The Kind of Schools We Need Our schools, as they are now designed, often tacitly encourage the re-creation of a yellow-school-bus model of education. Yet we know there is a better way, Mr. Eisner says. That batter way ought to be a part of the agenda the community discusses with teachers and school administrators, as we strive together to create the kind of schools we need. BY ELLIOT W. EISNER S EVERYONE knows, there is both great interest in and. great concern about the quality of education in American schools. Solutions to our perceived educational ills are often not very deep. They include mandating uniforms for stu- dents to improve theit behavior; using vouchers to create 2 competitive climate ro motivate educators to try harder: test- ing students each year for purposes of accountability; re- raining scudents whose test scotes have not reached specified levels; paying teachers and school administrators bonuses in telation to the measured performance of their students; and defining standards for aims, for content, for evaluation practices, and, most important, for student and teacher performance ELLIOT W, EISNER is Lee Jacks Professor of Education and Am, Stanford Univesity, Stanford, Calif His forthcoming book, The Arts and the Creation of Mind, will be published in the fal by Yale Uni- versity Press. ©2002, Eliot W. Eisner 576 _Prll DELTA KAPPANTronically, what seldom gets addressed in out efforts to reform schoolsis the vision of education that serves as the ideal for both the practice of schooling and its outcomes. We ate not clear about what we ate after Aside from literacy and numeracy, what do we want to achieve? What are our aims? What is important? ‘What kind of educational culturedo we want our chil- dren to experience? In short, what kind of schools do we need? ‘What we do seem to carea great deal about arestan- dards and monitoring procedures. We want a cullec- tion of so-called best methods that will guarantee suc- cess, We want a testing program that will display the results of our efforts, often in rank-ordered league stand- ings. We want an assessment program that allovrs lit- dlespace for personal judgment, atleast when it comes to evaluation. Personal judgment is equated with sub- jectivity, and we want none of that. We want co boil down teaching and evaluation practices to a scientif- ically grounded technology. ‘Whether we cen ever have a scientific technology of teaching practice, given the diversity of the students wwe teach, is problematic Artistry and professional judg- ment will, in my opinion, always be requited to teach ‘well, co make intelligent education policy, to establish personal relationships with our students, and to appraise their growth. Those of us who work in the field of edu- cation are neither bank tellers who have litle discretion nor assembly line workers whose actions are laigely te petitive, Fach child we teach is wonderfully unique, and ‘each requires us co use in our work that most exquisite of human capacities the ability to make judgments in the absence of rules Although good teaching uses 10- tines, itis seldom routine. Good teaching depends on sensibility and imagination. It courts surprise. It prof- its fom cating. In short, good teaching is an artistic alfa Buteven artistty can profit fiom avision of the kind of education we want to provide, Phe reason I believe itis important to have a vision of education is because without one we have no compass, no way of knowing. which way we are headed As a result, we succumb to the petideas that caprure the attention of policy mak- ersand those with pseudo-solutions co supposed prob- lems. Is it really the case that more testing will im- prove teaching and learning or that uniforms will im- prove student behavior and build character? Ihave my doubts. We need a conception of what good schools provide and what students and teachers do in them. So let me share with you one man’s vision of the kind of schools we need The kind of whools we need would provide time dut- ing the school day at least once a week for teachers to meet to discuss and share their work, theit hopes, and their problems with their colleagues. Ie is the school, not the university, that is the real center of teacher ed ‘The idea that the school is the center of teacher ed- uucation is built on the realization that whatever teach- ets become professionally, the process is not finished when they complete their teacher education program, atage 21. Leaining to teach wel is a lifetime endeav- or. The growth of understanding and skill in teaching, terminates only when we do This fact means that we need to rethink whom the school serves. The schoo! serves the teachers who work there as well as the students who learn there. The school needs to be designed in a way that affords opportuni- ties to teachers to leatn fiom one another. Such leatn~ ing is so important that it should not be an adden- dum, relegated to an after-school time slot. Teachers, like others who do arduous