The Role of the Unions
in “Mass Production” of High-Quality Education
A contemporary
high definition television set was invented in 1972-1979 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television).
However, only about 30 years later high definition television sets have become
the part of the mass production/consumption.
The
reasons for this delay are outside of the scope of this publication.
It is just
an example of the difference between having a technology for developing a
product, and having that product massively produced.
When Maureen
Downey asks a question in the title of her piece “Does U.S. know how to teach
math effectively?”
the answer
to this question is “Yes.”
America,
or at least some Americans, know how to teach math. There are study, books,
textbooks, and teachers good at teaching math (including yours truly).
It the
people at Precision Institute
(https://www.nu.edu/precision/index.html)
are not aware of the effective strategies for teaching math, they may have been
looking in wrong places.
However,
this “product” – i.e. good results of teaching math – is not scaled to be “mass
produced”. And without digging in the reason – why– the situation will not change.
The answer
to question: “Why can’t public education reproduce good math education on a
large scale?” lies in politics.
Unfortunately,
America has no strong social force with the goal of advancing public education
in general, and math education in particular.
By a “strong
social force” I mean an organized group with a large amount of people in it,
united by the mutual goal.
The government
does not represent that force, nor political parties, nor parents, nor
teachers.
There is a
lot of noise about: “We need better education”, but that is mostly just a
noise.
Statement:
“America does not have a strong social force with the goal of advancing public educating”
is a theorem.
It has a
proof.
To prove
that theorem I will use the well-known mathematical/logical method “Proof by
Contradiction” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_contradiction).
Let us
assume that America has a strong social force with the goal of advancing public
education.
In that
case, the state of the public education in general, and math education in
particular, would be at least sufficient, or satisfactory.
That is
not the state of the public education.
Hence there
is no such force.
One of the
reasons for the absence of that force is that many Americans do not value
education.
For example,
read the comment to Maureen Downey’s article, quote: “Math wont get you to
heaven. I dont give a rip if my kids can add as long as I get to spend eternity
with them. If God needs us to know something for his glory, he'll give it to
us. I don't see how y'all do it - its a numbers game if your kids get molested,
shot or in some other way defiled by the public fool system - no pun intended.”
This is
not just an isolated opinion, millions think in the same venue.
Education
is a complicated human practice. Public education is a large and complicated governmental
system (a “machine”).
Making
significant changes in that system requires significant efforts, which, in turn,
requires a strong social force behind that effort.
The best
candidate for that force would be an already existing group of people organized
around practice of education.
That group
exists, and it is called a “teacher union”.
However,
teacher unions do not focus on the quality of education, they focus on the job security
of teachers.
That may change
if the society in the form of government, parents, non-profits, would put a
pressure on the unions by demanding from teachers better education.
If the
pressure would become strong enough the unions would have the need to adjust their
strategy.
And the
best defense against such an acquisition as “your teachers are doing a poor job”,
would be “we work hard on helping all our teachers become highly effective professionals,
and if you are serious about education, stop telling us what to do and give us
what we need, because we know better.”
I have
more and larger publications on the matter at www.Cognisity.How,
for example:
“Education
Reform Needs a New Paradigm”
or
“How Is The Third Program of the
USSR Communist Party Related to Education Reform in the USA?”
or
“Why Did Russian Cyber Forces Beat
Their U.S. Adversaries in 2016? The Answer Is Rooted In The State Of Education!”
Dr.Valentin
Voroshilov
