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‘Obstacles’ Category

  1. Parents Need Outlets for their outrage

    September 5, 2016 by Tunya

    FACILITATING THE PARENT VOICE IN EDUCATION DECISION-MAKING May 17, 2012

    Ever since the teacher unions gained legal voice through collective bargaining parents have been shunted to the side. The PTA was no longer useful. Education decisions increasingly were made by and between bureaucrats and the unions.

    Parents as a class never had much voice and as individuals it was the most ardent and persistent individual families who got anywhere with the public schools.

    Compulsory schooling and monopoly public schools effectively usurped parents from the role Nature endows them with — the duty and instincts to safely bring up their children.

    It is in times of crisis that parents feel most alarmed and anxious that their children’s’ well-being is being threatened. This current teacher strike — nearly nine months already — illustrates just how robbed of voice parents have become.

    So, in this age of communication, parents, as the ultimate educators of their children, find themselves gagged.

    Thus we can see how this website, Where Is My Kids Report Card? has proved so profoundly effective.

    1. Without the complaints about missing, blank, scanty Report Cards here on this site it is unlikely we would have seen the LRB and BCPSEA and the Ministry in concert to restore some legal sanity to this matter.

    2. Without this site frequently using the word “pawns” it is unlikely that so many people would now be using that term as a regular term for those hostage kids caught in the middle. See: “Most vulnerable are hurt the most by BCTF strike”, May 09, by a retired superintendent: http://blogs.theprovince.com/…/geoff-johnson-most…/

    This quote is precious:

    “Using those kids as pawns in a political dispute is so wrong it defies description.”

    3. This site and others (Janet’s Report Card, Parents Saying NO, etc.) are providing a most welcome voice to muzzled and browbeaten parents, suffering far too long at the command of “the establishment”. Productive and positive results have already been seen. Long may these sites thrive !

    [comment on Facebook site Where is my Kid’s Report Card?]

    Category Absurdities, Obstacles, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  2. GROUPTHINK Is The Agenda

    September 4, 2016 by Tunya

    GROUPTHINK Is The Agenda

    From the 30s at least there was an interest in “the new man”. George Counts wrote: “Dare The School Build A New Social Order?” Carleton Washburne, a school superintendent, travelled the world, then wrote: “Remaking Mankind” reporting how different nations viewed education and the state.

    In 1952 Raymond A Bauer produced: “The New Man In Soviet Psychology”.

    The point is that educators are and were deeply involved in — not only educating, but also “transforming” society and man and the group — mostly in the direction of being useful and obedient to the state. Often posed as “the common good”. What we have today is considerable effort to play down “the individual” and favor the group.

    Groupthink is both the method and the desired outcome. Parents of university students report that convocation speeches often project these messages. One parent heard the president actually say: “We all know that groups think better than individuals alone.”

    Of course, our topic here is Math and how group work and discovery methods are interfering with the learning of the basics. Experiential learning, collaboration and the rest of the 21st Century competencies (note the word competencies, not skills) are the talking points of new curriculums. It’s the collective, not the individual, which is to be developed.

    A 1999 book by Lieberman and Miller: “Teachers Transforming Their World and Their Work” emphasizes community-building to even include parents. Now, that’s a change!

    And don’t let’s forget, we’re not in the olden days anymore. We now have technology, pre-loaded IPads and gaming to bring forth “the new man” ! Are plummeting academic scores the only time we ask fundamental questions about what our public schools are doing?

    [I’m writing from Canada. Same problem.]

