January 31, 2007
Median Sib hosts the 104th Carnival of Education. If you’re not reading these regularly, you’re missing a lot in education. Even more useful is checking out the blogs the selected posts come from. This week’s posts include pieces on science education in Florida, the misfiring of the intended incentive pay to Houston Independent School District teachers, standards under NCLB, and more.
And, as EduWonks suggests, one might learn more by perusing the 57th Carnival of Homeschooling at PalmTree Pundit — a couple of good geography teaching posts there.
It’s like this internet thingy is some information highway or something.
Image: Gateway to Boston Latin School, probably the oldest operating public school in America. Ben Franklin’s schooling was obtained at this school (probably in an earlier building!)
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 26, 2007
The first step to maintained equality of opportunity amongst our people is, as I have said before, that there should be no child in America who has not been born, and who does not live, under sound conditions of health; who does not have full opportunity for education from the kindergarten to the university; who is not free from injurious labor; who does not have stimulation to ambition to the fullest of his or her capacities. It is a matter of concern to our government that we should strengthen the safeguards to health. These activities of helpfulness and of cooperation stretch before us in every direction. A single generation of Americans of such a production would prevent more of crime and of illness, and give more of spirit and progress than all of the most repressive laws and police we can ever invent — and it would cost less.
Who said it? Who prescribed such a “socialist” plan for our children? John Dewey? Hillary Clinton? Answer below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »
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2 Comments | Accuracy, Education, Herbert Hoover, Leadership, Lesson plans, Politics, Presidents, Quotes | Tagged: 1928, Education, Gordon Lloyd, Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, Leadership, Poltics, Presidents, Quotes, Two Faces of Liberalism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 25, 2007
Posting will be light this weekend — I’m off to Pasadena, California, for a Liberty Fund seminar on the “Hoover-Roosevelt Conversation,” regarding the debates between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt between 1928 and 1945. Good fun, great company, hoped-for good stuff for future lesson plans.
But little time for blogging (and who knows how well the connections work).
Discuss.
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1 Comment | Economics, Education, Franklin Roosevelt, Free market economics, Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, New Deal, Socialism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 19, 2007
The 102nd Carnival of Education is underway at Dr. Homeslice. Substitutes and those wondering about unions should especially follow the links to this post from Get Lost Mr. Chips. Wise principals, vice principals and other administrators will follow the link, too.
Principal and teacher Lyndon B. Johnson with students and fellow teachers in front of the Welhausen Grade School, May 7, 1929. Photo by Unknown, from LBJ Library, Austin, Texas.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 19, 2007
Freedom Writers arrives at local movie screens this weekend, putting another hero teacher out there as a model, teaching us all that even poor, tough kids from troubled schools can achieve great things, if only someone will take the time to get through to them some important lessons about life.
Frankly my dear, we don’t need another hero teacher.
But I’m not the first to think that. Bronx 10th-grade history teacher Tom Moore wrote an opposite-editorial page piece published today in the New York Times — Friday, January 19, 2007 (free subscription required, and free probably only for a week).
He writes:
While no one believes that hospitals are really like “ER” or that doctors are anything like “House,” no one blames doctors for the failure of the health care system. From No Child Left Behind to City Hall, teachers are accused of being incompetent and underqualified, while their appeals for better and safer workplaces are systematically ignored.
Every day teachers are blamed for what the system they’re just a part of doesn’t provide: safe, adequately staffed schools with the highest expectations for all students. But that’s not something one maverick teacher, no matter how idealistic, perky or self-sacrificing, can accomplish.
He’s right. Go read it. (Still working out solutions for middle schools . . . perhaps this weekend.)
Tip of the old scrub brush to reader R. Becker.
Freedom Writers Foundation home page here.
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3 Comments | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Education, Education reform, Education spending, No Child Left Behind Act, Pedagogy, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 12, 2007
Little Rock’s Central High School, portrayed in a postcard (courtesy of Curt Teich Postcard Archives and the University of Arkansas Libraries)
Just a postcard to remind you that the 101st Carnival of Education is up over at I Thought a Think. There is a new Congress; many state legislatures are gearing up. It’s a good time to discuss education policy. Perhaps more to the point, if we don’t contribute to the discussion now, policy changes will go on without our contribution. Read the posts, and take action.
