(no subject)
February 19th, 2025 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunadelcorvoJust sat in a long meeting about how 'traditional' ways of educating are 'no longer enough.' I have a few things to unpack here.
1. 'No longer enough' implies there was a time when they were, in fact, quite adequate. What's changed? I suggest that what has changed is this very mindset, the bloated pedagogy and jargon soup that has utterly eclipsed actual teaching. The other thing that has changed is the value we, as a society, place on learning things. 'Alternative facts' and 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge,' and 'experts are just arrogant shills' have eroded any value on education or academic success, and this starts long before they get to school. And no, it's not technology. There is no reason students cannot learn technology, but NOT be glued to it every moment.
2. If 'traditional education' is no longer enough, why are traditional schools, whether private or the traditional schools within public school systems, the highest performing academically? Oh, well, they get the brightest students, you say? Hmm, you may be onto something, but all I hear is how we have to create the same opportunities for all students, and there are no 'AP and regular students.' So which is it?
I am so fucking sick of this self-aggrandizing, pseudo-scientific, pedagogical garbage! No, what we need is NOT more 'balloons, tape, and string' 'project learning.' We need kids who are taught early HOW to learn, and then we need to teach them the stuff. OK, yes, I get that learning how to learn is more important than subject content - in first grade! I watched kids come from shirty public schools and flourish under far more demanding standards. The difference was small classes, and teachers who were thoroughly versed in and passionate about their subjects.
This kind of hand-holding, 'everyone gets an A' nonsense is, in my opinion exactly why we are where we are as a nation.
1. 'No longer enough' implies there was a time when they were, in fact, quite adequate. What's changed? I suggest that what has changed is this very mindset, the bloated pedagogy and jargon soup that has utterly eclipsed actual teaching. The other thing that has changed is the value we, as a society, place on learning things. 'Alternative facts' and 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge,' and 'experts are just arrogant shills' have eroded any value on education or academic success, and this starts long before they get to school. And no, it's not technology. There is no reason students cannot learn technology, but NOT be glued to it every moment.
2. If 'traditional education' is no longer enough, why are traditional schools, whether private or the traditional schools within public school systems, the highest performing academically? Oh, well, they get the brightest students, you say? Hmm, you may be onto something, but all I hear is how we have to create the same opportunities for all students, and there are no 'AP and regular students.' So which is it?
I am so fucking sick of this self-aggrandizing, pseudo-scientific, pedagogical garbage! No, what we need is NOT more 'balloons, tape, and string' 'project learning.' We need kids who are taught early HOW to learn, and then we need to teach them the stuff. OK, yes, I get that learning how to learn is more important than subject content - in first grade! I watched kids come from shirty public schools and flourish under far more demanding standards. The difference was small classes, and teachers who were thoroughly versed in and passionate about their subjects.
This kind of hand-holding, 'everyone gets an A' nonsense is, in my opinion exactly why we are where we are as a nation.