Friday, August 16, 2013

My concerns, what kids need, and Thomas Jefferson

My concern goes beyond the idiocy of making moment in time, online or pencil and paper be the end all/be all of student, teacher, and public school "value".

It is more related to the catch 22 of society promoting a self-interest/immediate gratification/competition is king drive outside the schools, and then imposing a cooperate, sit still and silent for hours and carefully fill in these little bubbles inside the school.

This is not a behavior, skill, desire that should be promoted to begin with.

And the garbage that attacks every sense and sensibility of students through the market and the media does not promote the expected brand of school success-let alone testing (as it currently exists) success.

Working in the elementary grades especially requires “teaching to the test” in terms of the simple behaviors required to even engage appropriately with the task of the type of testing imposed.

Sitting still, being silent, and carefully filling in bubbles based on stuff somebody else is saying we need to know...or else..

Do you know what kids are like these days? As annoying as some of the disruptive, disrespectful, antsy, socially unaware behavior can be-do we really want to train kids for a future of isolated, chained to computer terminals and tech-support phone lines, obedient cubicle jockeys collecting data for corporate/investment overlords?

Thomas Jefferson will dig himself up to come and slap me if I just quietly march along with the line of red coats.

"I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness..." (Jefferson, 1786)

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