Meet the New Boss (Sir Michael Barber)...Same As the Old Boss (Marc Tucker)

Education Reform: We "won't get fooled again"...or will we?

 

Who is Sir Michael Barber from England and why is he directing educational directives in the United States?

It's because education is global now.  He's accomplishing what Marc Tucker tried to implement in the 90's but was thwarted by Liz Cheney.  (Where is Liz Cheney's voice in this global takeover of education today and why is she silent?)

The following is excerpted from The Global Common Core on Sir Michael Barber and how he is taking Marc Tucker's plan, adopting/adapting it to fit today's philanthropists (who are funding much of this takeover of public education) for a global vision.  Read the full article from whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com for invaluable links and more discussion on the Barber/Pearson/Gates global takeover of education:
 

In an ongoing quest to comprehend what (and why) Common Core is what it is, I’ve found Sir Michael Barber, Chief Education Advisor at Pearson PLC.

Sir Barber, a passionate Common Core promoter with a nice British accent, is all about top-down, global McEducation –and global McEverything, actually, from transportation to jails.

“McEverything” is not Barber’s word.  His word is “Deliverology.”

His book, ”Deliverology 101,”  is purposed, oddly, “specifically for leaders of American Education reform.” But what motivates a British citizen to write a manual on American states’ nationalized standards?

Barber comes across as a nice, slightly weird, old British knight.  Actually, he is a knight: Sir Michael Barber was knighted for producing education reforms in England.

Yet some (who are also respected far and wide) scorn his philosophies.  John Seddon, British management guru and president of Vanguard, has a multi-part YouTube series entitled “Why Deliverology Made Things Worse in the UK.”

“I don’t go around the world bashing Deliverology, but I think I should,” said Seddon.

Seddon defines “deliverology” as “a top-down method by which you undermine achievement of purpose and demoralize people.” 

Seddon says ”deliverology” imposes arbitrary targets that damage morale.  Just like Common Core.

But Barber will have none of that.  He seems to feel that education reform is too big an issue to pause for things like individual morale.

In Barber’s view, education reform is a “global phenomenon,” so reform is no longer to be managed by individuals or sovereign countries; education reform has “no more frontiers, no more barriers.”  


Sir Michael Barber adds: “We want data about how people are doing. We want every child on the agenda.”  But who are the ”we” that will control global data?  That one he does not answer.
 
Pearson ”invests,” says Barber, by purchasing cheap schools in developing countries in partnership with governments. Pearson works hand in hand with both nongovernmental agencies (NGA and CCSSO) and with governmental agencies (U.S. Department of Education) to promote global education and Common Core. Because they see global education and Common Core as one and the same.

Then Barber explains that the “ethical underpinning” is “shared understanding” of earth and “sustainability” that every child in every school around the world will learn.

Will any of this be easy to reverse?  Sir Michael Barber emphasizes the importance of what he’s dubbed “irreversible reform.”  He defines “sustainable reform” as “irreversible reform” and aims to “make it so it can never go back to how it was before.”

“If you want irreversible reforms, work on the culture and the minds of teachers and parents,” Barber says. Otherwise parents or traditionalists might repeal what’s been done because of their ”wish for the past.”
Heaven help us.
 

This is the Marc Tucker redux from the 1990's but with bigger players on a global perspective.  Heaven help us indeed.  We're meeting the new boss...same as the old boss.  Lyrics compliments from The Who and "Won't Get Fooled Again":

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again

Change it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fall that's all
But the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do ya?


There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
 

What Should Second Graders Learn? Academics or IB's Solutions to Poverty?

From a PYP Exhibition

The following curriculum concern was posted on a Facebook page for other readers/bloggers to post to their email, Facebook or blog sites:

I send congrats to my 2nd graders' class for winning the competition of learning all the 10 Spanish states- It saddens me they are not singing about the United States- they are still counting fingers and toes to do simple math- yet they have lots of time to spend memorizing Spanish states-this is for the Spanish class- I will also lose two hours of my life to hear the various topics of the PYP Exhibition on Wednesday- I looked at my daughters script for her Poverty topic- Basically it was helping a poor family by giving them a bag of supplies and sending an organization to help them-(they don't tell the kids who has to pay for that bag of supplies)-I told her this was basically putting a bandaid on the problem and training this family how to break the cycle- work- finish school- It will make for an interesting evening if all the other projects have the same theme as hers-

 What's a PYP Exhibition?  PYP Exhibitions are part of the International Baccalaureate program which emphasizes global history and governance vs American governance and history in its teachings.

