Unlearning School

“Beware of random collisions with unusual suspects.

Unless, that is, you want to learn something new. In that case, seek out innovators from across every imaginable silo and listen, really listen, to their stories. New ideas, perspectives, and opportunities await in the gray areas between the unusual suspects.

It seems so obvious and yet we spend most of our time with the usual suspects in our respective silos. One of the most important silos we need to break down is the one between generations.”

- From the Huffington Post’s article on Choose2Matter and Business Innovation Factory, where students and innovators are linked in purposeful conversations and action.  Read the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/angela-maiers/breaking-down-generationa_b_3285895.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

“In the United States, at least 9% of school-aged children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and are taking pharmaceutical medications. In France, the percentage of kids diagnosed and medicated for ADHD is less than .5%. How come the epidemic of ADHD—which has become firmly established in the United States—has almost completely passed over children in France?”

Read the full article here.

“In a statement posted on the embassy Web site, Petr Gandalovic said “the Czech Republic and Chechnya are two very different entities — the Czech Republic is a Central European country; Chechnya is a part of the Russian Federation.”

Mirca Sekerova recommends Americans “open a geography book once in a while…stop blaming our country for this.”

And Petr Manda commented: “Well done, U.S. education system.”

Article here.

revolutionizeed:

…students can turn in assignments beyond the deadline and even beyond the semester without any penalty.  The idea is that students would meet the standards and learn the content and that no penalties should be issued for turning it in late.  What do you think?

My school has turned to the exact opposite approach for daily work - no late work accepted at all.  And it works!

All the more reason for high-quality college guidance counseling at urban high schools.  We’ve got one - do you?

Some of the poorest high schoolers in the country are also among our top-performers. These “low-income, high-achieving” students come from the poorest 25 percent of families, but their grades and SAT scores place them in the top 10 — or even top 5 percent — of all students. Getting these students in our best colleges should be a national ambition. It would increase social mobility, raise national productivity, increase taxable income, shrink our deficit, cut income-support payments … you get the point.

But the point is, we’re failing. In fact, the majority of these smart poor students don’t apply toanyselective college or university, according to a newpaperby Caroline M. Hoxby and Christopher Avery — even though the most selective schools would actually cost them less, after counting financial aid. Poor students with practically the same grades as their richer classmates are 75 percent less likely to apply to selective colleges.

From 

The Awl’s harsh critique of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs).  A must read for all interested in the future of education:

They’ve been described as “a relentless force that will not be denied,” revolutionary, “the single most important experiment in higher education.” Also MOOCs are getting a drubbing from academics and others who believe there’s more to higher education than can be provided via “distance learning.”

It’s not quite free, as early MOOC proponents began by promising. It is worth mentioning, too, that Udacity is a venture-funded startup, that classes will be supervised not by tenured profs but by Udacity employees, and that Thrun declined to tell the Times how much public money his company will be raking in for this pilot—or what more may have been promised should the pilot prove “successful.”

Okay, fine, but let’s get this straight: public money has been mercilessly hacked from California’s education budget for decades, so now we are to give public money, taxpayer money, to private, for-profit companies to take up the slack? Because that is exactly what is happening. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just fund education to the levels we had back when it was working?

Read the entire article here.

doctor-remus-giles:

And one of the guys suggested that all young male teachers should wear wedding rings. I mean if they aren’t already married to get fake ones. This would be to deter our students crushing on us.

I think it’s an interesting, if not egotistical thought. 

What do you guys think?

Yes, great idea.  Let’s all lie to our students because that’s what makes for a trusting classroom environment.  Fucking teacher education.

A proposal by the Prince George’s County Board of Education to copyright work created by staff and students for school could mean that a picture drawn by a first-grader, a lesson plan developed by a teacher or an app created by a teen would belong to the school system, not the individual.

The measure has some worried that by the system claiming ownership to the work of others, creativity could be stifled and there would be little incentive to come up with innovative ways to educate students. Some have questioned the legality of the proposal as it relates to students.

Read the full Washington Post article here.