128shot said:
Wouldn't the most viable solution to increasing education is to give backbone back to teachers?
I know this has become a problem in many places, where teachers aloud to rule over the classroom because they deem it too "harsh" to punish someone
Thats one way of getting things running smoother, isn't it?
Hit the nail on the head there. We also need to get back the one thing that is now f***ing up education due to its absence:
Competition.
The lack of competition in an academic environment is appalling. What the hell are we teaching our kids when we have these self-esteem hypes who think that red pens hurt kids self esteem.
And this is actually happening. In California, the education establishment has outlawed the use of red pens because "it's too harsh a color". Instead the teachers grade papers with lavender pens, so that kids dont feel bad when they get an F.
Tag is being banned in lots of schools. The reason? The principal of Franklin Elementary School in Santa Monica, California, sent a newsletter in May 2002 to parents saying tag was no longer allowed during recess, going on to say, "The running part of this activity is healthy and encouraged; however, in this game, there is a 'victim' or 'It,' which creates a self-esteem issue."
Dodgeball is on the sports blacklist. School districts in Texas, Maryland, New York, and Virginia "have banned, limited, or discouraged" dodgeball. "Anytime you throw an object at somebody," said an elementary school coach in Cambridge, Mass., "it creates an environment of retaliation and resentment." Coaches who permit children to play dodgeball "should be fired immediately," according to the physical education chairman at Central High School in Naperville, Illinois.
When I played dodgeball in grade school, I wasn't very good at throwing or catching balls. However, I was fairly good at not getting hit. I used that to my advantage. Despite the fact that I wasn't a good thrower, I still loved the game. There are weak and strong in this world, and dodgeball is a good opporitunity to find your strengths and weaknesses, and how to use them. To take it away is simply idiotic.
Progressive educators go even further. The movement against supposedly "stressful" games gained momentum after the publication of an article by Neil Williams, who is a professor of phys. ed. at Eastern Connecticut State College. The article was written in a journal sponsored by the National Association for Sports and Physical Education, who represents eighteen thousand gym teachers and phys. ed professors. Williams consigned games like Red Rover, relay races, and musical chairs to the "Hall of Shame." How could this be? Because the games are based on removing the weakest links. Supposedly this undercuts children's emotional development and erodes their self-esteem.
A follow up article has Williams pointing to a "sinister aspect" of Simon Says. "The major problem," he says, "is that the teacher is doing his or her best to deceive and entrap students." He claims that psychologically, this game is like teachers demonstrating the harms of electricity to kids "by jolting them with an electric current if they touch the wrong button."
See now, the new theraputic approach puts out competition in favor of a gentle and nurturing climate of cooperation. Kind of like the UN...
The new, nonthreatening alternative to tag (provided by a K-3 government financed antibullying curriculum guide called Quit It!) is "Circle of Friends: where "nobody is ever 'out.'" If students become too hyper or even (God forbid) angry while 'playing' Circle of Friends, it is recommended in the guide to use stress-relieving activities to "help the transition from active play to focused work."
The guide is not satire. It is not intended solely for emotionally disturbed children. It is intended for normal 5-7 year olds in our nation's schools.
Another interesting story is one with a Diane Ravitch, author of
The Language Police. In 1997, Bill Clinton appointed her to an honorary education committee that was developing national achievement tests. The Department of Education awarded a multi-million dollar contract to Riverside Publishing to compose the exam.
Ravitch and her fellow committee members (mostly veteran teachers) were sent several sample reading sections. The committe selected the ones to be the most engaging and appropriate for fourth-grade test takers. Apparently some of the sections went MIA when they hit the Riverside censors.
Two of the selections that got high marks from Ravitch and the committee were about peanuts. Readers learned that they were a healthy snack and had first been cultivated by South American Indians, then Europe after the Spanish conquest. It explains how the nuts became important in the United States. It also told about George Washington Carver, the black inventor and scientists, who found many new uses for peanuts.
The censors went crazy. First, they said, peanuts are not a healthy snack for all children. Some are allergic! According to Ravitch, "The reviewers apparently assumed that a fourth-grader who was allergic to peanuts might get distracted if he/she encountered a test question dealing with peanuts!!!
They went on to complain about the Spaniards having "defeated" the South Americans. Perhaps they thought that some child of South American Indian descent who came upon this reading would be hurt in some way, and suffer disadvantages in taking the test.
Another story was about a decaying tree stump on the forest floor, and how it attracts a vast variety of plants, animals, insects, and birds. The passage compared the stump to a bustling apartment complex. The committee liked its charm and verve. It also taught kids some fascinating ecology. However, the twenty sensitivity censors were unanimously opposed to it. Why? Because "Youngsters who have grown up in a housing projecy may be distracted by similarities to their own living conditions. An emotional response may be triggered."
:screwy
I can't bring myself to say anything postable, besides the fact that yes, this is all completely true. I got it from a
very good book, which I recommend to all. It is a good indication of the kind of crap floating around today.
