What is Education and what is Success?

City Springs Elementary School is a case radically different than that of the Free School. Both hold the ultimate aim of “education” of the students in mind and all resources are geared towards their “success,” but their principles and methods are diametrically opposed to one another. One employs the teaching methods of DI and the other an approach based on complete freedom for the student, and the question becomes, which is the right one?

When we first see City Springs Elementary school, it is reported as a serially underachieving school and has been placed on probation by the state Maryland. Under threat of discontinuation, Principal Bernice Whelchel is determined to get the Elementary School’s act together. Her goal? To dramatically improve student’s standardized test scores within one year. Her heart is definitely in the right place; she has a strong desire to keep the school functioning for the sake of all the under-privileged students whose education, without the school, would be almost impossible. She herself has lived in this area and by the determination of her family and herself, been educated and successful and she wants the same for these children. The method she employs to reach her goal is Direct Instruction. Direct Instruction is an almost militaristic form of educating children. Every word a teacher uses to speak with them is scripted, no opinions are taken, everyone answers questions in a uniform chorus, and everyone in the class goes at the same pace. DI is strict, neat, and fast. Bernice believes that such “structure sets the tone for learning.” It has been criticized as being rote and uncreative, which, it most definitely is. In its defense, Bernice can say that it has gotten results and kept the school alive. That is true, but I feel that this is not even close to what education should be. Education should never at the mercy of standardized testing.

We have seen what a free school can do for children. Children learn to become people. They learn to think, to feel, to understand and to communicate. Students learn by practice of a different kind: they respect each-other as equals, make their own decisions, diplomatically established their positions, and discover their mistakes for themselves. Each is an individual, infinitely and intricately unique. They are able to explore themselves and their own relationship with the world around them. At the Free School, children blossom in various brilliant colors and find happiness in their own work.

By contrast, City Springs Elementary is run by a strict hierarchy with Bernice as the Chief Commander. Discipline is the order of the day, every single day. No deviance is tolerated and the children do not have a voice. They have their goals set out for them by the state, standardized tests, and the school each of which is rewarded or punished for students’ performance. Such is the weight that these students carry on their tiny shoulders. There are merits of course: before DI, even fifth graders could not read. What is also interesting is that this DI school has some things different about it than other institutions that subscribe to the ‘Banking Method.’ When caught for bad behavior, the students are asked to come up with their own punishment and when students demonstrate proficiency beyond the level at which they are currently studying, they are immediately place in the next level. All the teachers too mean well. They are at first unwillingly cooperative under DI and their heart is not in it, but when they visit a DI school in Texas and see the students performing so well, they are reinvigorated to do the same for their students back at City Springs. The teachers understand Beatrice’s insistence that “they are not babies, they are the future.” In a way, this can be seen as service with good intentions. Beatrice and the teachers are respecting the students by not treating them like babies, and instead putting more work on them to prepare them for the future, for their own sake.

But the dehumanizing structure of DI shows itself even with such benevolent intentions. Conduct and intrapersonal relationships are strictly controlled, and exist only as a tool to improve the acquisition of knowledge and not as a part of learning itself. DI demands that teachers be strict and intolerant for it to be effective. The first time we see Ms. Shaw, she is lenient and the next time we see her, she is strict and less friendly, but more effective. Such limitations on relationship can be seen even between the teachers and principal. Bernice and told Ms. Shaw “You will do this.” This is a very formal and impersonal relationship between the two which is also a requirement of DI. Bernice says at one point “I keep up a front that I am made of steel…but I’m not.” Despite all the good that she believes she is doing, she is lonely. Ultimately this is self-defeating. What is an education worth if it does not help us connect and love one another freely?