Twenty-five years ago, we knew from the research that focusing on basic skills harms learning for all children, rich and poor. And it is doubtful that drilling for tests imparts even basic skills.
Rather than forcing memorization and regurgitation through high school, we should be developing sophisticated skills in children from an early age. I have written about Will Fitzhugh's Page Per Year program, in which a first grader writes a one-page paper, using one source, and the pages and sources increase gradually each year (http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/opinion/article/Op-Ed-Bubbles-or-not-more-tests-are-not-the-2193652.php#ixzz1ZIcSQh3A).
Parents, teachers and administrators love this idea. A high school principal remarked, "We can't have kids writing just a two-page paper in high school, then expect them to write twenty-page papers in college." Will Fitzhugh is a former history teacher. Given the freedom, I am sure our teachers could find myriad creative ways to develop our children's analytical skills.
Education must be about exposing our children to a wide variety of topics and materials, without a script. They also must learn collaboration by interacting with each other.
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