Public School and it's hidden curriculum

A must read for everyone! Highly shocking.

Alan Lichtenstein...

Instead of reading the treatise of an ideologue, you would do far better
to read "Left Back-A Century of Failed Educational Reforms,' authored by
Diane Ravitch. Unlike this ideologue, Ravitch is very likely the most
preeminent educational historian and presents a detailed, and well
researched synopsis of the educational landscape beginning with the last
century.

When you view this in context, you can see that this piece, that you
have cited is little more than a rant, suggesting a book, which in
itself is an ideological rant. After reading Ravitch, one comes away
with a full and complete understanding of the underlying forces which
shaped the instructional climate. And the need to produce factory
workers is not one of them, despite the fact that such thinking was in
vogue for a brief period in the early part of the last century.

Alvin E. Toda...

Not really shocking. Are you with some online
educational program such as Plato?

Heard some place that the new generation of computer
game kids don't do email. They text message instead.
They don't like to wait for a response. They'd rather
not read or open a book. So you need to motivate them
to learn by creating a fun thing to do on the computer.
They need a lot immediate rewards such as computer
games give them to interest them in learning. Some
claim that this is more similar to the "real" world
than the standard curriculum.

My own opinion is that it takes a variety of styles to
motivate students to open that book. And the computer
doesn't always work. The site seems to imply that the
standard curriculum pits the teacher against the
student who doesn't like anyone judgemental and reacts
by disruption and hatefull behavior against the
teacher. The student doesn't feel such fear against a
computer.

Employers have a problem with workers that don't work
well without immediate rewards. And supervisors don't
have such terrible behaviors against their workers as
the workers imagin. It is a problem. But I don't think
that online education helps this problem any.

California Poppy...

This article is of little use to anyone. I notice the author asks for
a donation. Perhaps I could put up a web site and ask for a donation
for my thoughts on education.

Alan Lichtenstein...

Except you're probably more informed and objective than he is, Connie.

Florida...

:^) Good idea - you probably could get a fair number of hits,
since you have recent real-time experience.

Rita...

And the point of the article is? That high school drop-outs can be
more successful? Or that everyone who received a public school
education is a rote thinker and nothing else?

Perhaps you can explain why you are so entranced with this article?

Did you receive a public school education, by the way?

Alan Lichtenstein...

The article references an old debate in teaching: Education vs.
training. Only superficially, though, however. The point of the author
was not to espouse an abstract defense of one particular side, but to
trash the system. The academic debate regarding that conflict has been
reduced to the mantra of an ideology by the article, making the article
a form of indoctrination and relatively useless.

Ravitch presents a far more objective summary of all the forces which
shaped and currently do shape education.