Author, Robert Fried, the executive director of the Upper Valley Educators Institute, in Lebanon, N.H., wrote a compelling and thought-provoking piece in a recent issue of Education Week. In his article he cites and discusses two competing diagnoses of school inadequacy—inequality of resources and achievement, or educational obsolescence.
“All public school systems, but especially those serving students in low-income communities, suffer both inequality and obsolescence: a performance gap between high-achieving students and low achievers (often translated as low-income or minority students vs. higher-income or white students), and an outdated, content-heavy curriculum that denies students from even our most highly rated schools an opportunity to gain what Harvard University’s Tony Wagner calls “survival skills” for 21st-century teenagers (questioning, networking, agility, entrepreneurial skills, and the like).
Both dilemmas are real, pervasive, mired in old patterns, and sadly resistant to change. Trying to solve one without addressing the other will lead to failure on both fronts, further damaging prospects for the very children who most need access to critical skills and knowledge.”
Read the whole article at Education Week.