And it has particular relevance today.
Had his beliefs about the value of outdoor education been adopted widely, concerns about “nature-deficit disorder” would never have occurred. Had his beliefs about “the tyranny of testing” been heeded, real learning—rather than rote learning—would be more highly valued now.
He noted, “The testing of school children became a great, looming giant. It interfered with real learning. It dictated what teachers did. Everyone had to get high test scores. Class was compared with class, school with school. The whole educational system became diverted to raising test scores rather than gaining understanding or knowledge. We forgot that teaching was not a numbers game….We need to look at the child’s thinking rather than at his test scores; test scores seldom indicate thought. Schools should leave the path of the right answer in favor of the path of ideas an opinions. We need to follow the path of thought.”
Which brings us to the current situation: the misguided notion of shutting down Cesar Chavez Charter School. The dual-immersion, bilingual school was founded a decade ago with just 40 students. Today, the enrollment is more than 250—with a long waiting list.
The school is thriving, and so are its students, families, teachers and administration—all working together in common purpose to create a bold and unique educational experience that resonates long after the elementary years. The school’s mission is “to develop bi-literate, multi-cultural students whose strong academic and cultural foundation prepares them to meaningfully participate in their families, their community and their world to create a more just and equitable society.”
But their standardized test scores are low, par for the course in a school that supplements the standard requirements with a rich curriculum that includes music, art, physical education and dance, as well as the mastery of two languages. Other schools have given up what used to be called enrichment—and considered the very foundations of a well-rounded education—in order to slavishly teach to the ever-more-important, annual, state standardized test. These other schools, where obsessing, stressing and professing high test scores above all else, naturally improve students’ performance.
Not the case at Cesar Chavez School. There’s intention and brilliance at work here that extends far beyond test-taking and the classroom. The value of the school is recognized and supported by generous benefactors, university professors and community leaders who speak eloquently, passionately about the innovative program like no other. In the words of one father with two children at the school, “Parents don’t put their children on a waiting list to become underachievers.”
The students have a pen-pal relationship with students at Crane Country Day School and Montecito Union—two wealthy schools so close but so far away—their mutual apprehension vanishes in their visits, and the value of their connection as children will pay off when they’re on the same campus in their high school years. This kind of school experience was inspired by the school’s namesake, when he observed, “Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?”
Narrowly focused standardized tests don’t evaluate the whole child; the development of values; the ability to work collaboratively; the determination to express feelings and frustrations using words instead of inappropriate actions; the curiosity of fully engaged students experiencing learning as an adventure, not an ordeal.
Number-crunchers—here and in Sacramento—need to look away from the ledger, take a break from the spreadsheets, data points and statistical analyses. It’s time to comprehend the stories behind the numbers, and understand the long-term consequences of a short-sighted solution to a manufactured problem.
Perhaps the failure here is the inability to recognize the value of this model school community of students and their families at work. It is a terrible mistake to even consider the possibility of shuttering this beacon of hope and source of pride that has so much to teach. It’s a mark of our humanity to recognize goodness and excellence, even if it doesn’t show up on standardized test scores.
As Principal Van Schaick wrote, “I can’t think of a better way to ruin a neighborhood and to destroy the self-concept of every individual in it—not just the children—than to deprive it of a good school.”
Although the superintendent appears hell-bent on closing the school, the school board has admirably indicated its willingness to work with school representatives to figure out a way its charter can be renewed, and the children continue to flourish in immeasurable ways for years to come.