Civics decision baffling

John Hagney’s picture on the front page of the June 15 paper said it all. A poignant combination of baffled disappointment and sadness, this award-winning teacher’s countenance reveals a troubling truth about our public education system: It’s becoming rigid, heartless and foolish.

Hagney’s innovative social studies class, entitled Practicum in Community Involvement, was accomplishing what education experts say our students need more of: practical, real-life experiences with academic underpinnings. Hagney’s course was, by all accounts, a gem. Now, that gem’s being squandered.

The Washington State Board of Education and the Legislature decided that lagging civic involvement could only be reinstilled by utilizing a facts-based (i.e. easily tested) curricula. Rather than cave in to this poor excuse for a strategy, Hagney resisted. And lost. Welcome to the world of top-down education driven by the testing industry and “philanthropic” billionaires like Bill Gates: Priceless experience replaced by testable facts, soon forgotten.

Hagney’s class model should be replicated, not replaced. The top-down governance model so in vogue these days will not serve us well, long-term. Classrooms of discovery are being replaced by classrooms of fact-based uniformity and stagnant test-preparation. Like this outstanding teacher, we all ought to be sad and baffled.

Andy James

Colville