What does a good school look like?

There is a place where children and adults live and work together in harmony. It all begins with the family, all sorts of families. Big families. Small families. Two parent families. One parent families. Mommies and Daddies as parents. Mommies and Mommies as parents. Daddies and Daddies as parents. Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and all sorts of caring adults as parents. Children are desired and valued and cared for from birth. There are opportunities for learning and growing surrounding the child every minute of every day. It all begins with the home.


At home, children are held, listened to, gazed at and read to. While there are outside programs to bridge gaps and fill holes, the majority of learning takes place in the home with loving adults. Reading and literacy skills are modeled every day. Children are read to every day. Reading surrounds the child and the family. A good school looks like a happy, healthy home with caring parents.

Early childhood education encompasses a three year period of time including ages 3 to 6 employing a half day schedule of Kindergarten-like activities based on play, exploration and individuality. The emphasis is on creating opportunities for learning but not in a structured, timed or forced manner. The curriculum is flexible, yet consistent. Mathematical concepts and math “manipulatives” are introduced. Writing and drawing are regular activities. Just as in the home, reading and literacy activities flow in and around all activities. Children grow and learn at their own rate and in their own time through a mastery learning type of approach. A good early childhood education school looks like a vibrant and expanded Kindergarten.

Primary school encompasses ages 6 to 10 for about four years and includes a combination of structured core competency courses such as English and Math interspersed and interwoven into a rich web of expanding learning opportunities into the arts, hard sciences, social sciences, languages, etc. A mastery learning approach continues with the goal of all students achieving basic minimum standards in English and Math while also receiving maximum exposure to other subjects and fields. A good primary school looks like a ying and yang of core subjects balanced with specialty subjects.

Middle school extends for about 4 years from ages 10 to 14 and marks the beginning of choice and specialty matched to each child. While the core competency courses continue, it is to a lesser degree, while areas of specialization begin to take hold and dominate. Exploratory sessions are planned to open children up to their potential and possibilities. Is it languages? Is it music? Is it teaching and helping? Is it planning and strategizing? Is it innovation and creation? Is it caring and healing? A good middle school looks like a collection of labs and exploratory experiences designed to motivate and inspire children to find themselves, be themselves and develop themselves.

Secondary school represents clear choices for students depending on their personality, talents, interest and goals for ages 14 to 18 for about four years. No area of interest or skill set is better than another. No area of interest or skill set is off limits or discouraged. Clusters or tracks might include:

• Entrepreneurship and small business economic development with an emphasis on innovation supported by entrepreneur coaches

• Supporting and Assisting including computer and organizational skills necessary to serve others and facilitate success

• Technology and Innovation including computer engineering, design and security

• Classic Apprenticeship in fields such as carpentry, electrician, mechanic, hair stylist, massage therapist, computer technician

• Blended Apprenticeship and Education in such fields as teaching, nursing, accounting and most professional modern fields

• Extensive Education and Credentialing in such fields as medicine and law

A good secondary school looks like an active, dynamic part-time school combined with a network of organized work and apprenticeship experiences.

In my indulgence in writing, I find this to be my school utopia fantasy. It all begins in the home, and it is sustained in the home. The next monumental question is how a culture or society can somehow encourage or shift to a culture where children are desired and cared for especially including educational issues. I don’t know that any amount of money or social program can replace a loving home life full of learning opportunities such as being read to on a daily basis from infancy forward. Studies seem to have shown that such pervasive and popular programs as Head Start is not making a difference even though we have spent over $100 billion dollars over 40 years on this noble experiment. We are wrong as a culture and society to opt out, turn away from our children and let a social program try its best to replace loving, interested parents. If we can somehow learn to collectively love and care for our children, a renaissance in learning could take place. This is an immense social problem, not an education problem.

As a college educator, I see the faces and meet the individuals behind the statistics showing that about 80% of students arriving at community colleges are not prepared for college work, meaning that these students do not have basic reading, writing and math skills. By basic, I mean middle school level skills such as writing in complete sentences and being able to work a simple algebraic formula with an unknown x factor. From time to time, I wonder about these students…what happened between middle school and adulthood? Either they never learned these basic concepts in the first place and/or their learning stopped and receded at some point. These are also students who are lost in the world with no idea of who they are or what they might be able to do to take care of themselves financially. By forcing students into a “one size fits all” K12 system, we do a great disservice to our children. Something more individual and meaningful to students would be much better.

“A good school for anyone is a little like kindergarten and a little like a good post-graduate program – the two ends of the educational spectrum, at which we understand that we cannot treat any two human beings identically, but must take into account their special interests and styles even as we hold all to high and rigorous standards.” (Deborah Meier, The Power of Their Ideas, 2002, pp 48-49)

Deborah Meier is right. We need something more personal. As it is now, many, many students check out with some leaving and dropping out of school but many more staying in school with nothing going on in their minds. These students move through the public school system like zombies, marking time and doing only what they must do. This is because school sucks as Louis CK points out in his FX show. Why are we continuing to push forward a public school model that isn’t working? For many students, school is not interesting or useful. It is merely a mandatory social obligation. These students do not see the other side that I see as a community college educator. What will these students *do* to work and make a life for themselves? These students do not know who they are, where they could go or what they could be good at doing.

Another travesty are the current modern ideas of No Child Left Behind and the more recent Michigan Merit high school graduation requirements. It is not a level playing field, and all students do not all have the same goals.

“Many will fail in schools because they are forced to do work they hate and deprived of work they might love.” (Noddings, The Aims of Education, 2009, pg 429)

Why are we compelling all students to take 4 years of high school math? If all students are going to go to college to become dentists and accountants, then perhaps this ruling is appropriate. What about all of the students who are not going to pursue a professional field requiring college math courses? Why are we forcing students to take classes they hate, classes that have nothing to do with who the student is, their strengths and their goals. Is it any wonder that so many students check out?

“Today, with recent changes in social thought and massive changes in technology, it is more important than ever to consider why we are promoting certain goals in schooling and why we continue to neglect education for personal life and for happiness in our occupations.” (Noddings, The Aims of Education, 2009, 437)

It’s not just that school should connect children all the way from birth or “Cradle to Career” or college; it’s that school should provide a way for each individual to connect with who they are as a person and where in life they want to go. It is not up to the state to determine that each person is going to get a college degree no matter what. It is up to the individual to set that goal, if desired. And, it is up to the individual to achieve that goal. The truth is that not everyone should go to college. Yep, I said it. It is also true that not every profession should be turned into a college program. A loving home life, strong core competency courses, self-awareness and choice combined with appropriate curriculum and apprenticeship are the keys to what a good school looks like.