charlottesville and beyond remarks by ernest l. …boyerarchives.messiah.edu › files ›...

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CHARLOTTESVILLE AND BEYOND

Remarks by Ernest L. Boyer

President

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

FORTUNE EDUCATION SUMMIT

October 30, 1989

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INTRODUCTION

Just thirty days ago, President Bush met with the Governors from

all fifty states in Charlottesville, Virginia—the home of the

nation's first education President.

• For the first time in our history, the highest

officials in the land declared that America must

shape an agenda for its post-summit schools,

• and post-summit priorities for excellence were

announced.

This historic meeting marked a watershed for American education,

and I applaud the President for his vision.

• But the real test is yet to come, and this morning

I should like to focus on five priorities that

must be vigorously pursued if we are to rebuild

the nation's schools,

• and assure that all children will be civically and

economically well prepared.

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I. EARLY YEARS

First, I'm convinced we must focus, with special urgency, on the

least advantaged students and give priority to the early years of

education.

Lewis Thomas wrote on one occasion that

childhood is for language.

It's in the early years when curiosity abounds and this is the

time when children are empowered in the use of w o r d s —

And now that I'm a Grandpa, and can observe this process

unencumbered by dirty diapers, and burpings late at night, I'm

absolutely awed by the capacity of little children to discover

both the m a j e s t y — a s well as the weaponry of words.

As a boy I used to say, "Sticks and stones will break my bones

but names will never hurt me." What nonsense! I usually say

this, thinking all the time, hit me with a stick but stop those

words that penetrate so deeply and hurt so long.

I'm suggesting

• that's it's through the use of symbols that we are

socially and academically empowered,

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• and that between now and the year 2000, the top

priority must be to help all children—especially

those at risk—become proficient in the written

and the spoken word.

How, then, should we proceed?

First, little children, if they are educationally to succeed,

must have good nutrition.

A recent report by the Harvard School of Public Health revealed

that a child who is undernourished will have

• lower I.Q.

• shorter attention span,

• and get lower grades in school.

And yet, in the United States today, nearly one out of every four

children under six years of age is officially "classified" as

poor.

They are undernourished, hugely disadvantaged,

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• And if we continue to neglect the crisis of poor

children in this country, the quality of school

services will diminish.

Winston Churchill—who had a way with words—said on one

occasion, "There is no finer investment for any community than

putting milk into babies.

And I'm convinced that better schooling and good nutrition are

inextricably interlocked.

I'm also convinced that between now and the year 2000 we must

have preschool programs for every disadvantaged child to help

them overcome not just poor nutrition but "linguistic"

deprivation, too.

• Frankly, I consider it a national disgrace that 20

years after the Head Start program was authorized

by Congress to help disadvantaged three- and four-

year olds, only 20 percent of the eligible

children are being served.

President Bush, at the Charlottesville conference, put the

challenge this way: In the final analysis, he said, improving

schools means "bringing hope . . . to those who need it most. . .

Let no child in America," the president declared, "be forsaken

or forgotten."

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And fulfilling this inspired vision means providing preschool

education for every disadvantaged child.

There's a third step that we should take to strengthen early

education.

Several years ago, at the National Press Club, I proposed that we

combine Kindergarten through Grade 4 into a single unit called

the Basic School.

The Basic S c h o o l —

• would give top priority to language

• and from the very first, children would be

reading, writing, listening to stories, talking

about words, in the Basic School, and

• and there would be no class with more than 15

students each.

• It's silly to suggest that class size doesn't

matter, especially in the first years of formal

education when children need one-on-one attention.

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• And I'm convinced that if this nation would give

as much status to first grade teachers as we give

full professors, that one act alone would

revitalize the nation's schools.

I'm suggesting that the first years of formal schooling must be

given top priority.

And if all students by grade four

• cannot write with clarity,

• cannot read with comprehension

• cannot effectively speak and listen,

Then we should close the school doors and start again.

Finally, serving the least advantaged means dramatically

overhauling the formulas by which public schools are funded.

