The path is long and thorny

For many people, the ideal of school education in Russia is as follows: "To be in the West." However, such an ideal school does not exist - in every country its own history of school education is very difficult. The book of Patricia Graham tells the story of the American school of the twentieth century.

Patriotic initiation (1900-1920s)

At each stage in the development of the school, society formulated the goals that was supposed to meet school education. 1900, the beginning of the twentieth century is a good starting point. In a sense, the American school then almost began to re -again. It was the time of arrival in America of many migrants, in large cities they then made up to two -thirds of the population.

Of course, this created big problems. Many did not speak English. Children were given to school, including then, so that they learned the language of the new homeland, sitting next to the children of Americans (immigrants of the second or third generation), for whom English was their native language.

By this time, an elementary school was the usual school standard in the United States. General (free state) schools had eight classes. The school taught English literacy, graduates could speak in the very least to write in English.

In addition, it was a time when rural residents were massively moved to cities, where they faced the new requirements of urban industrial culture. They needed previously unknown virtues - literacy, the ability to count, punctuality, the ability to work in a team, the ability to work according to the written rules and obey the authorities.

Under these conditions, the main attention of the public was drawn to the poorest layers, to the masses of uneducated immigrants, in connection with which the educational concept of assimilation was adopted: the main thing to do to the school was to Americanize the masses, to make them suitable for life in America so that they would not capture cultural space. It was necessary to teach them to be citizens of America, to love a new homeland, to speak English. The students brought up virtues: honesty, directness, hard work, the transfer of fundamental knowledge was not so important.

The explosive growth of the number of students led to a fall in the quality of education. True, it was a completely different education that was not like modern. There was a single program, many who did not cope with it remained in the second, third, fourth year in the same class. In cities out of 1000 students, only 56 graduated from school, even less in rural areas. Many left high school: they had to earn money. In general, elementary school functioned well, there were big problems with average. The growth of the number of students entailed the problems with the discipline - the classes were large, 30-40 students.

The school was engaged in patriotic education - mainly with the help of reading stories about the heroes of American history. Initially, the idea of ​​the necessary virtues was formed by a Protestant culture, but the arriving migrants for the most part were not Protestants. Accordingly, the Americanization was understood as the upbringing in the spirit of values ​​that are a secular analogue of Protestant culture: straightforwardness, hard work, decency in business.

Graham says: “In such conditions, the authority of the teacher became absolutely indisputable; English was the only possible language of communication at school; The expression of devotion to the United States was allowed only in an unconditional form. ” For immigrants, the school was a kind of passage of the initiation rite.

Individuality and inequality (1920s-E-1954)

The 1920s in the USA-a time of rapid enrichment, an uncontrollable desire for profit, growth of business activity, dashing years of crazy income, corruption: “stormy twenties”. Ten years later, in 1929, great depression began, and after it - the Second World War. In connection with depression in schools, the number of children increased. Previously, many students went to work without graduating from the school course. Now there were very few jobs, and millions of students remained at school. In 1930, 29 % of young people took place the full course, in 1940 - more than 50 %. It was under the influence of the great depression that the social norm has developed: universal secondary education, the idea that everyone should graduate from high school.

If at the first stage the subject of school care was the country and society suffering from the influx of foreign emigrants, now the teachers turned their eyes to the children. It turned out that each child needs an individual approach. And if at the previous stage the main attention was paid to the poor, now they paid attention to gifted and wealthy. The interest in the general school for the poor has faded, increased - in an elite school for the rich.

This stage in the development of education was called adaptation: they played developmental games with children, provided them with a lot of free time, the share of the mandatory program was reduced. For this stage of the development of the school, the Law of Smith is important - Hughes (1917). Federal financing was adopted not only of primary, but also high school, there was a rejection of a single state program. Since then, America, according to the author, suffers from school segmentation - each school can have its own program version. The set of programs at school depends on the viability of the parents, sometimes it is very good, sometimes it rather falsifies the idea of ​​education.

