tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post1786142930739320459..comments2024-03-27T08:53:29.267-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: UPenn Offers Degree in Soulless ProfiteeringPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-41708145361167707002014-06-22T10:02:36.949-04:002014-06-22T10:02:36.949-04:00Thank you for taking the time to respond so thorou...Thank you for taking the time to respond so thoroughly to my rant. There are no silver bullets and there are no simple solutions. The current educational environment is to sell our children out to businesses cranking out shoddy products, and, as you said, snake oil salesmen. It is time for this to stop. Peter, as always, great post.workingmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623939041270657087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-86014480602926271972014-06-21T13:37:48.370-04:002014-06-21T13:37:48.370-04:00The essence of the problem(s) you describe have a ...The essence of the problem(s) you describe have a few root causes.<br /><br />1) Despite 70 years of post war education efforts we still don't know which ONE methodology, ONE pedagogy, ONE scope and sequence, ONE textbook series (de-facto curriculum), ONE curriculum, or ONE assessment works best for ALL students. Differentiated instruction had the right idea but required an enormously complex skill set to pull off (not to mention unlimited time and energy). And since the tests were never differentiated, this pedagogy mostly was pushed under the NCLB/CCSS bus. Ability grouping got a bad name but would have helped.<br /><br />2) Superintendents, supervisors, curriculum specialists, principals, and other administrators fell in LOVE with educational CONSULTANTS.<br />If all the money wasted on consultants was saved instead of wasted we could probably buy Pearson and purchase all the political influence necessary to eliminate ESEA, CC, NCLB, and squash and last vestigial remnant of the punitive, standardized test-based reform movement.<br /><br />3) Superintendents, supervisors, curriculum specialists, principals, and other administrators almost completely IGNORED their one best resource: their best veteran TEACHERS.<br /><br />What we have left, after 70 years of trial and error is a system that still hasn't figured out the ONE best solution for ALL students. And they never will, because it doesn't exist. So we are left grasping at various straws: consultants, education entrepreneurship, charters, distance learning, computer adaptive instruction and assessment, whole language, Singapore math, Chicago math, Everyday math, Math for All,<br />Math for the Mathless, Finland, Estonia, Korea, Coleman, She who shall never be named, NCLB, CCSS, ESEA, ad infinitum. Through all this we tend to lose a lot of credibility with anyone who is paying close attention.<br />And because of all this vague, wishy-washy uncertainty, we become especially vulnerable to the 21st century snake oil salesman like Eva Moskowitz, shameless self promoters who want everyone to believe that they have sole possession the ONE solution that fits ALL students. Virtually all veteran teachers know that one size fits few, and that there are NO silver bullets, large-scale miracles, or magic potions in this business. So here's hoping that your children are lucky enough to get some serious, hard working veteran teachers that really "get it". They ignore the smoke and mirrors and they ignore the consultants and PD garbage, and the ignore the latest fads and they ignore the BS and the CC and all the stuff that is worth ignoring and they do what they do best. Teach their asses off, every day, with passion and commitment, so they can make a real difference in lives of real children. CheersNY Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08292448959963091160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-17837732884384013412014-06-21T10:01:14.947-04:002014-06-21T10:01:14.947-04:00Are any parents ever involved in these efforts? O...Are any parents ever involved in these efforts? Or are these people like cigarette manufactures and actually want their children to smoke? The main problem with public education was buying new innovative products every year. My son, who just finished his junior HS year, had Everyday Math, Chicago math and one other math through elementary school. In 2nd grade, we had a team from New Zealand come to our school district to help improve literacy in elementary school. In my middle class suburban school district, the only students struggling with reading were either ELLs or working with an LD. We already had a staff that included dedicated reading specialists, so the folks from New Zealand had a nice trip to the states and the only innovation was slicing a manilla folder so that you could have one section exposed and one section to lift to see the answer. <br /><br />Sorry, I know that ran on, but seriously, it is enough. The only way that this is continuing is that you have a fresh batch of "customers" coming through the school systems so they do not continually see the insanity.<br /><br />workingmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623939041270657087noreply@blogger.com