Fallacies Worth Fighting - public education

School Administrator, August, 2000 by John A. Kaufhold

* Myth No. 5: Non-educators can solve educational problems.

Many people have implicit faith in what they read in the newspapers or see on television. When stories are reported about the sad state of American schools, non-educators step forward with the belief that they have the answers to cure the problem.

This is an understandable reaction. While everyone has not been in a courtroom or an operating room for any length of time, most everyone has spent 12 years in a classroom. To many, the educational task looks easy.

Thus we have business people applying business-type quick fixes. School boards will fire the CEO, insist on quality control (by holding teachers accountable for test scores) and slash budgets (to exclude "frills" courses). Unfortunately, these measures have only exacerbated the problems.

Sadly, these aren't the only myths that surround education. Well-meaning parents rush students into intensive pre-school programs while believing that this will ensure academic success. School officials, on the other hand, still group students using the supposition that all students learn at the same pace. If the United States is to prosper during the next century, these myths must be discarded.

John Kaufhold, a farmer superintendent, is an associate professor of education at Texas A&M University. Kingsville, Department of Education, MSC 196, Kingsville, Texas 78363-8202.