Know Power, Know Responsibility: How to unleash the potential of every child in America

Part 1 — Chapters 5: The Vast Diversity in Life Experiences of Students and 6: The Need for Flexibility in an Ever-Changing World

Author’s Note: I will publish additional sections of this book each week. You can find previously posted sections at the following links: Note to Parents of School Age Children and Note to Teachers, School Administrators, and Other School Staff here; Introduction here; Prologues Part 1 and 2 here; Prologues Part 3 and 4 here; Part 1-Chapters 0 and 1 here; Part 1-Chapter 2 here; Chapter 3 here; and Chapter 4 here.

CHAPTER 5 — The Vast Diversity in Life Experiences of Students

When the current education model was instituted at the turn of the twentieth century, our individual schools were relatively homogenous, so addressing diversity was of little concern at the time. In fact, there may have been some desire to increase homogeneity through the common schools. Even so, from the standpoint of learning effectiveness, those schools could have benefited from leveraging the diversity of student experiences, family structures, and standards of living. If our students are to be prepared for both an increasingly diverse country and an increasingly interconnected world, our schools must be structured to take these into account.

The previous chapters looked largely at the shortcomings of the current model and structure of education itself. This chapter looks more at how external factors require a different model and approach.

The United States is regularly referred to in terms that reflect the mix of peoples that make up our country. The diversity of ethnicities, races, and cultures is compounded by diverse experiences, standards of living, belief systems, family structures, and more. This diversity extends to the students in our schools, though the level of diversity varies across the country and within school districts.

These points are valid for any school or district, even those in less ethnically or culturally diverse communities. First, migration patterns and destinations for groups of new immigrants are constantly shifting. Communities that were homogeneous a decade ago are suddenly much more diverse. Dan Keating and Laris Karklis explore and quantify this in a Washington Post article from November 2016, “The increasingly diverse United States of America.” (Karklis, 2017) Almost any community and its schools could rapidly become diverse.

Further, even within more homogeneous communities, the experiences, standards of living, family structure, and much else will be varied among the students. These differences bring many of the same challenges found where there is greater ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity. The current approach cannot adequately account for or leverage this diversity thus limiting student ability to reach their potential.

As noted previously, our current model of education strives for efficiency by delivering instruction collectively to groups of students in classrooms. Several chapters explain the many challenges already inherent in this approach. Because all students have different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and home lives, this “efficiency” becomes an additional burden and a significant obstacle to effective student learning.

Our schools have tried countless tactics to account for student diversity, but the school structure limits the ability to do so effectively. Some schools with highly diverse student populations perform well compared to other schools, but the inability to personalize and account for or leverage student diversity will always keep students from achieving their potential. The factory model can’t tap into each student’s unique gifts and contributions.

In the current educational model, schools try to address and honor student diversity in all areas — race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, English language ability, life experiences, family structure, physical abilities, emotional circumstances, and on and on — but they must do so collectively. The model doesn’t have the capacity to address and honor individual diversity because it must adhere to the instructional delivery timeline. Instead, schools strive to be equal in their treatment of diversity while being unable to leverage that diversity for the good of the group or the individuals.

There is also diversity of student developmental levels and readiness to learn in various content areas. As noted previously, the reasons for being behind or ahead are unique to each student, but as long as the driving factor of the model is time rather than mastery — and that everyone has to arrive at each benchmark at or about the same time — the model cannot fully account for this aspect of student diversity.

Add in each student reaching levels of developmental and learning readiness at different times for different subjects, concepts, and skills, and the ability to help each student meet his or her potential becomes nearly impossible in our current model of education.

Given the limitations of the factory model, many schools should be commended for their work with diverse populations. These schools are not, however, getting these students anywhere near their potential. Even students who are outperforming most others on our common measures — such as grades, honors, and standardized tests — are not achieving anywhere near their potential. The school structure simply cannot accommodate their unique and diverse characteristics and circumstances.

CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING

Many schools and districts have implemented “culturally responsive teaching.” The idea is to consider the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs that stem from each student’s culture and strive to ensure instruction and activities are sensitive to those cultures. This, in turn, is meant to create a classroom environment that enhances learning for all students.

While creating such classrooms is laudable, it is still largely premised on the idea that all students coming from a given background or culture are more the same than different. This may be the best we can expect within our current school model.

What if a new model allowed complete or nearly complete personalization? Wouldn’t it be better to offer individually responsive teaching? Or, better yet, individually responsive learning facilitation? Creating a school built on this recognition and leveraging it for more effective learning would be much more effective than our current approach, even when we strive to be culturally responsive.

CHAPTER 6 — The Need for Flexibility in an Ever-Changing World

The cost to our society of not fostering critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills for all students is immense; in the more complex and dynamic world of the future, it will be devastatingly high. To date, the cost has been limiting advances in our society. In the future, it might be survival itself. It’s time to implement an educational model that ensures future generations are not being hampered by the limited vision and imagination of prior generations.

