Public Education as a Schmoo.  If educators must conform to all demands, how can a school be anything more than a schmoo?

Tony Wagner’s article in SchoolAdministrator, September 2012, asks the right questions and, when connected with Pasi Sahlberg’s article just a few pages away, many of the answers begin to fall into place. And, public education in the United States is a humongous schmoo.

Wagner’s “Accountability for What Matters Most” asks if public education is being held accountable for what really matters in preparing our children for the best of their potential futures. Sahlberg’s “Quality and Equity in Finnish Schools” analyzes schools in his native Finland with schools in other nations, most notably the United States, and it is not what he says about Finland that is eye catching – it is what he says about our educational systems. Together, Wagner and Sahlberg confirm that public education, as practiced in our country and states, is in a world of hurt because everything assigned to public education matters and what really matters is lost in the accountability for everything.

A quieter reflection about the standing of the United States in an international comparison of student performance might begin to narrow the evaluation of our educational systems to what really is important. Decades ago Al Capp, a nationally-syndicated cartoonist, created a schmoo. A schmoo is a doughy-bodied animal that would conform its body into whatever shape or function would satisfy the needs of the moment.

Public education in the United States has become the biggest schmoo of all time. As our nation’s greatest public institution, school also is our nation’s most abused institution. No politician or social reformer ever saw a cause that could not be assigned to the local schools for resolution. The little red schoolhouse no longer looks like a schoolhouse, but like a smiling schmoo needing to please every demand and in so doing is unable to satisfy very many. The education of children is just one of the myriad of missions for which a school is accountable and too often it has become attached to non-educational demands that suborn student learning.

• The United States ranks 14th among OECD nations in reading, math and science.
• Children in our nation are obese. School lunches must conform to new mandates.
• Children are subjected to cyber-bullies. Schools must protect them from each other the world at large.
• Children may not be safe in school. Schools must fortify.
• Concussive injuries in athletics endanger children. Schools must provide access to neurologic assessments, train all staff to protect children from head injuries and respond if they occur, and assure that all athletic helmets conform to NO—standards.
• A community’s socio-economic status determines the level of academic achievement in its schools. Schools must provide compensatory education that accommodates all possible disadvantages.
• Children today do not know the history of unionism in the United States. And, all other stories related to any special interest or ethnic minority.
• Children are not involved in their communities. Schools must provide community service education and verify that every graduate has been a significant local volunteer.
• The number of children living in split or blended families increases every year. Schools must respond to the needs and demands of ever-changing family structures.
• Although 8% of the workforce is unemployed, schools are not preparing enough skilled machinists to meet the demands of computer-assisted manufacturing.

Our schmoo-schools are responsible for each of these and thousands more. Most are legislatively mandated by our federal and state governments. Most are unfunded. Others are locally-mandated responding to interests or needs presented to a board of education. However, seldom is a new mandate is ever matched with a revoked mandate. The schmoo just gets bigger and bigger and less and less accountable for much. It is not surprising that the first item in the above list gets a large press attention, but each of those that follow and another thousand mandates get our educational time.

By comparison, Sahlberg explains how educational systems in Finland evolved from national mandates and regulations to local determination of educational values. Schools in Finland appear to be schools and not schmoos. It is no wonder that Finland ranks #2 among OECD nations in student achievement in reading, math and science. The Finns insist that schools focus upon what really matters in the education of their children and their accounts are very enviable.

So, when Wagner wonders if public education is being accountable for what really matters, we should not be surprised when our schmoo looks bewildered and the answer is “probably not.” There is every reason for the Virginia Beach City schools to point at critical thinking and problem-solving as their refocused priorities and make these the outcomes for which they will be accountable. Nothing else made sense. This does not mean that the schmoo in Virginia Beach City has shed the weight of all governmental mandates; it has not. Federal and state mandates for achievement must be met. School lunch programs must be in compliance. OSHA rules rule. But, each of these can be made routine if what matters that district comes first in their priorities.

It’s time to shuck our schmoo.