At Teachers College: President Arthur Levine, Eva Moskowitz & Ted Sizer Discuss Education at the Crossroads
By Sybil Maimin

A recent Columbia University Teachers College alumni reunion talk on “Education at the Crossroads” elicited some very telling comments from panelists. Eva Moskowitz, chair of the New York City Council’s education committee, noted that resolution of the current debate about school governance and mayoral control “will not necessarily be related to education.” Theodore R. Sizer, founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, an influential national network devoted to redesigning schools to promote improved learning, lamented that the rerun every decade of the same problems—under-funding, racial and economic segregation, and popular distress with the public school system,—demonstrates that the political sector is afraid of bold moves. Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College, speaking about enormous changes in this country, said the school system was created for a different economy and time.

All spoke of the need for dramatic transformations, coupled with lack of will. Councilwoman Moskowitz explained that her elected colleagues in government do support education but need an active citizenry, which insists on follow-through. “It is a two-way street,” she said. She cited as an example the lukewarm reaction to the proposal for a modest tax increase to help education, saying, “Citizens must communicate their support at budget time.” Sizer opined, “The silence of the folk is the problem.” Critical of a population that “doesn’t vote and doesn’t act,” Levine questioned how to “get action when there isn’t a constituency for action.”

The dramatic changes expected by President Levine in the next decade, especially in higher education, are fueled by demographics and economics. The traditional college student—ages 18 to 22, graduating in four years, and living on campus—now comprises only 16 percent of the total and is shrinking. More students are older, working, women, and from groups that formerly eschewed formal learning. They want courses available 24 hours a day, at home, and in the office. They value low cost and do not want to pay for services not used. Because better jobs require more training, colleges must reinvent themselves to provide continuous support and “just in time education.” Privatization, a “growth industry,” is another important change. Publishers and TV stations want a piece of the action and companies vie to put their brand name on teachers and educational tools. The public and private sectors compete for the same professionals and students. More providers mean more types of education. We are headed for “lots of brick and click” learning in the coming new world, said Levine.

Dr. Sizer echoed concern over “paralysis” and “lack of political courage which sees everything as the same as before.” His Coalition for Essential Schools (emphasis on “essential”) tries to determine what is most important in education (the basics). It is easier to start a new school than restructure an old one. Better education comes with smaller schools where every child is known and is judged by performance and examples of work (the portfolio model) and where money follows the child, erasing today’s profound economic segregation. He advocates school choice and praises as successes the almost 200 small schools that New York City has established.

With much to think about, the alums relaxed at a reception featuring lively Latin jazz played by a band from The Heritage School, a small public high school devoted to the arts that demonstrates some of the criteria espoused by Dr. Sizer. #

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