work, ae tited at the end of the day. Learning fiom out colleagues certainly de- serves space and attention, and, even mote important, itrequiresa 1cconceptualization ofthe sources of teach er development. One thing we can be sure of is that the school will be no better for the students who at- tend than itis for the teachers who teach there. What we do typically to improve teaching is to send teach- e1s somewhere else to be “inserviced” — every 6,000 miles 01 so — usually by someone who has never seen them teach. The expectation is that what teachers are exposed to will somehow translate mote ot less auto- matically into thet classtooms. Again, I have my doubts “Teaching from a cognitive perspective requites a change in paradigm, what Thomas Kuhn once desciibed, as a “paradigm shift.” Such shifts are changes in con- ‘ception. From a behavioral perspective, change requires the development of those sensbbilities and pedagogical techniques that make it possible to realize the concep- tions and values that one defines for oneself education ally. Of course, the cognitive and the behavioral can- not truly be separated; I make the distinction hete for purposes of clarity. What one conceptualizes as appro- priate gives direction and guidance to what one does ‘And what one is able to do culminates in what one achieves. Schools ought to be places in which teachers hhave access to other teachers so that they have an oppot- tunity to create the kind of supportive and educative community that culminates in higher-quality educa- APRIL2002. 577tion than is cuttently provided The kind of shook we need would make teaching a piofessionally public process. By “professionally pub- lic? I mean that teachers would have opportunities to observe other teachers and provide feedback No longer would isolated teachers be left to themselves to figure ‘out whac went on when they were teaching; second- aty ignorance is too prevalent and too consequential to depend on one's personal reflection alone. I used the term “secondary ignorance,” and I used it intentional- ly. I like to make a distinction between what I refer to as primary ignorance and secondary ignorance Primary ignorance refers to a condition in which aan individual recognizes that he does noc know some- thing but also recognizes that, if he wanted to know it, he could find out. He could inquire of others, he could use the library, he could go to school. Primary ignorance is a condition that in some sense is contect- able and often easily cortectable Secondary ignorance, howevel, is another matter ‘When an individual suffers fiom secondary ignorance, not only does she not know something, but she does not know that she does not know. In such a situation, contecting the problem may not be possible. Secondary ignotance is as consequential for the process of pal- centing and for the sustenance of fiendships as i is for the conduct of teaching. The way in which one remedies secondary ignorance is not through self-reflection, but through the assis- tance of others. Really good fiends can help you understand aspects of yout behavior that you might noc hhave noticed These observations need not be negative. Ie is as important to ‘appreciate one's virtues as to become cognizant of onc’s weaknesses For this process to occur profes- sionally, teachers need acces 0 other teachers’ classtooms. Teaching needs to be made a profesionally public endeavor The image of the teacher isolated in a classroom fiom 8 a.m. to 3 pm, for five days a week, 44 ‘weeks per yeat, is not the model of professional teaching practice that wwe need. If even world-class artists and athletes profit fiom feedback on their petformance fiom those who know, so too do the rest of us. We ced a conception of schooling that 578 PHI DELTA KAPPAN anaes possible teachers’ access to one another in help- fal and constructive ways. This will requize redefine ing what che jab of teaching entails For most individuals who select teaching as a ca- sce, the expectation is that chey will be with children exclusively, vitually all day long. Bue teachers also need to intetact with other adults so that the secondaty ig- norance that I described can be ameliorated. The model of professional life that Iam suggesting will not be easy to attain, We ate often quite sensitive aboue what we do in out own classrooms, and many, of us value ois privacy. Yet privacy ought not 0 be our highest priotity. We ought to hold as our highest ptiotity our students’ well-heing And theit well-be- ing, in twin, depends on the quality of out pedagogi- cal work. This work, Iam arguing, can be enhanced swith the assistance of other cating adults The kind of shook we need would provide oppor tunities for members of subject-matter departments to meet to shatc thei: work Ie would tecognize that ferent fields have different needs and chat shating with- in fields is a way to promote coherence for students ‘Departmentalization in out schools has been along standing way oflife Ic usually