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‘Education Reform’ Category

  1. Parent Tribal Memory – Comment #1

    January 25, 2014 by Tunya

    Jan 01, 2014, I resolved to try to make-up for what other organizations have and parents do not — an institutional memory.  All the groups school parents deal with have some continuity that assists them in fulfilling their roles and advancing their positions.  The teachers have their unions, principals their associations, trustees their organizations.  And, they have a running record of their achievements and access to information when problems arise.

    Parents are handicapped as they are always starting from scratch if they have a concern or problem.

    Constantly reinventing the wheel.  Of course this leaves parents in an unfair position.  After 45 years in the trenches so to speak, with grandchildren in schools, I feel I can help a little in this regard.

    Today, I reproduce a post I made in one of my earlier blogs 6 years ago.  I will comment later about what the interval tells us — in 2008 and to today in 2014.

    DECEITS IN EDUCATION

    Posted on January 30, 2008 by Tunya Audain

    The education systems I follow – Canadian, American, and UK – are so ponderously top-heavy on the supply-side of education economics that they can only survive from toppling over by using complex, interlocking schemes that deliberately and successfully thwart reform efforts from the demand-side (the customers). Having usurped the rightful “property” and duty of parents and teachers, they cling to power and influence by deceitful methods.
     

    There are probably 101 DECEITS that impede effective education. I will start listing a few and you can add others.
     

       1. We aim for a classless society. Yet, by denial of choice in education, poor or disadvantaged students are prevented from overcoming limitations and leave school with deficient skills for quality life, work, or further education. Lack of choice frustrates social mobility. Equality of opportunity applies to the rich who can buy private education or move to catchment areas where schools respond to articulate customers.

          Look at the array of obstructionists that prevent CHOICE mechanisms from operating (magnet schools, charter schools, vouchers, open access….) and you start to see a good picture of those vested interests that benefit from a monopoly, state supply system.

       2. We have civilian governance of education. That is, trustees, are elected from the community to ensure that schools are run for the benefit of the students and not the providers (teachers, administrators, teacher educators, etc.) Yet, how many trustees do we see that are themselves educators, ex-educators, or ex-teacher union leaders with hidden agendas? And, they are quickly trained and domesticated to follow the dictates of the administrators. Some simply exploit this experience as an opportunistic stepping stone in pursuit of higher political aspirations.
       3. High costs of education are mainly due to teacher salaries. Yet, is this true? Compute all the overhead and subsidiary costs of the system. Factor in top dollar salaries of administrators and the rest of this bureaucratic empire. Don’t forget the costs of lawyers who are always on call in case of disputes. And, don’t forget the costs of Public Relations experts, conflict resolution experts, facilitators…..
       4. Parent involvement is very important to boost student achievement. Yes, research supports the correlation between student achievement and parent involvement, yet the current waves of soliciting more parent participation results in only more fund and fun-raising activities – not academic attention. Furthermore, whole industries of “parent involvement practitioners” are spinning off of this fad, further providing jobs for unemployed education PhD’s, adding more layers of “experts” and further mystifying parents and keeping them at bay.
       5. Education enables young people to be self-sufficient adults. However, the rising tide of mediocrity and dependency arising from “illiterate” grads is troubling. In some populations over 40% of students are drop-outs, leading to underemployment or dependence on welfare.

    The poor economic performance in France and Germany is blamed on the education systems which prepare students for government welfare (“Learning to Love the Dole”) more than they do for entrepreneurship or productive employment. See: Europe’s Philosophy of Failure here: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4095

     

     

     

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  2. Math is the “Red Flag” We Need to Wrestle With

    January 24, 2014 by Tunya

    If government can screw up Math so badly — a subject that should be relatively tamper proof — what else are they screwing up? Let’s not consider Social Studies or Reading or Science for now — Math is scary enough.

    It’s been determined that curriculum responsibility rests with the applicable Ministry — NOT the teacher union, NOT the text book publishers, NOT the itinerant consultants pushing their agendas.  That is why the Petitions now circulating for improved Math are directed, appropriately, straight at the Minister of Education in charge.

    Pushback is directed to where it might work, that is, if you still believe in government schools doing the education job.  We’re told that parents are leaving for independent schools or home education.

    Even students are asking: “Why should I go to school if they don’t teach?”

    One parent comment I read on this issue said her child is taught Math at home but is sent to school for “socialization.”  Well, dear parent, this may be your biggest mistake. I say that because that is what has happened — incrementally over time. THE MISSION of the public schools seems to have become “socialization”.  Socialization in all three meanings of the term:  1) to place under government control; 2) to make sociable; and 3) to convert to the needs of society.

    Right now this is part of the BIG CONTROVERSY in America against the Common Core Curriculum that aims to put all students in public schools under the control of the central federal government. And this nervousness is starting to emerge in Canada because of the “transformations” being imposed under terms as “personalized learning” or 21st Century skills. 

    This is about a BIG SHIFT — away from knowledge to competencies.

    Knowledge and skills can be measured and Ministries are being convinced to move away from these accountability means.  As a replacement, they are buying into competencies such as problem solving and collaboration and creativity.  And that’s where “discovery” Math comes in.  Part of the Big Shift.