Recently the courts in Texas and Kentucky ruled unanimously that

the school financing methods in their states were

unconstitutional because of the shocking disparity between the

privileged and the poor.

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Here then is my conclusion.

Excellence and equality cannot be divided, and as an urgent post-

summit strategy, we must focus on the most disadvantaged.

• This m e a n s — a t the federal level—funding child

nutrition and Head Start programs, until all needy

children are well served.

• It also means that the states—led by governors—

must finance more equitably the public schools and

give top priority to early education, since it's

here that the battle for excellence will be won or

lost.

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II. RESTRUCTURING THE SCHOOLS

This brings me to priority number two.

At the Charlottesville meeting the president and the nation's

governors called for an overhaul of the nation's schools and

agreed to undertake, and I quote, "a major state-by-state effort

to restructure our education system."

Everyone agrees that restructuring is absolutely crucial and for

this to be accomplished, I have three suggestions to propose.

First, I'm convinced the time has come to change the school

calendar and the school clock to reflect the changing work and

family patterns of the nation.

My grandfather Boyer was born in 1871.

• He lived one hundred years and during the century

of his life the world moved from the horse drawn

plow to John Glenn's lift-off into space.

When Grandpa was 96 he told me that he went to school about six

months or so each y e a r — w h e n he wasn't needed on the farm.

When today's school calendar was set—almost a century a g o — w i t h

nine months of study and three months o f f — o v e r 90 percent of all

school age children were, like Grandpa Boyer,

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• living on a farm

• with their mothers and their fathers,

• working hard,

• coming home in the afternoon to help with chores,

and taking summers off to tend the crops.

In those days, the school schedule mirrored the work and family

patterns of the nation.

But this agrarian calendar is an anachronism now.

• Today, less than three percent of America's

families live on farms. In most households both

parents w o r k — a w a y from home.

• And Grandpa Boyer's school calendar no longer

reflects the realities of family life

Last year at the Carnegie Foundation we surveyed 5,000 5th and

8th graders from coast to coast and found that

• 40 percent of today's youngsters go home each day

to an empty house,

• 60 percent wish they could spend more time with

their mothers and their fathers;

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• 30 percent say their family never sits down

together to eat a meal,

• and 2/3 often wish they had more things to do.

What we found, in short, is that many children are left to drift

aimlessly after school and in the summer. They are unconnected

to the communities that surround them—even to their own

families.

Former Commissioner of Education Harold Howe put it pointedly

when he said that today's youth are

• an island in society

• cut off

• but yearning to belong.

And there's irony in all of this: while America's children are

in school about 180 days each year, those in most other

industrialized countries attend, on average, 240 days.

I'm convinced that between now and the year 2000 we should

reorganize the school into a year-round calendar—with periodic

breaks to give teachers time to be intellectually renewed. Such

a restructuring would save the nation's children, both

educationally and socially as well.

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III. EVALUATION

This brings me to priority number three—the crucial issue of

measuring the results.

At the Charlottesville meeting the governors declared—as another

top priority—that the time has come not only to clarify the

goals of education but also to measure the results.

It's ironic that after centuries of public education in this

country

• We still can't agree on how to evaluate school

performance,

• and no one seems to know for sure if our 180

billion dollar annual investment in public

education is paying off.

It's like an industry that's unclear about its product and has

thus remained hopelessly confused about quality education.

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• And, I propose that we measure the language and

mathematics proficiency of all students in grade

f o u r — a s they complete the Basic S c h o o l — t o make

sure that a solid academic foundation has been

laid.

• Further, cultural literacy is essential and I

propose that the federally-funded National

Assessment of Educational Progress be expanded to

measure, annually, the achievement of our students

in such essential subjects as history, literature,

geography, science, and the arts.

• Civic responsibility is crucial, too, and

• I also propose that all students, before they

graduate from high school, be asked to participate

in a community service project . . . working in a

day-care center, in a retirement village, in a

health care clinic or perhaps tutoring younger

kids at school to help students see a connection

between what they learn and how they live.

