learning" "learn-ing" could be best measured by quiet, bookish atmospheres, and i by homework. If those two requirements were met, they indicated that they would feel more certain their children were learning. Yet when asked whether some things might in fact be learned better in a relaxed atmosphere, they agreed science and art projects, social studies discussions, discus-sions, health and physical education educa-tion to name a few. Likewise, they agreed that the average child probably could learn to read, write and do arithmetic sufficiently suffi-ciently well during regular class hours if he went to school regularly and did all the work he was supposed to there. Nevertheless, they seemed, to feel that if a little order in the classroom was conducive to learning, a lot would be more so. And if a little homework is good, tons of it would be better. In other words, even though they said their kids were doing okay in the present system, they were afraid that they would not do well enough. "My son does okay, but I keep hearing about kids who graduate high school without being able to read," worried one mother. "How can I be sure that a few years from now I won't be faced with a senior who can't handle sixth-grade material?" Another Park City mother was in a flap because, "All these years my daughter has been an excellent student, but now what if she can't get into a good college?" Whatever schools propose to teach, whatever goals the community com-munity sets, whatever the state requires, parents want assurance of one thing: that their children are made literate. Beyond that, those with college bound offspring off-spring want to be certain that they'll qualify for universities outside Utah as well as within the state. It should be patently clear that no school policy, neither democratic democ-ratic nor authoritarian, will give that assurance. Noise or lack of noise does not prove learning, any more than homework or lack of homework proves study. There are other and far better ways for parents to find out whether their kids are learning enough. The first and most obvious way is to know their own child. Does he read aloud as well as one might expect of one who has been studying two, four or six years? Does he seem interested and understanding of what he reads? Are the letters he writes legible and iintelligible? Do his comments com-ments and discussions indicate a reasonable level of information and awareness? A second way of finding out whether ones child is learning is by listening to what his teachers have to say. A third way is by studying evaluations done of students and the school in general. The Record does not know every child in town to judge whether they sem generally well-educated. Nor has it spoken with every teacher to learn whether they feel that most children at Marsac and Park High are learning enough to compete in the world and higher education. However, the Record has examined an evaluation done of Marsac by the Utah State Board of Education. According to last spring's achievement test data, Marsac students averaged 2 to 9 months above grade level na-ional na-ional norms on the Stanford Achievement Tests, which assessed as-sessed vocabulary, reading, reading read-ing comprehension, word study skills, math concepts, math computation, math application, spelling, English, science, social studies and listening. The study team indicated that the school could be improved in certain areas (public relations, for one), but its overall report was positive. "Marsac Elementary School has a better than average climate for learning and is in many ways an outstanding school," the specialists stated. The quality of education being provided at Park High is less certain. That is not to say that Park High students are not learning only data as to how well they are doing is not readily available, except on an individual basis. It is known that all the subjects are being taught which would enable a good student to meet the requirements of a good university. And it is known that some students, reared and educated in Park City, have met those requirements. One of last year's students received a scholarship scho-larship to Scripts Institute one of the nation's more prestigious centers of higher learning. One of this year's students scored 99 percent on the Standard Achievement Achieve-ment Test a level impressive enough to open the doors of virtually any university in the country. In a recent limited study comparing Park High with ten Colorado schools, our showing was good above the others in most subjects. This is encouraging, encourag-ing, but not yet the assurance parents want that Park High is, in fact, a first-rate school. Are all its graduates (excepting those in special education) literate? Is its college preparatory program adequate? Are the kids learning what they need to know to earn a living, to become good neighbors, parents, citizens? If the school is weak in certain areas, which areas are they? Considering the few teachers teaching each subject, a consistent consis-tent weakness in any one field might point to incompetence of a specific faculty member, rather than a failure of the entire system. Or lack of facilities (for example, Park High's deplorable library) might be seriously handicapping students. If parents are concerned about wheather their kids are learning enough, they must go beyond generalized complaints and simplistic simp-listic solutions. If they fear weaknesses in the system, they must demand evidence ... ask questions ... before jumping to conclusions. Only with good information hard data which parents have a right to insist upon can Park City know how well its schools are functioning, and how well its students are learning. Until then, it does little good to damn the entire system for what may be isolated and correctable problems. |