    This is not proven good pedagogy.  But, it is a good umbrella for ideological agendas as social justice, social responsibility, global stewardship.  In our BC curriculum one of the Resources (“Making Space” pg24) says:

    •                Ensure that diverse examples are included when conducting number operations and statistics activities (e.g., representing diverse cultures, family structures, socioeconomic levels, etc.)

    • . . . students can look at numbers that reflect inequalities of income or resource distribution . . . to speculate about possible reasons for some of the disparities identified

    NOTE: This is for MATH in Kindergarten to Grade 3, ages 6 – 9 !

    Part of the Big Shift is that “over-arching themes” are to be embedded, across the curriculum, into all subjects.  Sustainability and global citizenship are two such themes.  Social justice and diversity are two more.

    In Australia, for 6 years a New National Curriculum was being developed under the Labor government.  The New Curriculum became a contentious issue in the latest Federal election and the new conservative government has just announced a Review.  A Report is due in 6 months time and its task is to determine what parents and public want from their schools as well as nail down whether there was a left worldview shift stemming from curriculum changes.  These three overarching themes were to be embedded into all subjects — Aboriginal culture, sustainability and global citizenship. 

    Now, my conclusion about a BC Math Petition. We were told before our Election in May 2013 that “regardless of who wins” the election, the new BC Ed Plan curriculum goes ahead, because “It’s international!”  Now, isn’t that so very different from Australia?  There the government runs public education.  Here in BC, and probably in Ontario*, there’s some international mandate at play (?)

    Good Luck with a desired result to your petition.

    [*Is it a coincidence that a day after Al Gore came to Toronto Nov 21, 2013, Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, announced: “We need to find space to focus on higher-order skills like creativity, collaboration, community and critical thinking . . .  Quite frankly, I know that many of you have been pushing for this for some time and fostering this learning in your own schools and boards.” ? Not saying that Gore is an outrider for the socialist Fabians but he has a connection.  The Deputy Gen Secretary of UK Fabians worked on Gore’s presidential campaign.  Fabian Motto — Educate, Agitate, Organize. ]

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

  3. Taking Education To Court

    January 23, 2014 by Tunya

    There are two kinds of courts for seeking justice.

    We have the law courts — with lawyers, huge expenses, victims/perpetrators — and eventually some judgment with remedies prescribed (maybe). 

    And then there is the “court of public opinion”  — with media, movies, good guys & bad guys — and public opinion mobilization that might actually influence reforms.

    In the first category, the legal, one of the most profound court cases in education was Brown vs Board of Education (1954) that outlawed school segregation by race. It has had long-lasting benefits to civil society.  Another case with anticipated long-term benefits was the Rick Moore case (2013) http://www.bccpac.bc.ca/news-blog/disappointment-after-landmark-win-learning-disabled-students, which established the right of a dyslexic child to special services. It took 15 years for this case to weave through the courts but eventually, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that “Adequate special education is not a dispensable luxury . . . it is the ramp that provides access to the statutory commitment to education made to all children . . . ”

    However, a year later, the father is dispirited, cynical and dubious that responsiveness will improve for other learning disabled students.  Yet we are told that as many as one in five people are dyslexic to some degree. School systems and training outfits pay little attention.  Obviously, the clients’ needs are not being heeded.  So, whom does the public education system serve?  That’s the Big Question.

    In the “court of public opinion”, much has been happening worldwide.  Petitions and campaigns do help raise consciousness.  Many movies have been produced that slam education systems for abandonment of intended purposes — Waiting for Superman, The Lottery, etc.

    In 1987 I proposed a MOCK TRIAL to a Future of Freedom Conference in California.  I was able to only get as far as producing a brochure but got no uptake from others to advance the idea. Below are some pieces and quotes from the brochure:

    PUBLIC EDUCATION ON TRIAL  “School has become the planned process which tools man for a planned world, the principal tool to trap man in man’s trap.  It is supposed to shape each man to an adequate level for playing a part in this world game. Inexorably we cultivate, treat, produce, and school the world out of existence. Ivan Illich, 1971.

    – On a small secret island, SANOS, live several hundred who hived-off because they saw a totalitarian doom descending on them.  They resolved to be the “last man” — guardians of the human spirit. One day, they receive a desperate message from the bigger world — “Help us to reverse our self-destruction . . . losing the power of intellectual effort to even keep doublethink straight . . .

    – Bringing to SANOS some of these petitioners,  after 3 days of court proceedings, it is determined that:

    – The public school system is the source of the self-sabotage and the remedy is to dismantle the infrastructure.  These are the “crimes to humanity” deemed to have been perpetrated — erosion of the family — dumbed-down public — killing the joy of learning — atrophy of democracy — growth of dogmatism — habituation to “experts” — dependence on the state with few choices or exits — individualism curtailed — economic sluggishness — voluntarism mocked  — extinguishing introspection.

