Running head: Forget the Fads - The Old Way Works Best 1
Forget the Fads - The Old Way Works BestEvan KeliherSummary
Justyna Bieliska-Spodobalska
filologia angielska I rok SUMEvan Keliher in his article Forget
the Fads - The Old Way Works Best points out that people should not
undergo the instantaneous fads in education because educators do
not learn from others' mistakes and school reforms stay
ineffective. The author considers school reforms to be a waste of
money as it happened in 1993 when Walter Annenberg's donation did
not bring any spectacular effects and educational changes could not
help children learn quicker, easier or more effectively. Keliher
mentions Theodore Sizer's utterance in which he admitted that there
had not been any single reform that had turned out to be
breakthrough and successful for the previous 15 years. The author
adds that in his 30-year-career he took part in many educational
programs but none of them made a significant difference in
students' performance. According to him, the worst idea was to
decentralize education system to eight smaller areas. He concludes
the educators implementing new policies do not learn from their
predecessors' mistakes. The author claims that the best are the old
methods of teaching and motivated students. There is no royal or
shorten way for learning. Keliher sums up that effective school
reforms do not exist because there are no visible results of these
reforms. The only thing which can be done is the return to a more
traditional teaching method.
