The problem is you can’t design an educational system for “born” teachers. Scale is a problem. We have 4 million K-12 teachers in the US! So whatever system you land on, has to roll out to a large sector of people with different abilities, IQs, etc. and you need them all to teach it at a minimum level of competence.
@bradstevens the born teachers aren’t going into the field anymore. It starts with pay.
That's why I favor further exploring and/or implementing programs that allow older people with life experience and developed talents to become teachers, as opposed to requiring education degrees and then turning a 23-year-old loose to sink or swim.
My dad didn't really need the money, and he would have been fine with teaching under the supervision of someone with classroom experience (as long as that someone wasn't a dumbass who wanted to treat him like a kid fresh out of college).
How many "born" teachers do you believe exist? In my experience, most fields are the same: there is a top 10% or so, a bottom 10% or so, and a vast glob in the middle.@bradstevens the born teachers aren’t going into the field anymore. It starts with pay.
I think that's an interesting idea.That’s why I favor further exploring and/or implementing programs that allow older people with life experience and developed talents to become teachers, as opposed to requiring education degrees and then turning a 23-year-old loose to sink or swim.
My dad didn’t really need the money, and he would have been fine with teaching under the supervision of someone with classroom experience (as long as that someone wasn’t a dumbass who wanted to treat him like a kid fresh out of college).
My idea is that tech could be used to change education. I've wanted to start a company that goes out and finds the best teachers in each discipline for high school, and then record them with a high production value crew giving lectures--complete with maps or graphics or whatever. Have them design the tests, quizzes, homework, etc. and the timing of each. Have experts weigh in on metrics, what to look for in failing students, remediation, etc.
Then, give students this course for them to watch. I like the reverse idea where they watch the lectures each night before class the next day, and then go into class with a lower paid TA-type and work through homework, questions, problems, etc. in small classroom settings (no more than 10 per TA). This way kids have access to the best lectures (that are always reviewable) and written materials, and more one-on-one time with teachers in the classroom. This would create a pyramid structure for teaching salaries, though, like you see with professional athletes--with the top lecturers and course designers paid handsomely, and the local teachers paid much less, but also having much less stress and less to do. It would also be a more centralized system, which some have a knee-jerk negative reaction to.
On how teaching reading went off the rails:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1wZazjdNfjfD6k3W2jvOnO?si=1wnFzbOGRmewvpU06s-rpg
Speaking of test scores...
Eighth graders enrolled at LeBron James’ I Promise School haven’t passed a single state proficiency math exam since the 2018/2019 school year. Akron Public Schools board recently presented academic data from the school for the first time since it opened in 2018, reported the Akron Beacon Journal.
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Only 11% of the school’s first class of eighth graders passed the state English language arts test, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
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For me as a board member, I just think about all the resources that we’re providing,” Hall said. “And I just, I’m just disappointed that I don’t think, it doesn’t appear like we’re seeing the kind of change that we would expect to see.”
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“Not one? In three years?” board member Valerie McKitrick said as the data was being presented.
As Sammy said, the reasons for education decline are many. But if I were forced to pick out the most significant, I’d say the decline in literacy is the most serious.
Google “Mississippi Miracle” to get a clue about how to begin to fix the literacy problems.
One small anecdote. I coached high school mock trial for several years. Generally the team members were the high achieving students and easily grasped what they needed to do. One of the largest issues I had to deal with was the student’s timidity and fear of taking charge as a trial lawyer in a court real courtroom. I have no way of knowing if education was always this way or if it was new. But I had the distinct impression that the educational experience produced students who placed too much value on norms, normative behaviors, and seeking approval.
Overall IQ scores have dropped in America and Europe, no one is quite sure why. One theory, additional emphasis on STEM has reduced critical thinking. Another is nutrition. I wouldn't be shocked that screen time play a role. I also saw a study that writing increases memory, and I suspect a lot of notes today are typed.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a43469569/american-iq-scores-decline-reverse-flynn-effect/
@ https://oxfordlearning.com/how-writing-by-hand-boosts-memory-and-learning/
Eliminating cursive writing was a huge mistake. As was the move to type everything for kids, rather than write.Overall IQ scores have dropped in America and Europe, no one is quite sure why. One theory, additional emphasis on STEM has reduced critical thinking. Another is nutrition. I wouldn't be shocked that screen time play a role. I also saw a study that writing increases memory, and I suspect a lot of notes today are typed.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a43469569/american-iq-scores-decline-reverse-flynn-effect/
@ https://oxfordlearning.com/how-writing-by-hand-boosts-memory-and-learning/
Educators (here I'm mostly talking about the college schools of ed and ed administrators) are much too prone to fads. They need some good, old-fashioned conservatism and skepticism about changing curriculum and pedagogical methods.
