Spunky initiated a homeschool blog contest. She took submissions for two weeks. Now people can vote by going here.
It is an incredible list. There are over 300 different options for voting. With probably at least 200 distinct blogs. It is going to take weeks for me to check out all the new blogs.
I am sure this is a ton of work. You might tell Spunky thanks for helping to organize it. On the award page, where you can vote, several others are mentioned as being helpful for putting this together. Consider thanking them also.
We've been lucky enough to be considered for two categories, "Best Homeschool Family Blog" and "Informational Homeschool Blog."
It appears this contest may be an annual event. Spunky kicked this off with a title of "Homeschooling Blogger Awards 2005." If the contest happens again next year it will be interesting to see just how many hundreds of blogs we have then.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Links to interesting postings - 12 Dec 05
EdWonks has a couple interesting posts. In one he links to a column by Joel Turtel who examines the importance of reading and the consequences of illiteracy. EdWonks is not impressed with Joel’s analysis of the problems with public education. Joel has written "Public School, Public Menace" which explores areas in which public schools are harming our children.
EdWonks also has a link to an article about how an Illinois school board may ban whole milk, but OK nutritious potato chips and candy.
Townhall's education site linked to a column on the double standards of the NEA. There has been a recent commercial blitz asking Wal-mart to reach a higher standard. S. Alex Bohler points out how in general the NEA fights any calls to push education to a higher level.
Instapundit links to a posting by his wife on why so many of this generation of children are fat. She has one solution, "Potato Guns!"
EdWonks also has a link to an article about how an Illinois school board may ban whole milk, but OK nutritious potato chips and candy.
Townhall's education site linked to a column on the double standards of the NEA. There has been a recent commercial blitz asking Wal-mart to reach a higher standard. S. Alex Bohler points out how in general the NEA fights any calls to push education to a higher level.
Instapundit links to a posting by his wife on why so many of this generation of children are fat. She has one solution, "Potato Guns!"
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Susan Wise Bauer - her books & her "typical" days of homeschooling
In looking around at various blogs I've seen many people write about a typical day of homeschooling. My wife wrote about one such unschooling day we had recently. These kinds of postings help each us recognize that sometimes we have rough days, and that is OK. It is also interesting to see how other people implement various approaches to homeschooling.
Often when I read about a day of homeschooling I am reminded of Susan Wise Bauer's postings about some of her days of homeschooling. If you haven't read these, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2004, stop now and go read them. They are wonderful. For awhile my daughters would beg me to read the postings to them once or twice a week.
My wife and I came across The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and her mother Jessie Wise just before we started to homeschool seven years ago. The book was very helpful in laying down a framework for providing an education deep in the classics. This gave us a sense of one way to do homeschooling. It is a bit funny, the first edition pushes a lot of structure, pretty much a school at home approach. But when you read Susan's homeschooling days you realize that her days were not always structured. (My daughters sometimes remind us that chocolate is an important part of homeschooling.) We heard Susan speak at a homeschooling conference in Sacramento a couple years ago. She made it a point to say that the publisher demanded that the book have a very structured approach. Susan said that the second edition encouraged a more flexible approach.
A big part of our approach to homeschooling is to use the classical approach from "The Well Trained Mind." One of the main themes in the book is to cover the history of the world three times. The first time through in grades 1 to 4 the child gets a basic overview of what has happened over the last couple thousand years. Then the child goes through again during grades 5 to 8, and one last time in grades 9 to 12. Each time the child gets a deeper understanding of what is happening, and why it is happening. My wife and I got each of the four volumes of "The Story of the World" by Susan Wise Bauer which do a pass through the history of the world. (one, two, three, four) The books are very informative and provide a good overview.
We also got the CDs for each of the four books. Our daughters like listen to the CDs on the way to appointments, when we travel, and sometimes when they fall asleep at night. On one trip we listened to the whole second volume. They enjoy the CDs and like to listen to them, over and over again. They have listened for hundreds of hours. Our best guess is about five hundred hours worth. For their age they have a great understanding of history.
Often when I read about a day of homeschooling I am reminded of Susan Wise Bauer's postings about some of her days of homeschooling. If you haven't read these, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2004, stop now and go read them. They are wonderful. For awhile my daughters would beg me to read the postings to them once or twice a week.
My wife and I came across The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and her mother Jessie Wise just before we started to homeschool seven years ago. The book was very helpful in laying down a framework for providing an education deep in the classics. This gave us a sense of one way to do homeschooling. It is a bit funny, the first edition pushes a lot of structure, pretty much a school at home approach. But when you read Susan's homeschooling days you realize that her days were not always structured. (My daughters sometimes remind us that chocolate is an important part of homeschooling.) We heard Susan speak at a homeschooling conference in Sacramento a couple years ago. She made it a point to say that the publisher demanded that the book have a very structured approach. Susan said that the second edition encouraged a more flexible approach.
A big part of our approach to homeschooling is to use the classical approach from "The Well Trained Mind." One of the main themes in the book is to cover the history of the world three times. The first time through in grades 1 to 4 the child gets a basic overview of what has happened over the last couple thousand years. Then the child goes through again during grades 5 to 8, and one last time in grades 9 to 12. Each time the child gets a deeper understanding of what is happening, and why it is happening. My wife and I got each of the four volumes of "The Story of the World" by Susan Wise Bauer which do a pass through the history of the world. (one, two, three, four) The books are very informative and provide a good overview.
We also got the CDs for each of the four books. Our daughters like listen to the CDs on the way to appointments, when we travel, and sometimes when they fall asleep at night. On one trip we listened to the whole second volume. They enjoy the CDs and like to listen to them, over and over again. They have listened for hundreds of hours. Our best guess is about five hundred hours worth. For their age they have a great understanding of history.
Selections from some Google alerts
Google is an amazing company. Their search engine is very useful. They keep looking for more and more features to bring to the web. I heavily use their alert service. Google will constantly search the web, various online news sources, or the usenet postings, depending on your interest. When Google finds a match, it will send you an email. If you aren’t using Google Alert, check it out.
Today Google sent me a number links to homeschool and education related articles.
Public schools have their hands a bit tied in dealing with bullies. Because public school is a right, it is very hard to kick out badly behaved children. If a victim tells on a bully, and the school does very little, then the bully feels empowered to hurt the victim again. The lesson the victim learns is not to tell. Here's an article about a 12 year old boy in Massachusetts who was badly beat up, and his sister was threatened with rape. Two months later the school still has done very little, so the parents pull the boy from school and are going to homeschool him. If a 25 year old man beat up another 25 year old man, we'd throw the aggressive in jail. But for some reason our society seems to think it is OK to let 15 year old young men beat up other 15 year old young men.
We've mentioned a couple other recent incidents, here, and here, on bullies in school. I have added another Google alert search for "bully school" and will monitor the results.
