I am so NOT into politics of any kind. I have opinions, but I keep them to myself. I don't get worked up. I don't argue with people who do. If you're talking politics to me and I'm smiling and nodding, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree. It just means I'm listening.
That's politics in general. As far as the politics of funding education and the necessity or not of testing goes, I have voiced an opinion from time to time. I'm more connected and have a vested interest here. Still, I'm more apt to smile and nod on this topic too.
This brings us to the hub-bub surrounding the Rhode Island school that fired all of it's teachers. I won't go into detail on the story itself. It's been all over the news. And if you missed it, here's a link to a CNN article.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/rhode.island.teachers/index.html
This really became a battle between the state of Rhode Island and the teacher's union, and I'm staying out of ANY comments on that!!! In the end, students lose.
The following is a link to an article written in response to the Rhode Island firings. The article is slanted. I admit that. And I don't agree with everything in it. But here it is if you are interested.
http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/03/05/teacher_firings
What I do agree with is the end of the article, and this is worth reading:
"Yet all the enthusiasm to revamp education has created a frenzy. Real review takes effort and collaboration. Education isn't like an episode of"Extreme Makeover." You can't know anything of the soul of a school by looking at letters and numbers on a chart. And you can't bulldoze a system and call it fixed."
Amen.
Now, one more thing. This week the governors of all 50 states met with the President and agreed to adopt national standards (that the president's committee had come up with ) for students in k-12 in reading and math. I'm not opposed to national standards because it levels the playing field. Right now each state designs it's own tests that are then reported to the federal government.
The national standards don't scare me either because in looking at them, they look to be in line with much of what our state is already doing and when we are doing it. For example, 3rd graders should read and comprehend Charlotte's Web. Our 3rd graders dissect Helen Keller so I'm pretty sure they can take on Charlotte. Fifth graders would need to understand the Pythagorean Theory (a squared plus b squared equals c squared). At our school, depending on how far into the computer math program they get, our 5th graders are exposed to the theory. Teaching it more thoroughly could be easily done. High school freshman would be required to read and comprehend The Iliad and The Great Gatsby. The Iliad is already on the freshman reading list at the prince's school. He's read it and To Kill a Mockingbird and is currently trudging through Romeo and Juliette. So we've got this!!!
What's kind of weird to me is that, in order to get the 4 BILLION dollars the president is promising in education money, schools must adapt these new standards. Which begs the question: does the president not care about the kids in the states that don't adopt the standards? Are those children being left behind? All but 2 states agreed to adopt the standards. One of the states that didn't was Texas, and the governor of Texas said, "Texans know best how to educate their children." There is some irony in this since it was President Bush--from Texas--who started this whole testing/standards ballgame.
Still, I give Texas a hand for not buying into the politics. I don't doubt that money will talk down the road, and they'll join the other 48 states. In the meantime I'm reminiscent of when the government tied highway funding to speed limits. Montana said, "No thanks. Keep your money. We'll keep speeding down the highway." Eventually the money was necessary and we too had ourselves a "reasonable" speed limit on our highways!
Am I rambling? Probably. In my brain this all ties together, and if you're really good at reading between the lines, you know what I'm saying. If you know me well then you know what I meant to say. For the rest of you, thanks for letting me rant a little!
That's politics in general. As far as the politics of funding education and the necessity or not of testing goes, I have voiced an opinion from time to time. I'm more connected and have a vested interest here. Still, I'm more apt to smile and nod on this topic too.
This brings us to the hub-bub surrounding the Rhode Island school that fired all of it's teachers. I won't go into detail on the story itself. It's been all over the news. And if you missed it, here's a link to a CNN article.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/rhode.island.teachers/index.html
This really became a battle between the state of Rhode Island and the teacher's union, and I'm staying out of ANY comments on that!!! In the end, students lose.
The following is a link to an article written in response to the Rhode Island firings. The article is slanted. I admit that. And I don't agree with everything in it. But here it is if you are interested.
http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/03/05/teacher_firings
What I do agree with is the end of the article, and this is worth reading:
"Yet all the enthusiasm to revamp education has created a frenzy. Real review takes effort and collaboration. Education isn't like an episode of"Extreme Makeover." You can't know anything of the soul of a school by looking at letters and numbers on a chart. And you can't bulldoze a system and call it fixed."
Amen.
Now, one more thing. This week the governors of all 50 states met with the President and agreed to adopt national standards (that the president's committee had come up with ) for students in k-12 in reading and math. I'm not opposed to national standards because it levels the playing field. Right now each state designs it's own tests that are then reported to the federal government.
The national standards don't scare me either because in looking at them, they look to be in line with much of what our state is already doing and when we are doing it. For example, 3rd graders should read and comprehend Charlotte's Web. Our 3rd graders dissect Helen Keller so I'm pretty sure they can take on Charlotte. Fifth graders would need to understand the Pythagorean Theory (a squared plus b squared equals c squared). At our school, depending on how far into the computer math program they get, our 5th graders are exposed to the theory. Teaching it more thoroughly could be easily done. High school freshman would be required to read and comprehend The Iliad and The Great Gatsby. The Iliad is already on the freshman reading list at the prince's school. He's read it and To Kill a Mockingbird and is currently trudging through Romeo and Juliette. So we've got this!!!
What's kind of weird to me is that, in order to get the 4 BILLION dollars the president is promising in education money, schools must adapt these new standards. Which begs the question: does the president not care about the kids in the states that don't adopt the standards? Are those children being left behind? All but 2 states agreed to adopt the standards. One of the states that didn't was Texas, and the governor of Texas said, "Texans know best how to educate their children." There is some irony in this since it was President Bush--from Texas--who started this whole testing/standards ballgame.
Still, I give Texas a hand for not buying into the politics. I don't doubt that money will talk down the road, and they'll join the other 48 states. In the meantime I'm reminiscent of when the government tied highway funding to speed limits. Montana said, "No thanks. Keep your money. We'll keep speeding down the highway." Eventually the money was necessary and we too had ourselves a "reasonable" speed limit on our highways!
Am I rambling? Probably. In my brain this all ties together, and if you're really good at reading between the lines, you know what I'm saying. If you know me well then you know what I meant to say. For the rest of you, thanks for letting me rant a little!
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