The Shocking Things Schools Are -- And Aren't -- Teaching

[Crock Hunter]

Good (Frightening) article from HuffPo.. ..

e.g.. .. ..

Texas
The proposal’s most radical position, however, opposes the teaching of "higher order thinking skills" -- a curriculum which strives to encourage critical thinking -- arguing that it might challenge "student's fixed beliefs" and undermine "parental authority."

Louisiana
One school participating in Louisiana's voucher program notes that its students "will be expected to defend creationism through evidence presented by the Bible versus traditional scientific theory."

Louisiana
"Bible-believing Christians cannot accept any evolutionary interpretation. Dinosaurs and humans were definitely on the earth at the same time and may have even lived side by side within the past few thousand years." — Life Science, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2007

Louisiana
Gay people "have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists." — Teacher's Resource Guide to Current Events for Christian Schools, 1998-1999, Bob Jones University Press, 1998


Linky .. .

[billy.pilgrim]

while gov of florida, jeb bush took Civics out of the required high school courses. he claimed it was too difficult to "test" for accountability

another darling right-wing hero showing his contempt for our country

[O Really]

Probably doesn't matter what's in the curriculum. According to the way-rights, the damn union teachers can't teach nuttin' nohow. Next time Texas says anything about secession, I think somebody ought to tell them to put up or shut up. They can change their theme park to "Seven Flags."

[billy.pilgrim]

I don't know if it passed but Alabama voted this election (amendment 4) for the right to abolish public schools

[O Really]

I don't know if it passed but Alabama voted this election (amendment 4) for the right to abolish public schools

Amendment 4 was to strike the legally obsolete and unconstitutional language from their Constitution requiring segregated schools. For no understandable reason other than "it's Alabama" the Amendment failed.

[O Really]

It was also opposed by the Alabama Education Association.

I don't know enough to say whether the opposition's fears were correct, but it's more complex than Alabamans just wishing to preserve Jim Crow.

Interesting. Somebody actually thought about it and even considered unintended consequences. I'm impressed. On the other hand, among voters how many do you suppose understood those "technicalities" and how many just didn't want to give up one of their "heritage" issues?

[billy.pilgrim]

I don't know if it passed but Alabama voted this election (amendment 4) for the right to abolish public schools

Amendment 4 was to strike the legally obsolete and unconstitutional language from their Constitution requiring segregated schools. For no understandable reason other than "it's Alabama" the Amendment failed.

Not quite.

...Charles Miller of the Secular Coalition for Alabama spoke for his group and stated opposition to the amendment, saying, "The Secular Coalition for Alabama lobbied in opposition to SB112 because of provisions in the bill that are not included in the ballot language. Specifically, the proposed amendment removes the right to an education for Alabama's children: '..but nothing in this Constitution shall be construed as creating or recognizing any right to education or training at public expense..' To be clear, the no right to education "poison pill" language is a vestige of the Amendment that introduced the racist language in the first place. We want those provisions removed too, since they can still be used against children in Alabama and even to end public education."...

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/A ... %282012%29

It was also opposed by the Alabama Education Association.

I don't know enough to say whether the opposition's fears were correct, but it's more complex than Alabamans just wishing to preserve Jim Crow.

jim crow was just the cover

this was all judge roy moore (remember him) attempt to end public schools

"nothing in this Constitution shall be construed as creating or recognizing any right to education or training at public expense"

speaks for itself - you can't spell conservative without the con

[billy.pilgrim]

I have no idea, could have been a weird alliance between informed voters and racists. As you said, "it's Alabama".

sc ain't got a bunch up on alabama, but it kinda funny that the ignorant ragins in their ignorance or words and stuff helped defend teachers and public schools

looks like judge "con"roy moore done fooled his own

[JTA]

Good (Frightening) article from HuffPo.. ..

e.g.. .. ..

Texas
The proposal’s most radical position, however, opposes the teaching of "higher order thinking skills" -- a curriculum which strives to encourage critical thinking -- arguing that it might challenge "student's fixed beliefs" and undermine "parental authority."

Linky .. .

One of the best classes I've ever taken was a pre-requisite literature class in college. Out of all the classes I took, I'd have to say the professor teaching this one did a really good job at teaching critical thinking skills that they definitely do not teach you in high-school. Literature of all classes...

To this day I'm thankful for that class. Without it, I'd probably find most of the stuff on conservapedia.com to be BS.

[rstrong]

In 1914, John Alexander Smith, professor of moral philosophy at Oxford, addressed the first session of his two-year lecture course as follows:

"Gentlemen, you are now about to embark on a course of studies that (will) form a noble adventure… let me make this clear to you… nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you in after life - save only this - that if you work hard and intelligently, you should be able to detect when a man is talking rot, and that, in my view, is the main, if not the sole purpose of education."

No doubt Conservapedia would call him a godless commie marxist socialist for teaching such a course.