This article is an interesting contrast. An 18 year old boy assaults a police officer and gets put in jail on a bond of $30,000. So maybe the lesson is children can beat up children, but don't mess with the police.
It is stories like this which make some homeschoolers feel a bit paranoid. A homeschool family in Las Vegas had a police man and a social worker knock at their door at 9:30 PM. The social worker demanded that he be let in to the house. The social worker wanted the children waken up so he could interview them. HSLDA was able to get the social worker to leave the family alone.
I am very interested in what Google Alert search patterns others are using. Daryl Cobranchi recently suggested [ student arrest ] as a good search pattern. Do you have any favorite patterns?
Today Google sent me a number links to homeschool and education related articles.
Public schools have their hands a bit tied in dealing with bullies. Because public school is a right, it is very hard to kick out badly behaved children. If a victim tells on a bully, and the school does very little, then the bully feels empowered to hurt the victim again. The lesson the victim learns is not to tell. Here's an article about a 12 year old boy in Massachusetts who was badly beat up, and his sister was threatened with rape. Two months later the school still has done very little, so the parents pull the boy from school and are going to homeschool him. If a 25 year old man beat up another 25 year old man, we'd throw the aggressive in jail. But for some reason our society seems to think it is OK to let 15 year old young men beat up other 15 year old young men.
We've mentioned a couple other recent incidents, here, and here, on bullies in school. I have added another Google alert search for "bully school" and will monitor the results.
This article is an interesting contrast. An 18 year old boy assaults a police officer and gets put in jail on a bond of $30,000. So maybe the lesson is children can beat up children, but don't mess with the police.
It is stories like this which make some homeschoolers feel a bit paranoid. A homeschool family in Las Vegas had a police man and a social worker knock at their door at 9:30 PM. The social worker demanded that he be let in to the house. The social worker wanted the children waken up so he could interview them. HSLDA was able to get the social worker to leave the family alone.
I am very interested in what Google Alert search patterns others are using. Daryl Cobranchi recently suggested [ student arrest ] as a good search pattern. Do you have any favorite patterns?
My profile has been updated
My wife has encouraged me a couple of times to add some details to my profile, so I finally got around to updating it.
Links to interesting postings - 10 Dec 05
Dr. Helen Smith again addresses some issues of boys and education. Most public schools want young boys to sit quietly. Dr. Helen references an article in the Washington Post by Michael Gurian, author of The Minds of Boys : Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life. In the article Michael Gurian says: "It doesn't matter too much who boys and men are -- what matters is who we think they should be." In an update she has another quotation from Neurobiologist Larry Cahill of the University of California-Irvine who said “A lot of scientists still don’t want to talk about sex differences in the brain. It scares people…(But) what scares me is seeing my own findings and choosing not to believe them." If you have young boys, it would be worth checking out her post. In general public schools want boys to site still and be quiet. Public schools also push academics on young boys before they are ready to learn.
HomeSchoolPost has a link to a nice article about why some mothers choose to homeschool. One of the women is quoted as saying: “My mom has taught my kids history for years. My dad taught them computer skills. They have had opportunities to take flying lessons. They have had lots of opportunities that they wouldn’t have had in public schools, nor would they have had the time for some of these things had they been in public school.”
Education Watch just put up a post about a research study in the UK. "... researchers from the University of Bristol have found that children whose teacher had received a financial performance reward, achieved half a grade higher in each subject at GCSE." So when there is a bonus for better education, many teachers were able to improve how well they taught.
HomeSchoolPost has a link to a nice article about why some mothers choose to homeschool. One of the women is quoted as saying: “My mom has taught my kids history for years. My dad taught them computer skills. They have had opportunities to take flying lessons. They have had lots of opportunities that they wouldn’t have had in public schools, nor would they have had the time for some of these things had they been in public school.”
Education Watch just put up a post about a research study in the UK. "... researchers from the University of Bristol have found that children whose teacher had received a financial performance reward, achieved half a grade higher in each subject at GCSE." So when there is a bonus for better education, many teachers were able to improve how well they taught.
Why vouchers are not going to happen soon
Instapundit has a link to a well written post by Shaver Jeffries. Shaver deplores the current state of public education and its effect on black students. He argues for vouchers as a way to solve the problem. This post is partly response to Shaver’s post:
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In trying to address the problems with public education today school choice is often proposed as a solution. All most any kind of universal voucher system would greatly improve public education. Right now parents have very little influence on what happens in the classroom. With vouchers parents could move children to a school where the needs of their children were better addressed. The parents wouldn’t have to wait until some proposed change was implemented, a couple years later. Competition would prompt the schools to work harder to attract children.
However, I don't believe a good voucher system will happen, at least on a large scale, any time in the next ten years. There are too many roadblocks. For a couple decades the idea of vouchers has been pushed and attempts have been made to implement them. Why haven't they been more widely adopted?
In many discussions of public policy there are often special interest groups with a vested interest. Often farmers or businesses will approach Congress to ask for laws limiting or regulating foreign competition. There will be claims of unfair competition, or shoddy workmanship, or an appeal to protecting jobs; however, the main reasons are to protect their business and to raise their profits. When these laws are passed, the average consumer will end up paying a few cents more for the product, while the farmer or business will be able to raise their prices (or keep their prices higher than the world market's level) and thus make more money. The special interest group has a vested interest in pushing for restrictions to slow down or keep out goods and services from outside the US to be sold inside the US. It makes sense for them to organize and lobby for restrictive laws. For the rest of us it is a small enough inconvenience that we don't oppose such laws, just to save a few pennies.
This same pattern is one of the reasons vouchers are so hard to implement. There are several vested special interest groups who feel threaten by vouchers, notably teacher unions and related public school officials. The worry is if vouchers are available many of them might lose their job. So they are organized and work hard to make sure vouchers don't happen. They raise every concern they can think of to slow down, water down, or stop vouchers. Make no mistake, teacher unions are well organized and heavily committed to opposing vouchers.
What are parents to do then? One option is to try and get more involved. They can inform and teach their friends as to the advantages. Maybe over time enough parents will become a strong enough lobby that unrestricted vouchers will become available to all. Looking at the past of the voucher movement, I really can't see any major changes in the next five to ten years. Realistically parents would be leaving their children in public schools with the hope that their grandchildren might some day be able to take advantage of vouchers.
Another option is to find, or create, a good private school. Many private schools do a great job of teaching children. One of the big drawbacks to this is the parents end up paying twice for education. Once via taxes, and then again for the private school tuition. For families with limited means this is not an easy option.
The option we have chosen is to homeschool. It is relatively inexpensive. Our children are getting a great education. And it is happening today. We don't have to wait until vouchers are finally available in twenty years for our grandchildren to have a quality education.
If you are concerned about the education your children are getting, consider looking into homeschooling. A good place to get started would be to meet some homeschoolers, and their children. Attend a homeschool group. With somewhere between 2% and 3% of the children in American being homeschooled most of us know of someone who homeschools.