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2 Comments | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Charter schools, Classroom technology, Education, Education blogs, Education reform, Education spending, Labor and unions, Pedagogy, Politics, Teaching, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 5, 2007
One of its architects, Seymour Papert, lies in a Boston hospital (but out of intensive care) recovering from a head injury suffered in a collision with a motorbike in Hanoi in early December, but the idea of equipping tens of millions of students around the world with inexpensive, wireless-ready laptop computers continues to roll towards implementation.
The Christian Science Monitor carries an editorial more full of hope than opinion, on January 5, 2007, about the computer project. The laptops have been dubbed “XO.”
For billions of parents who earn only a few dollars a day, paying for a child’s education – books, etc. – often gets neglected. Many simple solutions that break that cycle of poverty have been tried and have failed. Now another one is on the horizon: a “$100 laptop.”
While noting past errors in sending technology to the third world, the Monitor cites some numbers from implementation that are quite dramatic, if accurate: Read the rest of this entry »
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2 Comments | Classroom technology, Education, On-line education, On-line learning, Public education, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom, XO laptops | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 4, 2007
Not in years — but the 100th Carnival of Education is up over at Teaching in the Twenty-first Century.
What is that in scientific notation? In binary?
- The Howard School, a one-room schoolhouse in Oregon’s Ochocos Mountains area, about 30 miles east of Prineville, Oregon. The school appears to be abandoned, an Oregon Ghost. Photo by Bruce Johnson, who holds the copyright. Used by permission. (More great photos of Oregon available at http://www.OregonPhotos.com).
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1 Comment | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Education, Education blogs, Education reform, No Child Left Behind Act, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 2, 2007
Here’s one indicator that testing has gone way too far and is damaging children rather than improving their education: A bill in the Texas House of Representatives requires school districts to consider recess.
Like Dave Barry, we can’t make this stuff up. Rep. Mike Villareal, who represents part of Bexar County in District 123 (near San Antonio) has a bill in the hopper, H. B. 366, which requires districts to have advisory groups to stress the value of recess. (Text of the bill is below the fold.)
Would schools be so crazy as to cancel recess? Yes, that’s been our experience. Cancelling recess gives an elementary school an extra 30 minutes of class time every day. So, to impress administrators somewhere, some schools cancel recess. Despite studies showing that recess boosts learning and test scores, schools are cancelling recess.
Nuts. (Quick, what battle is that from?)
Read the rest of this entry »
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15 Comments | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Education, Education reform, No Child Left Behind Act, Public education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 1, 2007
Last August I noted in this column the Dallas Morning News story about Everman, Texas, where the local school district not only allows paddling — corporal punishment — but appears to endorse it as a key part of education.
Now comes a new legislature, and Texas State Rep. Alma Allen has filed a bill to ban corporal punishment, H. B. 379. To assuage those who argue that corporal punishment is necessary to maintain classroom discipline, the bill authorizes teachers and other school employees to use physical restraint to protect students from injury, and to get contraband.
Of course, this is the similar to the bill Dr. Allen introduced in the last session. It went nowhere, and without a dramatic change in tone in the state, this bill is likely to die in committee, too. But watch that space anyway.
Allen is a life-long educator representing District 131 in Houston. She holds an M.Ed from Texas Southern, and a D.Ed. from Houston. She retired as an administrator in the Houston Independent School District.
The full text of the bill is below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »
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23 Comments | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Corporal punishment, Education, Education reform, Paddling or spanking, School discipline | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 29, 2006
Olla podrida is a local, Spanish term for a Mulligan stew, for olio, etc.
Founding fathers and illegal immigrants — A new blog on the migration debate, cleverly titled Migration Debate, highlights a New York Times opposite-editorial page piece that details how many of our “founding fathers” took advantage of illegal immigration, or immigrated illegally themselves. William Hogeland wrote the piece, whom some of you will recognize as the author of The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the Frontier Rebels who challenged America’s newfound sovereignty. (Scribner, 2006)
Google’s amazing powers: Bad time to be speechless: Over at 31fps, Google.com/maps magical powers are explained: The author finds a store on Google maps, clicks a button, and Google first calls his phone, and then calls the store — go Google, and leave the dialing to Google. Star Trek wasn’t this good. Just be sure you’re over being speechless when the party at the other end answers.
