Posts Tagged public education
Education: Debunking the Case for National Standards – Alfie Kohn
originally posted at Daily Kos
Alfie Kohn is one of the most cogent critics of much of what goes on in education. He is well known for his belief that eliminating homework and grades will lead to more and better learning. You can explore many of his ideas at his website.
He has a piece coming out in Education Week, of which he has a slightly expanded version at the website, which you can read in its entirety here. Consider this paragraph from the middle of the piece:
Tags: course, courses, curriculum, department of education, design, education, education policy, education system, education systems, educational, educator, higher education, learning, no child left behind, of education, parents, print, public education, public school, public schools, school, schools, science, score, scores, student, students, study, teach, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching and learning, training, university, university of, website, writingRelated posts
An open letter to President Obama on schools, education and teaching
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to you as a National Board Certified Social Studies Teacher who voted for your as President even despite my concerns about your approach to educational policy. You were not my first choice, precisely because I, like many educators I know, were concerned both about your approach to some educational issues and some of the people advising you. Nevertheless, we all enthusiastically supported your candidacy, in many cases before you clinched the nomination.
I will not speak for anyone except myself. Others are also writing open letters, as you can see at this website.
Tags: american school, american schools, certification, charter school, charter schools, children, college, course, courses, department of education, design, e learning, education, education and, education department, educational, educator, essay, essays, high school, instruction, international education, learning, no child left behind, of education, parents, physical education, private school, private schools, professional development, program, programs, public education, public school, public school system, public schools, quality, research, scale, school, school board, school system, school systems, school teacher, schooling, schools, score, scores, secretary of education, special, staff development, student, students, teach, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching and learning, the school, thinking skills, website, writingRelated posts
Social capital and trust
I’m currently taking a doctoral level course on education and economics. At our first meeting, the professor (whose PhD is in Economics) noted that the past two decades have seen the increasing influence of economic theory on education policy, with a sharply rising curve in the 21st century. I asked him why he thought that was and he gave me a great (and honest) answer: Economists have better theories. Economic theories have been honed for decades, even centuries, and economists have vastly better and more convincing quantitative tools to measure outputs. Besides, he said, economists think they’re right and tend to be aggressive. Teacher in a Strange Land, January 2007.
Last year, the nation’s most famous economist, Alan Greenspan, admitted that he may have been “partially” wrong in trusting banks to protect their shareholders. Those sharp quantitative tools and rock-solid economic theories crumbled in the face of rampant self-interest. And we’ve been paying the price in lost trust ever since.
Benjamin Barber, in an eloquent blog on Huffington Post, traces the economic collapse back to lack of trust: Read the rest of this entry »
Related posts