It’S Like Riding a Bike

Book excerpt: Since the enactment of No Child Left Behind and the more recent Every Child Succeeds Act, you would think student achievement would be on the rise. But SAT scores are dipping, college and career readiness are at all-time lows, and parents are wondering whats gone wrong. David M. Schmittou, Ed.D., a career educator, seeks to find out why by asking a simple question: Why do we have such a difficult time remembering what we learned in school and yet we never forget how to ride a bikesomething we learned when we were five or six? Riding a bicycle requires fine motor controls, concentration, dexterity, and balance, but children can master the skill even before they enter school. Students can learn academic subjects in the same fashion, but it will require us to take a radical new approach to educationone that requires learners to enter real-world settings instead of classrooms separated from reality. We can no longer afford to spend millions of dollars without seeing results. Its time to bolster education for all by mastering the ideas and principles in Its Like Riding a Bike.