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April, 2016

  1. Is it defensiveness that calls for censorship?

    April 2, 2016 by Tunya

    Unfortunate That The Distasteful Topic Of “Censorship” Emerges

    “Well, I’m surprised this idea of “child abuse” still gets by moderation. “ Stephen Hurley, Society for Quality Education, April 02, 2016

    Surely the author of this quote does not propose that my comment to this blog should have been denied?

    I had mentioned that “Stories abound concerning crying, frustrated students” who are confused about some current educational experimental practices. I said: “This abuse of children is so painful to watch.”

    In another comment on this blog I had shown how my 45 years in the parent involvement cause still drives my efforts. I reflected how many years back this was an important topic with many groups and agencies concerned but that regrettably this was no longer the case. Parents are more diminished than ever. I will copy some of the material I wrote in 1979 on the topic:

    EDUCATION ABUSE OF CHILREN

    Raised awareness helps us see that children’s interests must be protected wherever they are. The schools have their share of practices which hurt children and parents can be on the alert for these and intervene when needed:

    1 EXPERIMENTATION — . . . Anything new which has not been in your school before should have safeguards built in so that children are not used, either for half-baked amateurish effort or major shifts in educational practice without the public knowing . . . Two key documents on human experimentation apply to schools as they do elsewhere: Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki . . . (I Don’t Want My Kid to be a Guinea Pig, Lipsitz, 1977)

    2 INCOMPETENT TEACHERS — “there are thousands of mentally ill, severely disturbed, and incompetent teachers in our schools who should not be teaching children”. . . ( Positive Mental Health for Teachers, Mackiel, 1979)

    3 HOMEWORK ABUSE — . . . There is abundant literature for teachers to know what are good and bad homework practices.

    4 “MILKING” THE EDUCATION DOLLAR — . . . without proper monitoring more and more of the educational dollar will be diverted . . .

    5 FAILURE TO TEACH FOR COMPETENCE — It is known that most children can be taught the basics of most school subjects . . . Educationally handicapping practices which fail to remediate and educate all children in the basics should not be tolerated.

    6 EXCLUDING PARENTS FROM EDUCATIONAL PLANNING — . . . Failure to work in partnership with the home handicaps the child’s educational potential.

    [The above is a very abbreviated shape of the original Tipsheet on Educational Abuse of Children in “Education Advisory”.]

    [[ posted on SQE 20160402 ]]


  2. Public Education — one long experiment !

    April 2, 2016 by Tunya

    Why Is Schooling So Experimental — Still?


    No other field — medicine, engineering, pharmacy, accounting, etc. — plays with its customers as much as the education field. This should not be allowed as there are no safeguards against the damage being done. What is joyful and exciting for educators is still a “cat-&-mouse” game for students — students still get whacked in the end. Stories abound concerning crying, frustrated students and desperate parents seeking alternatives.


    The other professional fields mentioned do not have hosts of frustrated subjects who are denied best practices.


    The public money gathered for the purpose of education of the young should not be so poorly managed that discredited methods are still allowed to proliferate. And experimentation without human-subject protocols in place should be stopped altogether.


    One big problem is that the governors of this abysmal situation still hold that one-size-fits all and that we are still looking for one-best-system. Well, that stubborn belief (religion) is over. A “relinquishment” movement is building. Time to let go folks. Choices via the public education dollar are long overdue and people who oppose what they judge are inappropriate practices in our near-monopoly schools should have access to their portion of the dollar allocated to education to find alternatives.

    This abuse of children is so painful to watch.

    [ http://www.societyforqualityeducation.org/index.php/blog/read/math-for-lifeposted on SQE 20160402 —  Math For Life ]