begins at the riddle school level and proceeds through secondary school. Teachers of niathematies haves field and a body of consent that they want to help seudents understand: so t00 do teach- PRINCLPAL ol! fs “fl cas Howey “1 suggest we consider this whole matter as merely a minor youthful indis-ais of the arts" These commonalities within subject-mnat- ter fields can promote a wonderful sense of esprit, a sense built on 2 common language to describe shared work. The suength of the educational programs in these fields can be promoted when teachers in departmental ized systems have opportunities to meet and share theit ‘work, to describe the problems they have encountered, and to discuss che achievements they have made In shott, differenc fields often have diferent needs, and these diffetene needs can be met within the school chrough the colleagueship that teachers within a discipline share. “The department in the middle school and in the high school provides substantial structure for promoting the sense of community I have desctibed The kind of schools we need would have principals who spend about a third of theit time in classsooms, so that they know Girschand what is going on. We of- ten conceive ofthe role ofthe school principal not on- ly as that ofa skilled administrator but also as that of an educational leader At least one of the meanings of educational leadership is to work with a staff in a way ‘that will make leadetship unnecessary: The aim of kad- ership in an educational institution is to work itself out ofa job ‘What this approach sequites, at a minimum, is an understanding of the conditions ofthe school and the characteristics of the classtooms in which teachers work. To understand the school and the classtoom requires thatschool administrators leave theit officesand spend arleasta thiid of their timein ceachers’ dasstooms. In the business community this is called “supervision by vvaalking around” ‘The term supervision is a bit too supervisory for my taste. Tam not sute that schoo! administrators have “su- pat’ vision Bur they should have a grasp of what hap- ‘pens in their schools —- substantively, as well as admin- istatively. Administrators can be in a position to ree ognize different kinds of talents among faculty mem- bas they can help initiave activities and support the initiatives of teachers. They can develop an intimacy that will enable them to promote and develop the lead- ership potential of teachers. Thus, paradoxically, the principal as leader is most successful when he or she no longer leads but promotes the initiative and lead- ceaship of others The kind of schools we need would use videotaped teaching episodes to refine teachers’ ability to take the practice of teaching apart — notin the negative sense, bucasa way of enlarging ou: understanding of a com- plex and subtle process. No one denies that teaching isa subtle and complex arc At leat is an art when iis done well. To teach really well, itis necessary to reflect on the processes of one's own teaching and on the teaching practices of others. Our ability o perform, is related, as I suggested above, to out underscanding of the relationship between teaching and learning, This relationship can be illuminated through the analysis, ofvideotaped episodes of teaching practices Just what is a teacher up to when he or she teaches? What are the consequence? What are the compromises and tade- offs thar exist in vireually any context? What institu- tional or organizational pressutes in a school must teach- cers contend with? Hlaw does a teacher insett herself ine toher teaching? What does his body language express? ‘Questions such as these can be profitably addressed thiough the analysis of videotapes Indeed, the col- labosative analysis of a teaching episode can provide avery tich resource that can illuminate differences in perspective, in educational values, and in the mean- ings being conveyed. This is all to the good Teaching is not reducible to a single frame. From my perspec: tive, the use of such tapes not only can make our un- derstanding of teaching mote appropriately complex, bur it can also sefine our ability to see and interpret the process of teaching. And the more subtle peispec- tive on teaching that stich analysis cteates can only en- hance the quality of what we have to say co one anoth- cer about the kind of worl we do. The kind of chook we need wouldbe staffed by veach- «1s who are as interested in the questions scudents ask after a unit of study as they are in the answers students give On the whole, schools are highly answer-otient- ed. Teachers have the questions, and scudents are 00 have the answers Even with a problem-solving ap- proach, the focus of attention ison the student’s abil ity to solve a problem that someone else has posed. Yer the most intellectually demanding tasks lic not so much in solving problems as in posing questions. The framing of what we might oxymoronically cal che “tll- ing question” is what we ought to care much more about. ‘Once students come to deal with real situations in life, they will find ehat few of them provide defined problems. On the contrary, the primary task is often, to define a problem so that one can get on with its so- lution. And to define a problem, one needs to be able ¢o raise a question ‘What would it mean to students if they were asked to raise questions coming out ofa unit of study? What kinds of questions would they raise? How incisive and, imaginative would these questions be? Would the se APRIL 2002. 