    [This comment was published last night at http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinion/20160902/does-common-core-add-up-for-californias-math-students-guest-commentary ]

    [Also a comment to Globe and Mail about Math decline in Ontario, Anna Stokke article http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/ontarios-math-system-is-broke-so-why-isnt-the-government-fixing-it/article31664784/ ]

    Category Education Reform, Obstacles, Opinions in media, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  3. Ed Wars — crimes against Humanity

    August 23, 2016 by Tunya

    The Education Wars Are Also Crimes Against Humanity

    Geoffrey York is to be praised for reporting on the International Criminal Court’s latest case dealing with crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. This case dealt with willful cultural destruction. The individual who pleaded guilty said he was “really remorseful”, and apologized for falling under the influence of “deviant” and “evil” people when he instigated destruction of religious monuments in Timbuktu.
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/islamic-extremist-pleads-guilty-to-historic-timbuktu-rampage/article31484866/

    I want to make the case that the current Education Wars — Reading War, Math War and Science War — be referred to the ICC as soon as possible, not only for damage already done but yet to be committed under the category of crimes against humanity.

    1 The guilty Timbuktu person admitted he was under the influence of “deviant” and “evil” people. In education we have so many fads proliferating. The absolute worst of all being the current 21st Century transformation shift from skills and knowledge to “discovery learning” where students are to “construct” their own knowledge. None of this constructivism is evidence-based, is actually anti-enlightenment and spreads via malicious Groupthink. These are some of the features of Groupthink: a type of hysterical excitement takes over; the opportunity is there without opposition; there is a belief that this is the correct thing to do; and the individual is not held responsible because it’s a group thing.

    2 In the Reading War and Math War there is a deliberate withholding by many teachers of the standard long-held methods of mastering the basics before going into creative, exploratory exercises. Instead, today, students are urged to read by “guessing” words from the pictures attached and urged to do math by “discovering” things instead of memorizing the times tables, for example.

    3 In the Science War this “child-centered teaching” downgrades textbooks and is “not to teach content but to help students become mini-scientists”. (Nova Scotia curriculum) There must be “group work” which is just as likely to discover ignorance as it is any “truths” that might happen.

    4 Students complain that teachers don’t teach. The teacher mantra is “Learning is caught, not taught!” A Society for Quality Education (SQE) report on science teaching concludes “One might hope that science teachers, in particular, might . . . be willing to question the continual ebb and flow of fads and quackery in education.” — Teaching Science in the 21st Century http://www.sqecanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/SQE_Science_Report.pdf

    5 Now here is the kicker. There is a massive effort to be launched called the EGRA project. Look it up — Early Grade Reading Assessment to bring English literacy to illiterate areas of the developing world. In the Toolkit is this ominous one sentence: “The reading ‘wars’ are alive and well in many low-income countries, often miring ministries of education and teaching centers in seemingly endless debates between the ‘whole-language’ and ‘phonics-based’ approaches.” (p4) Now this goes beyond unethical. Is it not a crime against humanity to let loose a project, which is open to appropriation by a method or methods discredited, lead to spiteful contests, and that will predictably cause harm instead of good?

    Would Geoffrey York or someone with standing please refer this matter to the ICC?

    [comment in G&M story, ECC, EDUCAN, FB]

     

    Category Malpractice, Obstacles, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Jeanne Chall, reading expert, treated “shabbily”

    August 8, 2016 by Tunya

    “ . . . reviewing the research on phonics, Chall told me that if I wrote the truth, I would lose old friends and make new enemies. She warned me that I would never again be fully accepted by my academic colleagues . . . Sadly, however, as the evidence in favor of systematic, explicit phonics instruction for beginners increased, so too did the vehemence and nastiness of the backlash. The goal became one of discrediting not just the research, but the integrity and character of those who had conducted it. Chall was treated most shabbily . . . “

    Persist & Find The Paperback Edition, 2002

    When acquiring the Jeanne Chall book — The Academic Achievement Challenge — it's worth getting the edition that contains the foreword by Marilyn Jager Adams: "In a new foreword to the paperback edition, Marilyn Jager Adams reflects on Chall's deep-rooted commitment to and enduring legacy in educating America's children. "

    If you are either a teacher or otherwise very interested/concerned about the field of education you will grasp what a contested field it is. Most of the public and practitioners simply do not know that this field is plagued by rivalries, which seriously intrude and harm both the teacher side and the student side.

