U.S.

Education System 1

The U.S. Education System is Stuck: Why the Over Reliance on Behaviorism is Inhibiting
Student Development and What Teachers Can Do to Fix It
Ashley B. Meyer
Glen Allen High School
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Introduction

Every child in America is given the right to a free public education. However, many teachers

face challenges in their classrooms when working with diverse classrooms, especially those who

are forced to work around tight budgets and a lack of resources. With the face of education

changing every day and the United States dropping back in the world rankings, research suggests

that there are specific learning strategies that teachers should employ in their classrooms. In

public elementary schools, strategies have been seen to positively contribute to growth in

students’ cognitive and behavioral development, as they help implement a cohesive classroom

model that addresses a wide variety of student needs. With a wide range of diversity within the

general population, the United States needs to have schools that provide multiple models of

teaching strategies in order to teach as many students as possible. The development and wide

availability of technology has led to an increase in students wanting instant gratification, leading

teachers to rely on behaviorism in order to encourage student participation and growth. An

overreliance on behaviorism has upset the balance between the implementation of teaching

strategies in the classroom, leading to a decrease in students’ intrinsic motivation. Moving away

from standards and theories based heavily on behaviorism will benefit students’ long term

cognitive and behavioral growth.

Learning Theories & Strategies

Psychologists and teachers alike have seen the effects different learning theories have in

classrooms. B.F. Skinner drafted two theories that are well known, operant conditioning and

positive reinforcement, which state that “when a stimulus-response pattern is rewarded, the

individual is conditioned to respond similarly in the future” (Hussung, 2016). The stimulus
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response is the behavior that the teacher is trying to condition, whereas the reward from the

teacher towards the student to reinforce the behavior would come in the form of “praise, good

grades, a [physical] reward, or even a feeling of accomplishment” (Hussung, 2016). By actively

working to increase desired behaviors from students and providing a means of feedback and

praise, teachers can aid in the behavioral development of their students.

Elements set forth by John Dewey’s progressive model of education align with twenty first

century skills. Morgan Williams covered Dewey’s ideas and stated:

Children will be seen learning-by doing in these classrooms and they will be
solving problems through hands-on approaches. When teachers plan for
instruction, student interests will be taken into consideration and curricular
subjects will be integrated with an emphasis on project learning. (93).

Catering to student interest will help keep them engaged, and implementing projects as method

of learning allows students to express their ideas creatively and develop critical thinking and

problem solving. By allowing students more freedom on assignments, students will gain a sense

of autonomy and it provides the teacher time to talk with students about what they are doing and

to connect to Skinner’s theory, offer feedback and praise on the work they are producing.

Including elements of choice derive from William Glasser’s choice theory. Researcher Tricia

Hussung notes that:

Glasser suggests that almost all behavior is chosen, and we are driven by genetics
to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun.
In choice theory, the most important need is love and belonging because
connectedness with others is required as a basis in satisfying all other needs.
(Understanding Three Key Classroom Management Theories).
To address this idea, teachers need to provide avenues where students are able to interact with

their peers, but also have the opportunity to make independent decisions regarding activities or
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projects they would like to complete. Examples of this would be allowing them the choice to

decide what type of project they would like to do for a book report, or allowing them to choose

to read a book of their choice, rather than assigning every student the same one.

The Drawbacks of Behaviorism

Behaviorism is the idea behind encouraging certain behaviors, but operant conditioning

through the use of positive and negative reinforcement begins to pose an issue in classrooms

when it is overused. Teachers often resort to the idea of a token economy, where they provide

rewards to students in the form of prizes or extended recess in order to promote good behaviors

and work ethic. While the desired behaviors are received, it is creating an avenue for students to

rely more on extrinsic motivators. Tokens in the form of “good grades, awards, etc.” are what

should be the most important focus in the classroom because they “prevent the student from

becoming disengaged” and cater more towards individual success (Hussung, 2016). They are

often rewarded after a student works hard by relying on intrinsic motivation. However, teachers

still don’t want that to be the driving focus because it will contribute to the detriment of other

students’ self-esteem and could limit the motivation of the student if they begin to lose interest

due to their own performance in comparison to their peers. Resorting to forms of punishment

may be more beneficial for teachers to implement in order to get rid of bad behaviors.

Exceedingly relying on rewarding positive behaviors will take away potential from the student.

The potential and stamina to work through tough problems every student has relies most heavily

on their intrinsic motivation. However, when practicing behaviorist methods in the classroom,

students are often being driven by external motivators. According to Alfie Kohn, students need

to have the opportunity to take action in their own learning, which will help promote their
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internal curiosity and will make them more active learners (Hussung, 2016). By overusing

methods of external motivation, teachers are negatively affecting students’ internal motivation.

