Education: What is America Doing Right?

Having spoken to people educating their children in different nations has me reflecting on our American Education system. There are always things we have to work on, but we have things to celebrate, and I want to take a moment to remind us all what they are.

A woman I spoke with who is an educator herself, and working now in the UK was explaining to me that schools do not have an RTI (Response to Intervention) or an MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support) approach to students who struggle. Grade level instruction is delivered, and all students are expected to meet that level, regardless of language learning, or other barriers. If they are not achieving the level of success required, then it is put on parents to bridge the gap themselves. Parents are given warnings if their child is behind, but then if it is determined they need more than the Tier 1 instruction, they are removed from the school and placed in a “special school.” There are no special education teachers in the “regular schools.”

Another family I spoke with, in a country where it is illegal to homeschool, is facing struggles with their child in math. They were told that they need to “find another school” for their children. Unlike the UK where they will place the child in a special school, this country just puts it on the parents to “find another school.”

A family serving in the middle east explained to me that in their community school, there are times everyone just “decides to not have school tomorrow.” If the majority is in agreement, school is just canceled. This causes her quite the problems because in order to keep her visa, she and her husband both work full time jobs and they don’t have family around to step in and watch kids that aren’t in school.

The American’s With Disabilities Act has just always existed since I’ve been an educator, our systems are built around the law. It is not a daily consideration about what it would be like without it. The ADA is what provides our American students with extra learning needs with the legal supports  from literally being kicked out of their school, or isolated to special schools with no typical peers. Our FAPE (free and appropriate public education) law also protects kids from just being kicked out for struggling.

In Germany, it is illegal to homeschool, and if you start to fall behind in the early grades, they will decide for your child what “pathway” your child will be on to prepare them for their future, to include labor jobs, or college etc. They will decide. They will “track” your child and once they are put into a “track” they can’t get out of it. This is a thinly veiled caste system.

I’ve been reflecting on how much “easier” it would be to have higher performing students, higher performing schools if you just remove any student who is a challenge to teach. It sure would make it look like your countries’ students are “outperforming” American students, wouldn’t it? Easy to make that data look good for yourself when you completely remove the lower end of the bell curve.

At what, is America not doing well?

Some of the TCK (third culture kids) have shared that one of the hardest things about returning to an American School is not that the academics are harder…..its that they are so culture shocked and appalled at how American kids are so incredibly disrespectful to their teachers and each other. This kind of behavior that we are dealing with regularly in American schools is essentially unheard of in all these other places (probably in part because they would just be kicked out of school…or because they’ve already removed the students who have reasons to struggle). One parent suggested that in America we value “individualism” where as in the UK for example they value “order.” There is an incredible fear to make a mistake. That includes behavior related AND academic related. Which as we know creates a fixed mindset. We need mistakes to grow.

There has to be a balance somewhere between these two extremes. We don’t want a country full of “disrespectful kids” in order to value individualism….but we also don’t want generations of people who grow up fearful to make mistakes and take risks…

Some of the countries where it is illegal to homeschool include:

Germany

Armenia

Croatia

Greece

Albania

Lativa

Cyprus

Belarus

Andorra

Bulgaria

Georgia

Cuba