The flexibility of programs and the individualization of curriculums were combined in the 1920-30s with the spreading conviction of the equivalent of academic subjects. Having mastered a certain number of any objects were considered to be an education. The gluing of the Parthenon model was as valuable as the presence in the geometry lesson - the main thing is that the classes be fascinating, and did not oppress children. The transition to the new school of the 1920s can be described through a set of objects: instead of English, mathematics and natural sciences-music, drawing and dancing.

In 1918, an important document was adopted “The Funding Principles of Secondary Education”. There, the idea was reflected that the purpose of the school is not at all the assimilation of educational material, but the care of the health of students, relations in their families, about the correct choice of profession, the organization of leisure, civil education, and moral appearance.

It was a time of school reform, a total revision of training programs, pedagogical attitudes and principles of school organization took place. The former school was recognized as gloomy and cruel, suppressing children. Traditional objects went into the category of options: algebra, geometry, European history, foreign languages, chemistry, physics, English.

For new items, new teachers were required. For example, before there was a traditional subject: history, it was taught chronologically. Now she was replaced by Social Studies - the teacher was supposed to instill students with a common view of the social relations of people in the past and present. Instead of English, journalism, native speech, communication were introduced.

In teachers, students and lessons, new qualities were appreciated - creativity, immediacy, and the ability to express. This implied completely different than famous and traditional ones, the methodology and practice of teaching, the presentation of academic disciplines, relations with students. Gradually, the old teachers were replaced by new teachers who are not under the program, with imagination, in a new style, more pleasant and interesting, but - giving not so much knowledge.

As a result of this educational policy, the success of education was related to the cultural traditions of the family. For children from wealthy families with rich cultural traditions, where a child could get knowledge in various ways - the house had an excellent home library, the family went to Europe for the holidays - a new type of school became a pleasant place where you could play with peers in developing games. But for most families, the school was the only place where you could get knowledge, and children from such families received at the school were not enough, the new type of school left them almost without education. There was a sharp differentiation of the population - on the basis of the same school policy.

As a result, the school became a machine producing inequality. Now the school has very much differentiated students, completely different careers awaited them in society - some could go along the academic path, only crafts and working professions remained others.

In Europe, at that time, the cultural norm was the continuation of education - after school, capable students went to universities. In America, a different tradition has developed - after graduation, almost all students went “to life”, to business. In order to create a new social trend, to attract capable of children not to immediately earning money, but to the loss of several years at the university to receive goods in the future, it was necessary to change the policy at school, work with capable children in a special way, that is, again, pay attention to the child.

Equal possibilities (1954-1983)

The situation has changed somewhat by the 1960s. The American school revealed three main problems: racism, general poor performance, especially a low level of knowledge in poor (and color) classes. These problems were supposed to solve the new policy of the dignity, designed to ensure equal possibilities for access to a particular school curriculum for different children, primarily African Americans and Spanish -speaking ones.

In 1954 (the decision of the Supreme Court in the Brown case against the Education Council), a decision was made on a tenge. Before that, it was believed that access to equal services, although separately, did not contradict the US Constitution - African Americans could ride in the same (but not in the same!) Wagons as white. The same practice concerned schools. However, in 1954, the Supreme Court decided to end segregation, and recognized the division of schools into white and color.

The apparent rhetoric of the desegiation was associated with a very non -trivial transfer of attention. In fact, traditionally and from century, it was believed that the school does its job if it releases capable students with great knowledge. And she did it from year to year. And that these students, as a rule, turned out to be rich and white and very rarely - poor and color, it so happened, it is not a matter of school.

And by about the 1960s, society came to the conclusion that the school is the site, the public institution in which the problems of equality should be solved. Patricia Graham doubts his perfection: is this a matter - to force the school to solve the problem that other, much more powerful state institutions failed? The school is not built in accordance with such its functions, it has no “hands” to do the work that is assigned to it.

