We Need to Increase Standards

"We need to raise our standards."

"We need to increase our expectations."

If I hear those claims one more time, my brain might explode.

It is all the rage right now to say that in order to improve our schools, we need to raise our expectations, increase our standards, etc., etc. But I have yet to hear anyone -- any. one. -- explain in precise terms how they propose to do it. It is all rhetoric. Filler. Fluff. Smoke. Political jargon. It sounds great, doesn't it? "Our kids will do better if we just expect more out of them. We are failing our kids ..." oh my gosh, it goes on and on.

Here's the thing: NO ONE can (will?) define what they mean by increasing standards. Forget how to measure whether we are achieving it -- no one can define what, exactly, they want to begin with! I seriously don't know if anyone has even thought that far. I listen to education stuff all the time, and it hurts my head after a while, to think that all these -- often brilliant -- people with something to say have never thought past this simple concept. You can't solve a problem if you don't first clearly define the problem. How can we measure if we are achieving a goal if we don't have a precise description of what that goal really means?

Do we want to increase our test scores? What do we mean when we say that?

Do we want to increase the number of students who pass?

Do we want to raise the passing score?

Do we want more kids to pass at a higher level?

Do we want to increase the actual rigor of the questions on the tests we are using?

What? WHAT DOES INCREASING EXPECTATIONS MEAN?!?!

(I realize there are some who would say that it is all of the above, and that is fine, but I don't hear people saying this.)

Higher standards, schmier standards, until you define first what the standards currently are, and then, how you want to change them. Anyone with half a brain knows that you need a clearly defined problem before you can start contemplating approaches to solving it. We don't have that yet. And yet the politicians and the educrats are throwing out the battle cry and people are waving flags and cheering them on without any understanding of -- well, really, of anything.

The emperor has no clothes, folks. Won't someone (else, besides me) please say it?!