Educare and Educere: Is a Balance Possible in the Educational System?

Educational Forum, The, Winter 2004 by Bass, Randall V, Good, J W

When Jamison T. Rock, the new superintendent of schools in the local district, turned his car into the parking lot at the elementary school, he was shocked to see that all of the spaces were filled. He left the parking lot, drove into the service entrance, and parked near the activity field. As he made the long walk to the school cafeteria, Jim wondered about the huge turnout for a meeting to discuss the direction of the district's academic program. He had received a request from a group of parents to discuss this issue with them. He had decided that all parents should be informed of the meeting and have the opportunity to attend. So he had sent out an announcement of the meeting to all parents whose children were enrolled in district schools. He assumed the meeting would be as poorly attended as all the other meetings involving parents had been.

"Man, did I ever misjudge this one," he thought to himself as he walked through the maze of hallways leading to the cafeteria. He heard the buzz of a hundred conversations well before he turned the final corner.

As the meeting got underway, it was clear that there would be no unanimity tonight. Jim opened the meeting by saying that he had no prepared remarks, but was simply there to participate in a discussion about the direction the academic program should take, adding that a group of parents had requested the meeting. The manager of a local industry immediately stood and said that he wanted the schools to implement practices that would make students good workers when they graduated from high school, "We need more and better art and music programs," one woman added. Someone else said she wanted students to be prepared for college. Others raised issues such as preparing good citizens, making students computer literate, getting back to the basics, doing a better job of teaching reading, and questioning the value of the current math instruction. Someone said, "I'd like to see our test scores improve. Wonderland district beats us every year, and I'm tired of it."

Finally a man who had been listening quietly said, "What is the purpose of education, anyway?" Silence reigned. The meeting ended with Jim asking for volunteers to serve on a committee, along with teachers, to address the concerns that had been raised. A few of the more vocal participants volunteered, as well as the man who had asked the final question.

DEMANDS ON THE SYSTEM

More demands are placed on the educational system in America than ever before. Not only are expectations higher, but schools are receiving specific directions from those outside the educational establishment on how to meet those expectations. For example, several state legislatures have enacted bills requiring public schools to teach phonics in their reading programs. The "back-to-basics" movement gained strength several years ago and continues to be influential in shaping curricula, though the term is used less than in the past. The vocal presence of the religious right in shaping this movement has given the back-to-basics movement the status of being unquestionable. In effect, it has become an unstated assumption in curriculum construction (McNeil 2000).

Standardized testing has further institutionalized the basics as the inviolable principle in deciding what to teach and how to teach it. When teachers' pay and continued employment are dependent on how students perform on standardized tests, teachers will teach in the way they think is most likely to produce satisfactory scores. Teachers most often see memorization and drill on the basics as the most effective way to teach. As a result, the function of the educational system changes from providing students with a well-rounded education to preparing them to pass the all-important test. In effect, what were intended to be minimum standards rapidly become maximum standards (Kohn 2001).

TWO MEANINGS OF 'EDUCATION'

Clearly, the basics are important in the education of any individual. A person who is schooled only to pass the test, however, is ill prepared to cope with today's rapidly changing world. Something more is needed to make the student successful in today's world. Some perspective on this issue can be gained from looking at the word "education."

Craft (1984) noted that there are two different Latin roots of the English word "education." They are educare, which means to train or to mold, and educere, meaning to lead out. While the two meanings are quite different, they are both represented in our word "education." Thus, there is an etymological basis for many of the vociferous debates about education today. The opposing sides often use the same word to denote two very different concepts. One side uses education to mean the preservation and passing down of knowledge and the shaping of youths in the image of their parents. The other side sees education as preparing a new generation for the changes that are to come-readying them to create solutions to problems yet unknown. One calls for rote memorization and becoming good workers. The other requires questioning, thinking, and creating. To further complicate matters, some groups expect schooling to fulfill both functions, but allow only those activities promoting educare to be used.