When reading the recent NY Times column, Plan Beats No Plan, I was struck by how similar Donald Trump’s thinking is reflective of how many think about education problems: Why deal with the real causes when it’s so much easier to affix the blame to other reasons?
In schools:
Many often blame teachers for the Opportunity (“Achievement”) Gap when, in fact, countless studies point out that at least sixty percent (and probably more) of factors that impact student achievement come from outside the school (see The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher (& Outside Factors) Have On Student Achievement).
A fair number of people blame cellphones for many student mental health issues and lots of learning challenges, while the story is far, far more complex (see New Studies Suggest That Cellphones Make Students Learn Less & Make Them Feel Worse Mentally. Is That True &, If So, What Do We Do?).
Critics blame physical school closures for so-called “learning loss,” but research finds that the decrease in student test scores is the same, if not less, than scores in other countries that did not physically close their schools. It’s like our children might have been impacted the societal upheaval of a pandemic – who would have thought?
As the saying goes, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.” In the case of schools and of Trump, a desire to shy away from the hard work of actually solving problems takes the hammer’s place.
No, NYT, you do not need to even pretend that “mass deportations” is an affordable housing strategy from Trump. FFS. pic.twitter.com/7J2Guucayk
— Jonathan ‘Boo and Vote’ Cohn (@JonathanCohn) August 30, 2024
When reading the recent NY Times column, Plan Beats No Plan, I was struck by how similar Donald Trump’s thinking is reflective of how many think about education problems: Why deal with the real causes when it’s so much easier to affix the blame to other reasons? In schools: Many often blame teachers for school reform Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…