Amazing cosmos: Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy lists his top 10 images from outer space for 2006. #1 is a doozy, but be sure you read the explanation Phil offers.
Fashionable extinction: Microecos explains how fashion wiped out a beautiful, unique bird, the huia, in New Zealand, a century ago. It’s a reminder of how stupid humans can be — a good exercise is in there somewhere for geography classes, or a general lecture on the effects of colonization.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
December 23, 2006
It was just sad when Dennis Prager prostituted U.S. history to rant at Minnesota’s U.S. Representative-elect Keith Ellison, for Ellison’s having said he’d use his faith’s scriptures for a staged photograph commemorating his being sworn in as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ignorance can be so ugly.
It was jarring when so many others demonstrated their ignorance of the First Amendment and Constitutional history by repeating Prager’s concerns. Ignorance is contagious.
It was tragic when a few people, after having had a chance to repent of their ignorance, then mounted an assault on the Constitution by continuing to demand something was wrong with the situation, even calling for Ellison to give up his faith for the ceremony. Ignorance can be cured, why would anyone reject the cure?
It’s time to stop piling stupidity on stupidity: Rep. Virgil Goode (ironically named, no doubt), a Republican representing much of southern Virginia in the U.S. House (5th District) took aim at Ellison’s election itself, calling for “immigration reform” to prevent a Muslim takeover of Congress.
Goode’s comments are insensitive, xenophobic, insulting, demonstrative of ignorance, and just wrong on so many counts it is hard to determine which rebuttal is more important. So, random rebuttals follow. [I’ve come back to this four times today. It makes me amazingly angry, and I have to take a break.] Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
6 Comments | Bogus history, Education, First Amendment, Holocaust, Patriotism, Politics, Religious Freedom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 21, 2006
Go see. Good stuff as always.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
December 18, 2006
Reaction to the report of the Skills Commission is most interesting. Is it just because it’s the end of the year, and politicians think few people are watching? Reaction is completely on the positive side. One bellwether: U.S. News and World Report, usually the more conservative of the three big news magazines, calls it a “revolutionary call for education reform” in the headline of a mostly positive piece.
Potential for controversy remains, though. That article highlights what is probably the most vociferous complaint about the report so far.
The revolutionary calls from a decidedly establishment group. Funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce includes two former education secretaries, two former labor secretaries, and education officials from Massachusetts, New York City, and California. Nevertheless, opposition surfaced as soon as the report was issued.The American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and the National School Boards Association rushed out statements lambasting key ideas–like, for instance, the way the report “basically blows up the governance structure,” explains Antonia Cortese, AFT’s executive vice president.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Curricula, Education, Education reform, Education spending, Public education, School vouchers | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 17, 2006
History education is dead in England. British kids don’t know enough history, so the makers of the board game, Trivial Pursuit, have modified the history questions, dumbing them down to meet the lowered expectations of failed history teaching.
The Sunday Telegraph’s on-line edition has the story.
Where once there were puzzles to stretch most players’ general knowledge across a range of subjects, now they appear to have come straight out of the pages of Heat or Hello! magazines.
Questions such as, “Who heckled Madonna at an awards ceremony for miming in her concerts?” and “What is Prince Charles’s nickname for Camilla?” are no longer confined to the entertainment category, but now count as history. (The answers are “Elton John” and “Gladys” respectively.)
Questions that tested the knowledge of players in science and history, especially, have been downgraded.
The Sunday Telegraph analysis of a random 100 question cards from the latest box of Trivial Pursuit revealed that one in 10 of the science and nature category were celebrity or popular culture-based, compared to one in a whole box of question cards from 1992.
In the history category, 62 questions in the latest version of the board game related to events in the past 10 years, compared to only 30 questions in the earlier edition.
In times gone by, in the U.S. people would work to gain the sort of knowledge that would allow them to answer the tougher questions in the old “College Bowl” quiz program. Now we lower the bar, and make the questions more trivial.
Would that explain why the U.S. and Britain both have such difficulty applying the lessons of Vietnam, or Korea, or even Gulf War I? People simply don’t know the lessons. And so it is that our education systems condemn us to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam, Korea, and Gulf War I.
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Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Bogus history, Current History, Education, Education reform, Public education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 