the tindog coffeehouse

Educational policy expert Joel Spring spoke at TCU on Wednesday to advocate a constitutional amendment which would guarantee academic freedom in U.S. classrooms.

Spring’s proposed amendment to the Constitution, focusing on education, features three primary goals, he said. The first goal is equality in education, especially in funding. The second component in the proposed amendment would center on the right for education in different languages and cultures. The third concentrated on academic freedom for teachers and students, Spring said. This would allow teachers to choose their own methods and materials to teach, while still following a curriculum guide.

Spring’s primary argument for such an amendment is that the textbook publishing industry is more interested in maximizing profits than in furthering education, and through political contributions, they’ve forced schools into using their products, thereby removing the freedom to choose other methods.

While that argument sounds good on the surface, though, it isn’t really necessary. First off, teachers, while bound to the curriculum chosen by the state and school district, do have some degree of freedom with how they teach that curriculum; it’s just that many of them don’t deviate too far from the norm. Second, if you really wanted to give teachers and school districts more freedom, there are a couple of other things you can do that would be much more effective and wouldn’t require a vague constitutional amendment: (1) eliminate or at least de-emphasize standardized tests, and (2) get rid of No Child Left Behind and other federal regulations.

Ideas such as guaranteeing academic freedom or extending the number of hours kids are in school may be good soundbites, but they’re not necessarily good solutions. Instead, we should be looking at using the time our kids are in school more effectively. And besides, any solution should be left up to the states and local school districts to decide, not mandated at the federal level.

Previously:
Bill would protect the grades of students who disagree with evolution
History to be (re)written by the victors?
How much emphasis should be placed on Christianity when teaching history?