Deschooling Society. Education: Keep it in the family. Nine Dangerous Things You Learned In School. We live in an exciting and interesting time — one when some of our most commonly accepted ideas, traditions and principals are being challenged. This past week featured a fascinating read in the Wall Street Journal asking “Are Playgrounds Too Safe?” , making the case that “ decades of dumbed-down playgrounds, fueled by fears of litigation, concerns about injury and worrywart helicopter parents, have led to cookie-cutter equipment that offers little thrill.” The result being children less compelled to play outside, potentially stunting emotional and physical development and exacerbating a nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity.
Recently Forbes featured an article smartly challenging things many of us grew up being taught and often adhere to still. But in today’s world, the rules of our parents’ past are ones we have to ask in all earnest and respect — do these rules still apply? Rewild the Child. A week in the countryside is worth three months in a classroom.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 8th October 2013 What is the best way to knacker a child’s education? Force him or her to spend too long in the classroom. An overview of research into outdoor education by King’s College London found that children who spend time learning in natural environments “perform better in reading, mathematics, science and social studies.”(1) Exploring the natural world “makes other school subjects rich and relevant and gets apathetic students excited about learning.” Fieldwork in the countryside, a British study finds, improves long-term memory(2). Why schools used to be better. It’s one of the ironies of education reform that despite wave after wave, schools are seen by many as in worse shape as before all the changes.
Here’s a look at why from Marion Brady, who was a classroom teacher for years, has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall), professional books, numerous nationally distributed columns (many are available here), and courses of study. His 2011 book “What’s Worth Learning” asks and answer this question: What knowledge is absolutely essential for every learner? His course of study for secondary-level students, called Connections: Investigating Reality, is free for downloading here. Brady’s website is www.marionbrady.com. By Marion Brady You enter a checkout lane at Walmart, Target, or other big-box store and put your purchases on the counter.
CriticalPedagogy - home. Education could be awesome. Follow us omnivore Education could be awesome Mar 17 2014 9:00AM.
The 7-lesson schoolteacher John Taylor Gatto. The 7-Lesson Schoolteacher by John Taylor Gatto New Society Publishers, 1992 Call me Mr.
Gatto, please. Twenty-six years ago, having nothing better to do at the time, I tried my hand at schoolteaching. The license I hold certifies that I am an instructor of English language and English literature, but that isn't what I do at all. I don't teach English, I teach school -- and I win awards doing it. Doing More Time in School: A Cruel Non-Solution to Our Educational Problems. School doesn’t work very well, so let’s make kids do more of it!
That seems to be the policy enthusiastically supported by President Obama, by his education secretary Arne Duncan, by many teachers’ unions (as long as the teachers are well paid for the extra time), and by many education policy makers in and out of academia. How I Would Unschool My Kids Altucher Confidential. Posted by James Altucher My dad hit me when I got bad grades. Particularly when I was young and got a bad grade in “Conduct”. Happiness was an “A”. Even better: an “A+”. Sadness was an “F”. ‘Teach Your Children Well,’ by Madeline Levine. What are the libertarian arguments against public schools. What is it like to be "unschooled" Why School Should Be More Like Summer Camp. Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition - Paulo Freire.
The Case Against Education: The Project Evolves. In the last Table of Contents for The Case Against Education, chapter two is "Useless Studies with Big Payoffs: The Puzzle Is Real. " After writing this chapter for three months, I realized I had to split the discussion. Now there will be a full chapter showing that students learn few job skills in school, followed by a separate chapter showing that the education premium, though sharply exaggerated my mainstream labor economists, is still quite high. Other big change: I got so many positive reactions to the dialog chapter in Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids that I decided to end my education book the same way.
Here's my full revised Table of Contents. Comments welcome. Table of Contents. Pet Grants, small pets, aquarium equipment. Dogs Play Key Role in Life at Some Private Schools. Poly Prep Country Day SchoolAwaiting orders: Fenway, the headmaster’s dog, at Poly Prep Country Day School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Dr. Evil had his cat, Mr. Bigglesworth; President Obama has Bo; even Jabba the Hut had an interstellar critter named Salacious Crumb. And at the seats of power in some of New York City’s private schools, there’s sometimes something fluffy curled around the chair legs. The Public School. Amelia Marzec: Education and Activism in Alternative Schools. In an Occupy-saturated New York, there's a push for education by the people for the people that calls for new structures of collaboration and new uses of resources.
But two organizations, The Public School and Trade School, were in play well before the first tent ever popped up in Liberty Square. Designed by artists and organized without curriculums, classes range from philosophy and time travel to mushroom hunting and stilt walking. They won't be churning out bridge-building engineers, but illustrate a dream of collective education. Both schools have similar structures. Laissez-Faire Learning - David Greenwald. As a teacher in a public high school, I am daily confronted with the lamentable realities of state-monopoly education.
Student apathy, methodological stagnation, bureaucratic inefficiency, textbook-publishing cartels, obsessive preoccupation with grades, coercive relationships, and rigid, sanitized curricula are just a few of the more obvious problems, attended by the cold-shower disillusionment and gradual burnout among teachers to which they almost invariably lead. While outcomes such as these are certainly tragic, the process that produces them is not exactly the stuff of Greek theater. There is no climactic battle, no cathartic denouement, no salvific moral lesson to be taken home when the curtain falls, and seldom are there any readily identifiable heroes or villains. Every Teenager a Michelangelo: Can Studio Schools Prepare and Engage Adolescent Minds? Many parents and teachers struggle to engage the nebulous minds of teenagers.
