Dear Mr. Bill Gates

Quoting Mr. Bill Gates in the Washington Post, February 28, 2011.

"Over the past four decades, the per-student cost of running our K-12 schools has more than doubled, while our student achievement has remained virtually flat. Meanwhile, other countries have raced ahead. The same pattern holds for higher education. Spending has climbed, but our percentage of college graduates has dropped compared with other countries. "

Coming from a gentleman who attended school in a home and school environment with high expectations, including parents, students, administration, and teachers, I can see why he expects good teachers. Don't we all? It is a sad reality that bad teachers do exist, those teachers who are burned out and nearing retirement, or teachers who should have chosen another profession. I have been fortunate to work with really great teachers, and they are in an up-hill battle to undo what the bad teachers are done. So yes, Mr. Gates, I agree that we need good, no GREAT teachers, who are willing to go the extra mile, NOT teach to the test, and include project-based learning that provokes higher-order thinking. The sad truth is, every profession has bad employees, and teaching is not an exception. Good teachers is a large part of the puzzle, but only part of it. I believe our cultural belief about education is the missing piece.

In response to the quoted paragraph above, we need to study what those countries have done to improve education: many have created National Standards for every state. But the trouble lies in our culture's philosophy of education. If you have seen the video of education in China it is clear just how different we are from them: those who can't, fail. They are not given differentiated education but are left to sink or swim. China focuses on the high performing students and lets the other go. Also, pay attention to the school climate, every child comes to school with the fear of their parents in the back of their mind. Yes, I said PARENTS. I still stick to my belief that parents and society have a responsibility to uphold a high expectation of education. But as we know from my last post, there is a vicious cycle of (mostly poverty, according to research) lack of support for education, including early childhood and ongoing. Teachers can put in so much effort and motivate children, but when students return home to a parent who blows off school all together, that is the belief they are typically going to buy into, and the vicious cycle begins.

Back to China, so there is a culture of the intense requirement for students to attend school every day and work hard, then stay for the required classes after school, finally many attend test-prep classes until 10 o'clock at night. No wonder the suicide rate in China is so high. China goes to the other extreme of American's philosophy of education. We need to find a gray area.