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  1. Dumbing-down adult education too?

    December 5, 2015 by Tunya

    TIME TO DUMB-DOWN THE ADULTS TOO

    Story: ONTARIO – $9M more for Adult Education

    I have notes for this story, but it will take me days to weave it together . . .

    1 Big adult education lobby needing jobs, consultancies, more venues for pet theories

    2 Much Adult Ed has a decided Whole-Language approach, holistic, social justice oriented

    3 Refugees, young and old, should learn the Whole-Language way (not phonics) to fit into rest of society.

    4 Grade 6 Reading Level is ideal. Propaganda theory claims this as best to keep a democracy in line.

    5 With new Liberal government in Federal politics, more $ will be available for adult education and refugee settlement. Maybe even Canadian Council on Learning will be restored, axed by Harper. This is just priming the pump; besides, it’s a model for others.

    6 The international 21st Century Learning and workforce development plans are being well organized. ON needs to stay with the flow. Story: Nov 2013 – Wynne says ON needs to move beyond 3Rs, to “creativity, collaboration, community and critical thinking”.

    7 What’s the use to keep bringing forth these absurdities? Outraged citizens certainly don’t count. Why, NOTHING works to counter bad government. Even the voice of reason and vast amounts of data and proof of waste and corruption do little to sway governments. Look at these three latest reports from Attorneys General:

    ONTARIO: http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robyn-urback-auditor-general-report-confirms-whats-wrong-with-ontarios-liberals-everything
    Dec ’15 “ . . . The breadth of mismanagement detailed in those 770 pages . . . is sloughed off as business as usual . . . Each mess-up is competing for airtime, so none of them gets their due. Perhaps that’s why this government seems to think itself “invincible.”

    NOVA SCOTIA: http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1324678-bennett-do-over-overdue-for-muddled-education-system
    Nov ’15 – Paul Bennett’s take on the NS AG’s report: “Student performance data in the AG’s report confirm that it continues to be mediocre at best. One out of three students overall is failing to meet the ‘provincial standard’ in Grades 3, 4 and 6 literacy and mathematics … It may be time to turn the system upside down with major structural reforms that ensure a more effective and democratically accountable school system.”

    BC: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/aboriginal-students-face-racism-of-low-expectations-in-b-c-schools
    Nov ’15 AG’s report “ . . . found a “racism of low expectations” in B.C. public schools . . . Aboriginal students’ high school graduation rate is just 62 per cent, compared to 87 per cent for non-aboriginal students in the province.”

    This lack of accountability is appalling. Caring citizens just shake their heads in sorrow.

    Category Absurdities, Obstacles, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  2. Multiplication Table — Perfect model of truth

    December 3, 2015 by Tunya

    The Perfect Model of Truth Is The Multiplication Table

    “The perfect model of truth is the multiplication table”, so says Bertrand Russell, as one socialist arguing with another, John Dewey. While both agreed on many common points (in the 40s) about the desirability of a socialist economy, Russell took on their divergence on the matter of truth.

    “[I, Russell] dissent from his most distinctive philosophical doctrine, namely the substitution of ‘inquiry’ for ‘truth’ as the fundamental concept of logic and theory of knowledge. Russell goes on to disagree with Dewey’s relativism, subjectivism, the collective power of human communities, and particularly his lack of humility (pride) in face of objective evidence.

    To depend on context or circumstances and use “inquiry” to determine some kind of conditional truth, Russell saw as “a certain kind of madness—the intoxication of power . . . I am persuaded that this intoxication is the greatest danger of our time, and that any philosophy which, however unintentionally, contributes to it is increasing the danger of vast social disaster.” (A History of Western Philosophy, 1945, 819-828)

    It was around this juncture in time that “discovery math” and all the others (New Math, Fuzzy Math, Everyday Math, Chicago Math, etc) became justified as appropriate — that “truth” “discovered” was better than transmitted knowledge or rote memory — regardless of incorrect results.

    In later decades “critical thinking” also became a declared cover for this “inquiry” approach, but we should remember that critical thinking really arose with the “oppression” theory of mankind (You’re either oppressed or an oppressor.) of Paulo Freire, whose book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) is a fundamental text in teacher training.

    A more current socialist on socialist critique is E D Hirsch of the Core Knowledge project who deplores the path taken in public education. It is the current progressivism and constructivism he takes issue with. In his dedication to Antonio Gramsci (communist) in his book — The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, 1996 — he says Gramsci “explained in the 1930s why the new educational ideas would lead to greater social injustice” and regrets that the public education system refused the Gramsci ideal of using the tools of strong academic skills. “They should learn the value of hard work, gain the knowledge that leads to understanding and master the traditional culture in order to command its rhetoric . . . In this debate history has proved Gramsci the better theoretician and prophet than Freire.” (pg7)

    Hirsch decried the “inegalitarian consequences of ‘naturalistic,’ ‘project-oriented’ ‘hands-on, ‘critical thinking,’ and so-called ‘democratic’ education . . . There is an inverse relation between educational progressivism and social progressivism.” (pg 7)

    What do we have now, in 2015? Why, Common Core in the USA, 21st Century Learning in Canada and many similar offshoots of “transformations” in UK, Australia and NZ. A continuation of what Russell (socialist) and Hirsch (quasi-socialist) denounce as NOT the way to greater justice, fairness and equality!

    Let’s be clear about definitions. Isn’t socialism about central control? What is public education if not the ultimate example — compulsory, centrally controlled monopoly, government curriculum, produced by state workers (unionized public servants) ?

    Either the left should get public education right, instead of dumbing-down citizens and miseducating impoverished and marginalized youth or get off their objection to models that work for all — charters, vouchers, education savings accounts.