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Update I:
For those interested in learning more about choice in education this is a good place to start. The web site is by the Heritage Foundation and is devoted to news and reasons for vouchers and school choice.
-----
In trying to address the problems with public education today school choice is often proposed as a solution. All most any kind of universal voucher system would greatly improve public education. Right now parents have very little influence on what happens in the classroom. With vouchers parents could move children to a school where the needs of their children were better addressed. The parents wouldn’t have to wait until some proposed change was implemented, a couple years later. Competition would prompt the schools to work harder to attract children.
However, I don't believe a good voucher system will happen, at least on a large scale, any time in the next ten years. There are too many roadblocks. For a couple decades the idea of vouchers has been pushed and attempts have been made to implement them. Why haven't they been more widely adopted?
In many discussions of public policy there are often special interest groups with a vested interest. Often farmers or businesses will approach Congress to ask for laws limiting or regulating foreign competition. There will be claims of unfair competition, or shoddy workmanship, or an appeal to protecting jobs; however, the main reasons are to protect their business and to raise their profits. When these laws are passed, the average consumer will end up paying a few cents more for the product, while the farmer or business will be able to raise their prices (or keep their prices higher than the world market's level) and thus make more money. The special interest group has a vested interest in pushing for restrictions to slow down or keep out goods and services from outside the US to be sold inside the US. It makes sense for them to organize and lobby for restrictive laws. For the rest of us it is a small enough inconvenience that we don't oppose such laws, just to save a few pennies.
This same pattern is one of the reasons vouchers are so hard to implement. There are several vested special interest groups who feel threaten by vouchers, notably teacher unions and related public school officials. The worry is if vouchers are available many of them might lose their job. So they are organized and work hard to make sure vouchers don't happen. They raise every concern they can think of to slow down, water down, or stop vouchers. Make no mistake, teacher unions are well organized and heavily committed to opposing vouchers.
What are parents to do then? One option is to try and get more involved. They can inform and teach their friends as to the advantages. Maybe over time enough parents will become a strong enough lobby that unrestricted vouchers will become available to all. Looking at the past of the voucher movement, I really can't see any major changes in the next five to ten years. Realistically parents would be leaving their children in public schools with the hope that their grandchildren might some day be able to take advantage of vouchers.
Another option is to find, or create, a good private school. Many private schools do a great job of teaching children. One of the big drawbacks to this is the parents end up paying twice for education. Once via taxes, and then again for the private school tuition. For families with limited means this is not an easy option.
The option we have chosen is to homeschool. It is relatively inexpensive. Our children are getting a great education. And it is happening today. We don't have to wait until vouchers are finally available in twenty years for our grandchildren to have a quality education.
If you are concerned about the education your children are getting, consider looking into homeschooling. A good place to get started would be to meet some homeschoolers, and their children. Attend a homeschool group. With somewhere between 2% and 3% of the children in American being homeschooled most of us know of someone who homeschools.
-----
Update I:
For those interested in learning more about choice in education this is a good place to start. The web site is by the Heritage Foundation and is devoted to news and reasons for vouchers and school choice.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Selections from EducationNews.org
EducationNews.org does a good job of selecting both education related news articles from a variety of sources, and listing recent commentaries and reports about education. When I make the time I generally find interesting items. Today was no exception.
One link was to a column titled "School Funding: Any Argument Will Do" by David W. Kirkpatrick, a Senior Education Fellow at the U.S. Freedom Foundation. In the past David Kirkpatrick has written on various topics related to education. This column focused on the illogical reasoning school districts use to fight against funding for charter schools. I think charter schools and vouchers are an improvement over general public schools, but I am afraid that any voucher system will be so watered down by teacher unions, politicians, and other people that it won't be very effective.
Another link was to an article about an incident where a young man in high school was suspended for speaking Spanish at high school. Here are the first two paragraphs:
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Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.
"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "
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You got that? Zach was suspended because he responded in Spanish "No problema." to a question given in Spanish. In general Americans recognize the value of knowing more than one language, but for some reason this high school wasn't willing to tolerate anything but English during the restroom breaks. Zach's father asked for a copy of the written policy on only speaking English in high school. The school admitted there wasn't such a written policy and readmitted Zach. It all seems a bit weird that the school would make a bit deal about it.
I have heard of some parents who choose to homeschool who have listed as one of their reasons is so they can pass on their culture. Then they could speak any language they want at home.
One link was to a column titled "School Funding: Any Argument Will Do" by David W. Kirkpatrick, a Senior Education Fellow at the U.S. Freedom Foundation. In the past David Kirkpatrick has written on various topics related to education. This column focused on the illogical reasoning school districts use to fight against funding for charter schools. I think charter schools and vouchers are an improvement over general public schools, but I am afraid that any voucher system will be so watered down by teacher unions, politicians, and other people that it won't be very effective.
Another link was to an article about an incident where a young man in high school was suspended for speaking Spanish at high school. Here are the first two paragraphs:
-----------
Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.
"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "
-----------
You got that? Zach was suspended because he responded in Spanish "No problema." to a question given in Spanish. In general Americans recognize the value of knowing more than one language, but for some reason this high school wasn't willing to tolerate anything but English during the restroom breaks. Zach's father asked for a copy of the written policy on only speaking English in high school. The school admitted there wasn't such a written policy and readmitted Zach. It all seems a bit weird that the school would make a bit deal about it.
I have heard of some parents who choose to homeschool who have listed as one of their reasons is so they can pass on their culture. Then they could speak any language they want at home.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Selects from the first Carnival of Unschooling
At atypicalhomeschool.net Andrea has put together the first Carnival of Unschooling. It looks like it will be a monthly event!
One link was to a long summary of various activities. The final event mentioned was a group going to a chocolate factory. The pictures were enticing. Children can learn a lot while being interested in something like making chocolate.
Another link lead to Allison Tannery's blog. In looking around I found a nice post about the fun of having extended family close by.
The last link was to a discussion of how learning can happen at unexpected times.
There was a good selection, especially as this was the first carnival of unschooling. It was interesting checking out some new blogs. Hopefully it will grow to have many more blogs.
One link was to a long summary of various activities. The final event mentioned was a group going to a chocolate factory. The pictures were enticing. Children can learn a lot while being interested in something like making chocolate.
Another link lead to Allison Tannery's blog. In looking around I found a nice post about the fun of having extended family close by.
The last link was to a discussion of how learning can happen at unexpected times.
There was a good selection, especially as this was the first carnival of unschooling. It was interesting checking out some new blogs. Hopefully it will grow to have many more blogs.