579dents who do well in formulating questions be the same cones who do well when asked to converge upon a cot- rect answer? ‘What I am getting at is the importance of devel- opingan intelleceual context designed to promote stu- dent growth. That context must surely give students an opportunity to pose questions and to entertain al- teinative perspectives on what they study. The last ching. vwe want in an intellectually liberating environment is a closed set of artitudes and fealty toa single set of cor- tect answets The kind of schools we need would not hold as an ideal that all students get to the same destinations at thesame time. They would embrace the idea that good schools inctease the vatiance in student pesformance and at the same time escalate the mean To talk about the idea that schools should increase individual differences rather than reduce them may at first scem counterintuitive and pethaps even antidem- ocratic. Don’t we want all seudents to do the same? Lf vie have a set of goals, don’t we want all students to achieve them? To both of those questions I would give a qualified yes and no Individuals come into the world with different ap- titudes, and, over the course of theit lives, they devel- op diffetent interests and proclivities In an ideal ap- proach to educational practice — say, one in which teaching practices were ideally designed to suit each youngster — each youngster would learn ar an ideal rate. Students whose aptitudes were in math would uuavel farther and faster in that subject chan students “The letter from Ed McMahon aside, Hursely, 1 stil think we should apply for a grant” 580 PHIDELTA KAPPAN who had neither interest nor aptitude in math but who, for example, might have greater apticude in language rin the visual atts. In those two fields, students would ‘uavel faster and farther than those with math aptinudes but with low interests or proclivities in language ot the arts Over time, the cumulative gap between stu- dents would grow. Students would travel at theit own optimal rates, and some would go faster than others in different ateas of work. ‘What one would have at the end of the school year is wide differences in students’ performance. At the same time, since each program is ideally suited to each youngster, the mean forall students in all of che areas in which they worked would be higher than it would be in a more typical program of inseruction Such a conception of the aims of education would actually be instrumental to the creation of a rich cul- ture. It is through out realized aptitudes that we can contribute to the lives of others and realize our own. potential, Icis in che symbiotic selationships among us that we come to nuteute one anothet, to provide for others what they cannot provide — atleast, not as ‘well — for themselves, and to secure fiom others the gifts they have to offer that we cannot create — at Teast, not as well — for ourselves The idea thac getting everyone to the same place is a virtue really represents a limitation on out aspirations I does not serve democratic purposes to teat everybody identically or to expect everyone to atsive at the same destination at the same time Some students need to go farther in one direction and others need to go far- ther in a different direction because that’s where their aptitudes lie, thae’s where thei intetests are, and thar's where their proclivities lead them. ‘The British philosopher and humanist Sir Herbert Read once said that there were two principles to guide ‘education ' One was to help children become who they ate not; the other was to help children become who they are. The former dominates in fascist countties, he believed, where che image defined by the state becomes the model to which children must adapt. The fascist view is to help childien become who they are not. Read believed that education was a process of selF-actualiza- tion and that in a truly educational environment chil- dren would come to sealize their latent potentials In this age of high technology and highly monitored sys- tems and standards, I believe thar Read's views bear reflection, The kind of schools we need would take seriously the idea that a child's petsonal signature, his or her dis-tinctive way of learning and cxcating, is something eo be preserved and developed We are not in the shoe manufacturing business. By saying that we are not in the shoe manufacturing business, { mean that we ate not in the business of producing identical