Teachers need to promote to their students’ individual learning so that they remain engaged over

a long period of time. When given more control and choice, students are better able to discover

the learning methods that work the best for them. By relying on extrinsic motivation, teachers are

making it more likely for students to seek rewards in larger numbers the longer they are exposed

to these types of rewards. The fact that it will eventually take more rewards to get the same

amount of work completed is prohibiting students from growth. The other downside to

behaviorism and its sub section of conditioning is that once a teacher begins providing rewards,

they will have to continue doing so in order to produce the same results, or else the behavior will

risk being extinguished. Albeit they will be able to provide the reward more intermittently, some

type of reward will have to be given to keep the students engaged.

Classroom Setups

Progressive education is reflected in the Montessori model, which is essentially built off of

project based learning. Montessori education serves as a branch of progressive education, as it

puts the teacher in more of an observational role (Williams). Teachers should allow students to

work on their own or in groups on assignments that aren’t testing for an individual’s level of

knowledge (Williams). By allowing students more freedom on assignments, students will gain a

sense of autonomy and it provides the teacher time to talk with students about what they are

doing and to connect to Skinner’s theory of positive reinforcement, offer feedback and praise on

the work they are producing. However, the main drawback is that this is really only effective for

younger learners. Despite that fact, it establishes a base and by working individually and in
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groups, students are able to be in control of their own development and encounter adversity early

on. They also have more freedom in choosing what they use and how they want to learn. In a

study Jane Manner, ​one study that was conducted over a three year period studied elementary school

students’ reading and math scores. Reading showed a significant increase for the Montessori

children, while math was too close to tell (Manner). On the Stanford Achievement test scores, both

means from the Montessori groups continued to rise above those of traditional students (Manner).

From these findings, it can be gathered that Montessori style education benefits early language

processing the most. That fact is helpful because it provides evidence that in early education,

Montessori methods are helpful in aiding students’ ability to read and progress more rapidly. ​While

Montessori education as a whole is likely to not be implemented on a national scale, having the

option for this program and implementing pieces of its theory into classrooms is feasible.

Classrooms should all be setup in order to allow students to develop and form a sense of

community. Humanistic factor, fostering student-teacher relationships (Harman, Bruce,

Kordinak), Social, interaction between students, group work, etc. Everyone wants to feel as if

they belong and are working as a part of something greater, which in education stems from

feeling comfortable and supported in one’s learning environment. By catering to a sense of

community, students will be more engaged and will have their innate social needs and feeling of

belonging fulfilled (Hussung). Some of John Dewey’s ideas of progressive education and

Glasser’s theory work hand in hand under an approach that appeared in research conducted by

Morgan Williams that said:

One teaching approach that stresses the importance of building a community of

learners and shows evidence of Dewey’s theories in the 21st century is the
Responsive Classroom curriculum. It is a research-based approach to teaching
grades K-8, that focuses on the strong link between academic achievement and
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social-emotional learning...[the four] aims include, creating a warm climate and

tone in the classroom in which students feel safe; teaching the schedule and
routines of the school day including behavior expectations within each of them;
showing students their physical learning space and the materials that they will be
using, and teaching them how to care for them; and establishing learning
expectations for the school year. (94-95).

Teachers actively working to engage their students and develop their interpersonal skills will

allow them to develop the social skills and behaviors necessary to succeed in 21st century

society. Another route is the methods teachers employ in their classrooms, especially when

trying to keep underperforming students engaged and on track. In research on the MSI strategy,

Pfannestiel et al. which serves as a way to help struggling math students:

The MSI is a cognitive strategy for primary-level students that can be utilized
across the types of word problems typically found in mathematics textbooks. The
strategy includes both verbal and visual (e.g., manipulatives) strategies that have
been found effective in helping students with serious mathematics difficulties
solve word problems (Swanson et al., 2014). The MSI strategy addresses six
components of word problem solving: (a) State the question being asked and the
important units in the question, (b) identify important numbers, (c) explain what
the question is trying to answer, (d) select the operation needed to solve, (e)
create the picture or computational strategy used to solve, and (f) discern
distractible or unimportant information (Swanson & Beebe-Frankenberger,
2004). (293, 2014).

Implementing and teaching strategies to students such as the aforementioned one, allows

students to begin gaining a sense of independence and provides them with the knowledge that

they can learn the same material as everyone else.

Outside the U.S.

In other countries, economic and social factors also have a significant impact on the education

system. In Japan, the population is mostly homogenous, so it is much easier to create a general
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school model that allows their students to perform highly. Japan’s schools are highly structured,

if student has difficulty, such as a learning disability or simply runs into issues in figuring out a

question, an assistant in the classroom goes immediately to help (Brown, 2018). The teacher will

walk around and monitor students working (Brown, 2018). If a student’s issue is too

problematic, they are taken out of class to another room and are given more time with person to

person instruction (Brown, 2018). Addressing the individual needs of students will help prevent

students from feeling disenfranchised and less worthy than their peers. Also, with the removal of

students who are getting behind or need more review, the rest of the class can continue to move

ahead and keep on pace. This contrasts with the American education system in that often times

teachers are by themselves in overcrowded classrooms. To mirror the efforts of Japan, the United

States would need to address the teaching and funding shortage that is preventing them from

providing a higher percentage of teachers in classrooms.