Family Support Makes a Difference
My mother-in-law left a nice comment on my Homer's Odyssey post. This kind of support makes a big difference. My children's grandparents are wonderful. They support our homeschool efforts. They go along on field trips. They invite the kids over for over nighters (which make a big difference to mom and dad). Grandpa has taught chess at our homeschool co-op for the last three years. He practiced soccer with the girls. Grandma does little sewing projects with the girls, like making outfits for their dolls. They attend the girls' performances (talent shows, plays, piano recitals). They bought educational materials we requested (phonics videos, Robinson CD's, books, play equipment for the backyard). They take the kids hiking. My middle daughter saved money to go visit her cousins in Virginia. My in-laws made a special trip (paying their travel expenses) so that she could go with them.
Even more important than what they do, is what they don't do. They don't criticize the kids or our parenting style. They don't quiz the kids to see if they are keeping up with the neighbors. They don't compare the grand kids to each other. Our kids are late readers. My in-laws never ever hinted that it was a problem.
I've seen more than one friend get discouraged and give up homeschooling due to pressure from family members. I am extraordinarily grateful for all the support we get from our family and friends.
Even more important than what they do, is what they don't do. They don't criticize the kids or our parenting style. They don't quiz the kids to see if they are keeping up with the neighbors. They don't compare the grand kids to each other. Our kids are late readers. My in-laws never ever hinted that it was a problem.
I've seen more than one friend get discouraged and give up homeschooling due to pressure from family members. I am extraordinarily grateful for all the support we get from our family and friends.
Poor Science education is back in the news
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation issued a press release yesterday announcing a 75 page report on the state of math and science education in the US. To the surprise of no one who has been following the topic for the last couple years, the public schools in most states are doing a poor job. This has been picked up by a number of people and organizations. For example the Education Wonks and the New York Times have mentioned the report. Joanne Jacobs (coincidentally?) had a post yesterday about how the United States is losing its technological edge.
This was a fun line in the report:
"Some states—notably A-rated California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Virginia—produced exceptional academic standards documents that, if followed in the classroom, would result in excellent science programs." (The emphasis is mine.)
So some states have high standards, but they don't always result in excellent programs. But at least we have the standards! It seems to me that the focus should be on are the children being taught. If they aren't mastering the basics of math and science then everything else is just noise.
There is a push for high standards with the claim that by having high standards you have a chance of public schools delivering a quality education. It seems to me that standards are only loosely connected to the quality of the education. You could have average standards, and with good teachers have a decent education in science and math.
The report hammers on those who push "discovery learning" a method of trying to get children to discover for themselves what it took years for Newton, Einstein and others to figure out. It would be wonderful if we had a generation of children who could rediscover all the breakthroughs that have been made in science over the last several centuries, but this is an unrealistic expectation. Children need to be taught the laws of motion, not asked to figure them out on their own.
Cheri Prerson Yecke made an interesting point in her book The War Against Excellence: The Rising Tide Of Mediocrity In America's Middle Schools that public schools today put a great deal of emphasis on helping those with mental challenges to do their best, while often ignoring the gifted children, or giving them token support. I think the funding for the bottom 3% was 15 times more than the funding for the top 3%. Cheri Yecke documents how many teachers treat gifted children with contempt. If we are going to produce a generation of competent adults who have a good foundation in math and science, it would help if the teachers would have a better attitude towards those who could be our next generation of scientists.
In some ways this didn't really feel like news, I remember reading about how America responded to the launching of Sputnik by the USSR in 1957 by similar calls to action. Many Americans attacked public education as doing a poor job in preparing students in math and science. During the 1970s in response to Japan's powerhouse economy there was also similar condemnations of the poor job public schools were doing. Public schools have long been doing a poor job; this is not new.
The sad thing is this is not a simple problem. People have been working on it for decades and it hasn't improved. Having a solid background in math and science would help our children to have a better life. Fortunately we as parents can take steps to make sure our children have a solid background. If enough of us homeschool, it will greatly help our nation.
This was a fun line in the report:
"Some states—notably A-rated California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Virginia—produced exceptional academic standards documents that, if followed in the classroom, would result in excellent science programs." (The emphasis is mine.)
So some states have high standards, but they don't always result in excellent programs. But at least we have the standards! It seems to me that the focus should be on are the children being taught. If they aren't mastering the basics of math and science then everything else is just noise.
There is a push for high standards with the claim that by having high standards you have a chance of public schools delivering a quality education. It seems to me that standards are only loosely connected to the quality of the education. You could have average standards, and with good teachers have a decent education in science and math.
The report hammers on those who push "discovery learning" a method of trying to get children to discover for themselves what it took years for Newton, Einstein and others to figure out. It would be wonderful if we had a generation of children who could rediscover all the breakthroughs that have been made in science over the last several centuries, but this is an unrealistic expectation. Children need to be taught the laws of motion, not asked to figure them out on their own.
Cheri Prerson Yecke made an interesting point in her book The War Against Excellence: The Rising Tide Of Mediocrity In America's Middle Schools that public schools today put a great deal of emphasis on helping those with mental challenges to do their best, while often ignoring the gifted children, or giving them token support. I think the funding for the bottom 3% was 15 times more than the funding for the top 3%. Cheri Yecke documents how many teachers treat gifted children with contempt. If we are going to produce a generation of competent adults who have a good foundation in math and science, it would help if the teachers would have a better attitude towards those who could be our next generation of scientists.
In some ways this didn't really feel like news, I remember reading about how America responded to the launching of Sputnik by the USSR in 1957 by similar calls to action. Many Americans attacked public education as doing a poor job in preparing students in math and science. During the 1970s in response to Japan's powerhouse economy there was also similar condemnations of the poor job public schools were doing. Public schools have long been doing a poor job; this is not new.
The sad thing is this is not a simple problem. People have been working on it for decades and it hasn't improved. Having a solid background in math and science would help our children to have a better life. Fortunately we as parents can take steps to make sure our children have a solid background. If enough of us homeschool, it will greatly help our nation.
Links to interesting postings - 8 Dec 05
Thomas Sowell has another list of books today. The theme this time is on books that changed or influenced him. If you haven't read his biography, A Personal Odyssey, I encourage you to at least skim it some time. I highly recommend it. It is amazing to me that he changed so much over the years, from being poor, to being a Marxist, to being a highly respected conservative. He has shown great integrity.
The EdWonk has a post reflecting the sad state of education in regards to history. He is a school teacher and was surprised to find that not only did his 12 and 13 old students not know who attacked whom on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, he found that they had little knowledge of what had happened on Stepember 11, 2001.
The United States of America was founded as a Christian nation. Many of the founding fathers felt education was important so that people could read the Bible. At the time our nation was formed several of the states directly supported various religions. (It was the federal government that was to be kept out of religion.) For over a hundred and fifty years religion to some level was involved in education. Joanne Jacobs has a post to how the ACLU is so aggressive against religion that schools hesitate to have a Christmas tree with ornaments and a star. She links to an article on how school officials struggle with what kind of decorations to have and what kind of music can be played. I’m glad we homeschool and our children can hear Christmas music.
