I'm a retired 34 year year high school teacher and think most critiques including yours miss the fundamental point that schools do not operate in a vacuum but within the cultural milieu. Learning is work and you have to buy into the process. Especially hard in today's environment of constant distractions. Scalia and RGB would do fine in today's public schools because they would understand why they were there. I don't think it matters much if schools ban phones during instructional time because the damn things have burrowed a wormhole into most young people's brains. What attention span?
While listening to Eli Lake's excellent recent 'Honestly' podcast, I noticed Bari's read ad for Ground News. And lo and behold, when I looked back at the FP homepage, the Ground News banner at top (I already subscribe to them -- it's a pretty useful service) that used to tag the FP as "leans right" was gone.
I assume this was the result of fair education, not some light 'corruption.'* 😉
*Don't get me wrong -- I always thought the label was unfair, and probably the result of an algorithm fooled by balanced opinion that swings further from the center, both left and right, than the typical "center" pub. I'm just curious about the change.
I’m a teacher, currently at a charter school. School choice is not a magic fix to the educational “problems” facing poor and dysfunctional neighborhoods. Urban charters (and charters are mostly urban) most often serve a specific, and highly sympathetic, demographic: poor families in poor neighborhoods with bad, disorderly schools who do actually value education. The reason these families are in this position in the first place, though, is that their neighbors usually do not, which is an underrated and significant reason why the local schools exist in the state that they do. Education is simply not a priority.
Most of the laws in our education system are explicitly designed to help society’s current and future downtrodden. No Child Left Behind was designed, in the public-facing first instance, “for” poor, minority students in “failing” inner city schools. IDEA was designed “for” children with “disabilities,” a category (or series of categories) which has, unsurprisingly, expanded dramatically since IDEA’s passage. Any teacher working in public education today could tell you about how every spare minute and dollar and then some are spent on squeezing marginal gains out of the struggling students. The average elementary school teacher nationally gets about 4 hours of prep time per week (~45-50 minutes per day); middle and high school teachers, closer to an hour. The average IEP, which is an annual report written “for” each special education student, takes between 1-3 hours to write. 18% of all public school students have IEPs (think about that: 1 in 6 students is diagnosed as “disabled”). Think of the opportunity cost this presents to a single teacher: writing the annual IEP is but one of the dozens of paperwork obligations teachers have, virtually all of which are for students who struggle the most. Obviously, when a teacher’s planning time is spent on such tasks, they have less time and energy to devote to planning effective and stimulating instruction for the other 82%.
One does not need to debate how “real” various SPED diagnoses are in order to recognize the terrifying long-term implications. It is completely insane for a society to focus all of its educational firepower on the segments of the populace least likely to be able to support itself in the future, let alone others. Public education is a race to the bottom, which drags down the middle, hence the existence of college freshmen who cannot write a grammatically sound paragraph.
On another note: I also don’t understand why people view America’s PISA (international test) score stagnation as failure. In 1995, 65% of American public school students were white and 13.5% were Hispanic. In 2023, those numbers had changed to 45% white and 30% Hispanic. The country has undergone absolutely massive demographic change over the course of the last generation. White students score higher on average on standardized tests, in the U.S. and internationally, compared to Hispanic students. One does not need to engage in speculation about the cause of that achievement gap in order to recognize that, under the circumstances, it is actually perhaps an admirable accomplishment that American test scores haven’t experienced a greater decline.
We are part of two education co-ops as we home-school our children. Some are taught by parents, others by great instructors who are authorities in given subjects. All resources are pooled, children get classroom experience, and learn rigor. Weekends are filled with baseball, soccer, and dirt biking in the desert.
Our children have chores, collect eggs, and regularly pick up the instruments we leave around.
One magical night, I tuned one of the electric guitars, taught them how to tune the other and they just began to play, dare I say, jam. We have 8 chickens, two bunnies, a cat that chases coyotes, one ukulele and use exactly no federal dollars.