    There are a number of angles to be aware of: a) political — left or right philosophies, certain their view is correct about what’s best; b) economic — there's big bucks in the competitive publishing business; c) belief systems that verge on group-think and mass hysteria when fads proliferate and defy reason. You may know of other categories of disputes in the field.

    For example, Rick Hess, of the American Enterprise Institute, sees progressives as dominating the ed reform discussions & efforts — 90 to 10 percent. Conservatives have little "refuge", he says.

    But, there is a third force (besides the progressive and traditional) which is completely marginalized in these contests — the purely practical side — teaching and learning via what works and is evidence-based. What the 21st Century needs is education free of partisanship, free of greedy self-seeking profiteering, free of hysterical faddism and free of downright laziness in avoiding the discipline of proper pedagogy. But, Chall promoted what worked and was treated "shabbily". (See quote in my previous comment.)

    Parents, who are legally, and in reality, those ultimately responsible for their children’s well-being and education are frustrated that the trade, industry, field, whatever (hard to call it a “profession”) is so prone to dissension and lack of self-control and self-regulation. Even more frustrating is the field’s tendency to sideline critics and parents as if “the system” has achieved some mantle of “social license” to keep blundering along.

    If you want to do right in this trade, it's advisable to know the landmines! This foreword by Adams is the most succinct statement I have yet to find in the literature that warns about the insider problems fueling the Reading Wars, Math Wars, and Science Wars — real obstacles to practical education today.

    People who respect the art and science of teaching and seek the best choices for children eagerly await the emergence of some practical standards to guide the future of education. At present, there is a real crisis of confidence about the field of education, both within the field and amongst the public in general.

    [Apologies for this editorial. I just meant to pass on the information about the important foreword in the paperback edition, 2002, of Chall’s book, which contains a key insight into her contribution and travails. Got carried away because while the School Wars continue to do havoc, there are few writings that actually describe or even hint at these invisible hindrances to education.]

    [comment to https://gregashman.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/the-wisdom-of-jeanne-chall/comment-page-1/#comment-3681]

    Category Book Reviews, Obstacles, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Matthews Reflections – a “must” read

    July 25, 2016 by Tunya

    Absolutely MUST Reading
    Here is a teacher who LOVES civilization, the Enlightenment, children, teaching Science, the Scientific Method, the concept of continuity of life — Here he was at the frontlines of the art and science of teaching Science to the young — Here is what he saw for 25 years of his life as he edited a Journal devoted to these teachers who teach Science — Here he saw the tentative, then ever more assertive, incursions by Constructivists who had learned from the Reading and Math Wars how to flummox * the Science; how to embed; how to seed self-doubt; how to turn truth–seekers into relativists, etc., etc.

    √ #1 Please see the post on July 18 about Constructivism and the two comments today, one from a concerned teacher and my comment (a concerned grandmother) on our fears. Link to Michael Matthews FREE article.

    If you study the History of Education and how the theme of creating “The New Man” pervades so much of the literature — well you haven’t seen anything yet! There is so much that is being hatched right now, via school changes — employing the latest through cognitive and neural science; through data mining using school devices; through cultural norming; applying artificial intelligence; and through a host of sophisticated media techniques — that the sooner we clue in the better. Post-human is not just Science Fiction any longer!

    √ #2 Again, read #1 above and/or read Sections 10, 11, 12 of this FREE article by this professor who fervently wishes for the “demise of constructivism”, and in personal correspondence says: “everyone recognizes that constructivist-taught children can’t read, can’t add up, can’t understand or do science … but no one wants to take responsibility” (note: permission granted to use his comments)
    — https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276458457_Reflections_on_25_Years_of_Journal_Editorship
    _______________
    * Flummox — confuse, perplex, stun, stump, baffle, bewilder, flabbergast, confound, mystify, bamboozle, deceive . . . . . . . .

    http://www.societyforqualityeducation.org/index.php/blog/read/alberta-educators-have-had-their-hands-in-the-cookie-pot-but-want-to-hide-t

    Category Absurdities, Obstacles, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

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