This stage is also called an access period. By that time, there were no general mandatory program in schools, there were many different specialized programs. And the issue of the desegregation was resolved by the provision of all numerous access - for certain categories of children to all new programs.

The access was very diverse. For some families, this meant the access of their child to programs for especially gifted, for others - access to programs for those who do not have English native language, or access to certain programs for girls. An important stage was the 1965 law, which facilitated children from poor families with general education programs, paid special attention to equality - for example, the equal rights of girls who had previously been forbidden to engage in some sports at school.

A separate problem: in the 1950s and 60s, a surge in the birth rate occurred, the number of schoolchildren grew every year. The classes were crowded, which is why, again, the quality of education suffered. At this time, the teacher’s profession was not considered too prestigious. In the first half of the century, talented white women, Jews, immigrants, and African -Americans, who were closed (or difficult), access to other jobs, went to schools. In the 1960s, these talented people were able to find another job, went to colleges, and less talented and qualified teachers came to the school.

The situation in schools worsened: the arrival in the "white" schools of children from poor families of "color" America led to poor manageability of classes. REMOGOGENT was carried out from above, by decisions of the federal authorities. Many families resisted these measures. The appearance of teenagers from poor families at the school sharply worsened the situation in schools - there were problems of violence, drugs, discipline fell and general performance was reduced. Many parents took their children from such schools and transferred them to private schools, where there were no problems.

There are many types of schools in the United States, the book of Patricia Graham mainly talks about schools of state, “free”, that is, funded from the federal budget (and state budget). But besides them, there are also Catholic schools (10-15 % of the number of all schools), other types of religious schools. All these diverse institutions have various programs - and different access rules for students.

A multilateral game took place - parents tried to find good and trouble -free schools, students tried to live as conveniently as possible, not difficult. The authorities tried to achieve an equal representation in schools of all minorities. The idea of ​​racial balance arose, and at the insistence of the courts, they demanded to transfer children from one school to another to comply with the proper proportion of “color”. This caused discontent, resistance of parents and children and was accompanied by a decline in performance.

Schools were also pushed to a dignity also payments from the federal budget for the implementation of certain standards. Since we are talking about state subsidies, therefore, a large amount of reporting is implied. In schools, bureaucratization has sharply increased, related to the need for reports on funds. The atmosphere of mental warmth in schools has become a rarity, more and more often they began to resemble reservations for dysfunctional youth. It seems that the main result of this period is to pay attention to the problems of the desegregation. It was far from their full resolution, but the tasks were set.

Supplier of educational services (1983 -...)

In the 1960s and 70s, the opinion that the Soviet Union overtakes America due to the fundamental and quality of school education. Soviet cosmic successes served as an excellent argument for critics of the American school.

In 1983, an alarming report was published by the National Commission on Education “Nation in the face of threats”. Businessmen were concerned about the reducing quality of workers. The qualifications of European and Japanese workers were higher, a demand for school arose - to improve the quality of education. The inertia of the previous strategies of education - assimilation, adaptation to life, equal access - was great, but they also noticed a new important problem: a lag in the study of academic disciplines.

Numerous tests, measurements of education indicators among university applicants were carried out. Since the 1970s, these indicators were steadily reduced, the causes of this phenomenon were difficult to describe, but even more difficult to fix it.

Criticism of school education came down to a simple requirement: improving the quality of education in all subjects. This was the slogan of the next stage of educational reforms, which began in 1983 and to this day: Excellence. The slogan was perceived, everyone began to demand a high quality of education at each other, but what institutional reforms should be achieved - few talk about this.

