NOTHING We Can Do To Fix Schools
Michael Zwaagstra’s Book — What’s Wrong With Our Schools: and How We Can Fix Them — is a total FLOP. It’s a 6-year-old book for Canadians. Nothing has happened in 6 years to improve education ! I might like a traditional Zwaagstra-type school but most schools today are of the progressive, Alfie Kohn type. There are at least a dozen such books in the US, all with the instructions of what to do to fix failing schools. NOTHING WORKS.
Until we have “A to Z schools” — or call them Alfie (for Kohn) and Zwaagstra (for Michael) schools — that is, a variety of choices, we will continue to rant and rail and things will get progressively (yes, “progressively”) worse.
See this article about university students: Pass, Fail by Srigley in April’16 Walrus: https://thewalrus.ca/author/ron-srigley/
“Remove your professor hat for a moment and students will speak frankly. They will tell you that they don’t read because they don’t have to. They can get an A without opening a book.” Srigley writes about the wasteland that many universities have become.
I like Arizona Senator McCain’s proposed legislation to give every American First Nations Student an Education Savings Account equivalent to 90% of the Bureau for Indian Education’s funding to buy a private school education. I believe in public funds for education, but not in the monopoly hands of public or bureau schools.
Only in this manner will we get the “A to Z” schools that will serve the education needs of students instead of the pet schemes of monopolists and faddists.
[to FB – SQE]