Gathering Place R.W. Burniske

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Hammering on education:
It’s time to turn the Paige

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"To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

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This old saying applies not only to carpentry, but, as the Bush administration demonstrates, also to foreign policy, civil rights, the environment and even education. While hammering their way into pre-emptive attacks on Iraqi citizens and American civil liberties, the president and his cabinet members have employed rhetoric that betrays a militant attitude toward any opposition.

A stunning example of this came from Rod Paige, the secretary of education. At a gathering of state governors earlier this year, Paige thought it clever to call the National Education Association a "terrorist organization." Why did he make such a thoughtless, incendiary remark? Perhaps because the NEA asks difficult questions and demands answers rather than embracing the dull platitudes of politicians.

NEA President Reg Weaver, who called for Paige's resignation, delivered an inspirational speech on July 15 in Honolulu. He asked, "Is America preparing its students for a competitive global environment?" The question speaks not only to our schools but to our country as a whole, including its leadership.

Since his arrival in Washington, Paige has revealed a patronizing attitude toward educators and a reactionary vision for education. Like his boss, he believes the best education is that which gives the most tests. Their panacea for what ails public education, the No Child Left Behind act, turns schools into test-taking assembly lines that emphasize products at the expense of process.

This is logical if you want to train children to become automatons who follow orders without questioning authority. If anyone should question this 19th-century pedagogy? Simply brand them "terrorists" and swing a hammer at them.

To think of children as "products" perpetuates an impoverished approach to learning. Why bother with the "process" of inquiry, though, when that might yield "terrorists" who question our leaders? Why allow teachers to experiment with their pedagogy or curricula when that might lead to the "terrorism" of ideas that challenge the three R's of compulsive test taking -- reading, (w)riting and regurgitating?

The 2004 elections will have a profound impact on civil liberties, foreign policy and public education. As an educator, I would appreciate it if the presidential candidates and their nominees for education secretary would take the following multiple-choice quiz:

1. What's the best way to teach students to think for themselves?
a) by giving them multiple-choice tests
b) by reducing education to a series of standardized exams
c) by neglecting the professional development of teachers
d) by encouraging inquiry and dialogue in our schools

2. How do students and their parents discover the truth?
a) by taking multiple-choice tests
b) by believing whatever their elected officials tell them
c) by applauding a State of the Union address
d) by asking questions and analyzing information

3. What makes a democracy flourish?
a) multiple-choice tests
b) embedded journalists
c) classified information
d) open-ended inquiry and dialogue

4. What's the best way to model civil, democratic discourse?
a) by writing clear instructions on multiple-choice tests
b) by calling people with dissenting viewpoints "terrorists"
c) by hurling expletives at political opponents on the Senate floor
d) by encouraging inquiry and thoughtful dialogue

What are the correct answers to these questions? That depends on who controls the answer sheet, doesn't it?

It's time we turned this Paige on education, and empowered people with a more enlightened, democratic approach. We can begin by questioning this administration's tendency to swing hammers first -- and call people names thereafter.

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R.W. Burniske, an associate professor of education at the University of Hawaii, is co-author of "Breaking Down the Digital Walls: Learning to Teach in a Post-Modem World."