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‘Education Reform’ Category

  1. Emancipatory Math — Who Needs It?

    February 15, 2014 by Tunya

    While studying Math issues, I found myself overwhelmed by how much of school curriculums are seen "emancipatory".  I found reference to schools needing to be "emancipatory". 

    Where is this coming from.  Is the customer asking to be emancipated?  I remember the big discussions and concerns we had when 8 boys from a small village in Italy wrote the little book, LETTER TO A TEACHER.  They said that in fact this was NOT a letter to a teacher but to parents.  They wanted parents to arise and demand good education for them and other children.  

    Now, these are "customers", asking to be emancipated — freed from ignorance.

    But this wave of emancipatory educators seem to be self-appointed to free the world.

    The Internet produces much such references, and I hope to distill some of this new :transformation" we are to be " grateful" for.

    Perents in particular DO NEED to become aware of these self-appointed heros, utopians, totalitarians, whatever that are imposing untested experiments on our school children who are really often captive audiences.

    I particularly am keen on reading this article — The End of the Fairy Tale of the Customer as King 

    Aboriginal Math – What is That?

    I need to find what this is all about, but Paige MacPherson, a journalist with Sun News TV mentions this as a program in BC's new curriculum.  

    This video is worth watching — POLITICS IN THE CLASSROOM — and has a short clip at the end about the Aboriginal Math program.  But, the whole show is with Michael Coren on the topic of public teachers and their political behavior.  One part is about a visit Prime Minister  Harper made to Vancouver Island in January and when a teacher took her class to protest where one student says something like this:  "I am here because I heard in history class that the Prime Minister is bad for the environment."  Coren thinks these are all inappropriate behaviors for public teachers.

    http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/3029383846001

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Category Book Reviews, Education Reform, Parent Tribal Memory | Tags: | No Comments

  2. math the new gold mine — to be milked !

    February 14, 2014 by Tunya

    Mathematics is becoming a battlefield  Parents, of course, want it as part of the THREE Rs.  Only when international PISA scores were announced, and slides in achievment were noted, did people start looking at the issues.  One of the issues is that employers seem to be more eager for graduates from the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathermatics)  specialities.  

    But, we are finding out that things have been happening in MATH quiet beyond our wildest imaginations.  No wonder parents aren't able to help their children with Math homework.  Also, teachers are saying they don't want kids taking Math homework home.  Why?

    A lot has to do with "transformations" happening — inquiry and discovery are two new methods.

    So, if you want some flavor of how “discovery” or New Age math will be like, please watch this short 4 minute video of an Arkansas parent opposing the Common Core and demonstrating how a simple “rigorous” math question is turned into a 108 step “discovery”, exploration and problem-solving personal experience ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZEGijN_8R0#t=23

    BUT, Math is also becoming a ripe field to mine, or "milk" for political ends, for social justice, for changing the world!

    I order this book and will report later:  Opening the Cage – Critique and Politics of Mathematics Education, Skovsmose & Greer (Eds), Sense Pub, 2012.

    Opening the cage addresses mathematics education as a complex socio-political phenomenon, exploring the vast terrain that spans critique and politics. Opening the cage includes contributions from educators writing critically about mathematics education in diverse contexts. They demonstrate that mathematics education is politics, they investigate borderland positions, they address the nexus of mathematics, education, and power, and they explore educational possibilities. Mathematics education is not a free enterprise. It is carried on behind bars created by economic, political, and social demands. This cage might not be as magnificent as that in Tagore's fable. But it is strong. Opening the cage is a critical and political challenge, and we may be surprised to see what emerges.

     

     

    Category Book Reviews, Education Reform, Obstacles, Parent Tribal Memory | Tags: | No Comments

  3. Bringing The Topic Of “ESA” To Canada

    February 13, 2014 by Tunya

    Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) is an important concept that is gaining traction in the United States.  Jay P Greene's blog has a number of posts on the topic and is within the broader CHOICE category.

    http://jaypgreene.com/2014/02/13/mississippi-senate-and-house-send-pass-esa-bills/

    I just posted to this blog the following:

    Bringing The Topic Of ESAs To Canada

    We’ve had a running conflict between teacher union and government in our province of British Columbia, Canada, for over 40 years. The latest “event” is the judgment handed down by Supreme Court that found the government to be acting in “bad faith” in bargaining, provoking a strike, and was handed a $2Million fine.  It’s more complex, but that’s the general picture.  Of course, there’s an Appeal.  (Search words — BCTF government judgment — will bring in some stories if you’re interested.)

    Today I submitted the following letter-to-the-editor so that we might hopefully vault over these problems and consider alternatives, including ESAs.

    “The patience of parents and public alike has been sorely tested by the endless conflicts between the teachers’ union and the government.

    What we fail to remember is that these struggles have been going on for over 40 years, not the 12-year period recently highlighted by the recent BC Supreme Court decision (BCTF vs BC, 2014).  Furthermore, this happens regardless of the political stripe of the government of the day — be it Social Credit, NDP or Liberal.

    This is a power struggle that may never be sorted out. Legal actions bankrupt resources. Students are shortchanged.  And parents, who are ultimately responsible for their children’s education, are left unsure, frustrated and unable to pursue their children’s best interests.

    Much of the problem rests with the service model adopted to ensure an educated public.  The mistake is to consider education as a public utility that only a government monopoly can provide.  The predictable happens — special interests vie for control and interfere with the intended mission.

    However, if the common good of appropriately educated students is to be served, why not seek alternative models to deliver the desired outcomes?