                 Primary Years Programme Curriculum framework

The exhibition

Students aged 10 to 12 who are in their final year of the programme are expected to carry out an extended, collaborative inquiry project, know as the exhibition, under the guidance of their teachers.

The exhibition represents a significant event in the life of both the school and student, synthesizing the essential elements of the programme and sharing them with the whole school community. It is an opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the student profile that have been developing throughout their engagement with the programme. It is a culminating experience marking the transition from the PYP to the Middle Years Programme (MYP).

Schools are given considerable flexibility in their choice of the real-life issues or problems to be explored and investigated in the exhibition.

 

Do real-life issues make kids STEM ready?  Is this 2nd grade curriculum (heavy on global education and short on academics) helping students in basic math facts? Educating students to acquire technical/STEM degrees was a major Arne Duncan educational goal. Is this IB's  goal?  Taken from the Exhibition Guidelines pdf, IB's stated goal (page 4/25):

The International Baccalaureate (IB) offers three high quality and challenging educational programmes for a worldwide community of schools, aiming to create a better, more peaceful world.

Second graders studying about poverty and learning the answer is to send an organization to help poor people might tweak student guilt and compassion, but it won't equip them to become scientists, engineers, computer gurus or mathematicians.  Teaching them how to teach others not to fall in that poverty trap might be a good start in breaking the poverty cycle.  Does IB teach lessons that empower students to learn to take of themselves and not rely on institutions for basic needs?  

Traditionally, parents are to instill compassion into children, not a governmental institution.  Schools were to educate children in academics so they could become competent self-supporting adults and compassion sprang from morals instilled by parents.  Schools were not in the business of  teaching children compassion to become community organizers and fulfill a global, bureaucratic and/or corporatist idea of economic/social justice. 

What Do Readers on the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Website think is the Primary Mission of Student Education? It's Quite a Surprise.

2012 ASCD conference logo

What is ASCD?  From the website:

Founded in 1943, ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. Our 150,000 members in more than 145 countries are professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.

Our nonprofit, nonpartisan membership association provides expert and innovative solutions in professional development, capacity building, and educational leadership essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead. (emphasis added)

If you are a parent and read this explanation of ASCD, you might assume learning was paramount to this organization, and education would be tailored to ensure the success of each individual learner.

View the ASCD Smart Brief from March 15, 2012.  Access "Ed Pulse" on the site where you will find results of an ASCD reader survey.  This question was posed on a separate educational email thread about this survey, "what do these results tell you about the values of public education teachers"?  Do these results align themselves with the organization's mission statement?

ED Pulse

What do you feel is the primary mission of public education?

To prepare students to fully participate in the social, economic and educational opportunities of our nation.	44.12%
To prepare students to participate in today's global society.	24.47%
To challenge students to meet their full educational potential.	15.15%
To foster the growth of civically engaged citizens.	7.02%
To master skills, such as analytical thinking and comprehensive reading and literacy.	5.05%
To help learners develop the skills necessary to keep our nation economically competitive.	2.68%
Other.	1.50%
To prepare students for the demands of a 4-year or 2-year college experience.	0.00%
To prepare students for vocational training.	0.00%

  
Arne Duncan won't be happy when he sees these results.  Every child is to be college ready so the nation can be economically competitive.  These voters list those goals at a whooping 0.0%. 

What does "preparing students to fully participate in the social, economic and educational opportunities of our nation" mean?  Do we want our students taught by teachers and administrators who believe this is the primary mission of education?  This smacks of preparing students for the collective experience, rather than focus on individual goals of "analytical thinking and comprehensive reading and literacy" (answered as most important by 5% of these respondents).

This site is primarily read by educators and administrators.  This would be a good site to visit from time to time if a parent and/or taxpayer would like to understand what these publicly paid employees and bureaucrats really think about the citizens paying for their salaries and benefits.  Maybe it's time for parents and taxpayers to reclaim the schools they pay for if the majority of public school teachers and administrators share the same view of readers in the survey below.  Respondents on this site don't give much credence to parental belief and authority. 

Previous question (01.26.12) on the ASCD site: Should public schools be legally obligated to provide an alternative curriculum to students, whose parents deem objectionable any subject or lesson taught in school?

Answer:

 As we've written previously, the public education system today wants your children and tax dollars to sustain the system.  It doesn't want your input or direction in student education.  Even if parents have objections in what their student is learning (such as sex education in kindergarten), almost 7% believe the parents have to petition to determine what's appropriate for their child.   Over 85% of respondents believe parental wishes are inconsequential, should not be entertained, the educators are not obligated to alter their particular curriculum, and cause too much work for them.