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  1. education reform is a dud

    January 22, 2021 by Tunya

    Education reform is a dud! Those involved might readily agree. Professor Seymour Sarason, himself at the forefront of education reform efforts, predicted in 1965 that all attempts to reform schools would fail. Wikipedia notes: “His prediction has an accuracy of 100%!”

    Anyway, a Political Scientist in an online interview supports that view and said that only an “exogenous” — external — power could provide a jolt for needed reform.

    The pandemic is certainly an external disruption to business as usual. With its effects, it’s foreseeable that government budgets will really feel the financial crunch, with education funding being squeezed. This is where Fraser Institute Reports will be useful in assessing return on investment and if increasing education costs, especially with dropping enrolments, are justified.

    And let’s not forget that bulge of baby boomers just entering retirement — further impacting health budgets.

    Don’t be surprised when people start talking about bare bones education.

    Interesting, that in 2015, amidst BC Ed Plan’s trials, a sterling committee of representatives from stakeholder groups was charged with developing proposals on assessment. Their report stressed how proper assessment would help produce graduates who would be: 1) Literate; 2) Numerate; 3) Curious and critical thinkers; 4) Leading a healthy lifestyle; 5) Able to connect to society and community.

    Great! But here’s the rub. Sarason again, dubious about reform, warned against the “intractability” — inflexibility — of public school systems. The World Bank in a recent report, “What Will It Take?” echoed the frustration re intransigence of education systems — chiefly noting that reading is “ a key foundational skill and a gateway to learning”, needing priority attention.

    What’s to be done?

    (Published in Educhatter, 22 Jan ’21, Education spending: Who’a Minding the Store, Jan 20, 2021 — and on my Facebook)


  2. Time to talk about Vouchers

    December 9, 2020 by Tunya

    Today I had a letter to the editor published in the National Post.

    Revive school vouchers
    Re: Let’s have a reset to competition in schools, Matthew Lau, Dec. 2

    Yes, it’s time to revive the dreaded “V” word — vouchers. Dreaded by the education establishment, but not by consumers — the families and taxpayers.

    Here are some of the reasons school vouchers make sense:

    • Support from The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”

    • Students with special needs, talents or interests can find schools that fit.

    • Families are strengthened by committing to a school of their choice.

    • Students at risk of being left behind due to pandemic disruptions can find private tutoring to meet shortfalls.

    • Voucher systems are appreciably less costly than government monopoly systems.

    There are dozens more good reasons. Hopefully both public and politicians can embrace this sensible approach.

    Tunya Audain, West Vancouver

    The article by Matthew Lau is here:

    https://financialpost.com/opinion/matthew-lau-lets-have-a-reset-to-competition-in-schools


  3. massive ed disruption foretold?

    May 9, 2020 by Tunya

    Massive ed disruption foretold?

    How much of this education disruption has been foretold?

    Does it take a serious world health epidemic to turn schooling “upside down”. Decades of “reforms” have produced little rest from complaints about schools.

    In 1971 UNESCO produced a report — Wastage in education: a world problem. Issues were identified: drop-outs, illiteracy, poor training of teachers, testing, the basics, etc. Recommendations were made. Results are unknown. But, UNESCO never again undertook such investigation.

    In 1971 Ivan Illich published his book, Deschooling Society, stated: “The public is indoctrinated to believe that skills are valuable and reliable only if they are the result of formal schooling.” He proposed “learning webs” way before Internet.

    John Taylor Gatto wrote his book: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, 1991. He complain about , “compulsory government monopoly mass schooling”.

    With the corona virus entry on the world scene, New York Times, Feb 28, ’20 published this story: “Fear of Vast ‘Mass Home-Schooling’ Experiment, raising the fear that technology and stay–at-home- students would make schools expendable.

    With worries that home education from the home would be unfair for those families unable to harness technology, how long will it be before calls go out for “Ed Relief”?

    Time to talk also about family choice in education and ed funding to follow the child.


  4. Citizens Against Lies In Education

    May 6, 2020 by Tunya

    Surely, if there were such an award, Bruce Deitrick Price would get the CALIE prize. Citizens Against Lies In Education (CALIE) is a movement long overdue, long overdue.

    I first came across Bruce when I despaired for my grandchildren’s education. My own children had graduated and I had forgotten my earlier laments. His book “The Education Enigma”, 2009, was a treasure to read and confirmed my concerns. Even though I had long been involved as an advocate for parent involvement and was instrumental in promoting home education in its early years, Bruce’s book of essays really hit home. In the introduction to his book he said it was a “quick way to learn more about the many fierce debates collectively referred to as the Education Wars.”

