tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907677492250052991.post1613885781934437547..comments2023-10-18T05:06:49.026-05:00Comments on Missouri Education Watchdog: Rethinking Reformdsmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01501964533388756254noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907677492250052991.post-48641762722162014192012-05-11T08:16:24.739-05:002012-05-11T08:16:24.739-05:00Linda R. said "...how will we have a producti...Linda R. said "...how will we have a productive society when everyone is programmed to think and act THE SAME?"<br /><br />Worse yet, how will we have an intelligent society, when everyone is taught that a particular set of facts is the same thing as knowledge? <br /><br />What reply do we have for the first kid who points out the idiocy of this with "My phone has a calculator that tells me all the math facts I'll ever need to know. It also has Google and Wikipedia, which can tell me any other fact I ever need to know. So why should I bother with your school?"<br /><br />When we tell our kids that having that knowledge means that you are educated, why should they not point to their phones and say "I have that knowledge. I'm educated. I'm outta here."<br /><br />The fact is if <i>that</i> is what we pass off as an Education, they are correct, and they would be infinitely better off getting outta there.<br /><br />Knowing the facts or getting the answers is something that can be had quickly and for free by anyone with the most basic smartPhone.<br /><br />Knowing what questions are worth asking, and how to ask them, and more importantly, Why to ask them... that's another matter altogether. Understanding how some facts are integrated to other facts, and why, and why you should care, is also another matter. Knowing that some ideas lead to other ideas, and that somethings which appear pretty, are in truth hideously ugly and give birth to pure evil; that what is actually beautiful is good and true to the core, and of supreme importance to your life and ability to live it... that's something that refuses to be caged in a multiple choice or True/False exam.<br /><br />An education that is in fact concerned with Education, won't be aided by quantifying exam results or mandating approved curriculum.<br /><br />The truth is that we had a Common Core at one point, and it wasn't mandated, it was simply understood to make up the heart of Western Culture and to be worthwhile; it was something which school enabled you to, and led you to, enter into, and which people then re-entered, considered and discussed for the rest of their lives.<br /><br />Our ever more modern system of education has, or is, putting an end to that. And it has the accumulated and quantified test scores to prove it.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907677492250052991.post-58595830503911579262012-05-11T03:43:38.946-05:002012-05-11T03:43:38.946-05:00I think every teacher needs to watch this video. A...I think every teacher needs to watch this video. As a teacher, I can say what we all already know, making a school a business is exploiting children and simply writing off any student who does not learn quickly/efficiently the 'mandated' material...how will we have a productive society when everyone is programmed to think and act THE SAME?Linda R.http://www.vocado.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907677492250052991.post-68385876229071676802012-05-09T16:32:57.530-05:002012-05-09T16:32:57.530-05:00"They rarely touch on what is being delivered..."They rarely touch on what is being delivered. Though there is a big push to develop a set of "Common Standards" which would cover the "what", those standards still really on focus on creating efficiencies in the delivery of education. If everyone is learning the same things, from the same source materials, we get economies of scale and measurable production line improvements. This is why charter schools are under tremendous pressure to teach the same thing as public schools, so only the delivery method is modified. Efficiency."<br /><br />I'm not able to see the video at the moment, but your first paragraph nails it just fine. It's as if we've produced an extremely efficient method to deliver unimaginative trivia and uninteresting factoidial drivel, which because some lab analysis says it contains lots of intellectual vitamins, it <i>should</i> be healthy for kids to learn from.<br /><br />The only problem is that it tastes like @#$!. When kids are unable to digest it, or refuse to swallow it, the educational systems go back to their planning sessions and make the delivery of it even more efficient.<br /><br />ARGHHH!<br /><br />"The question no one is even asking now is, do we even have the right goal for education? Is the business model the right one for education? After watching the video, what do you think?"<br /><br /><a href="http://blogodidact.blogspot.com/2012/02/school-choice-turkey-or-beef-ish.html" rel="nofollow"><i>No</i> one?</a><br /><br /><i>"...What would you think of those excuses? <br /><br />Do you realize how close and fitting an analogy this is to our schools today? This is the situation we are in. We have allowed ourselves to become so focused upon the textbook preparation, the administrator and teaching staff, operational costs, etc, so focused upon improving the delivery of our children's intellectual nourishment... but no one, NO ONE, has been asking about anything more than the form and style of textual hot dogs that we've been serving up! <br /><br />You know that you'd want to grab all of those politicians, parents and experts and... slap some sense into them and tell them to "Put something other than hot dogs on your menus!", wouldn't you? If so, then please, slap yourself as well, because that is as near to an exact comparison to our world of education, as you are going to find. <br /><br />Choice is important, but what you choose, and what you're willing to accept as a choice, is even more important. <br /><br />Early on, our educational 'x-spurts' began recommending a prefabricated educational food be served to all, replacing the tried and true classics of Western Civilization, with the textual equivalent of a hot dog, and the modern textbook, was born..."</i> <br /><br />;-) If nothing else, I've been heartened to see that the field of all us no one’s has been steadily growing year after year.<br /><br />Keep it up!Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.com