Chit Chat in BCEd
I like to check in from time to time on the wasteland that is BCEd, to find out what the latest chit chat involves. It provides a very clear picture about what our kids are in for, and who the cheerleaders are for the latest changes to our classrooms and frontline teachers.
This weekend's discussion revealed that promoting the latest edufads and inaccurate education research is alive and well. It's fitting to note that those in charge of pushing these changes, are indeed as arrogant and self righteous as ever. I don't know if many object to my challenging remarks because I'm a woman, a mum, or someone who just plainly disagrees with them. My duty as a taxpayer, and a parent, is to question when changes to the status quo are made, and asking for proof of success is warranted, heck isn't it our duty to do so? What's evident is that parent's concerns are still being duly dismissed, and regardless when common sense and evidence based instruction is clearly presented, this too is dismissed to make way for the bright and shiny path of 21st century learning.
Many wonder why more parents aren't speaking up for their kids. As a mum who's been patted on the head multiple times by educators over the years - most notably by school principals and been told to leave it to the experts to fix, I can fully appreciate why parents wouldn't even bother. The problem with that scenario though, is that parents still remain our child's best advocate. If we don't speak up for them, who will?
School Admin, in particular, are the face of your children's school. They answer for the staff, and provide a picture for how and what goes on with your kids. So how is it that so many seem to hold parents in contempt, and continue to speak above us as if we don't really matter?
It's curious as well, regarding our school's latest obsession with "deep understanding". This seems to be a huge priority for our educators, especially at the elementary level, that we must prepare our 7 year olds for the real world by providing genuine real world experiences so our wee ones will develop fantastic collaboration skills and delve into critical thinking while googling the answer. This edubabble is rather maddening as it seems to be promoted by those, ahem, who have never actually worked outside of a classroom. I certainly have and I can attest to the fact that missing work and doing poorly has very dire consequences. I also know that in the real world you need to have a very strong base of your fundamental facts in order to possess a critical thought about how to solve a problem. Yet our curriculum states that memorizing times tables and adding fractions aren't a priority and teachers are now too busy to ensure their students READ during classtime because they're to be solving real world authentic problems. And never mind about writing...typing on a keyboard is so much more efficient.
So back to the principles surrounding consequences for handing in your work on time, and rewarding those who excel at school. Shouldn't we prepare our children for these very basic concepts as well? Apparently not. Those values are oh so 20th century.
The most irritating thing about all of this is that these changes seem to think kids are incapable of achieving excellence, and that they cannot be challenged for fear of hurting their feelings. Kids aren't stupid, and they know these changes are all about dumbing them down.
Last week in my daughter's class, they were introduced to the new numeracy assessment which is replacing the provincial Math 10 Exam. No more grades, no more consequences...just an assessment that doesn't count for anything; the answers are "graded" on a scale, from 0-4. One of her classmates called out, "Hey where are the grades? I'm not in Kindergarten you know. This is so stupid!" Apparently teachers agree. When polled about the new changes coming in, only 15% fully support them. Their Executive is pushing ahead anyways, supporting something that clearly their membership does not agree with.
As for those changes to our grading system, apparently us parents have to be educated to accept these changes cuz the experts tell us it's a good thing.
Even though the OPPOSITE has occurred to those nations that have already gotten rid of grades in their school system. Sweden used to enjoy being in the top echelon of academic excellence, yet that country has seen a precarious decline in their students' wellbeing and academic performance after introducing progressive reforms a generation ago, which are similar in design to our BCEd plan.
I agree with my kid's classmate. It is stupid. It's called BCEd. Welcome to 21st century learning.
This weekend's discussion revealed that promoting the latest edufads and inaccurate education research is alive and well. It's fitting to note that those in charge of pushing these changes, are indeed as arrogant and self righteous as ever. I don't know if many object to my challenging remarks because I'm a woman, a mum, or someone who just plainly disagrees with them. My duty as a taxpayer, and a parent, is to question when changes to the status quo are made, and asking for proof of success is warranted, heck isn't it our duty to do so? What's evident is that parent's concerns are still being duly dismissed, and regardless when common sense and evidence based instruction is clearly presented, this too is dismissed to make way for the bright and shiny path of 21st century learning.
Many wonder why more parents aren't speaking up for their kids. As a mum who's been patted on the head multiple times by educators over the years - most notably by school principals and been told to leave it to the experts to fix, I can fully appreciate why parents wouldn't even bother. The problem with that scenario though, is that parents still remain our child's best advocate. If we don't speak up for them, who will?
School Admin, in particular, are the face of your children's school. They answer for the staff, and provide a picture for how and what goes on with your kids. So how is it that so many seem to hold parents in contempt, and continue to speak above us as if we don't really matter?
So back to the principles surrounding consequences for handing in your work on time, and rewarding those who excel at school. Shouldn't we prepare our children for these very basic concepts as well? Apparently not. Those values are oh so 20th century.
The most irritating thing about all of this is that these changes seem to think kids are incapable of achieving excellence, and that they cannot be challenged for fear of hurting their feelings. Kids aren't stupid, and they know these changes are all about dumbing them down.
Last week in my daughter's class, they were introduced to the new numeracy assessment which is replacing the provincial Math 10 Exam. No more grades, no more consequences...just an assessment that doesn't count for anything; the answers are "graded" on a scale, from 0-4. One of her classmates called out, "Hey where are the grades? I'm not in Kindergarten you know. This is so stupid!" Apparently teachers agree. When polled about the new changes coming in, only 15% fully support them. Their Executive is pushing ahead anyways, supporting something that clearly their membership does not agree with.
As for those changes to our grading system, apparently us parents have to be educated to accept these changes cuz the experts tell us it's a good thing.
Even though the OPPOSITE has occurred to those nations that have already gotten rid of grades in their school system. Sweden used to enjoy being in the top echelon of academic excellence, yet that country has seen a precarious decline in their students' wellbeing and academic performance after introducing progressive reforms a generation ago, which are similar in design to our BCEd plan.
I agree with my kid's classmate. It is stupid. It's called BCEd. Welcome to 21st century learning.
By reading many comments, it seems to me that you parents/teachers just don't want to be "the bad guy" by holding students accountable. Report turned in a DAY LATE, albeit perfect, why should that get perfect grades when he broke the rules? Other kids worked darn hard to complete & turn in on time. Nobody told you: "LIFE ISN'T FAIR". That's how life is. Deal with it folks. Your generation kills me and obvious that life was just too good/easy for you; none of you had to struggle and emerge................
ReplyDeleteThe prevailing group-think in education circles is that students must find assignments "relevant" to their lives and relate to the so-called "real world". This notion is cherished and anyone who challenges these views is held to not understand and just wants to cling to the "old ways" of how they were taught. Ironically, those old ways of how we were taught served most of us quite well, and when we point that out we're told "Well, you were the exception". The answers are pat and delivered with the smugness and arrogant self-assurance that propels many of those in education to loftier positions such as principals and superintendents, where they can do even more damage than they did as teachers.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, students don't really mind doing assignments if they are given proper instruction on how to proceed, rather than to be expected to learn via collaboration, inquiry, discovery and "just-in-time" learning. Extrinsic motivations are a necessary part of getting students to internalize organizational and study skills and work habits. As for grades, they are a lot easier to understand than the mumbo-jumbo of numbers from 1 to 4 in which no one ever gets a 4, and standards-based narratives that talk about a student's collaborative and inquiry skills.
Also, the notion of "deep understanding" generally manifests itself as students saying what the teacher wants to hear, amounting to a "rote understanding". The result is a student who cannot apply a problem solving procedure to a problem that they do not understand.