What's the "State of Christian Education"? Where will innovation and change come from?
Our Schools -- Our Future, Are We Still at Risk?
Excerpts from an article by Pat Smith, Columbus Dispatch May 19, 2003."In 1983 a landmark report was issued by the National Commission on Educational Excellence, a blue-ribbon panel appointed by the Department of Education in Washington D.C. Titled, "A Nation at Risk," this report outlined the problems and reforms needed to improve public education in our country."
On the 20th anniversary of the report, Pat Smith asks, "reasonable people are entitled to ask WHY, with so much time, attention, and additional resources lavished on the system, -there has been so little improvement."
Reasons why wholesale change has not happened:
"One reason," she states, "is no surprise, -the resistance to change by the educational establishment, -teachers unions, colleges of education, state bureaucracies, school boards, school administrators, and others who view change as a threat to their control."
"These groups are PERMANENT. Reform movements are temporary."
"And (we because of) complacent parents who lack objective information and are thus satisfied with their schools."
Among the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force:
Pat is a Former Teacher, Past President of the State Board of Education in Ohio, and executive assistant to the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.
Neil's Comments:
If I didn't know it, I'd think Pat was talking about Christian education...
One reason our (Sunday) schools have been in decline is "-the resistance to change by the educational establishment, -teachers, publishers, denominations, colleges of education, committees without a clue, and others who view change as a threat to their control."
"These groups are PERMANENT. Reform movements are temporary."
"And (we because of) complacent parents who lack objective information and are thus satisfied with their (Sunday) schools."
The Rotation Model is now in its second decade and still spreading. One of the reasons it has not been "temporary" is the influence of the Internet and networking tools such as rotation.org. Local folks are no longer dependent on what the denominational educational system wants them to hear. Good ideas can spread faster and people anywhere can get help.
Rotation's dumping of the traditional model put Rotation at odds with traditional curriculum publishers who depend on traditional curriculum sales for their existence. While there are some publishing efforts, they are still dwarfed by traditional curriculum snake oil sales machines. 2005 Update: Four more large Christian publishers have now created Rotation curriculum. That's nice... but what are they doing about the next models we will need? Many publishers will only provide materials when there's a profit to be made. Here's a challenge: Name one new nationally known curriculum/model that is growing that was created by a Christian publisher. I can't.
What can be done about it?
The Church does very little Evaluation, Research and Development. The publishers do marketing surveys --but that doesn't count. By contrast, the government and various educational foundations have lavished HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars on pilot school projects and creative new programs around the country --to see what works. The Denominations and Seminaries need to create pilot CE programs and publish the results.