HAVE THE FACTS LOST OUT TO LEARNING PROCESSES IN SCHOOL?

Houston Chronicle Editorial

October 25, 1997

[It appears that the Chronicle's Editorial Board has turned on a dime since 1997!]

Do neatness, good manners, and students making a point to be on time count in American's classrooms?

How important is it for students to learn the basics of spelling, punctuation and grammar?  What about reading, writing, and mathematics?

Most teachers and parents and the public place a high priority on such things.

But a poll of education professors at teachers' colleges reveals a startling difference between what they believe important to teaching and what is important to most teachers and the majority of the public.

The poll for Public Agenda, a nonpartisan group, found most education professors believe that giving the right answer to a math or history question is less important than students struggling with the process to find to right answer, for example.

What the professors emphasized was a proper learning style and giving the students a lifetime to learn.

Furthermore, most said there was little need for students to memorize.

The world has turned many times since many of us were last in school, but we believe most older adults would agree that having been taught things like the multiplication tales, historical dates, proper English and various factual matters-- the basics, in other words, has stood us in good stead through the years.

Modern education has produced many interesting innovations.  Some are good. But we're not convinced that a students' knowledge of facts should ever take second place to his or her learning processes.