What parents can learn from coaches

I read about problems and possible solutions in education daily. Several years ago, on Frontline, educators attempted to address the short attention span of students from elementary school to the university. Educators did agree that the basis of the problem stems from the myriad of electronic devices, the digital age, competing for students time. Some teachers argued that there is no problem. Others have demonstrated that student performance has decreased. There is controversy as to the validity of multitasking to the extent that innate human behavior has changed in the last few years. As a biologist, I argue that this contention is rubbish.

Nevertheless, educational programs have failed and Americans are searching for solutions. Many educators claim that a computer connected to the internet for every student will correct student deficiencies. Like Grand Canyon whose complexity was shaped by wind, water and solar energy, America’s relatively poor level of education is the product of many forces and the neglect of time. This means that there is no single problem which can be identified and changed because a final educational package is not a simple addition of corrective measures to yield a “one size” solution. Discussions about educational policies are also hindered by jargon, which varies across the expanse of America.

I shall attempt to address several issues in plain English and the brutal reality of my conclusions may be interpreted by many as politically incorrect.

For a starter, many educational problems are traced to the concept that effective learning can be self-instructive as shown in the television program Sesame Street.

However, this type of learning fails in the long run because self-study and subsequent testing of homework are not integrated into the television program.

In fact, early television probably leads to sedentary lives.

An extension of TV learning is class room teaching with computers without recitation and teacher guidance.

Nevertheless, in today’s world the computer is an important tool but it is not needed to learn basic educational skills.

In fact the term “surfing the internet” best defines a major failure of computer instruction which rewards moving to another subject before understanding a difficult concept.

The result is producing students with short attention spans.

The mastering of grammar and arithmetic is not unlike the hard work of practice drills in a sports program required by a demanding coach.

Since the accomplishments of athletes are on display during a game and written-up on the sport page for everyone to evaluate, I believe that classroom recitation and academic standings are also essential for the intellectual growth of the student.

Who would think that practice for sports is possible without the coach being present and continuously providing criticism, evaluation and praise? Practice in sports is essentially hard work and the real fun is during game time.

Practice drills for the three Rs are not fun.

The challenge for the teacher would be to identify the real life “game” situation which is applicable to a given location or region.

Athletes expect to be openly evaluated and to be ranked with the result that they know where they stand in respect to ability.

I propose that academic standing should also be posted so that both students and parents know the relative ability of the student.

My second topic of concern is homework.

Many education administrators, parents and students believe that homework signals a poor teacher.

Student evaluations are presently used by administrators to determine tenure with the result that good teachers may lower their standards and/or pander to receive favorable student evaluations.

I don’t blame teachers, they simply have to be practical and keep their job to make a living.

However, lowering standards cheats not only the best students but all students from attaining their potential.

Coaches have not lowered their expectations which, in part, explains why athletic performances have climbed over the years.

The level of high school play today is that of the college level 40 years ago.

The level of high school academics has not kept pace with athletics.

We know this because checkout clerks can’t make change.

A lack of meaningful homework signals yet another problem.

The objection to homework is a reason for the deterioration of student-teacher relationships.

In order to know what is needed to master a particular concept, the teacher draws on her/his experience as well as years of contemporary collegial experiences.

By contrast the student has little or no past experience with the materials taught in a particular course although they think that they do.

Nevertheless, students have ideas as to how and what to teach and their concerns should be weighted according to the teacher/student ratio of experience.

This means that an experienced teacher of 20 years would have an evaluation ratio greatly biased to the teacher.

In other words a teacher with tenure has proven her/himself.

A newly minted teacher would do well to request senior faculty to help interpret and evaluate student comments.

A lack of appreciation of what tenure represents is why students, parents and administrators may find it difficult to distinguish a good teacher from a poor teacher.

A good teacher knows the difference between concepts and information.

Information includes everything from lists of objects to concepts.

Computers help store and retrieve information as well as solving defined problems.

Information is growing exponentially whereas the number of new concepts increases relatively slowly.

The concept that we are living in “the age of information” is true.

However, the human brain can only deal with so much information, today, all kinds of information is available immediately.

There has always been too much information, only the availability has changed.

It is still possible to learn basic concepts in a given field of study and the informed and experienced teacher knows which pieces of information are needed to grasp a particular concept.

In regards to learning new information, like lists of objects, the student is quicker than the teacher and this can generate friction between teacher and student.

However, the student doesn’t have the experience to judge what information is needed to understand a given concept.

The athlete, parent and administrator trust the judgment of the coach in regards to drills, practice and game strategy.

By comparison, administrators and parents should respect the judgment of the tenured teacher.

I maintain that mastering basic concepts require the undivided attention of students.

A third problem has its origin in the distinction between information and concepts.

Everything about us is information.

A concept is a generalized idea to make order out of a given set of facts and related information.

It is extremely important for the administrator to recognize the difference between information and concepts in order to set realistic standards and provide an atmosphere which encourages teachers to develop their specific skills to teach concepts.

Coaches have different winning strategies which fit their personality, background and school district.

Coaches identify basic drills needed for a given player or team.

support the notion that teachers should have this same latitude to determine what concepts and information are important for her/his class and particular environment.

The fourth problem is a standardized test. Performance in secondary schools is evaluated by people writing standardized tests in far away cities. Many standard tests may not be appropriate for certain communities. It should be obvious that a group of modern farmers and ranchers would design a test very different than business men from Connecticut. Different regions should have performance tests tailored to regional needs.

