Teachers urged to cure their educational system

More than 700 area educators spent Wednesday in classrooms of sorts studying how and what they need to be teaching when school begins next Tuesday.

Teachers, assistants and administrators from Bangor, Hampden, Hermon, Newburgh and Winterport schools participated in annual teacher in-service programs this week.

In Bangor, the keynote address was given by Regan McCarthy, who has given more than 300 presentations across the country and is nationally known for her work in mathematics, science and technology education.

Teachers from Hermon and SAD 22 took part in a two-day seminar featuring Marian Leibowitz, a national education consultant specializing in restructuring schools and collaborative learning.

Many of the speakers’ points were similar. Both, for example, stressed the need for individualized education that no longer has students memorizing facts but developing and understanding information. Leibowitz described it as learning how to learn.

They also called for a greater understanding of cultural differences in a world that is rapidly changing and shrinking with advances in technology. The knowledge base of information, McCarthy said, has quadrupled in this century alone.

While they were speaking in different towns to a different set of teachers, both presenters also had a common premise, that today’s education simply is not and will not be making the grade.

McCarthy compared today’s educators to the surgeons of the early 19th century. Surgeons back then, she said, knew enough about body parts and systems to diagnose major organ problems. But they were bogged down with superstitions and beliefs, she added, and were unable to control blood flow, pain and consciousness.

“We educators know the parts,” McCarthy continued, “and the systems and the systemology of education well enough to do what the surgeons of the mid-19th century did, transform their profession. And if we do not, we, too, will have to say, `the operation was a success, but the patient died.’ ”

Time honored traditions of keeping students back as well as grouping them according to achievement levels have proven ineffective in dealing with failing students, she said. Standardized testing is also coming under fire in New York and more than a dozen other states where it is being banned below the third grade and restricted in the upper levels.

At Hampden Academy, Leibowitz’s program was in more of a classroom setting, with the educators sitting at tables in the school’s new gymnasium. She told more than 250 educators that not even the best schools can continue without change and expect to graduate people prepared for work in the future.

“I think (even) in the best places, we got some stuff to take a look at,” she said. “But I’m telling you in-house, I think we need to do a little searching,” she added later.

Leibowitz promoted a dramatic move towards collaborative learning, where students help educate themselves and others.

Prior to her presentation, Leibowitz said the work force relies heavily on cooperation, being able to work with others, critical thinking and problem solving.

The things students are successful at today is not what they will need to be successful at in the future, she said. Projections show the average person will have to change and improve their job skills five to seven times in their lifetime.