Joanne Jacobs also has some interesting news about Glen Reynolds who does Instapundit. Glen complained on Michael Silence's blog about how Glen's daughter had to carrying a 19 pound pack of books back and forth to school. It would be fun if Glen and Helen decide to homeschool their daughter. Having read Instapundit for over a year my guess is he won't change soon, but if he has more trouble with the public school he would do something like homeschool or private school.
For anyone who happens to be in Silicon Valley at the time, I do plan to attend Joanne Jacobs' book party next week, 7:00 PM on December 14. This is to kick off a push for her book, Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the School That Beat the Odds. Click here for more details on the book party.
This is the second day in a row that I've pulled a sad item from Daryl Cobranchi. He links to an article about a young girl who was sexually assault on a school bus, and the school officials appear to have broken their own rules and done very little about it. The news reporter's investigation finds that there is a pattern of the school officials often not following proper procedure. This is not for the faint of heart.
The EdWonk has a post reflecting the sad state of education in regards to history. He is a school teacher and was surprised to find that not only did his 12 and 13 old students not know who attacked whom on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, he found that they had little knowledge of what had happened on Stepember 11, 2001.
The United States of America was founded as a Christian nation. Many of the founding fathers felt education was important so that people could read the Bible. At the time our nation was formed several of the states directly supported various religions. (It was the federal government that was to be kept out of religion.) For over a hundred and fifty years religion to some level was involved in education. Joanne Jacobs has a post to how the ACLU is so aggressive against religion that schools hesitate to have a Christmas tree with ornaments and a star. She links to an article on how school officials struggle with what kind of decorations to have and what kind of music can be played. I’m glad we homeschool and our children can hear Christmas music.
Joanne Jacobs also has some interesting news about Glen Reynolds who does Instapundit. Glen complained on Michael Silence's blog about how Glen's daughter had to carrying a 19 pound pack of books back and forth to school. It would be fun if Glen and Helen decide to homeschool their daughter. Having read Instapundit for over a year my guess is he won't change soon, but if he has more trouble with the public school he would do something like homeschool or private school.
For anyone who happens to be in Silicon Valley at the time, I do plan to attend Joanne Jacobs' book party next week, 7:00 PM on December 14. This is to kick off a push for her book, Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the School That Beat the Odds. Click here for more details on the book party.
This is the second day in a row that I've pulled a sad item from Daryl Cobranchi. He links to an article about a young girl who was sexually assault on a school bus, and the school officials appear to have broken their own rules and done very little about it. The news reporter's investigation finds that there is a pattern of the school officials often not following proper procedure. This is not for the faint of heart.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Reason #2: Teaching children how to think
We want our children to grow up to be adults that have a sound understanding of the world. They must learn how to sift information. As a whole, public education is not decided to teach children how to reason. It is designed to teach children what to think. Information is manipulated. Historical facts are distorted or left out altogether. Certain agendas are promoted while others are discouraged. In that type of environment, learning is passive. Teachers present information (whether true or untrue) and the students regurgitate it back.
In our home, we spend time talking about things. We talk about the news. We talk about sex. We talk about politics. We talk about God, the universe and our place in it. We talk about money. These conversations aren't scheduled. They happen spontaneously.
Yesterday, I and my oldest daughter talked about some of the recent tragedies which have been in the news, involving homeschoolers. We were sitting on the couch, tying the fringe of a quilt. We talked about motives and consequences. My daughter was especially interested in talking about what she thought the parents should have done differently.
It wasn’t part of a class on situational ethics. It wasn’t scheduled. It was what home education is all about.
In our home, we spend time talking about things. We talk about the news. We talk about sex. We talk about politics. We talk about God, the universe and our place in it. We talk about money. These conversations aren't scheduled. They happen spontaneously.
Yesterday, I and my oldest daughter talked about some of the recent tragedies which have been in the news, involving homeschoolers. We were sitting on the couch, tying the fringe of a quilt. We talked about motives and consequences. My daughter was especially interested in talking about what she thought the parents should have done differently.
It wasn’t part of a class on situational ethics. It wasn’t scheduled. It was what home education is all about.
Selections for this weeks Carnival of Education
The Carnival of Education this week was hosted by The Science Goddess. It was presented in a delightful way, the setting was a faculty meeting with the teachers talking about various issues (links to various blogs) on their minds. The following are a couple of the links I found especially interesting:
Kim had a long discussion of the eternal Socialization question from a Christian perspective. She made several good points. I liked this: "Honestly, I wonder how many people who ask this question have ever met and interacted with an adult (or even a teen or child) who was homeschooled. They are rarely accused of being backward or socially dysfunctional. In fact, they generally interact well with a much wider variety of people than those who went to an age-segregated school."
Scott Elliott has a post on the divide between teachers and parents. Scott talks about a number of situations in which it was parents v. teachers, instead of them working together. I wonder if a fundamental part of the problem is both sides think they are in charge. Parents pay taxes and expect their children to be given an education; they are fustrated with the poor education their children are getting. Teachers feel they are they experts and don't like to be challenged, or told they are doing a poor job.
Kim had a long discussion of the eternal Socialization question from a Christian perspective. She made several good points. I liked this: "Honestly, I wonder how many people who ask this question have ever met and interacted with an adult (or even a teen or child) who was homeschooled. They are rarely accused of being backward or socially dysfunctional. In fact, they generally interact well with a much wider variety of people than those who went to an age-segregated school."
Scott Elliott has a post on the divide between teachers and parents. Scott talks about a number of situations in which it was parents v. teachers, instead of them working together. I wonder if a fundamental part of the problem is both sides think they are in charge. Parents pay taxes and expect their children to be given an education; they are fustrated with the poor education their children are getting. Teachers feel they are they experts and don't like to be challenged, or told they are doing a poor job.
Links to interesting postings - 7 Dec 05
Daryl Cobranchi has a sad post about a high school student, Rahgozar, who got rough up in April. Daryl links to an article with more details. The bully was suspended for a few days and then allowed back to the high school. This time the bully brought along some help and they broke the victim's jaw. Rahgozar is suing the school for not protecting him better. In general I think our society sues way too often, but I hope Rahgozar wins. The concluding line of the article was "Rahgozar is now being home-schooled, according to Berg." He should be safer at home.
As a side note, this press release the Department of Education had a press release last month saying that violent crime victims in school dropped from 48 incidents per 1000 in 1992, to about 28 per 1000. It still seems like we are playing Russian Roulette. A child has a 3% chance of being a victim of a violent crime for any given year.
Tricia Smith Vaughan has a column with a provocative title of "Not Homeschooling? What's Your Excuse?" She makes the point that so many parents believe that children have to be taught at public school because the parents were taught in public school that only public schools can correctly teach children. She challenges this assertion.
As a side note, this press release the Department of Education had a press release last month saying that violent crime victims in school dropped from 48 incidents per 1000 in 1992, to about 28 per 1000. It still seems like we are playing Russian Roulette. A child has a 3% chance of being a victim of a violent crime for any given year.
