U.S. schools subscribe to the wrong paradigm: one that holds that intelligence is innate, fixed at birth, and distributed unequally, charged Jeffrey Howard of the Efficacy Institute. As a result, schools don't place enough emphasis on helping all students increase their intelligence through "effective effort." Students succeed when they are determined, focus on a goal, and have strategies to get them there: all qualities that schools can help them develop, Howard said. But first, educators themselves must believe that all children "can, in fact, get smart." How smart? According to Howard, before graduation all students should complete a course in calculus, write a 25-page essay on a worthy topic, be fully or nearly fluent in a second language, and demonstrate high ethical standards.
Competitive negotiation—which sets up a win-lose situation for the parties in conflict—is "only one form of negotiation," said Ellen Raider of Teachers College, Columbia University. "And it happens to be a destructive form." More constructive is collaborative negotiation, in which the conflict is redefined as a common problem that the parties face together. Then solutions are brainstormed that might satisfy the underlying needs of the parties, if not necessarily meet their bargaining positions. "As early as 3rd grade, kids can be taught these skills," Raider said, noting that the best way to teach them is through simulations, role playing, and videotaping.
Use of the Carnegie unit has led schools to emphasize seat time, not learning, said Ernie Boyer, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching—the organization that created the Carnegie unit and for which it is named. "Students today get a diploma but fail to gain an integrated view of knowledge," Boyer alleged, saying that education is too often a "trivial pursuit" of isolated facts. Because emphasizing seat time abets this fragmentation of knowledge, "bury once and for all the old Carnegie unit," he said unequivocally.