This interview with Dexter is fascinatingly flippant in its assertions. Pretty sure they “yada yada yada’d” the billions of dollars shoveled into Iran’s hands that led directly to this moment. We are on the precipice of three nuclear bombs because we funded it. We are closer to nuclear war than the promised “two state solution”
If you elect Harris/Walz, don't say a word about an EO for reparations. That's all I'm going to say, but that is the culmination of the CRT/DEI project goal.
The first news item today was that a “new” poll shows Harris ahead in Pennsylvania. This shows the bias at FP to push good news for Harris and hold back good news for Trump or even bad news for Biden/Harris (which might be construed has helping Trump).
The problem with “new polls” is that there is always a newer poll. As of Thursday p.m. RealClearPolitics has FOUR NEW Pennsylvania polls with Trump ahead in TWO and a TIE in TWO
Congratulations to Front Page News for noting that the Teamsters Union did not endorse either candidate for President, because rank and file supports Trump. Note the link in FP article above is FOX NEWS. Here is another on same topic:
School attendance is a huge topic these days with multiple articles lamenting the increased absenteeism. In 2020 we told kids being in school wasn't paramount, you can learn from home just as well. Now we wonder why no one wants to get up in the morning any go to school...Teacher's union pushed the shut down for "safety". Reap what you sow.
As for the federal Department of Education; no reason for it to exist. Education is a state's right/responsibility. Get rid of it.
I'm a retired 34 year year high school teacher and think most critiques including yours miss the fundamental point that schools do not operate in a vacuum but within the cultural milieu. Learning is work and you have to buy into the process. Especially hard in today's environment of constant distractions. Scalia and RGB would do fine in today's public schools because they would understand why they were there. I don't think it matters much if schools ban phones during instructional time because the damn things have burrowed a wormhole into most young people's brains. What attention span?
An aside re: TFP:
While listening to Eli Lake's excellent recent 'Honestly' podcast, I noticed Bari's read ad for Ground News. And lo and behold, when I looked back at the FP homepage, the Ground News banner at top (I already subscribe to them -- it's a pretty useful service) that used to tag the FP as "leans right" was gone.
I assume this was the result of fair education, not some light 'corruption.'* 😉
*Don't get me wrong -- I always thought the label was unfair, and probably the result of an algorithm fooled by balanced opinion that swings further from the center, both left and right, than the typical "center" pub. I'm just curious about the change.
Some of you might enjoy this satirical ad. https://x.com/MrReaganUSA/status/1816826660089733492
Halloween costumes are supposed to look scary, awful, horror-ific, etc.
I’m a teacher, currently at a charter school. School choice is not a magic fix to the educational “problems” facing poor and dysfunctional neighborhoods. Urban charters (and charters are mostly urban) most often serve a specific, and highly sympathetic, demographic: poor families in poor neighborhoods with bad, disorderly schools who do actually value education. The reason these families are in this position in the first place, though, is that their neighbors usually do not, which is an underrated and significant reason why the local schools exist in the state that they do. Education is simply not a priority.
Most of the laws in our education system are explicitly designed to help society’s current and future downtrodden. No Child Left Behind was designed, in the public-facing first instance, “for” poor, minority students in “failing” inner city schools. IDEA was designed “for” children with “disabilities,” a category (or series of categories) which has, unsurprisingly, expanded dramatically since IDEA’s passage. Any teacher working in public education today could tell you about how every spare minute and dollar and then some are spent on squeezing marginal gains out of the struggling students. The average elementary school teacher nationally gets about 4 hours of prep time per week (~45-50 minutes per day); middle and high school teachers, closer to an hour. The average IEP, which is an annual report written “for” each special education student, takes between 1-3 hours to write. 18% of all public school students have IEPs (think about that: 1 in 6 students is diagnosed as “disabled”). Think of the opportunity cost this presents to a single teacher: writing the annual IEP is but one of the dozens of paperwork obligations teachers have, virtually all of which are for students who struggle the most. Obviously, when a teacher’s planning time is spent on such tasks, they have less time and energy to devote to planning effective and stimulating instruction for the other 82%.
