Only in the world of administrators in higher education will you find anyone making arguments that the best way to fix problems in education is to provide less of it.
Way back when, I read "To Kill a Mockingbird." The thing that I remember still from that first reading, was Scout going to kindergarten, so excited to learn, and finding out over the days, months, and years that she was being cheated of something "unrelieved boredom". That had been me, another pre-K reader (due to Montessori preschool in my case), sitting on the carpet in kindergarten class looking around at the walls while the teacher held up letters. Sure, I had some really good intervals along the way to high school graduation, especially from 8th grade algebra onwards although I did have to endure once more the general chaos for a required civics class as a HS senior, but then college was exactly what it was cracked up to be. Fantastic. Well, forward to teaching chemistry at branch campuses at military bases, I had many students who said things like "This was the first real college class I have had." "This is the first time someone taught me at a college level." Branch campuses and community colleges haven't always been exactly paragons of academic excellence, and back then as someone with an actual MS degree in my subject, I was a bit rare to have walk in the door looking for a teaching gig. But still...wouldn't it be terrible to finally make it through to college after all those years of public education and find out you were still being cheated, of what you're not exactly sure, but you know that there must be more to it than what you are getting.
Way back when, I read "To Kill a Mockingbird." The thing that I remember still from that first reading, was Scout going to kindergarten, so excited to learn, and finding out over the days, months, and years that she was being cheated of something "unrelieved boredom". That had been me, another pre-K reader (due to Montessori preschool in my case), sitting on the carpet in kindergarten class looking around at the walls while the teacher held up letters. Sure, I had some really good intervals along the way to high school graduation, especially from 8th grade algebra onwards although I did have to endure once more the general chaos for a required civics class as a HS senior, but then college was exactly what it was cracked up to be. Fantastic. Well, forward to teaching chemistry at branch campuses at military bases, I had many students who said things like "This was the first real college class I have had." "This is the first time someone taught me at a college level." Branch campuses and community colleges haven't always been exactly paragons of academic excellence, and back then as someone with an actual MS degree in my subject, I was a bit rare to have walk in the door looking for a teaching gig. But still...wouldn't it be terrible to finally make it through to college after all those years of public education and find out you were still being cheated, of what you're not exactly sure, but you know that there must be more to it than what you are getting.