The Secret Sauce: A National Love of Childhood

"William Doyle is a 2015-2016 Fulbright Scholar and award-winning New York Times bestselling author and TV producer from New York City." He knows what our politicians should. He knows what we all do deep in our souls. In this post, he shares the secret sauce to a great pubic education. Spoiler alert: standardized testing, stealth data collection, school rankings, and teacher bashing are fully absent. And it really is no secret.

"I have seen the School of Tomorrow.
It is a place where children and teachers are safe and happy.
It is a school where children are encouraged to be children, to play, to daydream, to laugh, to struggle and fail, to assess themselves and each other, to question and learn.
It is a school where teachers test their students every day, not with low-quality standardized tests or faceless screens, but with constant face-to-face observations and teacher-designed assessments."

"It is a school where children are prepared for life, not only with the fundamentals of language, math and science, but with play, arts and crafts, drama, music, ethics, home skills, nature, physical activity, social and emotional support, warmth and encouragement."

 

Are our children and their teachers happy? Are children given enough recess, hands on experiences, field trips, and joyful learning experiences? Are their teachers given autonomy? Are they encouraged to develop creative lessons and work on a time frame that considers their professional judgement? Are they allowed to set the text books aside and bring history, reading, writing, science and math to life? Is there time for art, music, and all of the precious specials?

"It is a place where technology is the servant, not master."

As parents and tax payers, we must be careful about technology. Well-intended administrators and teachers may be unaware that technology companies are collecting our children's data and that the ultimate goal of tech companies is to get richer taking over all public schools by replacing them with charter schools and online learning (which has disastrous results by reformers own flawed measures.)
Read more here.

This is a scene from a Rocketship Charter School. Not what I want for my kids...

"It is a school where children are prepared for life, not only with the fundamentals of language, math and science, but with play, arts and crafts, drama, music, ethics, home skills, nature, physical activity, social and emotional support, warmth and encouragement."

We MUST demand that our kids get lots of physical activity, play, emotional support, warmth, encouragement, and creativity. Interestingly, creativity can't be outsourced and is actually the non-measurable skill that is truly in demand in the 21st century.

Doyle's advice for those who want to automate our schools and de-personalize them with the Orwellian named, "personalized technology":

"American politicians and philanthropists are spending, or are about to spend, vast fortunes on trying to develop “scalable” education reforms that can transform and improve American public schools.
I have a suggestion for anyone who wants to improve children’s education. Start by coming to Finland. Spend some time in Finnish schools, talking to Finnish educators, students and parents."

Friends, it is time for us to help our communities wake up. Please share this information and respectfully demand that our school leaders and school boards read scholarly research and documented experiences of those like Doyle. All American children deserve the best childhoods and education, not just those of the elite.

It turns out that the secret sauce is just good old developmental and child psychology for all.