Bucks County Herald – September 22, 2010

Republican Party Demise Parenting And Schools

Dear Friends,

Good morning. When I read the results of the 2010 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) for the 501 public school districts in 2010, I thought about American kids lagging behind the foreign competition. In a moment, I’ll highlight five local school districts.

It’s not news that Asian and European children are better prepared than our own. We’ve known this for decades. Although America spends more for public education (per child) than any of the industrialized nations, the comparisons in reading, science, and math skills are embarrassing.

Is it the quality of teaching? Is it the number of days in the school year? Asian and European kids spend more days in the classroom than American children do. Is it parental expectation?

Personally, I believe that teacher quality coupled with high parental expectation are the keys to public school success. Let’s address parental expectation.

Several years ago, a Morning Call editor challenged one of my columns about parenting. I claimed that Asian American and Jewish parents pushed their children harder than Christians and non-Asians. I wrote that they have higher expectations than we Anglos do. They set the performance bar for their children much higher. I referred the editor to a story in the Wall Street Journal, reporting that 25 percent of the undergraduates at the eight Ivy League Universities were Jewish. (At the University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater, it’s 33 percent.)

In addition, over 20 percent of the Penn students are Asian and 10 percent are African American. White Christians account for only one third of the undergraduate student body.

Why are Jewish and Asian students more successful in matriculating to the Ivies? I think that it’s about parenting. As an example, I showed the Morning Call editor the roster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. There were about 100 players’ names in the program. When you consider America’s demographics, something very unusual jumped out at me.

Less than two percent of the American population is Jewish and about four percent is Asian. Therefore, wouldn’t you expect that the Philadelphia Orchestra would have no more than two Jewish and four Asian players?

Not so. Half of the roster was filled with Jewish and Asian names.

I believe that high achievement starts with high parental expectations. Asian and Jewish parents set higher standards and push their children much harder than the typical American parent. And Asian schools do more testing and demand more discipline than America’s public schools do.

Speaking of which…I read a fascinating story about Chinese testing in the New York Times Week in Review (Sept. 12). “When my children were 6 and 8, taking tests was as much a part of the rhythm of their school day as tag at recess or listening to stories at circle time,” Elisabeth Rosenthal began. “There were the “mad minute” math quizzes twice each week, with the results elaborately graphed. There were regular spelling quizzes.

“We were living in China, where their school blended a mostly Western elementary school curriculum with the emphasis on discipline and testing that typifies Asian educational styles. In Asia, such a march of tests for young children was regarded as normal, and not evil or particularly anxiety provoking.

“That made for some interesting culture clashes,” Rosenthal continued. “I remember nearly constant tension between the Asian parents, who wanted still more tests and homework, and the Western parents, who were more concerned with whether their kids were having fun- and wanted less.”

There’s another factor. The socio/economic status of a community probably contributes to the proficiency rates for reading and math. As I mentioned earlier, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has just released the PSSA results. I looked at the high school performance for Central Bucks, New Hope/ Solebury, Palisades, Pennridge, and Quakertown.

Central Bucks has three high schools. The proficiency ratings for reading and math varied between 83 and 89 percent. New Hope/ Solebury scores were identical. But as the school districts became economically poorer, the proficiency ratings dropped. Palisades math and reading proficiency varied between 75 and 82 percent; Pennridge, 70 and 80 percent; and Quakertown, 71 and 78 percent.

States are beginning to turn to assessing teacher performance. The system is called value-added and calculates the value teachers add to student achievement based on changes in test scores from year to year and how pupils perform compared with others. The system also is a factor in determining bonuses and terminations.

To the surprise of no one, teachers unions oppose the value added concept. Years ago, the Pennsylvania State Education Association (teachers union) passed a resolution opposing any form of merit based compensation or compensation based upon performance. The unions don’t like their teachers being graded. Teachers don’t get hurt if schools are average.

The problem is that the children are hurt if the schools are just average. How will today’s children fare with their Asian and European peers in this global economy? We can demand more from teachers but we can’t regulate parents. It will be a shame if America has to import mathematicians and scientists from Asia and Europe in order to keep our economy thriving.

It’s enough to make one weak, as my friend Phil Miller used to say.

Next week, I’ll share my thoughts about the results of the most recent midterm congressional and governor primaries. But before I leave, here’s a hint. Could the Republican Party mirror what happened to its predecessor, the Whig Party of the 1850’s?

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith