[Vision2020] Some of What's Wrong With American Schools...

[Art Deco]

FL, Others,

Part of the problem that Gates and FL allude to is caused by the 
disproportional amount of personnel costs to school districts and the 
worship of small class sizes without considering an alternative that works 
in other countries with superior schools.

Without going into detail, peer instruction is a method I have seen work in 
situations where students were greatly economically and background-wise 
impoverished.  It is one that takes some start-up costs in the training of 
teachers, but in the long run, it is worth it.

Besides better educational performance, students reared in peer instruction 
environments tend to have better social and relational skills and have 
greater sensitivity toward and empathy with their peers and others.

When I suggested this to the school board in Boundary County, they looked at 
me as if I were a child molester.  When I suggested this to a Moscow School 
District Board Member, the response was not much better.

Being tied to "smaller classes is always better" dicta will, in my opinion, 
bankrupt or otherwise bring about the failure of public education.  Whenever 
I say this, the immediate reaction of most educators is hostile disbelief.

Peer teaching is a complicated undertaking in some ways.  I'd suggest that 
the MSD might want to try it on a pilot basis.  If so, they need to learn 
how to do it right so the concept gets a fair trial.

By Googling on "peer instruction" or "peer teaching" those interested will 
find a wealth of information.  It is probably too much to expect that most 
educators will do this;  but one can always hope.


Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
deco at moscow.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fiat Lux" <fiat_lx at yahoo.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 2:45 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Some of What's Wrong With American Schools...


> In my opinion, there is not enough emphasis on
> academic excellence in our public schools today.
> Each student in school should be expected to reach his
> or her full potential, and it should be the expressed
> objective of the teachers to discern each students
> ability and instruct and challenge them accordingly.
> I fear the quality of the American educational system
> has been infiltrated and degraded by certain political
> agendas as evidenced by revisionist history, gender
> neutral textbooks (how important is this, really?),
> and the disappearance of classic literature form the
> curriculum (we don't want to offend any minority
> groups), and that's just for starters.
>
> Could it also be, that athletic achievement is valued
> over academics in some communities?  If schools took
> the money they poured into sports programs and used it
> instead to fund an in depth, well rounded classical
> education that was able to meet the educational needs
> of every student based on their academic ability,
> America would surely benefit.
>
> All students are not equally-able and there is no
> single educational experience that can uniformly
> address the needs of all children.  The planners must
> not delude themselves.  Yes, all children deserve a
> chance at an education.  But it must be accepted that
> each student has different skills, abilities,
> attitudes and interests, not to mention differing
> levels of family support and/or involvement.
>
> There are students with learning disabilities or
> cognitive impairments that struggle in the average
> school setting.  There are children of exceptional
> intelligence and ability that also struggle in the
> average school setting.  There is a disparity in the
> treatment of each of these groups.  Much more aid,
> attention and one-on-one assistance is available for
> the less-able student.  Special effort is made to
> accommodate and get those kids up at least to a
> certain standard, though it may still be comparably
> low.
>
> But, what about the child who happens to be in the
> 97th percentile of students his age--the student who
> can process and assimilate new information at a rate
> and depth that far  surpasses his peers?  In too many
> of our schools, there is no effort to make sure that
> child's academic ability is accommodated.  There is no
> possible way the rural public schools in this area can
> serve the educational needs of a student like this.
> Right now, schools place a higher priority on helping
> the kid that has fallen behind, rather than
> encouraging, to even higher achievement, the kid that
> leaves the rest in his intellectual dust.   Imagine
> the frustration of the parents of such a child at
> having to pay taxes for an educational system that
> does not meet their child's educational needs.  The
> best hope for their child is to pay again for a
> private school education that will not hold him back
> from reaching his potential.
>
> Wishing Bill Gates luck in finding the solution and
> hoping it doesn't involve higher taxes,
> Fiat Lux
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
>
>