Parents ‘n Schools

(GLO — April 2009 — Government schooling is everywhere on the North American continent. And everywhere its innovation, evolution and improvement is stifled. Other things are everywhere on this continent. Sewer systems. Electrical utilities. Roads. Farms. And innovation abounds. How come?)
In our society we routinely rail against monopolies in business and enterprise as stifling […]

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The ASCD’s March 2009 “education update” features a look at a variety of programs aimed at giving students cash incentives for learning. Not unlike parents and grandparents who reward 9-year-olds for scoring goals in their minor hockey play, some schools and school systems have experimented with offering financial rewards and incentives for certain accomplishments in […]

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(GLO — April 2009 — To consciously and completely tell another everything that you would want to know if you were in that other’s shoes, while openly declaring and fully describing all real or potential conflicts of interest that you may have… THAT’s good faith. The big question, in any relationship, is are you OWED […]

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Joseph B. White, senior editor of The Wall Street Journal Washington bureau focused on the auto industry, recently described some of the things that have led Detroit automakers into the situation they presently find themselves. Judge for yourself what lessons may be found for government schoolers…
“How does a juggernaut like this become the basket case […]

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“Most of what has lived on Earth has left behind no record at all. It has been estimated that less than one species in ten thousand has made it into the fossil record. That in itself is a stunningly infinitesimal proportion. However, if you accept the common estimate that the Earth has produced 30 billion […]

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(GLO — April 2009 — Right up there for me with “parents are the blow up dolls of public education” is this Ladyhawke curse analogy. The “good magic” that goes on in schools between teacher and student is largely kept from the home by the “black magic” of the structure of the schooling system and […]

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The thing, for me, about “global warming” discussion in schools (in anything but political science class) is that acceptance of it as a “reality” and not open to debate or disagreement is fundamentally anti-science and anti-education and anti-schooling. The world and space around us is a massive and fascinating place, of which we know almost […]

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The April 13, 2009 edition of FORTUNE magazine offers this in its “3-Minute Manager” feature:
“How Can I Get Candid Feedback From My Employees?”
“One way to get employees to speak up: Offer them cold, hard cash. Insurance company Aflac holds an annual contest for the best tip on how to improve the company. Employees enter by […]

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From the National Post newspaper, editorial page, April 8, 2009:
“Don’t hide school rankings
So let’s see if we’ve got the attitude of the teachers’ unions and their apologists right. They don’t like it when students are subjected to standardized performance tests in reading and math. If the government insists on conducting such tests, they don’t like […]

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(GLO — April 2009 — What specialized knowledge about schooling and how your child learns did educators share with you this year? How did you learn it? What lengths did you have to go to acquire such knowledge? Were you able to share it readily with other parents? Did you want more? Why is such […]

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