Diatribune - education - Comments

encouraging

epppie — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:03:42 -0600

encouraging

Where are the Democrats on

Jacob Freeze — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:46:22 -0600

Where are the Democrats on No Child Left Behind? Here we have minority children crushed under a mind-mangling routine of drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, and more drills, drills, drills, drills, and more drills, drills, drills, drills, drills, and the Democrats are either supporting it or ignoring it.

Thanks again, Democratic stooges from Hell!

Kozol deserves a Nobel Prize for putting his life on the line to oppose this nightmare!

I believe that segregation

epppie — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:46:26 -0600

I believe that segregation is one of the greatest afflictions faced by humankind, and I don't think it happens by accident. I think that naturally people have two tendencies - tendencies to stick to their 'kind' and tendency to be curious and interested in the 'other' - and that these tendencies tend to balance. But the way communities are developed, all kinds of formal and informal rules tend to come into play which both consciously and unconsciously seek to create and maintain segregation, which is not balance.

"If we are to reach real

Betsy L. Angert — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:22:25 -0600

"If we are to reach real peace in this world, we shall have to begin with the children."
[Remember, the youth reflect our truth.]
~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

The downside of Empire is

epppie — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:48:18 -0600

The downside of Empire is rough. I don't think there is any chance anymore that the US can avoid the disasters that I think lie ahead: overt fascism, devastating wars, economic collapse.

Well, except that there is just one chance and that chance has always been the one and only chance: if we ever decide, as some sort of consensus, that we really believe what the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble of the Constitution commited us to, that we really believe that we are all in it together as a community, we need not fear the future.

The cure for the disease is in front of our noses, if we ever see it.

American is Number One . .

Betsy L. Angert — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:46:38 -0600

American is Number One
. . . and proud?

Brown Versus Board of Education

Betsy L. Angert — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:04:23 -0600

We come then to the question presented:
Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race,
even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal,
deprive the children of the minority group of equal education opportunities?
We believe that it does.
~ Earl Warren [Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court]

I didn't think

kerry — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 22:46:54 -0600

I didn't think that previous testing had put an end to social promotion in Texas though. Was I wrong about that? Did you have to pass in order to promote to the next grade and to graduate?

Not quite true.

Kidspeak — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:42:57 -0600

Texas began it's state-wide testing of kids in the late 70s - long before Bush II. I know, because I had just gotten through college and was a beginning teacher. The "Texas Assessment of Basic Skills" was imposed state-wide. It had much the same goals as its successor tests in Texas today. Not tied to any curriculum in particular (as it should have been. Good testing - found in some states - is well-done, unlike that test our students had to take.)

It was the first time that teachers and schools were judged for how their students were doing, and the suggestion was being made that money should follow success. The rest, I think, is history. . .

"Teach to Test" is loaded term.

Teach313 — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:25:22 -0600

"Teaching to test" implies all sort of horrors. It stifles imagination, crushes the life out students and teachers, etc. But if the test is a good test, what's the problem?

In theory, the system works like this. The "Test" is criterion based. The criteria are the state standards, a carefully considered list topics that sets out what should be mastered at each grade level. The next step is designing a curriculum that corresponds to the state standards.

If the criterion are well considered (the NCTM standards are an excellent example), the curriculum is aligned with the standards, and the test is well constructed, then the test will measure accurately how well the students have mastered the well-designed curriculum.

Nowhere in the progression from standards to test design is any teaching method spelled out. That's where we teachers bring in our expertise. I have at least five ways to teach multiplication for example and on any given day am using all five. Am I "teaching to the Test?" You bet. My students are learning multiplication. That's what's on the test for third graders.

If a district has bought drill-and-kill books that target the test, that is a failure of imagination on their part. If teachers use them, that is a failure of nerve on our part. If anyone wants my MEAP practice books, send me an email and I'll pull them out of the back of my closet, dust them off, and send you one. (I'll let you know what the postage is.)

The problem is that each state designs its own test and industries have formed around these tests. Also politicians, especially governors with aspirations of the Presidency, (that last bit is redundant), have too much control over the tests. Another problem is what is done with the results, (I'm talking about the punitive funding issue.) Those are only some of the problems facing teachers and students today. And they all are much more serious than teaching to the test.

NB: Sorry about the lapses into education-speak. NCTM = National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. MEAP = Michigan Educational Achievement Test. Educators do love their acronyms.

So little; yet so much

Betsy L. Angert — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:24:19 -0600

Dearest Kerry . . .

This assessment makes me smile. It does explain and expand much of what I read. Truly, the life of the super-rich is fascinating. So little effort affords great power.

Think about this

kerry — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:18:53 -0600

Gorge Bush never had a real job, never. He lived off of his father's name and connections while partying through life. So one day Karl Rove decides he should run for governor of Texas. I don't think he even lived in the state at the time. This was a problem. Plus as I said he never had a job. So, they got his friends to loan him the money to buy a baseball team so he could build a profile in Texas. He could have built a business with the money, but that would have been too much like work. So after a couple of years of living in Texas he sells his interest in the team pays off the loan? and pockets millions in profit and runs for governor. Are you kidding me? George Bush is the greatest living snow job in the history of the world. Karl Rove is the new P.T. Barnum and truly there really is a sucker born every minute and in America they actually vote.

President refuses "accountability" measurements

Betsy L. Angert — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:07:07 -0600

Dear [?] Kerry[?]. . .

I smile. I am forever fascinated that there are liberals such as you in Texas. Another illusion exposed.

This nation is fortunate. There are those that can remind us of the real Bush record on education. Sadly, now we experience it for ourselves throughout the country.

Do you not shake your head every time this President refuses to be "accountable" for the war effort or "punish" White House staffers for failing programs. Witness today's subpoenas.

Unfortunately

kerry — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:47:50 -0600

the Bush NCLB is all about test taking and statistics and nothing about learning. If you really want to see what NCLB does look at the disaster education has become in Texas, the first state to adopt it when W was Gov.

Do we continue to teach to tests?

Betsy L. Angert — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:37:31 -0600

Do we continue to teach to tests that only serve to fund schools, or . . .

Might we teach to children who could, if they love learning, create a better world.