Why teachers are concerned about the lack of independence and specifically, the problem-solving capacity of their students.
by: Ji Ho (Geo) Yang, PHD Candidate at the University of Washington
The issues we face today are immense and complicated. Climate change, growth of AI and other technology, social media, wars and ethnic cleansing (and genocide), wealth disparities. These issues are global, deeply historical, and tied to capitalism. Our youth and future generation will not just have to navigate these issues and build their lives in these contexts, but will bear a major responsibility of responding to and finding solutions to these issues.
While these issues are affecting our whole world, many of these issues become localized for our youth in the U.S. and SE Seattle. For example, wealth disparities in Seattle are connected to the corporate haven nature of WA, housing policies, racial dynamics, etc. Are we preparing our youth in education to survive, thrive, and transform their communities and neighborhoods for their future? What is a key need for our youth in schools to help them navigate and respond to their ever-changing and demanding world? This blog will explore a shared concern amongst teacher participants in my doctoral research about what their students today are lacking, including why teachers are concerned with the level of independence and problem-solving skills of their students, and how resources may be tied to this specific need.
My doctoral research looks at how schools manage resources to learn more about how schools become racialized (or how schools have different racial impacts or issues). The types of schools I am researching are Black urban elementary (in this case, Pre-K through 8th grade) schools, meaning these schools are serving all Black families (greater than 90% Black) and staffed by majority Black educators, leaders, and other staff. A key element to understand how schools manage resources is to have a clear picture of school conditions. In my research, school conditions are not the state of a school building or the quality of curricula used, but rather the different values and outcomes influencing educators and other local stakeholders of their school. A shared outcome for teachers across schools in my research is growth in independence and problem-solving skills, and capacity for their students. This outcome is rooted in teachers seeing their students as being more dependent, less risk-taking, less persistent, and having less problem-solving capacity. These teachers notice this trend over time with their students, as most of the teachers in my research have taught for multiple decades. What is going on here?
The first thought would be to see the COVID-19 pandemic as a major influence on this issue of student independence and problem-solving capacity. The pandemic certainly has had a significant impact on students. Another context to consider is the ubiquity and pervasiveness of social media, smartphones, etc. However, educators in my research did not name these major contexts that have clearly shaped so much of our society. Some of the main issues teachers pointed out are testing, technology-reliant learning, curricula mismatch, and different expressions of Black care.
While standardized testing is nothing new in the 21st century, and many states and districts had standardized testing before No Child Left Behind, standardized testing has had major impacts on making students serve schools rather than schools serving students. Growing focus on standardized testing over time also narrows learning by having a greater emphasis on reading and math at the expense of other subjects and areas. This loss of learning diversity makes it difficult for students to learn about themselves as learners, which may impact their growing independence and problem-solving capacity. Focus on reading and math at the expense of other subjects and areas does not even account for the amount of time taken away from teaching and learning from just testing alone, which can take a school an entire month to go through an assessment cycle, which is often done three times a school year.
Learning has also transitioned more into being technology-based and reliant in classrooms. The reliance on technology for teaching and learning can pose a major challenge to learning for students who have limited access to non-laptop technology at home. Having learning be solely based on technology also limits the agency of teachers and students to grow independence and problem-solving capacities, since it does not account for the different ways students can tackle a problem beyond a computer. Educators note how their students show independence and problem solving through paper and pencil, manipulatives, collaboratively, art, trial and error, etc.
Teachers are also facing mandated curricula that they find a total mismatch to the needs of their students (let alone the needs of the teachers). These curricula have and reflect the same issues with technology-reliant learning and a high focus on standardized testing. Other issues include a lack of accommodation and modification support for various student needs, a lack of language support, and mismatch with student needs. Teachers in my research have many students who are well below grade level. Yet, their mandated curricula do not offer support in teaching these students (some of this issue also appears for students above grade level). While it is important for student growth to challenge them beyond their current capacity, all students need teaching that is responsive to their needs and challenges them appropriately. Not having curricular support that is robust in meeting a diversity of student needs, especially for students well below grade level, greatly impacts students’ independence and problem-solving capacity, particularly as they get into upper grades.
Another key insight shared by teachers in my research was how Black care was shown differently by their colleagues. Black teachers note how some of their colleagues showed care for their Black students by “coddling” students. For example, when a student intentionally broke their school-designated laptop, rather than holding them accountable to the school laptop agreement of compensating for broken technology, the school leaders nullified the agreement by designating a new laptop without compensation. Teachers also note how showing Black care can also be seen on the opposite end of the spectrum, where Black school staff push Black students to articulate their career goals and have a defined plan for their adult life. Could extreme expressions of care for our students impede their growing independence and problem-solving capacity?
My doctoral research is not focused on answering why teachers are concerned with specific educational outcomes. However, by exploring school conditions through the values and outcomes held within schools, I noticed a shared concern for our students today. My research informs my reflections, which focus on school resources and cultural values. I can’t help but wonder how the current issues facing our next generation are shaped and will change over time. As a teacher coach, I noticed new teachers being frustrated and even giving up their teaching aspirations because they found dealing with students’ phones to be too difficult. There is no doubt that our youth are living in a world where corporate reach (such as social media companies) is literally in the pockets of all young people. This makes it imperative that we prepare our students with independence, persistence, and problem-solving skills to best live their full lives.
