tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5664821601466952220.post513830946396044327..comments2023-08-12T02:27:12.548-07:00Comments on Pennmanship: Too busy to notice?Brad Ogilvie/The William Penn House/The Mosaic Initiativehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17229228501877444698noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5664821601466952220.post-64328834768492489762010-09-29T16:20:34.309-07:002010-09-29T16:20:34.309-07:00I viewed the Race to Nowhere Monday night at the D...I viewed the Race to Nowhere Monday night at the DC JCC on 16th Street and met the filmmaker Vicki Abeles, for whom this was a very personal documentary. <br /><br />She is concerned that high pressure school environments have become harmful to our children, making them into test performers inste...ad of learners. She wants to see a future where the whole child is educated.<br /><br />She interviews hundreds of students and teachers and others for this film, primarily in California, but also in most other regions of the US. She also makes the film personal by sharing the struggles of her own children in school, along with the struggles of a 14 yo girl in her community who took her own life in 2008 after receiving a very low grade on a math test.<br /><br />Vicki Abeles, a first time filmmaker, sees this film as a wake-up call to the nation about the pressure-cooker school system where kids are taught to that education is primarily about grades, high-stakes testing and college admissions, to the extent that kids are loosing out of their childhoods. The films interviews are really what carry the movie. The subjects are thoughtful, articulate and very genuine. Tonight the question and answer session after the film was lively and provocative.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01701804826911291377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5664821601466952220.post-62111315948316634812010-09-22T11:35:11.653-07:002010-09-22T11:35:11.653-07:00The most important obligation of any education sys...The most important obligation of any education system is to recognize that each child is a unique individual – there is no such thing as a standard child (Rakow 2008). The uniqueness of each child requires unique accommodations. Instead of forcing a child into a predetermined or standardized schedule and set of expectations, we have an obligation to adapt to each child’s unique set of capabilities, boundaries, and rate of development. To do otherwise is counter-productive, if not harmful. Children are who they uniquely are. Children are not who we want them to be or who we think they are. Children are not indistinguishable widgets on an education assembly line (Johnson 2006). Education is neither a manufacturing nor a business process. Education does not produce a product. The quality of an industrial product can be measured. An industrial process begins with specified raw materials. Then, in accordance with a detailed plan, the raw materials are incrementally transformed into multiple copies of a finished product. The finished product, within very tight tolerances should meet the specifications of the blueprint for the finished product. A specific quantifiable result is expected and the finished product should repeatedly meet that predetermined expectation with a high degree of measurable precision. The metrics and processes used in industry and business to measure and achieve quality cannot and must not be applied to education. A successful education can be measured only individually, not collectively. The end result of education is not a predetermined finished product. The end result of education cannot be predetermined and indeed the end result must not be identical or even uniform. The end result of education is controlled by the unique internal qualities of the individual student and not by any external expectations, designs, or controls. Education is a process of assisting individual intellectual growth, discovery of personal strengths and talents, and maturation of the person as an individual and a social being – a process that does not end with graduation from high school or college. Education has no end result. Education is only part of an on-going process. Training and regimentation are used to make people more nearly identical in some skill or behavior. Education is about enriching the natural uniqueness of each person (Houston 2007). Education increases diversity, differentiation, and variability among individuals and decreases uniformity and conformity (Eisner 2001). The sole focus of an education system is the individual child – not colleges, not corporations, not government, not society, not the economy, and not the future of any other single or group entity. The future is always and inescapably unpredictable, indiscernible, and unknowable. It is irresponsibly presumptuous for any adult to choose a future or limit the future of a child. The future of each child belongs only to that child.<br /><br />Doug SloanColby Cheesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11980909115281293915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5664821601466952220.post-78700943946200554412010-09-22T11:31:53.037-07:002010-09-22T11:31:53.037-07:00Education is not for the betterment of the local e...Education is not for the betterment of the local economy, the gross national product, or the global society. Education is not about transforming, unifying, or homogenizing society. Education is not a solution for the problems of society – neither problems that are persistent and universal nor problems that are uniquely contemporary. Education is not about providing competent workers for the future. Education is not about preparing students for college. Education does not transform students into either an intellectual natural resource or a pool of human capital – these concepts have no basis or existence in reality. Education is not the means by which we can gain a national economic competitive edge over other nations. It is not an event in some imaginary on-going international academic competition. Acquiring an education from a public school system is not an act of consumerism (Bracey 2008) because public education is neither a business nor a product. Neither competence in passing a specific test nor receiving narrowly focused training qualifies as an education (Houston 2007). Such purposes and goals are wrong. Such purposes and goals cause a destructive mutation of the education process and such treatment of children must be labeled and rejected for what it is – criminally coercive and abusive.Colby Cheesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11980909115281293915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5664821601466952220.post-66080842728349756062010-09-19T13:05:32.045-07:002010-09-19T13:05:32.045-07:00We are posting your blog on our Facebook page. Yo...We are posting your blog on our Facebook page. You are correct - the experts have been speaking about this for 30 years. In fact, we interviewed David Elkind and he is featured in our bonus footage. We need a paradigm shift in education. It's going to take the voices of parents, educators, students and concerned citizens coming together to demand the change our children need. www.racetonowhere.com or www.facebook.com/RaceToNowhereAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5664821601466952220.post-24598518834480175452010-09-19T07:03:25.754-07:002010-09-19T07:03:25.754-07:00It seems we are mired in quicksand called "to...It seems we are mired in quicksand called "too busy". Most importantly, not only is collaboration lost, but true community.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5664821601466952220.post-31765389544869211742010-09-19T06:09:32.562-07:002010-09-19T06:09:32.562-07:00I have a friend who says busy stands for "Bur...I have a friend who says busy stands for "Burdened Under Satan's Yoke." And it's so true. Having a full schedule keeps us from listening to God's promptings in our hearts and becoming the people God is calling us to be. It stunts us spiritually. Great post, Brad. I'm convicted.Faithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10698234299108455227noreply@blogger.com