Driven largely by advances in technology, our lives are vastly different from those of earlier generations, and the rate of change will likely accelerate. The big question is, how are our schools doing at preparing students for the nature and rate of change we are experiencing and might expect? Unfortunately, I believe our current school model hinders our ability to change and adapt to change.

Author Note: I don’t have a license to reproduce the Calvin and Hobbes comic included in my book in this publication, you can view it here at the syndication website:

In the accompanying comic, Calvin laments how disappointing change has been. None of the futuristic things imagined midway through the twentieth century had yet come to pass. Even though the comic is nearly thirty years old, the technologies Calvin mentions still have yet to enter our lives. While change seems to be a constant and some aspects of change seem to be accelerating, other elements seem to be stagnant. I contend our 126-year-old educational structure has contributed to reducing the rate and nature of change in our world. In addition, that structure has kept us from guiding and leveraging change toward the long-term best interest of our world and society.

Previous chapters illustrate how we have limited our children’s ability to achieve their individual or collective potential. In addition, children adopt the almost universal acceptance of what school should be and carry this into adulthood. Even as people recognize that their school experience could probably have been better and more effective, they won’t challenge the status quo.

This acceptance of the status quo shows up in other aspects of life and society. As adults, we often recognize when policies, practices, and events don’t seem to be in the best interest of ourselves, our community, the world, society, or our children’s future, but we believe there’s nothing we can do about them. Similarly, many people have not learned to think critically, so they are at the mercy of others’ opinions, information, and influences.

In a slowly changing world, this would not be a serious concern. In a rapidly changing world — one where some changes have the potential for both positive and negative large-scale impacts — this is an existential threat. Consequently, future generations must be prepared to do all of the following:

• Contribute to technological advancements
• Guide and influence implementation of technologies
• Guide and influence policies and laws that affect technologies and their implementation
• Address negative outcomes of the use of technologies
• Leverage the opportunities that new and advancing technologies present

Of course, current and past generations should have been prepared for all this. Ideally, our society would have been able to influence change and technological development to better our country and world while avoiding detrimental outcomes. Unfortunately, many changes and developments also brought devastating outcomes. Sometimes these outcomes were unforeseen, while other times there were unheeded warnings. In either case, a population better prepared for change and advancements could likely have avoided some and maybe most.

Today, ideologies, opinions, and those who stand to profit are increasingly driving decisions about technologies and their capabilities. Critical thinking, research, science, and cooperation are often ignored or twisted to support one ideology or opinion. Insufficient numbers of citizens are willing and able to present a challenge even when there is public consensus.

Policies are developed and implemented based on who has the political and economic power and influence at a given time, sometimes with little or no consideration for available research and science. When the power and influence shift, the new “leaders” may discard current practices and disregard science, regardless of their effectiveness, if they impede their desired outcomes.

Some people align themselves with powerful and influential groups and refuse to challenge the information, ideas, or opinions they provide. These same people will not challenge the policies and practices the groups endorse (Chapters 7 and 8 look at this in greater depth). Without any thought, many will automatically reject and even denigrate ideas, policies, and practices supported by opposing groups. They will not apply critical thinking but rather fall into step.

Unfortunately, those not affiliated with ideological groups often sit out the debates and process, even when proposals arise with which they disagree and that lack scientific rationale, research support, or even common sense. While often in the majority, they will remain uninvolved because they feel they have no power.

In a similar vein, some people are able to leverage opportunities that arise through technological innovations and advancements. This includes entrepreneurs who can think critically and creatively and are willing to take risks to see what they can create and accomplish. Often, these people didn’t fit in or try to comply when in school and never adopted the mindset of accepting the decisions and actions of those with the power and influence.

Unfortunately, there are also selfish people who crave power or wealth and who will take advantage of opportunities that arise. These are people who might have learned in school how to play the system to their own advantage even at the expense of others. While change and technological advances can provide great opportunities, there are those who will use them in ways that most would consider unethical, if not illegal.

The vast majority of people, however, will only benefit from advances and changes if they trickle down. Here again, our current school structure largely encourages being part of the pack and not standing out. It rarely rewards risk-taking except in contrived situations. Rather, the factory system typically discourages and may even punish students who take risks on issues that are truly important to them. The usual rationale is that this is necessary to maintain order, structure, and control for the benefit of all the students. While some educators might want to encourage independence, the current structure significantly limits this.

As noted at the beginning of this chapter, the cost to our society of not fostering critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills for all students is already too high, and that cost will grow in the more complex and dynamic world of the future. It’s time to implement an educational model that will ensure future generations are ready to drive and guide change rather than become subservient to it.

Continue with the next section of Know Power, Know Responsibility (Part 1 — Chapter 7), here:

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Kevin Miller is a Boomer who joined the Army during the Cold War and continues to serve. He has spent 30-plus years working in K-12 education as a teacher, administrator, and consultant and is now on a mission to reinvent our school model. His book Know Power, Know Responsibility provides the imperatives for a complete redesign of schools and the way to get there. See his website knowresponsibility.com to learn more.