How does one teach a brain that’s constantly fluctuating? As Shannon Brownless, acting director of the New America Health Policy Program wrote in US News, a teenager’s pre-frontal cortex isn’t yet mature enough to handle certain judgments and dilemmas. “An unfinished prefrontal cortex also means that young teenagers may also have trouble organizing several tasks,” she wrote. No Teachers, No Class, No Homework; Would You Send Your Kids Here? - Emily Chertoff. Democratic schooling may be the most radical experiment in education of the past 100 years.
A.S. Neill in a Summerhill classroom. The image is undated.
Teach for America’s Deep Bench. “Is this our Egypt moment? Will we seize the moment?” Former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein spoke those words at Teach for America’s 20th anniversary summit last summer. Coming from Klein, who is now a divisional leader at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, incitements to political uprising might raise some eyebrows. But at the summit for the nonprofit, which recruits college graduates to be teachers in poor school districts around the country, Klein was onto something that Nicholas Kristof and Thomas Friedman have ignored in their eight pro-TFA columns: behind the veil of well-funded, debate-worthy idealism, TFA is coordinating a political revolution.
Since its founding, TFA has amassed some 28,000 alumni. Madfloridian's Journal - Another "false front" education reform group? Keep eye out for their op eds in local papers. The Michigan Education Association writes about the Education Action Group and warns to watch out for their activities. Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity. RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms.
Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! Hole-in-the-Wall. Elizabeth Weil’s case against emotional regulation: Schools are making kids conformist and boring. Photo by Remy Gabalda/AFP/Getty Images A powerful essay by Elizabeth Weil in the New Republic posits that “American Schools Are Failing Nonconformist Kids.” Weil examines the growing role that "emotional regulation"—an educational tool pioneered by the KIPP charter school network and also known as self-regulation, grit, motivation, discipline—is playing in classroom management, as teachers try to keep order and foster learning.
The new ideal student, she says, is a compliant “good citizen” who keeps her head down and who “doesn’t externalize problems or talk too much or challenge the rules too frequently or move around excessively or complain about the curriculum or have passionate outbursts.” WAR ON EDUCATION AND STUDENTS. AT&T, Feds Neglect Low-Price Mandate Designed to Help Schools.
A decade after the program started, AT&T was still not training its employees about the mandatory low rates, which are supposed to be set at the lowest price offered to comparable customers. Lawsuits and other legal actions in Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York have turned up evidence that AT&T and Verizon charged local school districts much higher rates than it gave to similar customers or more than what the program allowed. Subverting the System: Student and Teacher as Equals. By Luba Vangelova Every day, veteran educator Scott Henstrand walks into his history classroom at the Brooklyn Collaborative Studies secondary school, jots down a few conversation-starters on the blackboard, then takes a seat amongst the 14- to 17-year-olds. He does the same work as they do, and raises his hand when he wants to speak. For most of his 20-year career, Henstrand played the more familiar role of a teacher as the manager of a classroom.
Free Courses and Resources. Who wants an open source curriculum based Education? A New Educational Model — Teaching & Learning. Aardvark Founder Max Ventilla Is Trying To Turn Education On Its Head With AltSchool. Alice, a single mom living in Daly City, was facing major roadblocks with her public school system.
Saying No to College. Two years ago, Mr. Goering was a sophomore at the University of Kansas, studying computer science and philosophy and feeling frustrated in crowded lecture halls where the professors did not even know his name. Hacking Your Education. Philanthropy Daily® » Anti-intellectualism and higher education. The new emphasis on accountability in higher education can have its upsides but the last couple of weeks have reminded me about the anti-intellectualism that often seems to come with such movements. A couple of weeks ago, Rick Scott, Governor of Florida, suggested that producing degrees in anthropology was not a "vital interest" of his state. College Degree, No Class Time Required. Enstitute, an Alternative to College for a Digital Elite. Ms. Gao decided that she didn’t want to continue studying at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York.
Open Online Learning – A Paradigm Shift. Entrepreneurial opportunities in Open Online Learning A new age rushes towards us like an unstoppable tsunami. A global information age, rising from the combined effect of the prior tectonic plate shift inventions of the microchip and internet. Is College Worth It? 10 Bizarre Schools From Around The Country. National School Reform Faculty. List of democratic schools. Alternative Education Resource Organization. Big Picture.
PlayMaker School. Learning by Choice: Play, Sports and A La Carte « Learning Is For Everyone -LI4E. News: CS in VN. Thinkers, lifelong learning and informal education @ the informal education homepage. ICPIC. A Child is Forced to Test: Where is Mainstream “Liberal” Media? Florida. Pearson PR Backfires. Education Publisher Accused of Censorship and Propaganda.
Florida Backtracks on Standardized State Tests. School district eliminating No Child Left Behind school transfers. The 7-lesson schoolteacher John Taylor Gatto. When Andrew Hacker asks “Is Algebra Necessary?”, why doesn’t he just ask “Is High School Necessary?” Achievement First Endeavor Middle School. How New Orleans Did Not Get Turned Around. Addressing Poverty in Schools. Los Angeles school police still ticketing thousands of young students. Education Reform. Toronto News: Toronto teachers stage protest to answer the public’s questions about education cuts. We are many. There is power in our numbers. Together, we will save our schools. Texas Republican Party Seeks Ban on Critical Thinking, Other Stuff. Chicago's teachers could strike a blow for organised labour globally. Texas Studies Suggest Test Design Flaw in TAKS.
The California Department of Education says you have a right to a bad education.