Wednesday, August 01, 2007
and a worthwhile read
Came across this looking at MeFi, which everyone should look at if they aren't looking at it.
School Corp Collision( My title)
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/500pound.htm
I have been really fed up with how the big multi-national corporations dictate so much of our daily lives despite all efforts to get rid of this malign influence on our lives. I don't like it, and I find myself startled to be in agreement with some things coming out of no less than the Heritage Foundation. That is a stomach lurching feeling for me, but check it out, they are saying things I've been saying for YEARS in this paper!
again via Metafilter, aka MeFi:
Paper on Schools
http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Ed/STW03Collisn.htm
From Z-net
http://zena.secureforum.com/Znet/ZMag/articles/oct96cardella.htm
The thing is that I haven't liked having my life micromanaged from school on up, and it's not the government doing the micromanaging, it's corporations for the most part.
I'm glad so many on what I consider the 'other side' see this too, and have been willing to fight over it.
At the same time it's a stomach lurching experience to recognize my thoughts echoed in these papers, sometimes word for word. I remember getting samples of panty-hose in Home Ec. I remember the little samples of Clearasil, which totally failed to deal with my acne b.t.w. Only good old Queen of Hungary water followed up by a yogurt mask or sleeping with a layer of zinc oxide on my face does the trick.
Why are kids being given samples of this stuff and told it's the road to 'self esteem'? Why isn't some normal accomplishment, some ACADEMIC or even some ATHLETIC accomplishment not the reason for 'self esteeem'?
Damn if I had kids now they would all be home schooled at this rate.
At the same time school should help give kids job skills, they should be REAL skills not appearances skills. Look in the craaazy wild West fashions change, what is an acceptable appearance changes, usually because companies FORCE the change on us through the use of those agents of influence, the fashion designers, but the need for REAL math skills, REAL language skills and REAL knowlege of other cultures DOES NOT change.
Testing and teaching to the test has never been o.k. and it's been a part of Empire and Imperialism from the time of the Mandarins on right through to present times. It results in poor leaders who get knocked over by everything from the Hordes of Ghengis Khan to the insurgents of today. I have to say teaching to tests results in failure. It would be better to let the kids hang around on street corners than to keep this up.
School Corp Collision( My title)
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/500pound.htm
I have been really fed up with how the big multi-national corporations dictate so much of our daily lives despite all efforts to get rid of this malign influence on our lives. I don't like it, and I find myself startled to be in agreement with some things coming out of no less than the Heritage Foundation. That is a stomach lurching feeling for me, but check it out, they are saying things I've been saying for YEARS in this paper!
again via Metafilter, aka MeFi:
Paper on Schools
http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Ed/STW03Collisn.htm
From Z-net
http://zena.secureforum.com/Znet/ZMag/articles/oct96cardella.htm
The thing is that I haven't liked having my life micromanaged from school on up, and it's not the government doing the micromanaging, it's corporations for the most part.
I'm glad so many on what I consider the 'other side' see this too, and have been willing to fight over it.
At the same time it's a stomach lurching experience to recognize my thoughts echoed in these papers, sometimes word for word. I remember getting samples of panty-hose in Home Ec. I remember the little samples of Clearasil, which totally failed to deal with my acne b.t.w. Only good old Queen of Hungary water followed up by a yogurt mask or sleeping with a layer of zinc oxide on my face does the trick.
Why are kids being given samples of this stuff and told it's the road to 'self esteem'? Why isn't some normal accomplishment, some ACADEMIC or even some ATHLETIC accomplishment not the reason for 'self esteeem'?
Damn if I had kids now they would all be home schooled at this rate.
At the same time school should help give kids job skills, they should be REAL skills not appearances skills. Look in the craaazy wild West fashions change, what is an acceptable appearance changes, usually because companies FORCE the change on us through the use of those agents of influence, the fashion designers, but the need for REAL math skills, REAL language skills and REAL knowlege of other cultures DOES NOT change.
Testing and teaching to the test has never been o.k. and it's been a part of Empire and Imperialism from the time of the Mandarins on right through to present times. It results in poor leaders who get knocked over by everything from the Hordes of Ghengis Khan to the insurgents of today. I have to say teaching to tests results in failure. It would be better to let the kids hang around on street corners than to keep this up.
# posted by Katja R. @ 9:27 AM 
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Very interesting Kohn article. A lot of what he says is just as relevant to the English schools system.
# posted by 
: 7:43 AM
: 7:43 AM
I'd gathered that this has been so for a long time from my reading of a most interesting work, 'The Murder Machine' by Padraig H. Pearse.
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