Slots for Thoughts, and Why Faith Makes Politics Stupid
With so many blogs, you’d think I’d no need to start another, and yet…
This one is for writing that addresses political and intellectual debates unrelated to education. So here we go.
I was just reading a blog by the Syrian author Amarji that got me thinking about the role of religion in politics, not just in the US, but in regions of the world where religion is much more powerful force than most Americans really understand. Amarji posted a very elaborate and carefully reasoned analysis of the victory of Hamas over Fatah. Just incidentally, I think it’s ironic that Fatah is in turmoil AFTER the election, when a good healthy purge of its crooked members might have convinced voters that they were serious about cleaning up their act.
Amarji’s post demonstrated just how complex the situation in the Mideast is (and always has been) and why the Mideast is the [...]
Original post by urbansocrates
I Wondered Why I Liked Wikipedia…
Here is an article on a study comparing Wikipedia with Encyclopedia Britannica and finding a similar level of accuracy in the sciences. I have to pitch in that I find the articles on history very useful background when I’m about to teach (in high school world history) a subject I know in little depth. I’d like to know how accurate the US history section is!
Original post by urbansocrates
Civil War Memory: A History Lesson
Civil War Memory: A History Lesson is a nice discussion of some background on the display of the Confederate flag. I recommend it.
Original post by urbansocrates
Today’s Involved Parents
Here is a story that makes me quake right down to my toes. One off-the-wall 15-year-old girl and not only might I have no career, but I get my jaw realigned to boot. The best part is that the assailant acquires local hero status for vigilantism!
We teachers so often wish for involved parents; we should probably qualify those wishes.
Original post by urbansocrates
More College Students Means Dumber College Students?
As if it comes as a shock, news agencies are reporting that more people going to college doesn’t actually mean more smart people. Schools, including colleges, are really as much sorting mechanisms as educational institutions. And as colleges and universities define the quality of their programs by the economic outcomes of graduates, it’s no surprise that other definitions of quality get shunted aside.
Given that about 1/3 of the American population never gets beyond Piaget’s stage of concrete operations, it’s no surprise that college education for people with less academic potential doesn’t produce the same results as college does for more gifted students. This is especially so when those less proficient students are in it for the money.
Let’s face the difficult to accept truth: Education depends on the natural abilities, inclinations and motivations of the student. College in and of itself is only what the student makes of [...]
Original post by urbansocrates
My Hometown, Worcester, Tries to Save Money by Paying Teachers Less
My hometown, the City of Worcester is trying to reduce costs by negotiating for teachers to pay a higher percentage of the cost of health insurance. In the long term the city would be wise to continue paying 87 to 90% of health insurance costs for teaching staff.
Worcester’s teaching force is predominantly made up of women, and it includes many instructional aides who are paid considerably less than certified teachers. Because women are usually the decision makers in families when it comes to health care, the quality and cost of health insurance is a major factor in most teachers’ decisions about where to work. This is especially so for those on the low end of the salary scale –new teachers and aides – for whom insurance costs make up a larger percentage of their overall pay.
If health insurance benefits are cut, the Worcester schools will have a difficult time recruiting [...]
Original post by urbansocrates
Your Federal Government is Ruining Worcester’s Schools
Usually when people criticize the Feds, it’s “the federal government” they criticize — those folks in Washington, over whom you have no control — as if you can’t influence public affairs. You can. So read; then act.
The No Child Left Behind Act was a bipartisan effort — Sen. Kennedy was among its many sponsors — that has had profound effects on the schools in my hometown of Worcester, MA. By one measure, standardized test scores, the city schools are improving. But if you look closely at what teachers, administrators and students are actually DOING, I think you’ll find that in many ways the schools are worse.
For example, administrators, to justify the actions of their teachers with respect to state standards (and driven by the need to demonstrate their efforts in the case of low test scores) have demanded that teachers reference the state standards on all [...]
Original post by urbansocrates
My Department Head, Writing, and What Teachers Really Do If They’re Any Good
Last summer I was hired by a small town on the South Shore in Massachusetts to teach high school history. I was interviewed initially by the head of the history department, who struck me as a bit…well, burned out. He kept inviting me to commiserate with him about unmotivated students.
Now maybe he was feeling that way, or maybe he was just inviting me to feel that way, but from where I sat, he was walking away from a full meal feeling hungry because the last course wasn’t QUITE up to snuff. I told him a little about working in an urban school system, and how I would relish the opportunity to teach upper level courses in a school that offered a varied curriculum, among teachers who were committed to their work. I tried to do this without giving too much away about how much my job in [...]
Original post by urbansocrates