A Few of My Favorite Posts on Education

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MY BLOG SEEMS TO BE PICKING UP STEAM lately; so I should be getting back to my first love in the next few days.

That would be writing about education.

If you haven't checked out the older posts, I recommend beginning with "An Education Expert Goes to the Doctor" (click on the title at right). I think we need to realize that the big names in U. S. education reform tend to be people who have done very little teaching. Or:  NO damn teaching at all. Indeed, any teacher with fifteen years or more of experience has spent longer in the classroom than all nine U. S. Secretaries of Education combined.

And you can throw in the insufferable Michelle Rhee. (Real teachers, just a note. If you don't know who Rhee is, you should.)

At any rate, the experts like to tell us that we need to push and push and push for standardized testing. I have plenty to say on that matter. What happens, for example, if I bring fourteen combat veterans out to speak to 700 students at my old school? It's NOT standardized education and what those veterans say can't be measured by standardized testing. So, is that kind of learning experience now a waste?

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/05/sham-standards-governor-kasich-and.html


In the same context, the story of the profound stutterer is critically important:

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/07/yellow-brick-road-to-nowhere-teachers.html

What else can't be covered on standardized tests? The list is long. If you care about true learning it's terrifying:

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-teaching-matters-part-4-books.html

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-tribute-on-9-11-and-brief-note-on.html

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2012/02/where-in-world-is-ohio-curse-of.html


Education reformers love charter schools, too. Can charter schools really save every child? Probably not:

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/11/vouchers-charter-schools-and-terrible.html

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2012/07/let-big-business-save-our-schools-and.html

In fact, some charter schools are a joke:

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2012/07/lets-privatize-americas-public-schools.html


The whole concept--that America's public schools are failing, compared to Japan and Belgium and Finland--is wrong. So what if American students rank 25th in math!!!! What if the same kind of lists show American adults rank 24th in life expectancy? Are doctors and hospitals in this country really failing?

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/05/numbers-dont-lie-our-teachers-and.html


It gets worse! If you haven't heard, the U. S. economy is suffering because America's students aren't prepared to compete in a global economy. How well does this argument hold up if we're losing jobs to Bangladesh and not Finland? See below:

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2012/04/exxonmobil-announces-commitment-to.html


Many critics loved the movie Waiting for Superman. The movie bashes teachers. (Most experts in education today, who don't teach and never did teach, bash teachers.) What did critics and producer Davis Guggenheim miss?

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/05/fairy-tale-called-waiting-for-superman.html

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/11/rick-perry-wasumuhright-get-rid-of-u-s.html


I have included a number of posts about what good teachers (of which there are many) really do. Here are a couple of examples:

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2011/10/say-wabbit-inherent-limits-of-merit-pay.html

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-teaching-matters-whats-square-root_07.html

Education always matters.
How best do we foster learning?