    As “fierce debates” continue, Bruce wrote his second book, “Saving K-12” in 2017. His new essays highlight the same problems — illiteracy, poor math, dumbing–down of knowledge, etc. — but with more information and from unique angles to fuel our dismay. As a result of “equity” priorities Bruce sees the schooling plan is “to level everyone to average; and to keep the bodies moving through K-12 to college. There is a lot of money in education if the bodies are there.”

    He continues: “What can the children do to protect themselves? Very little. It’s up to the parents and community leaders to rescind these absurd fads. Otherwise, teach kids on the side, at home, and on weekends.” He said that in 2009!

    Well, that was before COVID19. Despite all the insights of BDP and others, the “system” seems immune to criticism. Many in the “education establishment” see COVID — however tragic it is — as an opportunity to advance their pet ideas for a “new normal” when (if) schools start reopening. I’ve heard of efforts and webinars from “progressives”, “Marxists” and others gearing up to woo parents and public to their particular style. I’ve even heard that one such scheme says this must be “well orchestrated”!

    An advocacy group in Michigan just wrote an opinion piece in the local paper: Basically, they announced that since “more than half of Michigan’s third-grade students were not reading at grade level”, even before COVID, that this must be the priority issue on school resumption. BUT, will this citizens’ proviso make a difference?

    Even now we are hearing of promising and spontaneous home learning and self-directed learning experiences that are happening. Questions are arising about the “old normal”. A book that just came out in Feb, 2020, seems to speak to our present condition, even though I don’t think the author, Justin Spears (Failure: the history and results of America’s school system), suspected where we’d be today. He posed this enigma, which could be a starting point for any CALIE group to consider: “Since 1950, public school employees have grown at a rate four times faster than the student body.” Doesn’t that make some sort of monumental “curve”? It’s time to not only flatten THAT curve but also press for alternative ways to succeed in education.

    Thanks, Bruce Deitrick Price, for being so persistent and thought-provoking. Hope we have the guts to challenge the lies that bind us to such absurdities in our school systems.

     

    (posted on Education Consumers Clearinghouse, ECC, list serve email, and American Thinker as a comment to Bruce Deitrick Price’s post entitled, Ten Lies Teachers Tell You, May 4, ’20)


  5. media & schooling

    March 31, 2020 by Tunya

    Media and Schooling

    I keep thinking about that opinion piece Bruce Deitrick Price wrote and was passed on to ECC readers by William Brown, Mar 11.

    BDP’s article was entitled: K-12: Media Should Help for a Change. He makes the point that if the media was more attentive to exposing the faults of the public education system many corrective practices would emerge. We would have better literacy and better test scores. He encourages people to write their newspapers to provide more coverage of education matters.

    Now, that might help, but lately the trend has been that newspapers and media generally have been decreasing staffs that work on such stories.

    And, we also must be mindful of the fact that media is not always reporting, but in fact, sometimes are biased promoters of what they see as “the common good” — the public schools. To be otherwise is to be unpatriotic, they think.

    Two such articles that I’ve kept close to mind over the years are:

    – If You Send Your Kid to Private School, You Are a Bad Person https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/08/private-school-vs-public-school-only-bad-people-send-their-kids-to-private-school.html

    – Liberals: Don’t Homeschool Your Kids https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/02/homeschooling-and-unschooling-among-liberals-and-progressives.html

    Both these articles generated considerable debate for a time, 2012 – 2013, but did nothing to challenge the prevailing media positive mindset about public schools. In fact, as the first article infers, families could be seen as heroic by keeping their kids in public schools as they’re bound to improve, even if it takes “generations”!

    I’ll jump to my purpose for writing today. I do think we, and public generally, should approach our media outlets to honestly report education stories. Right now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic we see schools being closed and students kept at home. Parents are mounting home education efforts and school systems are scrambling to produce online programs. This will be a time when many innovations can emerge. We should urge our media to report on these efforts.

    In particular, I would emphasize to the media that much home education, or homeschooling as the popular press likes to call it, is not new. Home education has been around since the 80’s and much groundbreaking work has been established. There are parent support groups in many communities. There is much literature and books and resources.

    I will hunt up the contacts for some of these support groups in my area. They would have success stories to tell and probably tips to share. I’ll approach my news sources to report on these successful, and from what I gather, happy experiences.

     

    [Sent to ECC