Safety commissions, school districts, PTAs, and other groups and individuals have discussed school safety. One smart move would be to ensure that every school has a legitimate arts program including visual arts, music, drama, and dance. Students who struggle with mental health problems might benefit from the arts. Every child should have access. Students should […]
My Blogging Anniversary: How Has School Reform Changed in Five Years?
I recently passed the five-year anniversary of when I started writing my blog. What has changed? In this post, I analyze some of the issues I’ve written about over the years. Then, I thank you for your support. Change or lack of change in education can seem dark and foreboding, but there’s a great deal […]
Worries about Tech and the Chan/Zuckerberg $30 Million Support of “Reach Every Reader”
Reading is essential for learning, yet students across the U.S. are completing elementary school with inadequate reading abilities. So begins the announcement in The Harvard Gazette telling us about the new $30 million grant Chan/Zuckerberg will hand over to Harvard’s School of Education and MIT’s Integrative Learning Initiative (MITili). Learning to read, all of us […]
High School College: High School Hell!
Freshmen are told on one hand not to worry about college, then given an early version of a college entrance exam three weeks into their first year of high school. ~Chicago Tribune Nov.13, 2017 Like kindergartners pushed to be first graders, high school is the new college. Teens are more anxious than ever. Depression and […]
President Obama’s “Bubble” and Our Fear of Losing America’s Democratic Public Schools
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King, Jr. We become so secure in our bubbles, that we start only accepting information, whether it’s true or not, that fits our opinions. President Obama’s Farewell Address, January 10, 2017 On Martin Luther King, […]
The Upcoming, Troubling, PBS “School of the Future”
On Wednesday, Sept. 14, 9 pm ET, PBS and NOVA will air a two hour special called “School of the Future.” The advertisement tells us much. They are warning that the future for children demands that students need better preparation to succeed due to globalization. What they probably won’t tell us is that this future […]
The Manufactured Shortage: Driving Teachers Out of the Classroom
Those in charge of public schools and politicians are hypocrites when it comes to the rhetoric surrounding a teacher shortage! School districts around the country are describing hundreds of classrooms they can’t seem to fill with qualified teachers. This has been a manipulated ploy to get rid of veteran teachers and employ alternative, revolving door […]
The Dangers of Eliminating Teacher Preparation
Wisconsin is thinking about letting anyone teach. No degree will be required to enter the classroom and work with students. Isn’t it bizarre to encourage young people to go to college but claim their teachers don’t need a college degree? Surely this is quackery. But I thought it would be a good time to do […]
Hillary Clinton, Zip Codes, and School Equality
The point often made during debates by Sec. Hillary Clinton is that children should not get a poor education based on their zip code. Most of us would agree about poverty and its harmful effects on children in school. But the zip code message was co-opted a long time ago by those who want to […]
The Lopsided Curriculum: Where are Science, Social Studies and the Arts?
Little children are like sponges, soaking up knowledge of the world around them every minute. So when they start formal education, how much science, social studies and the arts do students in elementary school get? Teaching these subjects used to be important. Learning in these areas sent some of us into our future professions. We […]