In India, students in cities have greater access to education, and those who excel intellectually

are given great opportunities for primary and further education (Brown, 2018). However, for the

students who reside in slums and in the countryside, it is fairly difficult for them to get access to

any sort of education, leaving the country with two extremes (Brown, 2018). Dubai has made

significant progress with the way traditions are changing for women, allowing them to have

access to education, but their are many others that discourage or prohibit women from attending

school (Brown, 2018). Other countries are getting things done in regards to education and are

experiencing setbacks as well, but much of a country’s overall success depends on the population

and the customs and expectations set by the country itself. While the cases in other countries are

more extreme, race, gender, and socioeconomic status all influence a wide array of students in
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the United States. It is up to the government to devise a plan to get all students access to

education and allow them a chance to find success. Other countries, such as Finland, have begun

going down the route of attempting to lessen the outside demands from students, such as

homework, in order to give them time to focus on activities they want to invest time in (Brown,

2018).

U.S. Education System

The United States has an extremely unique education system in that it caters to students from

a slew of cultural and economic backgrounds. However, under the current Trump

Administration, the government stance on the proper public school model is moving in the

direction of segregation. According to an analysis done by Guirguis and Pankowki in 2014,

President Trump’s model of privatizing education may not cater to the developmental needs of

all students. They stated in their research:

The skill of a teacher’s perception in recognizing and accommodating various

learning styles for a diverse group of students may not be routinely exercise[d] in
charter and private school settings as they will most likely be composed of an
academically homogeneous type of student body. (107).

Despite having homogenous student bodies, students learn the best through a mixture of

methods. Potentially separating students based on class, gender, and race into specific charter or

voucher schools still does not account for the learning styles students individually benefit from

the most. Additionally, while private schools and homogenous student bodies may help certain

populations of students succeed academically, it will prohibit their progress socially. American

classrooms need to remain as integrated as possible in order to support diversity and teach

students ways to succeed and interact in real world scenarios. Additionally, research completed
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by Saxena and Sell regarding where the United States stacked up against other countries on the

2011 TIMSS and 2012 PISA revealed that the instructional hours United States students are

spending in school may not be the problem due to a lack of correlation, despite lawmakers’

beliefs (8-9, 2016). This signifies that how instructional time is being spent needs to be

reevaluated. Teachers’ strategies in lower performing school districts should be assessed and

reviewed to ensure they are implementing learning strategies in their classrooms. If learning

strategies are being used, they will need to be evaluated to see what is causing the students to

show limited growth in their cognitive and behavioral capacities. Rather than relying heavily on

behaviorist theories, educators need to begin moving towards constructivism, which ​focuses on

how students generate knowledge out of their experiences. It overlaps with an idea John Dewey

put forth: that curriculums should rely on students’ previous knowledge and interests, while also

relating to the types of activities and problems they would come across later in life (Seifert &

Sutton, 2009). However, the main psychologist behind this theory is Jean Piaget, who focused on

the idea of cognitive equilibrium, meaning that teachers needed to balance their lessons between

material that supported the prior knowledge of their students, and new information (Seifert &

Sutton, 2009). Piaget coined two key terms to support his theory: assimilation and

accommodation. Assimilation was the idea that people interpret new information while using

their pre-existing knowledge, while accommodation comes into effect when students are

modifying their prior knowledge in order to make way for new information they are learning

(Seifert & Sutton, 2009). Another social constructivist was Jerome Bruner, who held the

viewpoint that students could learn more with support and guidance- something he called

instructional scaffolding (Seifert & Sutton, 2009). This theory would support Japan’s efforts in
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having two teachers in the classroom as compared to one, by having a lower student-teacher

ratio. Lev Vygotsky capitalized off of Bruner’s theory when he created the concept of the zone

of proximal development, insisting that people who were helped by someone with an intellectual

capacity higher than them would be able to help students move outside of their zone and into the

next (Seifert & Sutton, 2009). The basis behind constructivism supports the argument that in

order to create the best learning environment that caters to cognitive and behavioral

development, teachers must provide students with a classroom they can engage in independently

but also encourage social interaction to promote the development of language and the desire to

gain more knowledge.

Conclusion

Teachers are the driving force behind their students’ cognitive and behavioral development in

the classroom. In order to increase their students’ awareness and keep them engaged, they must

be willing to take steps to grant them autonomy and make an effort to get to know their students

as people rather than numbers. By gaining a sense of their students’ personalities and forming

professional relationships with their students, teachers will be able to mold their classroom

model each year by relying on the basic learning theories and find ways that best cater to the

needs of a diverse classroom. A balance of theories and transition from behaviorism towards

constructivism will aid in the universal development of American students and provide them

with the skills necessary to succeed in the twenty first century. With the changing world and the

prevalence of technology, behaviorist theories are not aiding in the long term development of

students, making it absolutely necessary for educational reform. In order to further expand on
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this idea, more research should be completed on where the United States compares to other

countries regarding their classroom teaching strategies.

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