products Onanassembly line, onesecks predictability, even cet- «aingy, in the outcomes. Whar one wants on both as- sembly lines and aitline flights are unevenefal events No surprises In education, surprise ought to be seen noc asa limi: tation butas the mark of creative work. Suprise breeds feeshness and discovery. We ought to be creating con ditions in school that enable students to purse what is distinctive about themselves; we oughe to want them to retain thelt personal signatures, theizparticulaz ways of seeing things. Of course, their ways of seeing things need to be enhanced and enriched, and che vask of teaching is, in part, to ransmic che culeure while simultancously cul- tivating those forms of seeing, thinking, and feeling that make ic possible for personal idiosyncrasies to be developed. In the process, we will discover both who childzen are and what theit capabilities axe The kind of-chook we need would recognize chat dif. ferent forms of representation develop diffetent forms of thinking, convey different kinds of meaning, and. make possible different qualities of life Literacy should nor be restricted to decoding text and numbet Normally the tetm literacy refers ¢o the ability to sead, and numeracy, the ability to compute. Howev- et, I want to recast the meaning of literacy so that it refers to the process of encoding ot decoding mean ing in whatever forms ate used in the culeute to express or convey meaning. With this conception in mind and with the realization thar humans throughout history have employed a variety of forms to expeess meaning, literacy becomes a process through which meanings are made. Meanings, of cousse, ate made in the visual arts, in music, in dance, in poetry, ia literature, as well asin physics, in mathematics, and in history. The best ‘way to ensure thar we will graduate semiliterate stu: dents fiom our schools is to make sure that they have few (or ineffective) opportunities toacquite the multi- ple forms of literacy chat make multiple forms of mean ing possible “That meanings vary with the forms in which they are cast is apparent in the fact that, when we bury and, when we marry, we appeal to poetry and music to ex- press what we often cannot express literally. Humans have invenced an astay of means through which mean- ingisconstrued Luse he word constuebecause mean- ing makingis a consteual, both with respect ro the per ception of forms made by otheis and with respect to the forms that we make ourselves. ‘We tend to think that the act of reading a story ot reading a poem isa process of decoding And itis. But itis aso a process of encoding The individual read- ing a story must make sense of the story; he ot she ‘must produce meanings fiom the maiks on the page: Themind must be constsuctive, ie must be active, and the task of teaching is to facilitate effective mental ac- tion so that the work encountered becomes meaning. ful. The kind of chools we need would recognize that the ‘most important forms of learning ate those that st dents know how to use outside of school, nos just in side school. And the teachers in stich schools would consistently uy to help students see the connections beowcen the nwo The uansfer of learning cannot be assumed; it needs co be taught The idea that transfer needs to be taught is not a new one. I reiterate an old idea here because itis ab- solutely Fundamental co effective education. all that students gee out of what dhey lean in history o& math or science ate ideas they rapidly forger and cannotem ploy ouside of the context of a dlassroom, then edu cation is a casualty. The point of learning anything in school isnot primatily co enable ane to do wel in school — although most parents and students believe this to be the case —ieis to enable one to do well in life. The point of learning something in school is to entich life outside of school and to acquite the skills and ideas thar will enable one to produce the questions and per form the activities that one’s outside life will requize In the field of education, we have yet to begin to conceive of educational evaluation in these terms. But these are pretisely che terms that we need to employ if what we do in school is to be more than mere jump: ing through hoo The ine of book we ned would ake seriously the idea thas, with regard to learning, the jay isin the jour ney Intrinsic motivation counts the most because what students do when they ean do what they want to do is what really matters It is here that the educational process most closely exemplifies the lived experience found in the arts We ought co stop reinforcing our sts dents’ lust for "point accumulation,” Point accumulation is nor an educational aim Ed- ucational aims have to do with matters of enlighten: ment, matters of developing abilities, matters of nes APRIL 2002 SBEthetic experience. What we ought to be focusing out attention on is the creation of conditions in our class- rooms and in our schools that make the process of ed- ‘cation a process