[Stinger]

"nothing in this Constitution shall be construed as creating or recognizing any right to education or training at public expense"

speaks for itself - you can't spell conservative without the con

That's why black lawmakers and other minority groups opposed taking out Jim Crow wording -- the amendment had that phrase in it, constitutionally reinforcing the idea that there is no "right" to public education.

From the Florida constitution: “The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education...”

The Pubs, however, don't like funding public education, so they've tried to sneak in amendments negating this section of the constitution.

[Stinger]

NC and SC are not in the top or bottom 10.

Conclusions?

Take the rankings with a barge-load of salt. The Education Week people decide what categories they think important and then TRY to rank states. One of the biggies is assessment -- how well (or how strictly) do you reward and punish schools for students' test scores. Another is teacher accountability -- how well (or how strictly) do you reward and sanction teachers based on students' test scores.

In Florida, we just got a glimpse of how well this bullshit works. They are instituting a new state teacher assessment where 50% of a teacher's evaluation is based on students' test scores.

Some of the results: A local teacher of the year went from "Highly Effective" to "Unsatisfactory" based on the test scores of students she never taught. She taught at a K-2 elementary, and the students aren't tested until 3rd grade. She hadn't taught the 3rd grades whose test scores were used to evaluate her.

Hillsborough County's top AP algebra teacher (based on AP pass rates) got an unsatisfactory based on his students' test scores.

Florida uses a proven unreliable Value Added Model (VAM) where statisticians claim to magically be able to guesstimate how much a student should learn in a year. In one school with a magnet program (advanced academics) in an inner-city school, the magnet program teachers all received sufficient VAM scores while the teachers who taught the inner-city kids received deficient VAM scores.

In NYC, teachers who ranked in the top 20% of teachers, according to VAM scores, had a one-in-four chance of being in the bottom 20% the next year. That's how unreliable VAM is.

To top it off, math teachers are graded on students' math scores, but everyone else is graded on reading scores. The science teacher is graded on reading scores. You get fired for low VAM scores. A science teacher who wants to remain employed would forget science and teach reading.

Education Week rankings have some categories that really don't have anything to do with the quality of education. It's based more on bureaucratic steps taken than on educational outcomes.

[Stinger]

Thanks. Know of a ranking scheme that uses the factors you think are important?

I doubt there is one. Most of the factors I think are important aren't measured on a standardized test.

Too much apples-to-oranges BS. I think you can look at graduation rates, but then you have to look at graduation standards. The idiots in Tallahassee require students to pass things that they themselves can't pass. This year's high school freshmen will have to take chemistry or physics, along with Algebra II, AND pass a statewide, standardized end-of-course exam to graduate from high school.

Education Week judges more on process than product.

Most of the stuff that passes for education "reform" in the Teanut legislatures seems a continuation of the 1980's/1990's Ralph Reed/ Moral Majority attempts to destroy public education.

[homerfobe]

"The Shocking Things Schools Are -- And Aren't -- Teaching" - kids, for example.

States with the Best and Worst School Systems

THE TOP FIVE STATES WITH THE BEST SCHOOLS IN THE NATION

1. Maryland (where I went to grade school )
2. Massachusetts
3. New York
4. Virginia
5. Arkansas
6. Florida

THE BOTTOM FIVE STATES WITH THE WORST SCHOOLS IN THE NATION

45. Nebraska
46. Mississippi
46. Alaska
48. Idaho
49. Nevada
50. South Dakota

NC and SC are not in the top or bottom 10.
Conclusions?

Conclusion:

you went to grade school in Maryland where you didn't learn to count. Your top five and bottom five each contain six states, as well as we now have two #46 states.

[rstrong]

The folks in Scotland are laughing at how children in the Accelerated Christian Education program in Louisiana are taught that the Loch Ness monster is real.

Herald Scotland: How American fundamentalist schools are using Nessie to disprove evolution

Still, at least the Christians are consistant. The earliest recorded mention of Nessie is in the story of Saint Columba telling Nessie to bugger off, thus converting the Picts to Christianity. The Loch Ness Monster is Christian icon just like Christ, the Ark of the Covenant and the rest.

[homerfobe]

See how easy it is to admit error, homerfobe?

So let's see now. To tout your vanity, do you want an award,




a new soapbox,






or would you like me to sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic?

[Stinger]

True, but that's not entirely fallacious. Kids from different states arrive at school, on average, with differing levels of preparation and external support. Rankings should at least in part reflect the effort put in by the schools even if different outcomes are predictable based on the starting point.

But it's not solely a measurement of the effort that goes into teaching. Much of it is a measurement of how many hoops you've created in the latest round of what passes for education reform. Much of it is a measure of how much you test, how you severely you rank schools by test scores, and how severely you sanction teachers by test scores using voodoo math.

If you lead the nation in testing kids, ranking schools by test scores, and sanctioning teachers with Voodoo Added Model nonsense, then you get a high ranking . . . and none of that stuff has anything to do with how much you teach the kids.

[Dryer Vent]

The Loch Ness Monster is real??? No shit. I guess I need to spend more time down south.