A standard evaluation system of tests leads to educational monoculture. Nevertheless, as in sports we do need a score card of learning achievements. One of America’s educational strengths results from diversity which leads to different ways of problem solving as well as an appreciation for different problems. For example, the farm kid knows about livestock and how to replace a hydraulic hose on a D6 caterpillar tractor. The inner city kid knows about different cultures and ethnic groups as well as finding halls of interest in museums. I doubt that inner city students would want to learn about insecticides or that students in a rural community would be challenged to study traffic control.

There are general areas such as music which transcends regional barriers and boards which is a good argument for music programs. The need for music is another topic of discussion. Each school district has specific strengths and needs which explains why school boards need autonomy.

I am aware that the list of problems can be extended. Nevertheless solutions of the above mentioned problems and others not mentioned can be addressed by comparing the success of athletic programs in both high schools and colleges over the last 50 years to education. Considering the low profile of high school and college sports 40 years ago, present athletic programs are successful because colleges attract the best coaches with higher salaries than their presidents. This means that coaches have out-performed their academic counterparts and that teachers have lost the contest.

I believe that the philosophy of winning athletic programs can show academicians how to achieve excellence in education. For a start parents, teachers and administrators can compare the attentiveness of high school football players during practice to the sleepy students in a science course. At the college level, students text and twitter. These simple observations indicate that the approach to teaching has failed. The best athletes are selected by playing ability because the bottom line is a winning team. I want to reiterate that player skills and achievements are recorded during practice and game performances are publicized in detail as yards gained and baskets made.

By contrast, many educators hide academic performance by eliminating grades and class standings and teach to the average student. This mentality has spread to medical school examinations in which case it is impossible to judge how well medical students have been trained. Does this mean that academic students can’t take criticism and work within their God-given skills? It is important for students to recognize and to accept their intellectual capabilities. Grades serve an important function in that future employers or patients can judge the perspective employee or physician.

Over the last couple of decades laboratory course work has been eliminated from many university and high school programs.

Laboratory exercises provide “hands-on” experiences and a chance to improve hand-eye skills.

Laboratories also provide the opportunity to observe the world about us.

Most importantly, lab experimentation teaches the slow process of collecting data as well as the excitement of repeating a famous experiment.

Unfortunately, school administrators see labs as labor intensive and expensive and they do not appreciate that laboratory work has different goals and satisfies different educational needs than the lecture.

In biology, there is the additional concern of offending animal rights groups.

Laboratories provide the opportunity to discover through experimentation and observation and they are part of the educational package. Laboratories are the training drills of academics. Athletes can’t shoot a basket by reading a book, and the future scientist must be able to propose an experiment and carry it out. Athletes do not tell the coach how to train, who to play, what position an athlete should play, practice drills and game strategy.

Parents too often take the side of their child which results in lowered teacher standards. At the college level, student evaluations wag the dog so that job survival and promotion forces teachers to pander. I have found that a lecture based on problem solving is guaranteed to yield a poor student rating (of course my position was secured with tenure).

During a TV interview which happened years ago, Barry Schwitzer (known as a tough and demanding coach during his tenure at Oklahoma) stated that his players can only attain their potential through discipline and high practice demands of the coaching staff. I learned a sensitive side of Schwitzer in that he has a child with Down Syndrome. This child taught Schwitzer to accept disabilities and limitations. Schwitzer found duties for his child in his athletic program and discovered that his child taught his players humility and respect for all levels of athletic abilities.

The players accepted the high expectations of their coach because they observed that the coach’s son achieved his potential. It is obvious to teachers that students have different skill levels and as in sports, academic excellence can only be attained with demanding teachers. The teacher should encourage the gifted student to share and learn compassion for the student of average ability and the disadvantaged student. The Special Olympics provide an excellent example.

Educators should teach the three Rs and not base learning on the computer or internet. In elementary school it is obvious what the three Rs mean. Nevertheless, the three R metaphor extends to all levels of education. For example, at the graduate level of neurophysiology, the three Rs would be enzyme kinetics, the Nernst equation and osmosis. I don’t expect the reader to know what these three Rs mean, my purpose of listing them is to make the argument that a student needs to open a text book and push his/her pencil to work through the mathematical principles. The computer will not help.

My position is that reading books, writing on blackboards and student recitations are effective teaching materials and methods. I suggest that we return the responsibility of education back to the teacher in a simple classroom setting. Simplicity would create an environment so that each teacher can best use her/his teaching skills to develop the potential of each student. Bluntly, I conclude that the myriad of electric media has ruined education. We must work hard to escape the Orwellian world.

My summary is found in frescos in the Dartmouth library painted in 1936 by the Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco. One fresco shows a row of skeletons garbed in academic robes and hats presiding over the birth of a baby skeleton from a skeleton resting on a pile of books. The baby skeleton will be placed in a bell jar to join others representing sterile academic achievements.

In stark contrast a second mural shows a resolute teacher standing in front of a one room school house. She is closely surrounded by children of different ages. She teaches respect and duty. The children grow into adults to take a place in society and exercise citizenship to form the backbone of a community. This mural radiates the role of responsible teachers and adults. We would do well to reflect on the sincerity of Orozco.

(Dr. Kriebel served as a professor of physiology and State University of New York Medical Center in Syracuse from 1969 until 2003. During his career he completed 70 full-length research papers and gave more than 80 international presentations).