Call-out Against “Massachusetts Miracle” Tall-Poppy Syndrome
[This was a reply submitted on Jay P Greene’s blog about Bill Gates http://jaypgreene.com/2015/10/14/emperor-gates-has-no-clothes/]http://jaypgreene.com/2015/10/14/emperor-gates-has-no-clothes/ ]
Thanks to Sandra Stotsky and others in Massachusetts, attention is focusing on the deliberate dumbing-down of a high scoring school system. But now, Common Core is being pushed. Education programs have been working so well for so many years that Mass. has a reputation for great reading, math and science scores. In the blogosphere, education consumers and critics often mention this American state as a model to be followed.
It’s likely some kind of unprincipled envy that’s conspiring to bring Massachusetts education down to size. Cut down the tall poppy. See “The Tall Poppy Syndrome” http://www.societyforqualityeducation.org/index.php/blog/the-tall-poppy-syndrome
That happened in Canada in the province of Alberta. For many years AB was the top scoring province in the country and measured highly against international education scores as well. The main reason performance was high was due to choices parents had between schools including charter schools since 1994.
But, the usual culprits despising choice, plus the adoption of 21st Century Learning “transformation” (like CC) have cut down this “tall poppy” to size. Scores have been dropping and right now there is a huge parent effort to at least bring back some rigor to Math.
An alien to Planet Earth would shake his head in sorrow and puzzlement. Why would excellent programs to help children learn be compromised by untested experiments? And, why do free-democratic nations that embrace human rights allow only a few to exit these programs? Thankfully people like Stotsky and Greene are calling-out against these kinds of absurdities!