editorially /peaking
The "Carnegie People" are a t i t again! In the last 80 years the Carnegie Foundation and its affiliates have played a major role in educational change. They introduced the basic concept of high school academic credits, catalyzed the reorganization of medical education in this country, were instrumental in forming the Educational Testing Service, and in recent decades.. nlaved . " a maior role in the expansion of higher education. Now they have formulated a pian t o certifv schoolteachers on a national basis. A new National Board fbr Professional Teaching Standards, which is expected to he functioning hv June 1987, would he the first part of a national mechHn& to give practicing teachers, rather than state boards of education, primary responsibility for setting thestandards of their profession and determining who meets these standards. The background arguments and the details of the olans are set forth in an extensive document entitled "A ~ a i i o Prepared: n Teachers for the 21st Century". This is the renort of the Carneeie Forum on Education and the Economy, which was created by the Carnegie Corporation in January of 1985 to investigate the relationships between economic growth and the quality of schools. Althouah some miaht dispute the Forum's suaaested solution to tKe prohle& of high school science -Gaching, to establish a national certification procedure-or the details of how to accomplish this goal, the report does contain a number of interesting conclusions concerning characteristics that are desirable for teachers in an increasingly technological society. These conclusions alone make the report well worth readine and discussine here. It was once possit~lefor people to succeed in this society if thev wrre iimulv . .willine to work hard.'l'hosedavsare probably past according to the report, since it is becoming increasinelv difficult for the ~ o o r l veducated to find iobs. The economy of this countr; has become more and mire dependent on peonle who have aaood intuitive =asp - .of the ways in which ail &ds of physic& and social systems w o r k . ~ h e framers of this latest Carnegie report believe that our educational system must he r e b u i l t n o t repaired-if our current standard of living is to be maintained, if the growth of a permanent "underclass"is to be averted, and if democracy is to function effectively in this country in the next century. This is heady stuff, and far-reaching. Any one of these implications is reason enough to consider the report seriously. The report concludes that our schools must graduate the vast majority of their students with achievement levels thought possible for only the privileged few. T o accomplish this goal, the American mass educational system, which was
-
-
designed in the early part of this century for a mass-production economy, must redefine the essential standards of excellence and strive to make "quality and equality of opportunity compatible with each other". According to the framers of the report, students who will live their lives in the 21st century must he active learners, busily engaged in the process of bringing new knowledge and new wavs of knowina to bear on an everwidenina range of increasingly difficult-problems. The focus of schooling must shift from teaching to learning, from the passive acquisition of facts and routines to the active application of ideas to problems. The report concludes that such a transition makes the role of the teacher more, not less, important. But, i t also requires a redefinition of teachers' skills according to the ta'k force that framed the report. In the words of the report, teachers should have a good grasp of the ways in which all kinds of physical and social systems work; a feeling for what data are and the uses to which they can he put; an ability to help students see patterns of meaning where others see only confusion; an ability to foster genuine creativity in students;and the ability to work with other people in work groups that decide far themselves how to get the job done. They must be able to learn all the time, as the knowledge required to do their work twists and turns with new challenges and the progress of science and technology. Teachers will not come to the sehwl knowing all they have to know, hut knowing how to figure out what they new to know, when to get it, and how to help others make meaning out of it. If teachers are to help students think for themselves, teachers must be comfortable thinking for themselves. They must be able to act independently, collaborate with others, and render critical judgements. In such an environment teachers must he people whose knowledge is wide-ranging and whose understanding runs deep. In short, teachers will have to become professionals in the same sense that lawyers and ohvsicians are seen as professionals. ~ e o p i ewith these charakeristics have long been sought after in the whole of our society. Indeed, they are found in the upper echelons of our most-important institutions. The task force is of the opinion that society cannot hope t o bring the mass of our citizens up to the proposed standards unless people with such characteristics are available in large numbers to teach our children. "Textbooks can not do it. Principals can not do it. Directives from state authorities can not do it. Only the people with whom the students come in contact every day can do it." Only the person we now call a JJL teacher can do it!
Volume 63
Number 7
July 1986
555