Tricia Smith Vaughan has a column with a provocative title of "Not Homeschooling? What's Your Excuse?" She makes the point that so many parents believe that children have to be taught at public school because the parents were taught in public school that only public schools can correctly teach children. She challenges this assertion.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
In education, is bigger better? Part II
In looking through the North Carolina Education Alliance web site I came across a study by Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters of the Manhattan Institute. They looked for a connection between the size of a school district and the high school graduation rates. They found a statistically significant relationship between decreasing the size of a school district and an increasing high school graduation rate.
The authors of the study believe that smaller school districts give parents more choice in selecting where to send their children. This pushes school districts to be more focused on improving the schools. In the report the authors explored some possible benefits to increasing the amount of choice parents have in general in picking a school.
There were a number of interesting points in the study. One that stood out to me was that their best estimate is "about 71% of the class of 2002 graduated high school with a regular diploma." This by itself is a pretty amazing and scary statistic. They then go on to point out this is an even bigger problem with many minorities.
Another interesting point was "Our analysis shows that simply spending more money is not an acceptable solution to the dropout problem. Our finding that spending more money per pupil has no distinguishable relationship with changes in graduation rates, which is consistent with a wide body of previous research (see Hanushek 1996), implies that getting more students into caps and gowns requires real reforms to the educational system."
The study provides support for those who want to break up the super-sized school districts. It is still a bit mind boggling to me that there are school districts with over a hundred thousand students. My city is only about a hundred thousand people.
The authors of the study believe that smaller school districts give parents more choice in selecting where to send their children. This pushes school districts to be more focused on improving the schools. In the report the authors explored some possible benefits to increasing the amount of choice parents have in general in picking a school.
There were a number of interesting points in the study. One that stood out to me was that their best estimate is "about 71% of the class of 2002 graduated high school with a regular diploma." This by itself is a pretty amazing and scary statistic. They then go on to point out this is an even bigger problem with many minorities.
Another interesting point was "Our analysis shows that simply spending more money is not an acceptable solution to the dropout problem. Our finding that spending more money per pupil has no distinguishable relationship with changes in graduation rates, which is consistent with a wide body of previous research (see Hanushek 1996), implies that getting more students into caps and gowns requires real reforms to the educational system."
The study provides support for those who want to break up the super-sized school districts. It is still a bit mind boggling to me that there are school districts with over a hundred thousand students. My city is only about a hundred thousand people.
We are on the TTLB ranking
We've have some excitment! We found out last night that our blog is number 29,880 in the ranking on The Truth Laid Bear.
Links to interesting postings - 6 Dec 05
Joanne Jacobs has a post building on an article discussing how boy's and girl's brains are different. The article says there are neurologial differences. It is a great article. One of the consequences of pushing for early instruction is that boys often are not ready to enjoy reading and thus get turned off to education. Some of the comments on Joanne's blog point out that there are broad ranges for males and females, and thus there are some overlaps. The general differences between boys and girls was brought home to me very clearly in an incident with my first child. Our daughter was barely talking. As an engineer I went to help her build houses with some legos at my parents. My daughter said something like "No, make a bed." Then she went off to get one of her dolls, brought it back and put it to bed.
HomeSchoolBuzz mentions an article about a 16 year-old home schooler who developed a new approach in math and won a science compentition. The young man, Michael Viscardi, solved a 19th century math problem known as the Dirichlet problem and won a $100,000 scholarship! Congradulations to Michael!
For us part of homeschooling is trying to nuture a love for learning for the whole family. It is important that children see their parents also continue to learn. With that in mind you might want to check out Thomas Sowell's list of book suggestions for your Christmas shopping.
My family and I were out of town for over a week doing the Thanksgiving thing with family back East. We have been slowly catching up. I dropped the ball in not mentioning earlier that Spunky is asking for submissions for Homeschooling Blogger Awards. It will be great fun to learn of other homeschooling blogs.
HomeSchoolBuzz mentions an article about a 16 year-old home schooler who developed a new approach in math and won a science compentition. The young man, Michael Viscardi, solved a 19th century math problem known as the Dirichlet problem and won a $100,000 scholarship! Congradulations to Michael!
For us part of homeschooling is trying to nuture a love for learning for the whole family. It is important that children see their parents also continue to learn. With that in mind you might want to check out Thomas Sowell's list of book suggestions for your Christmas shopping.
My family and I were out of town for over a week doing the Thanksgiving thing with family back East. We have been slowly catching up. I dropped the ball in not mentioning earlier that Spunky is asking for submissions for Homeschooling Blogger Awards. It will be great fun to learn of other homeschooling blogs.
Monday, December 05, 2005
How to leave comments
Since my wife and I started this blog we have invited several friends and family members to read the blog. Some of them are new to blogging and told us they struggled when they tried to leave a comment. This is a brief summary of comments and how to leave them.
Blogging has many forms. With one form, the blogger writes posts that can only be read. Many of the top bloggers (also can get a list here) use this approach, often to protect the blog from being overwhelmed. Another type of blog allows comments. This way the blogger can post a thought or start a discussion, and the readers can add to the post, or ask questions, or provide some kind of feedback. This second form allows more interaction.
Most blogs which allow comments have hurdles a user must jump before being allowed to post a comment. The main reason for the hurdles are to prevent spam. Most hurdles try to make it relatively easy for a user to jump, but hard for an automated program to get pass.
Our very first comment came within hours of this blog's creation. It was a pleasant comment, complimenting us on the wonderful blog, and asking if we were interested in getting a loan. We quickly deleted the comment and used Blogger to provide some protection from any other spam.
The basic hurdle we use from Blogger asks the person who wants to leave a comment to look at an image and enter the text they see. The automate software that tries to spam comments on blogs currently can't process the images.
A person trying to leave a comment can enter text in the comment box, and then do one of three things on our blog:
1) Post an anonymous posting
From "Choose an identity" the person selects "Anonymous" and enters the letters they see in the image in the "word verification" box.
2) Post with an identify from outside blogger
In the "Choose an identity" options you select "Other" and enters the letters they see in the image in the "word verification" box.
3) Post as from a Blogger account
In the "Choose an identity" select "Blogger" and again type the letters displayed in the image into the "word verification" box. If you don't have a blogger count, you'll need to create one. Click on "Sign up here." One warning, it seems like when you try to create an account Blogger often will say it had trouble creating the account, but the account seems to exist just fine.
After entering your comment, and choosing one of the options above, the final step is to then click on the blue button at the bottom of the window. The text in the window changes depending on which of the above options you have selected.
We'd love to hear from more people. Hopefully this will help.
Blogging has many forms. With one form, the blogger writes posts that can only be read. Many of the top bloggers (also can get a list here) use this approach, often to protect the blog from being overwhelmed. Another type of blog allows comments. This way the blogger can post a thought or start a discussion, and the readers can add to the post, or ask questions, or provide some kind of feedback. This second form allows more interaction.
