Last Tuesday, Nov. 15, was National Teach-In Day and, as I have for the past several years, I spent the day talking with 7^th graders at a nearby middle school. I picked author trivia as a theme for our discussion. I selected about nine celebrated authors for us to talk about, writers like Dickens, Austen, and Poe, and a few Florida writers like Zora Neale Hurston (pictured here) and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. As always, I enjoyed the time I spent with these young people. They were, for the most part, polite and eager to learn. But I left the school this time realizing that something is happening in our schools and it’s not good.

When I pointed to the picture of Hurston, who grew up about 10 miles from where they were sitting, they said they thought it was Queen Latifah. When I pointed to a picture of Maya Angelou, they thought it was Oprah’s mother. When I asked them who were some of their favorite authors, of the hundred or so students I talked with that day, only one name surfaced: Dr. Seuss. One boy, sitting on the first row, said with a big smile: “You know, I really don’t like to read.” It was obvious he’s not alone.

The English teacher I was paired with for the day has been in the classroom for 29 years. He is devoted to his calling and genuinely cares about the young men and women he’s been tasked with educating. But make no mistake, his objective is clear: to prepare students for Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). If it’s not on the test, there’s no point in covering it. Fundamentals like spelling, for example, are not taught. Teachers are compensated and schools are funded on how well their students score on the test. As for the students, if it’s not on television, why bother to learn it?

I certainly don’t mean to pick on Florida. This is a national phenomenon. And I don’t disagree with the intention of creating some accountability in our schools. But learning involves much more than how well we score on a test. It also is determined by what value we place on formal learning (teachers in Florida, for example, have not received a pay raise in five years and I can’t recall seeing any politicians in our schools lately, extolling the virtues of those who work for low wages in order to prepare our children, the next generation, for leadership). And let us not forget the responsibility of parents to set the example by turning off the television sets and engaging in a little learning of their own.

This isn’t a conservative issue or a liberal problem. It’s a fundamental threat to the future of our nation. We can’t put America back to work if our citizens don’t possess the skills necessary to do the work. How do we go about correcting this problem and getting American education back on the right course? By first focusing attention on it. Secondly, committing resources to it. And thirdly, devising a proven system that adequately measures the teaching and learning process.

Perhaps Dr. Seuss said it best: “Sometimes, the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

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