All hail the radiant and glorious sacred cow. She will leads us to the shining classroom on the hill where all students will reach great academic heights, demonstrate mastery on standardized tests, and eventually head off to Ivy League universities. If this sounds far too good to be true, congratulations, you have taken the first step in identifying sacred cows.The term "sacred cow" refers to institutions, ideas, customs, etc., that are seen as being above reproach. Education, like most industries, has dozens of sacred cows. In some cases the basic premise of the sacred cows have value, but they can be detrimental when we view them as hard truths that leave no room for challenge or debate.
Dealing with sacred cows is simply a matter of looking at an idea or practice in education and asking a few simple questions: How is this beneficial to students? What does research say? Is there any room for nuance? Is there another viable option? I will look at each of these questions in terms of one common sacred cow - the amount of time and effort put into homework and studying directly correlates to learning
Sacred cows in education often provide minimal to moderate benefit to the students when they are looked at as immutable, therefore, when you are looking at an idea or practice that many educational professionals staunchly support, despite any evidence to the contrary, ask yourself: How is this beneficial to the students? Using the homework example, some of the answers include: it serves as reinforcement for classroom activities, it allows the students to apply their knowledge in different settings, and/or it gives students the opportunity to develop time management and organization skills. While there is some essential truth in these responses, the use if homework has to be tempered by other factors. There is ample evidence that highlights the downside of too much homework, especially work that could be classified as "busy work". The aforementioned evidence leads us to the second question - what does the research say?
If you are going to infuse a practice or activity into your classes, make sure you take sometime to look at what the latest research has to say about that practice. Rather than skimming through mountains of peer reviewed research, start by talking to your department head/supervisor, or your district's curriculum coordinator. These are the people who should be looking at the most up to date research as a part of their job, making them your best first step. Continuing with our homework example, the current research brings into question the validity of the traditional thinking that the amount of home assigned and student's completion of that homework is paramount to academic success.
Perusing the research I found two major points that continued to jump out at me: (1) avoid busy work - beneficial assignments tie in to, reinforce, or expand on class activities (2) balance - the common recommendation for high school students is 30 minutes a night of homework per academic subject; this is not carved in stone - you do not need to go out of your way to assign that much every night. This research does not completely negate the traditional belief toward homework, but it does temper the concept and allows for some nuance - question #3.
Is there room for nuance? People who are indoctrinated by a sacred cow tend to see the topic as a dichotomy - an either/or situation - with their view being correct and all other views being wrong. Once you take the proverbial step back and look objectively at a sacred cow, you will realize that there may be some truth to the sacred cow, but how you approach each situation involving this topic depends on the context. With the question of the value of homework and how much to assign, it becomes clear that there are no hard and fast answers, and there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration: the skill(s) being covered, the level of the class, the purpose of the assignment, and the assessment of the concept(s) covered by the assignment. Identifying room for nuance leads to the last question - Is there another viable option?
It is in the nuance that you find out if there are other viable options that will work better than the sacred cow. For example, instead of assigning a concept as a homework assignment, you can redesign the homework as an engaging, in-class assignment that will reach a larger number of students. This is really the purpose of questioning sacred cows - not tearing them down, but finding different ways of looking at the topic and using what you learn to be a better educator. Remember, just because something has always been done one way, does not mean there are not other options. A crucial part of learning and educating is asking questions and looking at a problem/situation from different angles in order to make the best choices.
This is the last post in this series; I hope this helps you keep your sanity, especially in those first few hectic years of teaching.
Next up, "Dealing with Administration (Especially When You Think You Are Right)".