• In the end, critical thinking is the key to

excellence in education. I propose that every

high school senior, as a requirement for

graduation, be asked to write a paper on a

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• But let's also recognize that paper and pencil

tests simply cannot tell the whole story. They

can't measure wisdom, intuition, responsible

behavior—characteristics that matter most. Here

we need to rely on the insights of dedicated

teachers.

In the end, what we test is what we teach, and defining with care

a national report card for the nation's schools is one of the

most urgent post-summit challenges we confront.

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IV. THE ROLE OF INDUSTRY AND BUSINESS

This brings me finally to the role of industry and business.

I'm convinced the school reform movement has been kept alive

precisely because top corporate leaders—many who are assembled

in this r o o m — h a v e spoken urgently about the need for better

schools.

During the decade of the 90s this advocacy must persist and I

have a five point strategy to propose.

First, corporate support for education should begin at h o m e — b y

helping schools that surround their headquarters and their

plants.

• Students can be offered summer jobs and promised

employer or college scholarships after graduation.

• Discovery grants can be granted by local schools

to advance local projects.

• Your employees can volunteer to tutor kids in

surrounding schools.

And why can't industry help modernize shabby

science laboratories in their local schools.

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Frankly, we'll never be able to internationally

compete with outdated workbooks, broken test

tubes, and bunsen burners that will not work.

Second, corporations can support regional and national efforts to

renew the work force in education by giving fellowships to

schools and supporting training centers for principals.

• The harsh truth is that while we have continuing

education for doctors, lawyers, and business

leaders, teachers are rarely intellectually

renewed. Let's have corporate America help fund

comprehensive renewal programs in every region of

the country starting with the local schools.

Third, corporations can have parent personnel policies that help

strengthen education.

• Such programs might include parenting programs for

employees and preschool education so that parents

could occasionally consult with teachers in the

schools.

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• It is unthinkable to suggest that employers give

parents time off with pay so they can be with

their children the first day of school and also

have teacher conferences at the school at least

once or twice each year—just as we give time off

for jury duty and for voting.

Strengthening the partnership between the parent and teacher is

one of the most important steps corporate America can take to

rebuild the nation's schools.

Fourth, corporate America can take the lead in linking technology

to education.

Frankly, it's a scandal that every other enterprise in this

country

• from airlines,

• to hospitals,

• to newspapers,

• to banking, and

• to steel companies

now uses the miracle of the information age to increase its

productivity and efficiency. And yet schools have been bypassed

by the revolution.

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Today, kids in America watch television 4,000 hours before they

even go to school. They know computers. They're hooked on

videocassettes.

• And yet day after day these same children sit in

classrooms—with only chalk boards,

• Listening to teachers who often don't even have

access to a good overhead projector.

I'm convinced that if we could bring

• computers and videocassettes into the nation's

schools,

• if we could blend electronic images with great

teachers and great books, America could, within a

decade, have a "world class" education system.

I propose, therefore, that corporations develop, in every region

of the community, model "technology" schools just as many of the

top corporations have state-of-the-art technology in their own

classrooms for education and retraining.

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CONCLUSION

Here, then, is my conclusion. If this nation is to achieve

excellence in education, a national post-Charlottesville strategy

is required. This means:

• A commitment to the disadvantaged, with a special

focus on early education.

• It means restructuring the nation's schools by

changing the calendar and clock and breaking up

big schools into smaller units.

• It means clarifying goals and finding effective

ways to monitor results.

• And above all, it means building partnerships

between the home, the workplace, and the s c h o o l —

with vigorous leadership for industry and

business.

Translating these ideals into public policy will not be easy, but

last month's education summit should mark the beginning of a

decade-long crusade to rebuild schools and secure the future of

the nation.

Eloquent and inspiring words were spoken at the presidential

summit. Now it's time to act.

charlottesville and beyond remarks by ernest l. …boyerarchives.messiah.edu › files ›...

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