Thank you Billy. Civics and humanities should be taught in every grade. Sandra Day O’Connor and John McCain would have agreed. No child left behind, left a lot of students dumber, made teachers jobs harder and eventually made distrust of public schools the norm in Arizona. Yes and then came the internet. I am in the school of LET TEACHERS TEACH! Helicopter parents who read, on a “Facebook for parents” thread. (Disclaimer, I don’t social media). School board members who think they know more than teachers, ( I have been a school board member) administrators who don’t help out teachers with discipline issues. They are too busy doing paper work or too afraid of upsetting a parent which has driven students from public schools to charters and private school who are less regulated. This shift has been going on for 35-40 years thanks to our Republican dominated legislature squeezing dollars from schools. I can’t help wondering, just my wondering, if Preston Lord would be alive if the upper class kids at their Gilbert school had been taught more humanities, how to deal with classmates verbally not with violence. I remember my 7th grader (1995) taking a class in conflict resolution. It was mandatory. I’m sure those days are gone.
You nailed it. We are hollowing out young brains by failing to even give them a chance to experience what satisfaction and--often--joy books can deliver. Plus, the interaction discussions provide in open classroom dialogue prepare students for, among other things, engaging in their responsibilities as citizens of a democratic republic. The quality of public exchange seems dedicated to fostering conflict, distortion, and misunderstanding. Public communication, especially regarding governance and politics, is a catastrophe, measured by volume, not clarity.
I don't know if your strategy would work or not. But, it's a damn good place to start and who knows how many great ideas could grow from that seed to yield a rich array of possibilities teachers could draw from?
Isn't it ironic that a system intended to measure how well we are doing is destroying the possibility of doing it well?
Thank you Billy. Civics and humanities should be taught in every grade. Sandra Day O’Connor and John McCain would have agreed. No child left behind, left a lot of students dumber, made teachers jobs harder and eventually made distrust of public schools the norm in Arizona. Yes and then came the internet. I am in the school of LET TEACHERS TEACH! Helicopter parents who read, on a “Facebook for parents” thread. (Disclaimer, I don’t social media). School board members who think they know more than teachers, ( I have been a school board member) administrators who don’t help out teachers with discipline issues. They are too busy doing paper work or too afraid of upsetting a parent which has driven students from public schools to charters and private school who are less regulated. This shift has been going on for 35-40 years thanks to our Republican dominated legislature squeezing dollars from schools. I can’t help wondering, just my wondering, if Preston Lord would be alive if the upper class kids at their Gilbert school had been taught more humanities, how to deal with classmates verbally not with violence. I remember my 7th grader (1995) taking a class in conflict resolution. It was mandatory. I’m sure those days are gone.
Bravo, Billy!!
You nailed it. We are hollowing out young brains by failing to even give them a chance to experience what satisfaction and--often--joy books can deliver. Plus, the interaction discussions provide in open classroom dialogue prepare students for, among other things, engaging in their responsibilities as citizens of a democratic republic. The quality of public exchange seems dedicated to fostering conflict, distortion, and misunderstanding. Public communication, especially regarding governance and politics, is a catastrophe, measured by volume, not clarity.
I don't know if your strategy would work or not. But, it's a damn good place to start and who knows how many great ideas could grow from that seed to yield a rich array of possibilities teachers could draw from?
Isn't it ironic that a system intended to measure how well we are doing is destroying the possibility of doing it well?
Well said.