    [comment in response to 

    "Common Core: Where a Wrong Answer Can be Right and the Right Answer Can Be Wrong"

    Lennie Jarratt | Dec 02, 2015

    http://townhall.com/columnists/lenniejarratt/2015/12/02/common-core-where-a-wrong-answer-can-be-right-and-the-right-answer-can-be-wrong-n2088103/page/full

    & ECC]

    Category Absurdities, Book Reviews, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  3. slinking away from accountability in Education

    December 2, 2015 by Tunya

     

    Accountability in Education — The Missing Link

    There is a big difference between SUBJECTIVE and OBJECTIVE ratings — be it rating of bridges or teachers or even pencils. Do they do the job they were produced to do?

    There is a big difference between feeling/looking nice and actually producing a demonstrable result.

    For teachers to be judged subjectively, “probably by their own peers”, as the New York story conveys, is not good enough. Teachers rated “effective” are not necessarily able to bring forth students who read or do math at grade level. http://www.activistpost.com/2015/12/the-fall-of-america-signals-the-rise-of-the-new-world-order.html?utm_source=Activist+Post+Subscribers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f034b7162c-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_b0c7fb76bd-f034b7162c-369048093

    Not so in Australia — if their plan for producing effective teachers goes ahead.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-01/around-one-in-ten-teaching-students-fail-literacy-and-numeracy-/6988168

    The news from Australia is that teacher training is now under the glass. Numeracy and literacy proficiency is expected from newly trained teachers and they are to be screened and tested. The full plan is yet to be implemented, but a trial run with 5000 trainees shows that 10% of trainees did not pass. Upon full implementation, these candidates would not receive teaching certificates.

    What is dismaying is not only what’s going on in Canada or New York but from the very head of the venerable PISA measurements (Program for International Student Assessment). Andreas Schleicher, in a foreword to a recent OECD publication — Schooling Redesigned: Toward Innovative Learning Systems — says:

    “Some will call for a robust scientific evidence base . . . to distinguish what is truly innovative and effective from what is simply different . . .The report therefore avoids references to “proven” or “best” practices.” (Pg 3-5 http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/schooling-redesigned_9789264245914-en#page6 )

    Please read just these three pages (3-5) and see if you discern any commitment from the PISA chief to continuing to provide hard measures about education performance and accountability.

     

    [To SQE Dec 02, 2015]

    Category Absurdities, Obstacles, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Adult education and the teaching of reading

    November 30, 2015 by Tunya

    [ Submitted, but not published. ]

    Vancouver Sun
    Letters to the Editor
     

    November 30, 2015

    Dear Sir:

    Re: Refugee students will have a steep learning curve, 27 November 2015

    Obviously, as part of their induction into Canadian society, Syrian refugees will be offered English classes. As well as writing, speaking and listening in English, they will be learning to decode the alphabetic English language in order to read fluently. This is where we should pause to look at the methods of teaching reading in this province.

    From what I can gather there is really a mixed bag of approaches. The long Reading Wars issue still continues, though not in the high profile way when “Why Johnny Can’t Read” was published in 1955 and again in the 80s with “Why Johnny Still Can’t Read”.

    In my brief survey of methods and professional development programs for teachers I see that there is still a wide range of styles, even with empirical research demonstrating superior results from a phonics approach compared to the sight-word or whole-language methods.

    My concern is that new refugees should not be subjected to even more confusion in adapting by having language courses that are not the most effective.

    Though seemingly unrelated (I would say it’s not) I bring forward the recent findings of the Auditor General who characterizes the education of BC Aboriginal children as “racism of low expectations”. Her report shows that in 10 years the government’s promise to bring parity of educational outcomes did not happen for our Aboriginal students. I believe that if strong programs to systematically teach reading were in place for all children this would not be happening. Experts tell us that Aboriginals are overrepresented in prison populations and that over half are considered functionally illiterate.

    Given this glaring fact about BC’s failure to address the educational needs of First Nations students I’m concerned. I hope the teachers in the schools and adult classes helping Syrian refugees are well equipped to teach the alphabetic principles of the English language.

    Sincerely, Tunya Audain

    Category Absurdities, Education Reform, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Guilt-ridden Ed Inc — very defensive

    November 27, 2015 by Tunya

    The Degree Of Defensiveness In Education Is Telling

    More critics of our education systems in the English-speaking Western World — US, UK, NZ, Australia, Canada — have received pressures to stop exposing the harms being done. This defensiveness itself is growing which indicates that exposing truth is having an effect.

    In Canada our latest relevant headline says: “Aboriginal students face ‘racism of low expectations’ in BC schools.” (Nov 25, ’15)

    The very act of teaching, or should it be more accurate to say “misteaching”, is under scrutiny and those who protect shabby practice are also under the glass.

    Increasingly it is the teaching of reading and the unresolved issues of the 100 years Reading Wars that bedevil us still. The READING FIRST movements of the past need to be revived as never before. Our children and increasing populations of refugees need the tools of insight by which to lead capable lives in our democracies.

    There is definitely a viewpoint that is now crystallizing about the unacceptable gap between research and truth and the public’s knowledge about the ills and incongruities in our education systems.

    It’s significant that even in the successful KIPP charter school locales the parents will use private phonics tutoring services for their children in order to keep up.

    It is important to keep educating the public about what “teaching” should be and what it’s not. The recent article by Bruce Deitrick Price (Why Kids Can’t Read) in The American Thinker has generated 100s of comments worth reading and passing on. To paraphrase Shakespeare, we must be able to withstand the “slings and arrows” as we take up arms “against a sea of troubles”.

    Those threats of being sued for libel and “cease and desist” letters are indeed badges of honor in our current education wars.

    [pub ECC on Why Kids Can’t Read thread, 27 Nov, 2016]

    Category Absurdities, Book Reviews, Education Reform, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

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