Parents ‘n Schools

Professional development means lifelong learning. PD is funded and organized for educators in Alberta (and I would guess most every other jurisdiction within reach of this website). In Alberta, that PD mandate includes parents.
Notionally, at least.
Approximately 100 seminars/conferences per year are organized in the Calgary region serving over 4500 educators. Of those 100, about one […]

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Malcolm Gladwell is the author of such interesting books as “The Tipping Point” and “Blink“, both I would recommend for their different way of thinking about things. In a recent speech at the University of Toronto, Mr. Gladwell described the phenomenon of social change occurring as a result of “just trying and seeing” as opposed […]

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From the beginning of my involvement in government schooling one of the signs for me as a parent that maybe “it sure would be nice if I weren’t here” was the absence in the school system of any full-time dedicated staff organizing parents’ involvement and championing their role. I was surprised, and remain surprised still, […]

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It is sometimes helpful and illustrative to look at things through the other end of the telescope.
As if the shoe were on the other foot, if you will.
Consider that nickel out of every $100 that is shared with parents in government schooling described yesterday. That one-half of one-tenth of one-percent.
Recent times have seen schoolers encourage […]

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In my observation, the primary ways parents are “involved” in government schooling are raising money (fundraising) or writing cheques (school fees).
How much in Alberta is raised for government schooling by parent fundraising? It is hard to know. Nobody seems to count. We can perhaps hazard a guess.
A survey of largely rural government schools conducted by […]

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This month’s May 2008 issue of the ASCD’s Educational Leadership magazine is devoted to looking at high schools from as many angles as it can, and generally communicates that high schools desperately need to change.
“Many students express their disdain for the high school experience in an especially consequential way. They drop out. Nearly one in […]

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General David Petraeus, Commanding General of the Multinational Force in Iraq, has described a critical juncture in his career path as being one of looking for “an out-of-your-intellectual-comfort-zone experience” (when he obtained his Ph.D. in international relations at Princeton… in case you are wondering at all about the advanced training of elite officers in today’s […]

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Public education in Alberta has daily access to about a million adult Albertans (each signed up for a minimum 12-year “hitch”) and it does little to nothing to engage them, partner with them, train them or learn from them. What other agency has this resource at hand? What other institutions in our society would not […]

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For Grades K-6 (ages 5-11), there are few acceptable schooling alternatives to the present safe, live-learning-in-a-secure-compound-while-parents-are-at-work (or play) model promoted and provided by government schools. Few children at that young age can or should be trusted to care for themselves during the day or motivate themselves as learners under minimal supervision or absent imposed discipline.
But […]

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Have you had occasion to ride in a school bus recently?
A field trip, maybe?
I suppose kids don’t really notice this, and I expect few mention it if they do, but it struck me right away when I rode a bus with my child’s class on a field trip:
From the inside, you really can’t tell if […]

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