ABSTRACT
A stunning irony of American education today is that we know how to educate for student achievement and success in a 21st-century global society and constitutional, representative democracy. Yet our practices often contradict the science and everything we know that would prepare young people for a life of purpose, meaning, and contribution, and to become effective students, competent workers, responsible citizens, and caring human beings. We focus relentlessly on the cognitive and academic dimensions of learning, while saying we value education that supports the development of the whole child. We ignore the research on what supports student achievement, growth, and success as we narrow the curriculum to math, science, and language arts, while also eliminating recess, field trips, the arts, and opportunities for social interaction. We focus endlessly on teaching to the test and for proficiency in a couple of subjects, thinking that this relentless drumbeat is the key to student success. We do not plan intentionally for or value equally the physical, mental, social-emotional, ethical, civic, and aesthetic education of children, but have little time left over for that anyway with
our current focus on academic achievement. We ignore the part of the Common Core that calls for deeper and more extended learning, and application of skills learned over time. And we are surprised when the status quo remains even though we have worked against what we need to change it.