Most blogs which allow comments have hurdles a user must jump before being allowed to post a comment. The main reason for the hurdles are to prevent spam. Most hurdles try to make it relatively easy for a user to jump, but hard for an automated program to get pass.
Our very first comment came within hours of this blog's creation. It was a pleasant comment, complimenting us on the wonderful blog, and asking if we were interested in getting a loan. We quickly deleted the comment and used Blogger to provide some protection from any other spam.
The basic hurdle we use from Blogger asks the person who wants to leave a comment to look at an image and enter the text they see. The automate software that tries to spam comments on blogs currently can't process the images.
A person trying to leave a comment can enter text in the comment box, and then do one of three things on our blog:
1) Post an anonymous posting
From "Choose an identity" the person selects "Anonymous" and enters the letters they see in the image in the "word verification" box.
2) Post with an identify from outside blogger
In the "Choose an identity" options you select "Other" and enters the letters they see in the image in the "word verification" box.
3) Post as from a Blogger account
In the "Choose an identity" select "Blogger" and again type the letters displayed in the image into the "word verification" box. If you don't have a blogger count, you'll need to create one. Click on "Sign up here." One warning, it seems like when you try to create an account Blogger often will say it had trouble creating the account, but the account seems to exist just fine.
After entering your comment, and choosing one of the options above, the final step is to then click on the blue button at the bottom of the window. The text in the window changes depending on which of the above options you have selected.
We'd love to hear from more people. Hopefully this will help.
The conflict between a "right" to education versus an acceptable level of behavior
Joanne Jacobs has a post about a 12 year-old boy who got up in the middle of a class lesson to go get a drink of water. In an article about this the boy, Charles, claimed he was suffering from acid reflux. The teacher told him to wait until after the lesson was over. (It isn't clear if this was two more minutes, or just how long.) The boy went anyway, and the teacher “tried unsuccessfully to steer him back.” At the start of the article, I wondered if the teacher was a bit out of line. The rest of the article has several instances of the boy being a jerk and disrespectful. His mother is suing the school over this. Four years ago his mother also sued a school.
At the foundation of this conflict is how society sees education as a right, not a privilege. Because education is a "right," children are not being held to some acceptable level of behavior. The children are asked to behave, they are asked to be polite, but often teachers or the school have little ability to give serious consequences. Teachers have to spend a large amount of their time handling a disruptive child. If one child consistently makes it hard for the rest of the students to learn, then the school should be able to quickly remove that child from class.
Until this problem gets resolved, it is one more reason for parents to pull their children from the public school system and teach them at home. Their children won’t have to waste time because of disruptive children. Their children won’t be taught that you can get away with bad behavior.
At the foundation of this conflict is how society sees education as a right, not a privilege. Because education is a "right," children are not being held to some acceptable level of behavior. The children are asked to behave, they are asked to be polite, but often teachers or the school have little ability to give serious consequences. Teachers have to spend a large amount of their time handling a disruptive child. If one child consistently makes it hard for the rest of the students to learn, then the school should be able to quickly remove that child from class.
Until this problem gets resolved, it is one more reason for parents to pull their children from the public school system and teach them at home. Their children won’t have to waste time because of disruptive children. Their children won’t be taught that you can get away with bad behavior.
Friday, December 02, 2005
In education, is bigger better?
Jay Mathews, a Washington Post Education Reporter, recently had an article about issues of very large high schools. These are high schools with more than four thousand students. The article covers some of the pluses and minuses of having such large groups of children.
I don't have a strong opinion about what is the ideal size for a high school. I do think when there are enough students, it should be bigger than 50, and 5,000 is too many. I went to a high school of about 2,200 students. I knew a number of students who felt overwhelmed or a bit lost. It is clearly useful to have some scale, but at some point really large groups become very hard to manage and deal with. I don't remember ever talking with the principal, and only talking with a guidance councilor once or twice.
Malcolm Gladwell in "The Tipping Point" (page 179) talks about how biologically there seems to be a nature size of people for an individual to know:
If it is important for the principal to know all the students at his school, then maybe schools should only have about 200. It seem like a high school with 4000 or more students is too big.
All of this is for setting the groundwork for an article about the size of school districts, the next level up. CampusReportOnline has a column by Lindalyn Kakadelis about the problems with mammoth school districts. A school district in Miami-Dade County has more than 360,000 students!!!
Here are some of the points made in the column:
1) "larger systems disenfranchise parents and students by weakening local control over schools"
2) "An accumulating pile of data indicates that these enormous districts actually cost more than they save, both financially and academically"
3) "Mike Antonucci, in an Alexis de Tocqueville Institution study, found that as district size increases, the percentage spent on teachers, books, and teaching materials actually goes down."
The column goes on to say that many parents are starting to push to for smaller school districts. This does seem like a very good idea. A school district with hundreds of thousands of students is way too big to manage.
Update I (5 Dec 05)
EdWonk has a post and a link to an article about some school district consolidation in Maine. Currently the average school district is 734 students versus a national average of 3,177. Interesting contrast to school districts of hundreds of thousands of students.
I don't have a strong opinion about what is the ideal size for a high school. I do think when there are enough students, it should be bigger than 50, and 5,000 is too many. I went to a high school of about 2,200 students. I knew a number of students who felt overwhelmed or a bit lost. It is clearly useful to have some scale, but at some point really large groups become very hard to manage and deal with. I don't remember ever talking with the principal, and only talking with a guidance councilor once or twice.
Malcolm Gladwell in "The Tipping Point" (page 179) talks about how biologically there seems to be a nature size of people for an individual to know:
"The figure of 150 seems to represent the maximum number of individuals with
whom we can have a genuinely social relationship, the kind of relationship that
goes with knowing who they are and how they relate to us."
If it is important for the principal to know all the students at his school, then maybe schools should only have about 200. It seem like a high school with 4000 or more students is too big.
All of this is for setting the groundwork for an article about the size of school districts, the next level up. CampusReportOnline has a column by Lindalyn Kakadelis about the problems with mammoth school districts. A school district in Miami-Dade County has more than 360,000 students!!!
Here are some of the points made in the column:
1) "larger systems disenfranchise parents and students by weakening local control over schools"
2) "An accumulating pile of data indicates that these enormous districts actually cost more than they save, both financially and academically"
3) "Mike Antonucci, in an Alexis de Tocqueville Institution study, found that as district size increases, the percentage spent on teachers, books, and teaching materials actually goes down."
The column goes on to say that many parents are starting to push to for smaller school districts. This does seem like a very good idea. A school district with hundreds of thousands of students is way too big to manage.