    [NOW, in 2014, reading just a few excerpts from the brochure, I am surprised how prophetic were my speculations. 26 years ago we were NOT so subjugated as we are now.  Today, suspicions and anxieties are being expressed regarding the 21st Century Learning “transformations” being imposed on schools in the Western World.  My fervent hope is that a movie could be made along the lines of this mock trial to hammer home some of the real misgivings regarding these imposed changes.  Changes which not only alter curriculum but also make serious intrusions into worldview, mind, brain and emotions. ]

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

  4. Teachers Who Are Parents Enjoy More Access to Rights

    January 22, 2014 by Tunya

    Ever wonder why Parent Rights are not written down anywhere — not at the school or the school board?  Parents do have rights — see http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2010/04/06/parent-rights-and-their-childrens-education/

    It’s much more convenient for a smooth-running system not to have assertive consumers. 

    But teachers, who are themselves parents, know these rights well and in a public school system many services are scarce and rationed.  Teacher/parents (T/Ps) know how to work the system on behalf of their own children.  T/Ps, being thus satisfied, do not generally see how unfair this is for parents who do not have the inside advantages.

    1      Teacher/parents know the language, the words, to use.

    2      T/Ps know how to navigate the system:  who to see, what to say, what to ask for.

    3      T/Ps know how to interpret assessments, scores and evaluations and know where their child really stands in grade level and expectations.

    4      If the student is behind in reading, for example, the T/P can make up the deficiency at home or hire a tutor for precisely what is needed.

    5      T/Ps are at an income level where buying extra tutoring is no problem.

    6       If the T/P’s child might be special needs a psychosocial assessment is readily arranged —  contrast with the often two-year waiting period for other parents.

    7      Once such an assessment is made, an IEP (Individual Education Program) is negotiated between school and parent, and here again the T/P is advantaged because of knowledge of the maximum that can be available.

    8      Once the IEP is in place, extra funding and resources are made available.

    9      If a T/P sees there is a poor fit between their child and a teacher it is relatively easy to switch teachers as again, the “insider” language is a bonus — knowing how to explain why the child would be better off in an “unthreatening” way that does not reflect on the other teacher helps.

    10   T/Ps feel keenly the urgency of child growth and development — he’s a child only once coming this way — and press their case with adeptness and urgency which in other parents would be seen as “pushy” or “helicopter parenting”.

    11   T/Ps are knowledgeable about the legalities of malpractice and can use this as background allusion to further press their case if needed.

    12   T/Ps are conscious of the safeguards that should be in place in cases of bullying, adoption of new untested programs or psychological invasions of privacy and know how to insist on safeguards or know how to exit from questionable practices.

    13  T/Ps know full well what is a healthy and productive learning experience and if all efforts fail know how to ride out a crisis and provide make-up solutions or antidotes at home. 

    14  T/Ps know that they are the client in a school situation when their child is at issue and know the routes, angles and procedures to follow if they meet with resistance instead of responsiveness and are not easily discouraged from pursuing their rights and entitlements.

    15   T/Ps fully know parent rights in education and just don’t want them written down for other parents to know. 

     

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

  5. Parent Meetings With School Officials

    January 20, 2014 by Tunya

    A meeting with school officials can be daunting — all these related meanings with different twists convey the absolute TERROR some parents may feel — intimidating, unnerving, scary, overwhelming, demoralizing.  You get the picture.  Parents can be dumbfounded, regardless of their composure in other settings in their capable lives.  There are far too many instances where parents are made to feel INADEQUATE, and this won’t help.  If your dealings on behalf of your child have come to a point where “THE MEETING” is scheduled, here are some pointers:

    FIRST:             Make sure any meeting is convenient to you.  You can ask for more convenient times.  Especially, if you need to bring a lawyer.

    SECOND:        You should NEVER go to a meeting by yourself.  Take someone with you, and not just for comfort, but also as witness.  Sometimes these events are the beginning of a longer journey.  A priest, a lawyer, just about anyone will do (a neighbor), even if they don’t speak.

    THIRD:            Take in a Tape Recorder and turn it on immediately at the start.  Say that the meeting will be taped in case you need it later.  You can place the tape in a sealed envelope and keep it with you.  You may need it for court purposes or for a meeting in Executive session with the School Board.

    FOURTH:        You, as parent have the RIGHT and DUTY to monitor your child’s HEALTH, EDUCATION AND HAPPINESS.  That’s one reason we have Report Cards.  But, also, you are always monitoring your child’s physical and mental health.  You do this because you’re living with your child and know his or her day and night behaviors, feelings and fears. Your concerns, beyond the academic, should be shared.

    FIFTH:      Malpractice court action is a possibility.  If your child is suffering HARM — that school behaviors are causing FEARS, PHOBIAS OR NIGHTMARES — and you can get medical verification in support, you can sue.  Officials need to know this is an extreme, but available, path parents can follow.

    SIXTH:     Do not hesitate to withdraw the child from the school if you see it in the best interests of the child — a mental health break may be indicated.  Home education by correspondence courses or other means discovered using the Internet or local support groups could provide the tools and peace of mind for a home-based program.

    [My comment:  Parents must realize that, by law, in the end result, THEY ARE responsible for their child’s education.  Only in totalitarian nations does the state dictate.  Please see this list of Parent Rights, codified after studying good practice about this matter         http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/?s=parent+rights ]

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

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