I have a senior in high school. The seniors all got called down to an assembly last week to talk about graduation details (buying the gowns, dates, etc.), but they also wanted to make sure that everyone was being supportive of each other because, at that current time, 25% of the seniors were failing a class and would not be able to graduate.
My kid is a straight A student, so I'm not worried about him in that aspect (he could graduate in December if he really wanted to), but holy moly, 25%? We aren't the best school in the area by far, but his school is at least better than 50th percentile. I really hope that this is just a one-off for this particular year and not a growing trend.
Where at?I have a senior in high school. The seniors all got called down to an assembly last week to talk about graduation details (buying the gowns, dates, etc.), but they also wanted to make sure that everyone was being supportive of each other because, at that current time, 25% of the seniors were failing a class and would not be able to graduate.
My kid is a straight A student, so I'm not worried about him in that aspect (he could graduate in December if he really wanted to), but holy moly, 25%? We aren't the best school in the area by far, but his school is at least better than 50th percentile. I really hope that this is just a one-off for this particular year and not a growing trend.
It's really hard to fail right now. My kid's school has a 95% graduation rate despite the fact that a significant % won't show up to class or might carry a % rate below 20% in a class until various "remedial measures" are employed to get them to a passing grade.
Eliminating cursive writing was a huge mistake. As was the move to type everything for kids, rather than write.
Educators (here I’m mostly talking about the college schools of ed and ed administrators) are much too prone to fads. They need some good, old-fashioned conservatism and skepticism about changing curriculum and pedagogical methods.
I want to agree with you but then I think, "is this just me being old and disliking change." I do not know.
There is a book, "Moonwalking with Einstein" about an American competing in the world memory championships. Americans suck at it and never qualify. He did and wrote about his experience.
In it he discussed how writing developed and how that destroyed the memory, once they worked out the bugs. There were people, probably many people, tasked with memorizing things like the Old Testament who undoubtedly argued that writing would cause humanity to lose this extremely valuable knowledge, the knowledge of how to memorize what amounts to a book, verbatim.
They were right, for the vast majority of us, that is gone. He k, I don't remember a couple of dozen phone numbers like I used to.
But it isn't that we lost memory, we changed to writing. I suspect any standardized testing of the era showed students started sucking at what it measured, memory. Writing was clearly a fad.
How often do you ask your child for help with your phone? They will know techs you didn't dream of. They will learn AI far more than you.
The oldster in me says "it is terrible they aren't learning what I think is valuable." The question is, is it still valuable? Or are other things more valuable now? Am I demanding mechanics know everything about the carburetor?
I had a former boss who was one of Rickover's submariners. He was a graduate from Ga Tech in nuclear engineering. In his training he had to go onto a diesel sub, captained by a WW2 submariner. They went up top one night, he was handed a sextant and a chart and told to find the sub's location. He had never done anything like that. After some time, he got "close enough". Never again in his career did he have to go up to the conning tower and take a position with a sextant.
I don't know if we are at an inflection point where the things I learned are like that sextant. Some are, computer support and programming are dying fields.
But I can't rule out that handwriting is the sextant, I can't rule out that it is still fundamental. I don't know how we ever will know in real time. Same for other things tested. We don't test how to use tik tok which appears to be a necessity.
Are we just, "old man yelling at clouds."
We are quick to label change as bad. I am not sure it is bad, I am not sure it is good. It may he just different.
Where at?
It's really hard to fail right now. My kid's school has a 95% graduation rate despite the fact that a significant % won't show up to class or might carry a % rate below 20% in a class until various "remedial measures" are employed to get them to a passing grade.
Ohio. East side of Columbus. Maybe it's a good thing then? Maybe it means that our school is holding the kids to a higher standard?
I'd be worried that there was that amount failing AND that the school had a really low bar which is why my son is getting A's, but he got a 34 on his ACT, so I don't think that he is just the smartest kid in a group of dumbasses.
@squeakyclean well all i can say that we HAVE NOT seen grade inflation in our house. my daughter's grades are shit. so that's good to know that 1) there are standards and 2) we're not meeting them