Running head: Forget the Fads - The Old Way Works Best

Forget the Fads - The Old Way Works Best

Evan Keliher
Summary
Justyna Bieliska-Spodobalska
filologia angielska I rok SUM
Evan 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.