98 replies to this topic

[Zimbochick]

Very interesting and sad commentary of the times.

http://www.cnn.com/2...S: Top Stories)

[freedom78]

Very interesting and sad commentary of the times.

http://www.cnn.com/2...S: Top Stories)

One of two sides of the issue. My wife has taught in an urban school and a suburban school; she's seen the absentee parents and the "helicopter" parents (both part of the cultural problems I mentioned before). People need to realize that school isn't everything. Students from good homes with parents who have the time and inclination to be involved will likely do well, even in a bad school or with mediocre teachers. Students with parents who don't care or help will likely do poorly, even with a great teacher. School is seven hours a day, five days a week, about 36 weeks a year. That leaves a lot of time outside of school when CHILDREN will need PARENTING. And they're often not getting the parenting they need, either because the parents don't care or are apologists for all their faults, flaws, and actions.

[Mr. Roboto]

The right says the welfare state makes people too lazy to work, and then immediately turns on those who do.

^^^^

[freedom78]

Edmonton teacher suspended for giving 0s


An Edmonton high school teacher says he has been suspended for giving students zeros on uncompleted assignments or exams.
Lynden Dorval, a physics teacher at Ross Sheppard High School, has been giving the mark for work that wasn't handed in or tests not taken even though it goes against the school's "no-zero" policy. The thinking behind the policy is that failing to complete assignments is a behavioural issue and marks should reflect ability, not behaviour.
Dorval said he couldn't in good conscience comply with the rule.
"I just didn't have a choice," he said. "I just couldn't not do it. I tried to talk myself out of it many times, but it was just something so important to me, I just had to go through with it."
The policy was adopted by the school 1½ years ago, Dorval said.

Students' mark based on completed work

Teachers were told to no longer give zeros. Instead an uncompleted test or assignment would be marked with a comment.
The student's mark would then be based on whatever work is done.

"It's what they call social promotion," Dorval said "It's a way of pushing kids through even though they're not actually doing the work. It's a way of getting them through, getting their credits and of course making the staff look very good."
Teachers were instructed to use their "informed professional judgement" at the end of the year when handing out marks, he said.
"Some would, in fact, lower the mark on what wasn't done," Dorval said. "Other teachers would just let the mark go, so there was a real inconsistency on how (the policy) was being applied."
Dorval believes the policy leaves students with the impression they don't need to be accountable for their actions, he said.

'Student should be accountable'

"That's against what I've been doing my whole career because I believe the student should be accountable for what they're doing."
Dorval said he always gave uncompleted work what is called "reluctant zeros," where his students were given a number of opportunities to make up the assignment and have the zero replaced with a mark.
"Most of my students did that," he said. "By the end of the year, I hardly had any zeros at all."
He does recall however, one student who had only completed six of 15 items.
Parents are largely unaware of the policy, as teachers were instructed not to speak about it, he said.
Other schools in the Edmonton public system also use no-zero marking, he said.
Schools as far away as Ontario and Texas had also adopted, but later abandoned the philosophy.


http://www.cbc.ca/ne...s-sheppard.html

[Mr. Roboto]

[TAP]

Texas GOP opposes teaching critical thinking......

http://www.reddit.co...f_higher_order/

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

[freedom78]

sigh

[TAP]

[Zimbochick]

Girls Lead in Science Exam, but Not in the United States.

[Zimbochick]

Why Parents Need To Let Their Children Fail.

[PERM BANNED]

y

[freedom78]

https://www.yahoo.co...-172128335.html

 

So here's the dumb idea of the day.  Let's open up free college education through the sophomore year!  It's not as if the majority of student who don't complete college don't already drop out during this period.  Let's bombard the school system with more students than the system can handle, do nothing to resolve skyrocketing education costs, and put more money in the system.  I guess the only positive is this will help inflate the value of a 4 year degree in Rhode Island since a lot more people will just have 2 years of college on their resume.

 

Yeah, this is a bad idea.  I've known many educators who are in favor of things like this.  I even had a very conservative high school government teacher whose only liberal position was free college for all.  First, let's be honest.  There are many, many people who can't cut it in higher education.  While I support every person trying to better themselves, two years of college is wasted on those who cannot achieve the degree.  If we really want to make education free, a better option would be to let universities decide who is qualified for admission (which they already do) and make it free for those students.  But that has a set of problems of its own.

[PERM BANNED]

y

[freedom78]

I think keeping them in state would be an excellent tie-in.  Your college education is free IF you commit to stay in state for, say, five years after you graduate.  That's what every state says it wants...for the best and brightest to stay there and help the economy grow and life improve. 

[freedom78]

This is from the "OH MY GOD YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING" section of this morning's paper...

******************************************************************************

Jerry Falwell Jr. Asked to Lead Trump Higher Education Task Force

by Alex Johnson

 

 

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., one of the nation's most prominent evangelical Christian leaders, has been asked to head a White House task force on reforming the U.S. higher education system, the Virginia college told NBC News on Tuesday night.

 

Len Stevens, the university's chief spokesman, told NBC News that Falwell would bring a focus on "overregulation and micromanagement of higher education" to the task force.

 

Falwell wasn't immediately available for comment Tuesday evening. In the past, he has argued that the federal government imposes too many regulations governing accreditation and financing of U.S. colleges and universities.

 

Falwell is a lawyer and the son of the private evangelical college's founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, co-founder of the Moral Majority and an architect of the conservative Christian political movement that helped propel Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980.

 

He has said he was offered the position of education secretary in the Trump administration late last year but declined because he wanted to stay close to his family in Lynchburg, Virginia, where the university is based. He enthusiastically endorsed Trump's eventual nominee, Betsy DeVos.

 

more: http://www.nbcnews.c...k-force-n715116