EDUCATION TODAY SPECIAL SECTION
K-12 Education’s Crisis of Relevance By Michael C. Johnson
Michael C. Johnson
24
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | ARIZONA JEWISH LIFE
T
he extent that we can assure that every American child receives a relevant and contemporary education today will dictate the health of our economy, our global standing and the general welfare of our society for the remainder of this century. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer such a guarantee, not while the American system of education is in crisis; what I term “a crisis of relevance.” Based on my professional experience, hundreds of observations and scores of conversations with educators and students alike, I believe this crisis is rooted in four areas. An over-reliance on antiquated assumptions and practices. When one visits a traditional neighborhood K-12 school, they are quickly struck by the familiarity of the place. It doesn’t matter whether the visitor is a recent graduate or hasn’t had the reason or opportunity to step inside a school building for several decades; a sense of habitual and common experiences will be obvious. Students are divided into groups based primarily on their age. These groupings will commonly consist of 30 (+/-) students in the presence of one adult - the skilled content specialist, the keeper of wisdom. These settings are frequently organized by rows of student seating, facing in a common direction - the teacher. And it is the teacher who is talking, dispensing information with the expectation that the students will absorb it and retain it long enough to regurgitate it on an upcoming assessment successfully. This description of teacher-dominated classrooms is as accurate today as 50, 75, or 100 years ago. We rely on what is familiar, on what worked for us. Within this comfort of familiarity, teachers today continue to teach as they were taught. We fool ourselves into believing that because some of the tools have changed, we are offering a contemporary and meaningful educational experience. Blackboards and chalk have been replaced with whiteboards and dry erase markers. Slide rules are out. Calculators are in. Electronic tablets are the new pencil. But, despite these new devices available to students and their teachers, which we label “progress,” schools look remarkably as they have historically, and the instructional strategies being used remain virtually unchanged. The biggest issue is that the students sitting in these classrooms are not 20th century learners. We teach in very traditional ways to a population of students, the post-millennial generation, who are not traditional. They value experiences, individuality, uniqueness and an entrepreneurial spirit. They tend to look forward, rather than focus on the past. The disconnect between the content and methodology of what is taught, and the true interests, needs and learning styles of these 21st century learners contribute to a lack of relevance; the state of being able to derive personal meaning and connection with the experiences they are required to participate
