Justin Spears
How Cool Is School?
Throughout the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across America have been in flux. Some returned back in August and have been operating mostly as normal, while others have yet to return. Those leading the charge to get children back in school have cited the mental health impact being out of school has had on children. This assertion should be challenged though. Is it being out of school that is harming children, or simply being locked up in their homes with no alternatives? School age children were not exactly thrilled with school leading up to the pandemic.
If you think I am simply being cynical, take a look at this interview set from The Atlantic in 2017, in which students were asked what they believed the role of schooling is in their lives. Several students stated the primary role of school should be to educate them on course topics and prepare them for a future career. It is easy to see that children have quickly identified how far short we have fallen in preparing them.
Another reminder of student attitudes toward school is to simply Google the phrase “school is…” and look at the finished results. Again, it doesn’t require much deciphering to understand perspectives on being in school. How can this be though? Why do children have such a low opinion of school and more importantly what are schools doing about it?
The Rise of Neuroscience in School
As a public-school teacher for over 10 years I saw changes in how schools attempted to deal with its negative image. The approaches have varied from attempting to change the climate in a district or building to implementing new classroom and behavior strategies. Schools have now shifted to placing the blame for failure on families. If students show up unprepared to learn it is due to their lack of a solid family life. This has given rise to the concept of implementing Educational Neuroscience.
What is Educational Neuroscience (EN)? Essentially, EN is an emerging field of scientific study that uses cognitive and developmental psychology, educational psychology and other forms of education study to attempt to understand how people learn and deal with trauma. The last school district I worked in used these strategies and tactics that they called “brain friendly.” We have attempted to teach students how to identify when they are losing control, how to calm down quickly, how to prepare their brain for learning and so on. This sounds noble, but when you examine it just a little deeper than the surface-level feel-good nature of it, you see a darker more alarming effect.
The Dangers of Neuroscience
First, by using the methods described above, what are we admitting about the role and purpose of school? There is no other angle here than to admit that the methods used to teach in school are so complex and convoluted that we must apply psychological studies to figure it out. Advocates will claim this is true due to the trauma and stress students bring to school through their home life, yet there is little evidence to support any positive effect of implementing these strategies.
Statistics and data have been packaged up to promote this viewpoint and while children certainly face difficulties in their home life, there is never any mention of the distress caused by school. In fact, Boston College Professor of Psychology Dr. Peter Gray has written a piece detailing how anxiety/suicidal tendencies rise during the school year. Dr. Gray highlights a study conducted over a period of a decade that showed suicide rates were 95% higher in males and 33% higher in females during the school year. The stark reality is that school is a major source of pain, anxiety and sadness for many children.
Herein lies the darkest side of applying EN practices in school; the ultimate purpose is to see that the school serves as a family for children. Teachers have been encouraged to take part in activities that highlight “family privilege.” This 
is a recognition that the nuclear family has failed, therefore calling on societal organizations to take the place of an absent core family. However, as we can plainly see, schools are one big dysfunctional organization. Additionally, we have been taught the power and ability to “rewire” the brain through creating new neural pathways. Translation: We have the power to control what children know and how they learn it.
This is absolutely not the role or purpose of school. There are many dangers associated with school personnel acting as psychologists. The least of these being that teachers are not qualified, nor should they be expected to take on the role of a therapist. More importantly schools, as government organizations, have no role in repurposing the role of the family. If a particular community is exhibiting family issues of incarceration, physical or mental abuse, divorce or drug/alcohol problems, then it is the role of community leaders and organizations to address the issue, not a math teacher.
A Stark Warning
When taken to its logical end, it is easy to see what power could be yielded over to the school as school leaders become more intimate with student issues and troubles outside of school. What could stop a school from one day
claiming a parent is unfit to raise a child? What could stop a school from requiring parents to take additional courses or pass various tests to parent a child? If this sounds Orwellian, consider the fact that in recent times, several schools have made nutritional decisions that have overruled parents.
Hopefully community members will awaken to helping one another and realize the length that schools are going to in attempting to replace the family unit, a dark and sad reality of the American school system.
