Re: [Phys-l] NCLB: End It, Don't Mend It

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 10/31/2011 11:25 AM, David Marx wrote:
> I would say that the problems 
> are not largely financial, so much as cultural.  Students and parents do not value education enough to 
> make learning a priority.  Instead, we have a culture that thinks that simply attending school during the 
> day should be enough to ensure success, that a person reaching grade 12 is entitled to a diploma and, 
> for many, automatic entry to the college of their choice.  We have an agenda-based curriculum that is 
> trying to do too much.  We also have unionized teachers that may not be able to be fired if they are 
> demonstrably incompetent.  The problems are numerous and no legislation will solve them.  It will take 
> a cultural shift that truly values learning.

I agree with at least 90% of that.

I reckon we agree that students need to acquire
 a) a love of learning, and
 b) a sense of personal responsibility 
    (as to learning and lots of other things)

Every time I ask a student about "X" and they say "we didn't cover
that in class" I want to scream:  "I didn't ask whether it was covered
in class.  You need to take personal responsibility for knowing stuff, 
whether it was covered in class perfectly, imperfectly, or not at all. 
School and family can help you get started in the right direction, but 
the bottom line remain: *you* are responsible for what you know and 
what you do.  Even in the best case scenario, what you learn in school
is a tiny percentage of what you need to know."

==================

IMHO unionization is the least of the problems.  In many places the
unions are too weak to have any effect ... and in the other places,
the best strategy is to enlist the unions to push back -- hard -- 
against asinine testing and other anti-professional policies.

I suspect we agree that *more* teacher professionalism would be a
good thing.  Note that by definition, a professional gets to choose 
the tools and methods for achieving a given goal.  Teaching used to
be considered a profession.  Turning it into a blue-collar job is a 
Bad Idea.  Using a state-mandated Syllabus and state-mandated testing
etc. to increase the amount of regimentation applied to teachers
*or* students is a Bad Idea;  there's waaaay too much of that already.  
Einstein said the schools required "kadavergehorsamkeit" ... the 
obedience of a corpse.

Seriously, I suggest we enlist the unions to demand *more* professionalism,
with all the privileges and responsibilities that that entails.