Parents ‘n Schools

Anytime, Gentle Parent, you are confronted with messages that “We need more teachers” as a solution to schooling challenges, keep these numbers in mind (gleaned from U.S. labour stats).
There are about 4 million schoolers employed in North America.
That’s 4 times the number of policemen.
10 times the number of firemen.
Nearly double the number in armed forces.
2.5 […]

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[GLO — March 2010 — A vision, drafted early on here at PnS… it’s still out there… over the horizon… keep wandering forward…]
Parent advocates in public education discover early on that given the glacial pace of change in government schooling your advocacy is more likely to benefit your grandchildren than your children. Hopefully […]

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And pick up the new Fast Company (April 2010) issue and its feature story, “A is for App”.
It echoes many of the themes here at good ol’ PnS regarding the rapidly advancing quality and utility of technology solutions to schooling, and the challenges and opportunities awaiting such advances.
Here are some samples:
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Julissa’s teacher, the delightfully named […]

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(GLO — March 2010 — This is an early essay from our first month on the job here at good ol’ PnS two years ago now, but it captures quickly the essence of the “partnership” that is parents ‘n schools. Law school teaches that the foundation of any partnership is the contract. Coincidentally, there are […]

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IBM has a new commercial out that I like because it is easy for me to imagine the message (about analysis of info to help babies in neonatal care) translated to schooling and rapid, real-time analysis of info to help “older babies” in their schooling… to help speed up understanding by schoolers of those being […]

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(GLO — March 2010 — I have been writing at good ol’ PnS for two years now this month, and this is an early essay. I contend that if government schooling… which has placed itself as one of the largest “charitable” entities around… were obliged to conform with ACTUAL charitable entities and their financial disclosure […]

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A recent police crackdown on traffic in the school zones of our neighbourhood schools reminds of the inconsistencies of government schools and “the law” that is recognized and enforced at certain conveniences. I do not argue with the importance of traffic safety in and around schools and in school zones. But I do argue with […]

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 (GLO — March 2010 — The iPad hits stores in a few days from now. The App Store is increasingly populated with learning apps. Schooler collectives continue to insist that nothing can replace a live teacher. And they’re right… for certain things. But for certain other parts of the job, learning can be far better […]

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A recent report card delivered home contained a comment concerning my child thusly: “… performed fairly well… this term despite missing over 10% of classes which I acknowledge at times can be completely unavoidable.”
Now, such a comment can be interpreted in different ways. Could be a mere statement of fact. Could be a disclaimer, setting […]

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I know nothing about education except this: that the greatest and most important difficulty known to human beings seems to lie in that area which deals with how to bring up children and how to educate them.
– Michel De Montaigne (1533-92)
(GLO — March 2010 — I anticipate the choice this year may be different, as […]

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