tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post4108860380228607764..comments2024-03-29T04:34:05.185-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Congress and Your HomeworkPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-5918062649397188502015-01-29T10:47:39.392-05:002015-01-29T10:47:39.392-05:00A cultural clash of grand proportions. This is ho...A cultural clash of grand proportions. This is how I would describe the education crisis in this country. If you put two politicians together, even from the same party, you hear different perspectives on the problems and their solutions. If you put two teachers together, you will hear different takes on the problems and solutions. If you put two parents together, you will hear two perspectives on the problems and solutions. If you put two students together, you will hear two perspectives on problems and solutions. Multiply that by the real numbers in this country, and all the individualistic values we hold so high become a stumbling block. Very, very few people are truly on the same page, even those sharing similar ideologies.<br /><br />"Why do I need to read British literature if I am going to be an accountant?"<br /><br />"Why do I need to give these tests which do not assess anything accurately and are no reflection on the students' knowledge, abilities or performance?"<br /><br />"Why are my taxes so high? Why can't students learn the basics with the money they already get from us?"<br /><br />"Why is it that students spend years in school still end up not competent enough to get into college?"<br /><br />"Why do I need to know geometry when I know I'll never use it again?"<br /><br />"Why do we need to teach cursive when students will be typing everything?"<br /><br />"Why should I use social media with my students when we are together in the classroom every day?"<br /><br />"Why isn't my teacher using social media like other teachers?"<br /><br />"Why is this school performing better than other schools even though it operates with a significantly smaller budget?"<br /><br />"Why are students being subjected to so much testing?"<br /><br />"Why don't we take advantage of this amazing technology and help kids be better prepared for the technology driven economy that is coming?"<br /><br />"How will impoverished children be able to compete in the technology driven economy of the 21st century if they don't have the technological support to master the necessary skills?"<br /><br />"How will this expanding gap between the haves and have-nots be closed if we don't invest the most needy schools?"<br /><br />"Why don't we invest heavily in schools in disenfranchised areas and then test them to make sure we getting it right?"<br /><br />"Why don't we spend more time discussing and developing our ideas and perspectives instead of being a slave to exam schedules?"<br /><br />"Why don't we do more to drive up the test scores to make us more competitive with China?"<br /><br />We have all heard these questions ad infinitum. The truth is, these questions reflect distinct personal values that people hold. These values are no longer plotted along the Republican - Democratic spectrum/continuum. We can no longer make simple assumptions about how people perceive the public education. Individual perspectives are here to stay, and the idea that the participants in society (teachers, parents, students, public citizens, administrators, politicians) will be unified is no longer plausible. People argue that this is a democracy which means no one stakeholder has full say on the answer to these questions. But until there is an understanding that people are not operating from ideological camps but rather divided personal cultural perspectives which are full of deeply rooted assumptions, everyone will just keep talking at each other, not hearing a word each other is saying. Our new era -- our new reality -- requires a new method for gaining consensus, leadership and implementation of goals. Lamenting the past is natural, but it will never come back. Even when Bill Gates and company are out of the picture, technology driven philosophies will lead the way because there is money to be made when every person in America is a potential customer at some point in his/her life.<br /><br />Kobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16778054056084383752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-86514829685162203492015-01-29T04:24:27.443-05:002015-01-29T04:24:27.443-05:00Step back from telling us how to teach and step up...Step back from telling us how to teach and step up with the equitable funding, especially with the recent report saying that yes, if you give poor schools more money they do better, and the other one that says that raising the minimum wage and tweaks to already existing programs can reduce child poverty by 60% and make improvements in the lives of 97% of poor children. <br /><br />I've been pouring over the Federal Register and other things, in fits and starts, for weeks, to try to write something well-researched to comment about evaluating teacher prep programs, and I've about decided that I'm with Rand Paul, abolish the Department of Education, at least the way it's run now. Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.com