Unfortunately, critics did not have the thought that it was required to change the culture of adolescents, the lifestyle of Americans, that cultural institutions are interconnected. The way adolescents spend time, which they consider valuable, did not take them seriously. It was believed that it was enough to improve the quality of teaching, to give children more knowledge, to teach them more interesting and skillful - and everything will be in order. In general, the attitude towards the teacher as a service provider affected: his product is too low quality, let it tighten and work better, lays knowledge more tightly into minds. The slogan of the previous stage - the desegregation - was recognized as unrealistic. Many measures to establish equal access and the same balance are rolled up. The differentiation of schools in the 1980s and especially in the 1990s increased. Schools in rich prestigious areas, dear schools, began to differ even more from schools, where the poor and color population studies. Now the children of educated parents have become indecent to study in public schools, they only study in private.

Attempts to improve the quality of education have been made more than once, but it was not possible to achieve decisive success. There are many reasons, as always in such cases: the anti -intellectualism of the public opinion of Americans; The fact that the school is considered primarily as a supplier of education necessary to get good work; a consumer attitude to life, in which students pragmatically evaluate school classes, paying attention only to what, by their understanding, to bring immediate benefits; низкий уровень учителей; растущая бюрократизация школьной жизни.

Все это время в образовании использовались тесты. Они применялись как объективный измеритель интеллекта, по тестам определяли способность детей учиться по той или иной программе. Многие критиковали использование тестов в образовании за сужение требований, ведь тесты работают сами на себя — дети выучивают тесты, а не предметы. Однако роль тестирования в школах только возрастала. Для автора книги, как и для многих других, очевидно — тестами качество образования не поднимешь, это негодный инструмент. Попытки разобраться в вопросе эффективности разных вариантов реформ образования привели к изменению самого вопроса. Чтобы сделать показатели измеримыми, их переформулировали: о ценности образования судят по тому, насколько оно увеличивает шансы на получение хорошо оплачиваемой работы. Смысл образования сузился: от тезиса о том, что образование приносит пользу нации, американцы перешли к рассуждениям, сколько денег оно приносит индивиду и фирме.

Книга написана в спокойном тоне, хотя выводы автора не очень утешительны. Однако при этом надо отметить, что у американской школы есть положительные черты, которые проявляются лишь в сравнении. В американской культуре утвердился общий принцип: школы служат народу. Школа в первую очередь должна выполнять не повеления государства, не решения администраций, не служить амбициям учителей — школа для народа. И потому контроль общества над школой — очень серьезный. В школе сталкиваются две могущественные силы: законы и уложения школьного образования, которые, как считается, выражают волю всего народа, и требования локальных сообществ. Существует множество механизмов, с помощью которых активные граждане могут влиять на школьное образование — на уровне одной школы, на уровне графства, на уровне штата. Можно участвовать в выборах разных инстанций и определять состав школьных учебников в своем графстве, влиять на программу, предлагать новые образовательные меры. В иных странах школы более принадлежат министерствам, чем народу.

Другая черта, способная вызвать удивление, это, пожалуй, то, что при всех трудностях и неудачах американской школе удается воспитывать детей, прививать им определенные качества. С начала ХХ века набор главных качеств не менялся, детей прежде всего учили справедливости, честности, преданности своей стране, трудолюбию. Можно спорить, насколько глубоко эти качества проникли в американцев, но известный факт: в американских школах не списывают — каждый имеет возможность работать самостоятельно и должен делать это честно.

Горькие слова об американской школе не должны вводить в заблуждение — автор сопоставляет американскую школу с идеалом. При сравнении с российскими школами многие оценки придется поменять, иногда на противоположные. Прежде всего американские школы значительно более обеспеченны, там работают весьма квалифицированные преподаватели, озабоченные успехами каждого ребенка, проводятся различные внепрограммные конкурсы, ученики составляют интересные проекты, имеется множество очень сильных школ с талантливым преподавательским составом.

Однако несмотря на огромные усилия и большие средства, вложенные в школу, американцы очень недовольны результатом. Школа — сложная организация, управлять ею нелегко, и история американской школы за сто лет показывает, к чему приводят ошибки и как трудно их исправлять, даже если страна богата, средств много и детей любят.