Fixed Principles in Education

Hello everyone,

I think the craft of teaching is built on two premises: One is that there are certain fixed ideas in American education that every educator must understand; the second is that there is a large bag of tricks that American educators may use to teach.

Most of what I write falls into the "bag of tricks" category. I try to focus on that portion of the bag of tricks that falls into what is commonly called "best practices," which are techniques that have been shown in research to be more successful than others under certain circumstances. I want you to understand that I know that the complexities of human interaction are such that what works exceptionally well for one teacher in one circumstance (even a controlled laboratory environment) may not work as well--or at all--with another teacher in another environment. Still, I will share the techniques as I understand them, and I will try to give you the underlying fixed principles that will help you to adapt them to your needs.

Let's talk about what I consider to be fixed absolutes in American education:

1. All human beings are capable of cognition. (I understand that there are some with massive brain injuries or severe birth defects; some of them may not be capable of cognition per se, but they would be hospitalized and outside our purview, so I don't want to debate their cognitive abilities.)

2. Human beings with cognition can be taught. ("Everyone can learn!" we are told all the time, then we descend into a debate on how much they can learn and how hard it is to teach some of the them. Still the principle is fixed.)

3. Most humans do not fulfill their potential at cognition, and may achieve beyond expectation with help from professionals. (In other words, we often underestimate ourselves and our students; if pushed properly, we are capable of far more than we typically think we are capable of. We accept this premise all the time in sports; it is also true in academics.)

4. Discipline and learning are closely tied together. (I mean that we have to manage our classes before we can teach effectively.)

5. Learning is closely tied to emotion.

6. The relationship between the teacher and the student powerfully affects learning.

7. All human beings approach learning uniquely. (A variety of learning styles and learning disabilities have been determined, but they almost certainly oversimplify an almost infinitely varied range of learning styles and abilities.)

8. There are parameters and traditions in American education that are difficult to change, whether or not they need changing. (For instance, the use of letter grades may be annoying, but it is a long-held tradition that--though it could conceivably be changed--it is not within the power of any individual to change; refusal to use letter grades in the traditional way at Garfield could even get a teacher in trouble.)

9. Much of what happens in American education requires adaptation to certain parameters and traditions. (See the comments on letter grades above.)

10. Rebelliousness is inherent in Americans.

11. Effective democracy requires education.

12. The American concepts of freedom, liberty, and rights affect education.

13. Adolescents are not fully developed human beings, either cognitively or physically.

Thirteen principles is good enough for now. If you want to add to these, feel free, and we'll discuss it. If you want to argue that some are not really fixed principles, let's discuss it. If you agree with all of them, then they can be the underpinning of much of what we discuss throughout the year.

Jeff Combe