tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post660226341735800793..comments2024-03-29T04:34:05.185-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Sheep, Simplicity and Losing the PointPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-63621469707223551212015-02-25T18:08:34.888-05:002015-02-25T18:08:34.888-05:00Oh, Mr. Greene. You speak to my condition. As a ...Oh, Mr. Greene. You speak to my condition. As a physics teacher, most of my students are excellent, and constantly try to convince me that they would learn better if I would just provide more examples, executed by me of course, and so be relieved of the long, difficult and tedious process of pulling together many strands of reasoning to make sense of a physical situation for themselves. I still hold them in high enough regard not to cave. <br /><br />The legislation being inflicted on education in Indiana doubles (triples? quadruples?) down on promoting sheepishness throughout the entire educational hierarchy to produce more excellent sheeply qualities. I find it unfortunate that classes such as AP are exclusively about the score now. We even pay kids $100 for a 3 or more on the test! Me too! We are market-driven here for sure. <br /><br />Those of us who do not promote sheep production are on ever more shaky ground, as our "effectiveness" is now based on producing more excellent sheep. The AP test results are now a part of my official performance goal, by law. Please please please someone keep telling me that I am not crazy to see this as insanity.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168566567751854277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-15938922291145690702015-02-25T13:07:51.319-05:002015-02-25T13:07:51.319-05:00Yes, those students are good "test-takers&quo...Yes, those students are good "test-takers" but they aren't really engaged and don't really learn because they don't care, they only care about the grade. Notice the students you talk about ask "how long?" and" how many?", which are questions about metrics, and again reminds me of The Little Prince, who thought grown-ups were weird because they didn't understand what's important in life because they were so obsessed with numbers. What's most important in life, which is relationships with other humans, can't be measured. I think something that's just as important as technology in a "21st century curriculum" is classes in sociology. Too many people, especially those in power, have an empathy deficit disorder, which makes them unable to see clearly.<br /><br />As you say, the reformers try to simplify things with their algorithms and "efficiency," but they're missing the essence, which in this case is that the problem with inequity is not inequity in teacher effectiveness, but inequity of opportunity because of obstacles put up by poverty. They're trying to solve a problem without first identifying correctly the cause of the problem. Which is not efficient at all. Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.com