One does not need to debate how “real” various SPED diagnoses are in order to recognize the terrifying long-term implications. It is completely insane for a society to focus all of its educational firepower on the segments of the populace least likely to be able to support itself in the future, let alone others. Public education is a race to the bottom, which drags down the middle, hence the existence of college freshmen who cannot write a grammatically sound paragraph.
On another note: I also don’t understand why people view America’s PISA (international test) score stagnation as failure. In 1995, 65% of American public school students were white and 13.5% were Hispanic. In 2023, those numbers had changed to 45% white and 30% Hispanic. The country has undergone absolutely massive demographic change over the course of the last generation. White students score higher on average on standardized tests, in the U.S. and internationally, compared to Hispanic students. One does not need to engage in speculation about the cause of that achievement gap in order to recognize that, under the circumstances, it is actually perhaps an admirable accomplishment that American test scores haven’t experienced a greater decline.
We are part of two education co-ops as we home-school our children. Some are taught by parents, others by great instructors who are authorities in given subjects. All resources are pooled, children get classroom experience, and learn rigor. Weekends are filled with baseball, soccer, and dirt biking in the desert.
Our children have chores, collect eggs, and regularly pick up the instruments we leave around.
One magical night, I tuned one of the electric guitars, taught them how to tune the other and they just began to play, dare I say, jam. We have 8 chickens, two bunnies, a cat that chases coyotes, one ukulele and use exactly no federal dollars.
Nothing says inclusion like 2,000 ukuleles.
This interview with Dexter is fascinatingly flippant in its assertions. Pretty sure they “yada yada yada’d” the billions of dollars shoveled into Iran’s hands that led directly to this moment. We are on the precipice of three nuclear bombs because we funded it. We are closer to nuclear war than the promised “two state solution”
What does "Let SpaceX cook" mean? I'm a bit behind the times and don't know this phrase.
Are overdoses actually down or is narcan more common so less people die?
New scoop on polling by many of the major polling outlets: they over sample women.
If you elect Harris/Walz, don't say a word about an EO for reparations. That's all I'm going to say, but that is the culmination of the CRT/DEI project goal.
Christopher Rufo has an illegal immigrant wife and now anti-trans Mark "Black Nazi" Robinson (R-NC) is all up om trans porn website message boards?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/19/politics/kfile-mark-robinson-black-nazi-pro-slavery-porn-forum/index.html
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first news item today was that a “new” poll shows Harris ahead in Pennsylvania. This shows the bias at FP to push good news for Harris and hold back good news for Trump or even bad news for Biden/Harris (which might be construed has helping Trump).
The problem with “new polls” is that there is always a newer poll. As of Thursday p.m. RealClearPolitics has FOUR NEW Pennsylvania polls with Trump ahead in TWO and a TIE in TWO
Of course this may be outdated next week..
https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/pennsylvania/trump-vs-harris
Congratulations to Front Page News for noting that the Teamsters Union did not endorse either candidate for President, because rank and file supports Trump. Note the link in FP article above is FOX NEWS. Here is another on same topic:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-why-teamsters-think-trump-not-harris-real-friend-working-man
It’s funny
If the union, you know, represented the workers that are members of their union, they would actually endorse Trump.
But of course no union can do that so they take the weasel route.
The membership should reference Hoffa and take out the trash leading them.
School attendance is a huge topic these days with multiple articles lamenting the increased absenteeism. In 2020 we told kids being in school wasn't paramount, you can learn from home just as well. Now we wonder why no one wants to get up in the morning any go to school...Teacher's union pushed the shut down for "safety". Reap what you sow.
As for the federal Department of Education; no reason for it to exist. Education is a state's right/responsibility. Get rid of it.