Parents ‘n Schools

Rule #27 in Alan Webber’s new “Rules of Thumb” book articulates three “rules” for how we all need to be in business (“all”, I have to believe, would include the schooling business). He attributes these three rules to Megan Smith, Google’s director of new business development and strategy. I’m guessing here… […]

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According to the new book “The Rational Optimist” by Matt Ridley, we have clearly never had it so good.
“The average British working man in 1957 was earning less in real terms than his modern equivalent could now get in state benefit if unemployed with three children. Today, of Americans officially designated as ‘poor’, 99 per […]

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“Things are such that they fit together in remarkable ways that are only discovered by rude creatures, who poke their noses into other peoples’ business. I suggest that you keep your eyes open for things you are not supposed to know about. You may have something to contribute.” — Kary B. Mullis, […]

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Broad schooling of the general public has enriched society for a century and more now. But to continue that enrichment, I believe schooling in North America will have to move away from monopoly government delivery to a model aimed at delivering optimum consumer value. The same model that has transformed public utilities in the increasingly […]

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(GLO — August 2010 — Written early on in this journey, two summers ago.)
In the Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, scientist Lewis Thomas describes a list of science’s “Seven Wonders” not in the usual sense, but along the lines of the things he “wondered about” the most. Number One on his […]

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Got this broadcast, which invites sharing…
Dear [Parents ‘n Schools],
Many recent projects about education have involved discussions with Albertans of all ages and from all walks of life.  Thanks to the thousands of contributions of Inspiring Education: A Dialogue with Albertans, Speak Out and Setting the Direction, we have a solid foundation on which to make […]

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Rule #7 in Alan Webber’s “Rules of Thumb” reads: The System is the Solution. It describes a magazine “system” as like a three-legged stool (editorial, reader, advertiser).
Government schooling is a three-legged-stool-like system, too. I think it is a stool that a child stands on to reach their success in learning. The […]

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(GLO — August 2010 — From two summers ago… public education is not like public securities… there are no bond rating agencies providing independent, objective analysis. It is an abundance of apples comparing to an abundance of oranges. Ralph Nader would have a field day. Where is education’s Ralph Nader?)
Occasionally government schools in Alberta and […]

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[GLO — August 2010 — From two years ago and this site’s infancy… still think it could work…]
Early in my involvement as a volunteer board member on the board of the provincial association representing parents on school councils we were invited to review a new Powerpoint presentation that had been prepared by […]

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“In school redesign, we are constantly battling the gravitational pull of school as usual.” (Billie Donegan, Colorado educational consultant, ASCD’s Educational Leadership, p. 56, May 2008)
Government schooling in Alberta is a nearly $6 billion per year business. In Canada, nearly $60 billion per year. In North America, nearly $600 billion per […]

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