Update I (5 Dec 05)
EdWonk has a post and a link to an article about some school district consolidation in Maine. Currently the average school district is 734 students versus a national average of 3,177. Interesting contrast to school districts of hundreds of thousands of students.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
There is never enough money
The Heritage Foundation has a link to a column by Laurence D. Cohen, a columnist. Laurence tries to shine some light on money, politics, and education in Conecticut. I love this line:
Thomas Sowell explored this idea in great depth in "Inside American Education" (on page 8) that:
The tax payer is made to feel guilty; if he doesn't give what the school system wants, then he isn't "committed." Thomas Sowell's book was a turning point for us. The first hundred pages document and cover dozens of problems with public schools.
Laurence Cohen goes on to say that research has shown that in the past more money hasn't fixed the problems with public education, so we should ignore the school system demand for more money.
It is a good column.
"The publicity machine is working overtime, offering up the message that
the amount of money needed to provide an 'equitable' or 'equal' or sort-of-OK
share of educational funding to all the cities and towns is infinite and, of
course, does not require accountability for how the money is used."
Thomas Sowell explored this idea in great depth in "Inside American Education" (on page 8) that:
"the responses of the education establishment to the academic deficiences
of their students today include (1) secrecy, (2) camouflage, (3) denial, (4)
shifting the blame elsewhere, and (5) demanding more money."
The tax payer is made to feel guilty; if he doesn't give what the school system wants, then he isn't "committed." Thomas Sowell's book was a turning point for us. The first hundred pages document and cover dozens of problems with public schools.
Laurence Cohen goes on to say that research has shown that in the past more money hasn't fixed the problems with public education, so we should ignore the school system demand for more money.
It is a good column.
Any right to privacy in a public school?
This is pretty mind boggling:
A news station in Georgia reports that an 8th grade boy saw a camera hiding in the ceiling of a bathroom at school. He takes it down, takes it home, and tells his mother about it. This seems like a perfectly reasonable response for the boy. She contacts the school principal.
Then it starts to get weird. The school principal said he put it there to catch students vandalizing the bathroom. And then the 8th grade boy gets suspended for taking school property!
The news station talked with the county District Attorney who said that schools can legally put cameras in public schools. This is hard to believe. How do we really know that the school principal put the camera in the bathroom to catch vandals? For all we know, he might be a pedophile. Would he have been able to get away with this if he had put a camera in the girls' bathroom?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
The recent 9th circuit court ruling said that parents of children in public students have no "fundamental right" to control what sexual information their children are exposed to. The county DA says public school students have no fundamental right to privacy. Do children have any rights in a public school? Public schools sound more and more like prisons every day.
A news station in Georgia reports that an 8th grade boy saw a camera hiding in the ceiling of a bathroom at school. He takes it down, takes it home, and tells his mother about it. This seems like a perfectly reasonable response for the boy. She contacts the school principal.
Then it starts to get weird. The school principal said he put it there to catch students vandalizing the bathroom. And then the 8th grade boy gets suspended for taking school property!
The news station talked with the county District Attorney who said that schools can legally put cameras in public schools. This is hard to believe. How do we really know that the school principal put the camera in the bathroom to catch vandals? For all we know, he might be a pedophile. Would he have been able to get away with this if he had put a camera in the girls' bathroom?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
The recent 9th circuit court ruling said that parents of children in public students have no "fundamental right" to control what sexual information their children are exposed to. The county DA says public school students have no fundamental right to privacy. Do children have any rights in a public school? Public schools sound more and more like prisons every day.
Means to an end, where will it end?
It used to be that school was a means to an end. That end was the ability to read, write, do arithmetic, and then various arts and sciences. The pursuit of an education was adapted to conform to the demands of life. School attendance varied depending on finances, weather, planting season, and family situations. Many of our founding fathers were home and then self educated men with little formal schooling. An education was a personal responsibility, not a function of a government program.
Now schools have a whole boat load of "ends." The biggest reason isn't the well being of children but the employment of adults. This is followed closely by political power grabs through the indoctrination of future voters.
In some states, they have actually legislated the number of "minutes of instruction." Currently, children in the state of California must serve a sentence of 180 days of public school incarceration each calendar year. This penalty is required regardless of their level of “education” or their conduct. It doesn't matter if the child can read on a 12th grade level and do calculus equations; he still must spend 180 days incarcerated with some unknown juvenile delinquents.
In the old days, if a child was born with some defect, the parents were encouraged to institutionalize the child and go on with their life. Now we do it to "normal" and "gifted" children instead. Kindergarten used to be optional and half day. Now it is mandatory and full day. They are talking about "universal preschool" for all 3 and 4 year old. At some point, parents will just drop their kids off on their way home from the hospital and visit them when it's not too inconvenient.
Now schools have a whole boat load of "ends." The biggest reason isn't the well being of children but the employment of adults. This is followed closely by political power grabs through the indoctrination of future voters.
In some states, they have actually legislated the number of "minutes of instruction." Currently, children in the state of California must serve a sentence of 180 days of public school incarceration each calendar year. This penalty is required regardless of their level of “education” or their conduct. It doesn't matter if the child can read on a 12th grade level and do calculus equations; he still must spend 180 days incarcerated with some unknown juvenile delinquents.
In the old days, if a child was born with some defect, the parents were encouraged to institutionalize the child and go on with their life. Now we do it to "normal" and "gifted" children instead. Kindergarten used to be optional and half day. Now it is mandatory and full day. They are talking about "universal preschool" for all 3 and 4 year old. At some point, parents will just drop their kids off on their way home from the hospital and visit them when it's not too inconvenient.
Links to interesting postings - 1 Dec 05
Years ago a friend pointed me to an article about how some American lawyers were moving to Japan. He said that if enough lawyers moved to Japan it would destroy their economy. Joanne Jacobs and Chris Correa have the updated version. Chris found an article discussing how China has adopted some of our education practices and is suffering the consequences.
Daryl Cobranchi discusses and links to a post by Tenn. Tenn has a good analogy on the different between homeschooling and doing public school at home. It is the difference between having a home business and working at home for someone else.
Kimberly Swygert has a post about a principal who suspends both the bully and the victim where there is a fight. There is an interesting unintended consequence. Kimberly also links to how public school officials like standarized tests and regulations, for homeschoolers.
I always enjoy the HomeSchoolBuzz summary of homeschooling in the news. Today there is a link to an article about a nine year old girl who is making money as a comic book artist. And a link to a column by a woman who use to feel sorry for homeschoolers, until she meet some, and then realized they are often more socially mature than public schooled children.
Daryl Cobranchi discusses and links to a post by Tenn. Tenn has a good analogy on the different between homeschooling and doing public school at home. It is the difference between having a home business and working at home for someone else.
Kimberly Swygert has a post about a principal who suspends both the bully and the victim where there is a fight. There is an interesting unintended consequence. Kimberly also links to how public school officials like standarized tests and regulations, for homeschoolers.
I always enjoy the HomeSchoolBuzz summary of homeschooling in the news. Today there is a link to an article about a nine year old girl who is making money as a comic book artist. And a link to a column by a woman who use to feel sorry for homeschoolers, until she meet some, and then realized they are often more socially mature than public schooled children.
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