Mireille Falardeau et Michel Loranger Le choix de stratégies ... - CSSE

DISCUSSION NOTES / DÉBAT 447
Holmes claims there is convincing evidence of loss of faith in the idea of
common public schooling. We fail to find such evidence. Schools have always
been open to criticism, rarely to unfettered praise. A publication of the U.S.
National Education Association in 1957 listed many of the same concerns that
Holmes raises about schooling. Recent Canadian public opinion polls continue
to show strong public support for public education (Livingstone, Hart, & Davie,
1993; Williams & Millinoff, 1990). Parents, who might be expected to know
most about the realities of schooling, hold more positive views than do nonparents,
suggesting that first-hand experience makes people more satisfied with
schools. We are not arguing that all is well with public attitudes to schools. Polls
by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (Livingstone, Hart, & Davie,
1987, 1989, 1993) show that many people, though not a majority, think the quality
of schooling has declined in the past decade. This is a serious concern, but
it is nowhere near a crisis of public confidence.
Nor do Holmes’ other indicators stand up. Canadian data do not show a large
increase in attendance in private schools. Private school enrolments have grown
from about 4% in 1968 to about 5% today, even though several provincial
governments have extended increasing financial support to such schools in recent
years, making them affordable to more people. This hardly constitutes a largescale
shift in enrolment.
Holmes believes that most of “the public” wants more testing and more
emphasis on preparation for work or post-secondary education. Again, we do not
find evidence to support this view. Studies in both the United States and the
Great Britain find that parents want schools to do many things for their children,
but place particularly high emphasis on schools that have a warm and caring
atmosphere, that treat students well, and that emphasize the broad development
of knowledge and skills (Dore, 1993; Goodlad, 1984; Williams & Millinoff,
1990). We think Holmes exaggerates considerably the problems in the current
situation of public schooling.
Our second major concern is that Holmes seems to believe that all problems
of schooling can be traced to what he refers to as the dominance of a progressive
educational ideology. We see three problems with this view. First, this argument
overstates the impact of schooling and school practices on educational outcomes,
and stresses far too little the broader social context. Second, evidence indicates
that although progressive ideology is espoused, it has never characterized actual
practice in classrooms. Third, the available empirical evidence supports the
impact on achievement of many aspects of progressivism. We consider each of
these points more fully.
Holmes seems to believe that growing crime, violence, and teenage pregnancy
are linked to changes in schooling, or at least that they could be altered by
changes in schooling (p. 433). We believe there is overwhelming evidence to
show that social change is only marginally affected by changes in schooling.
There is 25 years of evidence that students’ socio-economic status continues to