Ep 158: The Knowledge Gap

Natalie Wexler, author of The Knowledge Gap, clues us in onto the
widening knowledge gap: what it is, why it’s happening, and how
we might begin to narrow it.


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Full show notes


For many of us, education is the #1 priority for our kids. A good
education can help lift kids out of poverty, can ensure a
financially stable and independent future, and can open up the
doors of opportunity and possibility, no matter what they dream
of doing! While hobbies, social life and athleticism are all
important parts of helping kids become well rounded, education is
key to giving them the ticket to a prosperous life.


But the sad truth is that our education system might not be doing
what we need it to do! In many ways, our current curriculum takes
the wrong approach, leaving kids without the knowledge they need
to succeed in adulthood. Today’s schooling is especially
ineffective for students who are not so affluent, with a rising
gap in test scores and academic performance between those on the
highest and lowest ends of the socioeconomic spectrum.


So how can we create an effective, equitable system that gives
our kids the chance they deserve? Our guest, Natalie Wexler, is
here to help us find out. She’s the author of The Knowledge Gap:
The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System--and how to
Fix it. In our interview, she’s bringing attention to the serious
issues facing today’s students, and how schools can start doing
better by those they teach.


Natalie and I are discussing how our schools are focused on
helping kids develop critical thinking skills instead of helping
them build up a base of knowledge. Although this might sound like
the right approach, it’s actually doing a disservice to kids all
across the country! We’re also getting into why our nation’s
wealth gap is so present in our education system, and discussing
how you as a parent can give your kids’ education a boost.


The Crisis of Our Curriculum


Although we may not see it (or want to confront it), there are
some issues that run deep through the American education system.
These problems tend to affect low income students the most, but
can be found in schools across the country, no matter the
school’s location or price tag. These problems that are
fundamentally built into our nation’s approach to teaching
students! They lie in our decision to forgo teaching kids hard
knowledge, self expression, and memorization, and instead teach
them basic, repetitive comprehension skills.


While it’s great for kids to have strong comprehension and think
critically, they need to have a foundation of knowledge, says
Natalie–knowledge they’re not really getting. For example,
students are taught to find the main idea of a passage, or are
asked to answer questions about the contents of the reading, but
rarely are they taught hard information about important topics,
like historical events. They often don’t read and discuss
literature, and they don’t memorize scientific terms! This is
especially true for less affluent students, but a part of it
rings true for schools across the country.


Natalie explains that when kids read about vikings, or pyramids,
or Marie Curie, and then asked to write about those topics, they
find themselves interested in learning new things. They feel
intrigued by this important social science or scientific topics
and feel engaged when asked to write on them-so why don’t we
approach teaching this way more often instead of handing out
bland passages with no memorable content? For many students, it’s
because they have been marked as “behind” due to unequal access
to education–and this is the ineffective way schools have
attempted to help.


Why Education Isn’t Equal


For kids growing up without a lot of resources, these issues
within the system are even more damaging. For kids whose parents
may have never finished high school, there are quite a few extra
obstacles in the way of a good education, says Natalie, and the
curriculum tends to be one of them. Often, this “skill” based
approach is meant to help kids with a lower quality
elementary/middle school education get up to speed, but the
problem is often that they just don’t have enough knowledge-based
education to begin with.


Plus, kids who are raised in better funded schools or with highly
educated parents are usually given more intellectually complex
texts to read. As Natalie says in the episode, knowledge is like
velcro, and as kids read more sophisticated work, they become
capable of understanding even more complicated readings–until
they are able to comprehend at a very high level. Meanwhile,
those who didn’t have the opportunity to read sophisticated
content find themselves unable to make the same level of growth,
widening the gap between rich and poor students.


Natalie explains that high school kids from low income areas
often can’t even identify the U.S. on a map and may struggle to
write a sentence–not because they aren’t capable of understanding
that information but because the early curriculum for these
students is far behind that of wealthier students. It’s our
current system that's letting them down, and it’s something that
needs to change as soon as possible, says Natalie.


If you’re worried that your kid isn’t getting the education you’d
hoped for, Natalie and I are talking about what you can do to
look out for your kids’ learning.


Prepping You Kid For Success


If you’re concerned that your teen might not be getting the most
out of school, don’t fear. Natalie and I discuss some steps you
can take to give your kid a fighting chance at a good education.
One of the most effective ways parents can help is by starting
at-home help early on No matter how old your kid is, helping them
build their knowledge and vocalize their own interpretations of
material can give them a major boost. This means not just reading
to or with them, but also having discussions together after!


Natalie recommends that teens do additional writing at home on
the subjects they're learning about in school. By retaining and
rephrasing the knowledge they’ve gaine and using their own voice
to dissect its meaning, they are gaining the ability to process
ideas critically and express themselves–a priceless skill for
making their way in the world. If you can, Natalie suggests
finding a tutor as well! Tutors can provide supplemental
assignments and guidance to kids, bringing a personal, one on one
approach that’s especially helpful to kids who have fallen
behind.


You might be wondering, how can I find out more about the
curriculum at my kid’s school? Unfortunately, as Natalie and I
discuss, this is harder than it should be. Most schools don’t
have a place where the state-mandated or even school-specific
curriculums are shared publicly. In fact, at some schools, there
is no curriculum at all, and teachers are expected to come up
with their own. Natalie and I talk more on this in the episode,
and how urgent it is that change emerges and more transparency is
brought to our schooling system!


In the Episode…


There’s a lot we still have to learn about education...but
Natalie is here to help. On top of the topics discussed above, we
also cover:


Why we should start teaching history to younger kids

What happens when you “personalize...