that students wish to pursue The joy must be in the journey. Iv is the quality ofthe chase thac macteis most. Alfied North Whitehead once commented that most people believe that a scientist inquiies in order to know. Just che opposites tue, he said. Scientises now in order to inquire, What Whitchead was gerting at was the idea that the vitality, challenge, and engagement that scien- tists find in theis work is what matters most to them. At its best, this kind of satisfaction is an aesthetic ex- rience a ‘We don’t tall much about the aesthetic satisfactions of eaching and leaning, but those of us who have taughe for more than a few years know full well che feeling we expetience when things go realy well in our veach- ing, When things go really well for seudents, chey ex- perience similar feelings. ‘We ought not to marginalize the aesthetic in our understanding of what learning is about because, in the end, itis the only foum of satisfaction that is like- ly to predice the uses of the knowledge, skills, and per- spectives that students acquite in school There is a huge difference between whata child aan do and what a child will do. A child who lcatns to wcad but has no appetite for reading is not really succeeding in school. ‘We want ro promote that appetite for learning, and it ought to be built on the satisfactions that students te- ceive in our classtooms It is the aesthetic that repre- sents the highest forms of intellectual achievement, and it is the aesthetic that provides the natural high and conuibutes the energy we need to want to puisuc an activity again and again and again. The kind of schools we need would encomage deep conversation in dassiooms. They would help students learn how to participate in thar complex and subrle art, anart that requites learning how to listen as well as how to speak. Good conversation is an activity for which out voyeuristic interest in tale shows offers no substi- ate Te may scem odd recommending that deep conver sation be promoted if our classrooms. Conversation has a kind of shallow ting, as if ir were something you do when you don’t have anything seally important to do. Yet conversation, when it goes well, when the par- sicipants really listen co each other is like an acquited raste, an acquited skill. Ie does noe take much in the way of resources, but, ironically, itis among the rarest 582 PHIDELTA KAPPAN features of classroom life Ic is also, I believe, among, the rare features of our personal life, and chae is why we often tune in to Optah Winfiey, Larry King, and other talk show hosts to participate vicariously in con- versation. Even when the conversations ate notall chat deep, they remain interesting Flow do we help students learn to become listen- ‘ers? How do we enable them ro understand that com- ments and questions need to flow fiom what preced- ed and not simply express whatever happens to be on one’s mind at the time? How do we enable students to become more like the members of a jazz quartet, whose interplay good conversation sometimes seems to emulate? Conversation is akin to deliberation, a process thar searches for possible answers and explores blind alleys as well as open ficeways. How do we cre ate in our classrooms a practice that, when done well, can be a model of intellectual activity? OF course, all of us need to learn to engage in deep conversation. In many ways, we need to model what wwe expect our students to learn. Buit I am convinced that conversation about ideas that matter to students and teachers and that occupy a cenual place in our cur riculum can be a povresful means of converting the ac- ademic institutions we call schools into intellectual in- stitutions. Such a transformation would represent a para- digmati¢ shift in the culture of schooling. The kind of choos we need would help students giad- ually assume increased responsibility for fiaming theit ‘own goals and learning how to achieve them. We want students eventually to become the architects of theis ‘own education. The long-term aim of reaching is to make itself unnecessary. Saying that the long-term aim of teaching der itself unnecessary is simply to make explicit what Thope readers have gleaned fiom my arguments hete. Helping scudents learn how to formulate their own goals isaway to enable them to secute theit freedom. Help- ing them leatn how to plan and execute theit lives in relation to those goals is a way of developing theis au- tonomy. Plato once defined a slave as someone who executes the purposes of another, Over the grade lev- els, we have conceived of teaching as serting problems that students solve Only rarely have we created the conditions through which students set the problems thar chey wish co pursue. Yet thisis precisely what they will need to be able to do once they leave the protected sphere of the schoo! Itisinteresting to me thar, in discourse about school reform and the relation of goals and standards to custic-ulum reform, the teaches is given the freedom to formnu. late