The two most misused phrases in the education world today are “developmentally appropriate” and “kinesthetic learner.” In that order. When I was in school “peer group relations” and “self-esteem” were the most misused buzz-terms. But in real life, kids can do much more than most adults give them credit for, regardless of age; and the vast majority of kids called “kinesthetic learners” would be a whole lot less kinesthetic if somebody took away their sugar fix.
When it comes to standardized testing, there is a fine line between not enough and too much.
Most (accredited) private schools are better than bad public schools, but a startling number are really only as good as good public schools. Any private school that does not have a waiting list can’t really afford to let students get too far ahead of “good public school” levels, because it will hurt recruiting. If your 5th graders are doing 7th grade work, how do you get more 5th graders, and what do you do with them if they come? Put them in 3rd grade?
You can learn a lot about a teacher or school administrator by what they think about “drill and kill” versus “practice makes perfect.”
Remember when I said that if I were education czar I would compile standards of what kids should know and be able to do at what grade? It turns out that Washington is doing just that, albeit with less community input than I think would be optimal. Also, these are state standards, not national ones. The national standard under NCLB is still “better.”
A some point parents need to let kids develop responsibility for themselves. Preferably, this should be before college. It’s one thing to stand up for your kid, it’s another thing to do everything for your kid.
Dyslexia may be overrated.
Not new information to me, but it still bears mentioning that “educational flavor of the year” is not a good way to run a school. Wouldn’t it be simpler to use tried-and-true things that are proven to work? Sometimes I think the idea is that the teachers get bored with the old-fashioned way of doing things.
It has not been my imagination that textbooks are getting dumber. I first noticed this in 4th grade, and things have only gotten worse since then. If I may paraphrase Bart Simpson, “Now let me get this straight. We are behind, so we are going to catch up by going slower? Cuckoo! Cuckoo!”
A bunch of parents are starting to think that — since everybody says kids learn languages better and faster than grown-ups — Asian languages might be a better choice for schools to teach than Spanish in the coming century.
Good item on teacher recruiting here.
I hope you have enjoyed these admittedly random facts, and that you will be encouraged to think about education (among other things) for yourself.
In closing: How does this work? “Social Security numbers, names, and addresses, and were transmitted to an unknown hacker by the keylogger,” yet “No taxpayer financial data was lost to the keylogger.” Which is it? Krugman on the fear of fear itself. Star Trekking across American forests and Scottish Highlands. Apologies to Mel Brooks, but it must be good to be King. Coming soon to a news report near you, Crisis in Palestine. The West cut off the money to starve the “terrorists,” but the terrorists are the only ones with money. Muhammed Average gets caught in the middle. Norway is prepared for the End of the World as We Know It, but do they feel fine? And finally, the Duhpartment of Research shows that vegetables are good for you.
there is a certain irony in that the american king is also named george…