The fact is, we already have high standards for some children. Students attending many of our elite suburban schools also meet these standards. Our problem isn t that American students can t meet higher standards. The problem is that we lack the will as a people to do what we have to do to see that all students have the same opportunities that some of our children have. Another problem I have with the standards movement is that it is totally disconnected from everything else we do.
Education is organic.
It is fluid. It lives and breathes because, of all the aspects of our existence, it is perhaps the most human and the most dependent upon humans to carry out. Those acting and those acted upon are human. You can lead a student to knowledge but you can t make him learn. That requires motivation, understanding and sometimes compassion.