means but not to decide upon ends The prevail- ing view is that professional judgment pertains to mat- «ets of technique, rather than to matters of goals. believe this conception of school reform is shor sightod Ifour smudents were simply inet entities, some thing like coppet or plastic, ic would be possible in prin- ciple to formulate methods ofacting on them that would. yield uniform responses A thousand pounds of pres sure by a punch press on a stecl plate has a given effect Butour students are not uniform, they are not steel, and they do not sespond in the same way to pressures of vari- ous kinds. ‘Thus teachers will always need the discre- tionary space to deveimine not only matters of means butalso mairersofends Andwewantstudents, gradu- ally to be sure, to have the oppoxtunity co formulate etids as well. Withholding such opportunities isaform of de-skilling for both teachers and students The kind of schools we need would make ic possible for students who have pasticulat interests to pursue those interests in depth and, atthe same time, to worke on public sevice projects that conuibute to something larger than their own immediate interests This twofold aim —- the ability to serve the self through intensive study and the desire and ability to provide a public sei- vice — slike the head and tail ofa coin. Both elements need to be a patt of our educational agenda The long-term aim of education may be said ro be to learn how to engage in pessonally satisfying activ= ities thar are at the same time socially constructive. Students need to leatn that there are people who need services and that they, the students themselves, can con- tribute to meeting these people’s needs. Service learn ing is a move in the tight direction. It affords adoles- cents an oppoxtunity to do something whose scope is beyond themselves. The result, at least potentially, is the development of an attitude that schools would do well to foster. That, too, should be a patt of our cur siculat agenda, ‘The kind of school we need would teat the idea of “public education” as meaning not only the education of the public inside schools, but also the education of the public outside schools The school’s faculty will find ic difficult to proceed farther ot faster than the com- munity will allow. Ous task, in pare, isto nureure pub- lic conversation in arder to create @ collective vision of education Realistically speaking, our responsibilities as edu- cators extend beyond the confines of our classrooms and even beyond the walls of our schools. Wealso have responsibilities co our communities. We need desper- ately to create educational forums for members of the community in which the purposes and processes of edu- cation can be discussed, debated, and deliberated and fiom which consensus can be attived at with tegaid to our broad mission as an educational institution -Par- cents need to know why, for example, inquity-oriented methods matter, why rove learning may not be in the best long-term intetest of their children, why problem centered activities are important, and why the ability to frame telling questions is crucial ‘Most patents and even many teachers have a yellow school-bus image when it comes to conceiving what teaching, learning, and schooling should look like. The yellow school bus isa metaphor for the model of edu- ‘ation that they encountered and that, all too often, they wish to replicate in the 21st century. Ou schools, as they are now designed, often tacitly encourage the re-creation of such a model. Yer we know there is a better way. That better way ought to bea part of the agenda the community discusses with teachers and school administravors. Principals and school superintendents ought to perform a leadership role in deepening that community conversation Without having such a con- versation, it will be very difficult ro create the kitid of schools we need. acknowledge that the fearures of schooling that ] have described will not be easy to attain, but they ate important. We get so caught up in debating whether or not we should extend the school year that we seem to forget to consider what should go into that yeat. We scem to forget about out vision of education and she kind of educational practices that will move the school in the ditection we value. Too often we find ourselves implementing policies that we do not value Those of us in education need to take a stand and to serve as publicadvocates for our students. Who speaks for our students? We need to. Some of the features I have desctibed — pethiaps alllof them — may notbe ones that you youiself cher- ish. Fine. That makes conversation possible. And so 1 invite you to begin that conversation in yout school, so that out of the collective wisdom of each of our com- munities can come a vision of education that our chil- den deserve and, through that vision, the cation of the kind of schools that our children need 1. Hebert Reud, Education TBrongh Art (New Yorks Pantheon Books, 1944) ra APRIL2002 583