    Even now, economists are warning that many school graduates are not meeting career or college expectations. But so much is known about what works in education and much more can be achieved with greater innovation, flexibility and stability. 

    Why not release the public education dollar and have it follow the student?  Charter schools are working elsewhere.  Education Savings Accounts are being used in some US states for parents to shop and mix-and-match education choices for their kids. In particular, special needs and talents are better served in this manner. 

    This current impasse provides a great opportunity to try different ways to help our kids and grandkids get the education they need for the 21st Century. “

    Category Education Reform, GOOD NEWS, Parent Tribal Memory | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Parent Rights Transparent and Enshrined in law

    February 12, 2014 by Tunya

    Yes, parents have rights in the education of their children.  A few people may mutter: "But they have duties too."  What I have found is that those in the know, or on the inside circles in education do know AND ENJOY these rights.  But, they are not written down.  This is unfair for the usually shy, trusting parents who first start seeing the need to advocate.

    After a nearly half century of promoting parent rights there may finally be some breakthroughs to make parent rights more transparent.  They need not be chiselled in stone on the townhall wall, but they should be prominent — on the school walls, library bulletin boards, in the students' daybooks etc.  

    Yesterday I read about Idaho, and sent this comment:

    http://www.idahoednews.org/news/house-introduces-parents-bill-of-rights/#comment-188391

    Transparent Parent Rights Long Overdue

    Yes, many of the rights proposed are already there. But few parents really feel welcome in asserting them, even if they are well informed. Those who really benefit and enjoy their rights are usually parents in the professions, not your everyday parent. That is unfair. That is why this bill is a breakthrough and hopefully — eventually — these rights will be posted in all schools, hospitals, day care centers, government offices, etc.

    What I would suggest, however, is that a working committee do more exploratory work on widening some of the rights, especially in education. With the Common Core Curriculum concerns being expressed it seems that parents have been quite excluded from what is being proposed.

    I would suggest a look at this document that we compiled over 30 years ago when fads and experiments were the rage. http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2010/04/06/parent-rights-and-their-childrens-education/

    PS: I am from Canada. I wish you the best in this endeavour.

    Today, I gained news of California's concrete proposals, based on research, to advance the parent cause.

    This link to the 15pg report http://edsource.org/today/wp-content/uploads/Power-of-Parents-Feb-2014.pdf?utm_source=Parent-power+release+email+&utm_campaign=Parent+Power+Report+Release&utm_medium=email

    I like this priority: "schools will be assessed as to how successful they are in working with parents.'

    More later about California.

     

     

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  5. The Fiction of education reform

    February 11, 2014 by Tunya

    Book Review

    Beyond Public Education, Myron Lieberman, 1986, Praeger

    Fact and Fiction of Education Reform

    Lieberman's book could be the starting point for anyone concerned with our public schools. He says that all the reform efforts of the last few decades are unrealistic and even "harmful" to education. His book largely refers to the American scene, but from what I've read most of the insights apply to the Canadian scene as well.

    If you've ever been frustrated by the system, the following insights from a long-time insider since the 50s are revealing. The major obstacles to educational reform include:

    • The structure governing public education
    • Teacher unions
    • Tenure laws
    • Insulation from competition or alternatives
    • Leadership gap

    Even as reform efforts may point to desirable new directions, their major flaw is failing to acknowledge the above obstacles which are too real to ignore. The symbolic gestures at reform produce the illusion of concern and serve to perpetuate the status quo with its vested interests.

    Media gullibility obscures the political, educational and intellectual bankruptcy of the reform movement. Educational reform is taking place in newspaper articles and television broadcasts, not in classrooms.

    Educational deterioration is real enough, though understated, says Dr. Lieberman.

    • Illiteracy is a major problem
    • Many remedial courses in colleges/universities are needed to bring students up to speed
    • Avoidance of testing contributes to grade inflation and covers up decline in achievement
    • Increase in high school programs lacking any defensible academic purposes

    Audience for Whom the Message is Addressed

    One of my major objectives is to help parents reject cosmetic changes in education that leave the status quo essentially unchanged. My analysis is intended to explain how and why parent participation in school affairs is usually futile – Lieberman

    Of course, all the myriad policy-makers and players are enjoined to read the book: unions, school boards, legislators, media, business people, etc. From my experience, the analysis in the book equips the status quo for greater resistance to parents than to assist parents. Now, 20 years after the publication of that book and after my first reading of it I think that is true. The status quo persists. (Example: 7 of the 9 trustees at the Vancouver School Board are teachers, ex-teachers, or in the education system one way or another and one member is an ex teacher union official. Isn’t that conflict of interest? One board member has been there for over 20 years! Now that is status quo! Should there be term limits? How effective can parent voice be before such a body?)

    Whatâ's to Be Done?

    Lieberman states repeatedly that the purpose of the whole effort is an educated citizenry, not the apparatus that has grown up around the effort. He makes two suggestions for real improvement in education:

    1. Improve Family Choice Since parents have no voice in educational governance or quality control, at least if they had a choice of schools, their "consumer" activity would trigger competition, improvement, etc. The vehicle for this would be tuition tax credits or vouchers.
    2. Entrepreneurial Schools Either founded by businesses or educator entrepreneurs, these schools would be more efficient, relevant, innovative and responsive to their constituents (parents and students). Their emphasis would be on results, marketable skills, jobs, and personal pride.

    For the first time ever, a complete un-masking of the education industry by an ex teacher, ex teacher union negotiator and a university professor and now chairman of the Education Policy Institute.

    [This was written 28 years ago when I was  still optimimistic. Parents still have little choice. TA]

     

     

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