ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
AMERICANS SAY their local schools are OK, but the problem is with other schools, one speaker said.
Politicians and the media are undermining confidence in public education by focusing on the negative aspects of schools and overlooking the positive, a national leader in education said Tuesday.
The media concentrates on sensational stories and bad things about schools, such as violence and lower test scores, said Margaret Ishler, president of the Association of Teacher Educators.
Nationally, there is little news about the good things that are happening in schools and success stories of student achievement, she said.
"Only one-fourth of the people have children in school, and they get their impression of schools from news reports," Ishler said. With so much bad news about schools, she said, it's easy for the public to get the impression that the schools are failing.
Ishler was in Roanoke to speak at a conference for college professors who train teachers. She is head of the Curriculum and Instruction Department at the University of Northern Iowa.
"We're concerned that the public might be losing faith in public education," she said. "We in teacher education need to speak out."
She said some politicians are attacking public schools for political reasons - apparently to build support for school choice and vouchers.
"Public schools are the foundation of our American society," she said. "Some people believe these attacks are a reaction to the diversity and pluralism in our schools."
Voters and taxpayers should visit schools so they can see conditions for themselves, Ishler said. "They can see all of the challenges and problems we're facing and how we're dealing with them."
Critics are quick to make unfavorable comparisons of American students to their foreign counterparts, she said, without noting that U.S. schools serve all students, not just the best.
"We're more concerned about the potential of every student than other countries," she said.
Another speaker at the conference, John Dickens, said polls show that Americans rate their local schools high while giving lower marks to schools in the nation as a whole. Dickens is president of the Association of Teacher Educators in Virginia.
In a recent poll by Phi Delta Kappa, a national education fraternity, 66 percent of Americans gave the public school their oldest child attended a grade of A or B, while only 21 percent gave the nation's schools an A or B.
Several conference participants also complained that teacher education in Virginia is hampered by mandated changes in curriculum and a lack of money.
In a move to force teacher training to focus on the subjects they will teach, the state restricts students to 18 credit hours in education and professional courses in a bachelor's degree program, nearly 50 percent less than in some states.
"Students need to be prepared in liberal arts and the content of the subject they will teach, but they also need courses in education and the teaching profession," said Jerry Benson, dean of the College of Education and Psychology at James Madison University.
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