I have found a thoughtful website focused on higher education: the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. It is located in North Carolina. I look at their website. You might like it too:
http://www.popecenter.org/about/index.html
Here are a couple of snippets from their website:
"All too often, universities allow teaching to become shallow and trendy, failing to challenge students intellectually and disparaging traditional principles of justice, ethics, and liberal education. Students know little about the history of their country or the institutions that led to this nation’s prosperity and liberty."
"To address these and other problems, the Pope Center conducts studies in areas such as governance, curriculum, financing, access, accountability, faculty research, and administrative policies."
Robert
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Sunday, June 09, 2013
About the Common Core Curriculum
There are a couple of good articles in today's New York Times (Sunday June 9, 2013) about the Common Core curriculum, the new national curriculum.
Who’s Minding the Schools? by ANDREW HACKER and CLAUDIA DREIFUS is on page one of the Sunday Review Section:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/the-common-core-whos-minding-the-schools.html
This is a quote from the article:
Already, almost one-quarter of young Americans do not finish high school. ... What does the Common Core offer these students?
The answer is simple. “College and career skills are the same,” Ken Wagner, New York State’s associate commissioner of education for curriculum, assessment and educational technology, told us. The presumption is that the kind of “critical thinking” taught in classrooms — and tested by the Common Core — improves job performance, whether it’s driving a bus or performing neurosurgery. But Anthony Carnevale, the director of Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce, calls the Common Core a “one-size-fits-all pathway governed by abstract academic content.”
In sum, the Common Core takes as its model schools from which most students go on to selective colleges. Is this really a level playing field? Or has the game been so prearranged that many, if not most, of the players will fail?
This is an excellent point. What worries me is how this national curriculum is pushed down to the states from up high. It is as though America is ruled by a secret government, and Common Core another decision from the Secret Government that we are expected to accept without question.
Mr. Hacker and Ms Dreifus write, "For all its impact, the Common Core is essentially an invisible empire. It doesn’t have a public office, a board of directors or a salaried staff. Its Web site lists neither a postal address nor a telephone number."
This reminds me of Kafka's Castle. It is not good for America to become Kafkaesque.
The second article in today's New York Times is No Learning Without Feeling by CLAIRE NEEDELL HOLLANDER
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/no-learning-without-feeling.html
The article needs editing. I recommend skipping the first three paragraphs and starting with the thesis statement for the essay (beginning the fourth paragraph): "Agreement on the skills American schoolchildren need to learn to read and write is much easier to arrive at than agreement on what they should read and write."
The critical point she raises is, "The Common Core remains neutral on the question of whether ... students should read Shakespeare, Salinger or a Ford owner’s manual, so long as the text remains “complex.”"
Her conclusion is, "It is time to align our education system with college demands by opening a real discussion about what teens should read in middle school and high school."
You can skip her closing paragraph. It is a return to the theme of the first three paragraphs.
Living in Texas, one of the few states to reject the Common Core tests, which lead to the Common Core curriculum, I perk up when I see a liberal paper like the New York Times question the Common Core.
A single national curriculum is what we call in engineering a "single point of failure." A single national curriculum is a singularly bad idea.
Robert
Who’s Minding the Schools? by ANDREW HACKER and CLAUDIA DREIFUS is on page one of the Sunday Review Section:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/the-common-core-whos-minding-the-schools.html
This is a quote from the article:
Already, almost one-quarter of young Americans do not finish high school. ... What does the Common Core offer these students?
The answer is simple. “College and career skills are the same,” Ken Wagner, New York State’s associate commissioner of education for curriculum, assessment and educational technology, told us. The presumption is that the kind of “critical thinking” taught in classrooms — and tested by the Common Core — improves job performance, whether it’s driving a bus or performing neurosurgery. But Anthony Carnevale, the director of Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce, calls the Common Core a “one-size-fits-all pathway governed by abstract academic content.”
In sum, the Common Core takes as its model schools from which most students go on to selective colleges. Is this really a level playing field? Or has the game been so prearranged that many, if not most, of the players will fail?
This is an excellent point. What worries me is how this national curriculum is pushed down to the states from up high. It is as though America is ruled by a secret government, and Common Core another decision from the Secret Government that we are expected to accept without question.
Mr. Hacker and Ms Dreifus write, "For all its impact, the Common Core is essentially an invisible empire. It doesn’t have a public office, a board of directors or a salaried staff. Its Web site lists neither a postal address nor a telephone number."
This reminds me of Kafka's Castle. It is not good for America to become Kafkaesque.
The second article in today's New York Times is No Learning Without Feeling by CLAIRE NEEDELL HOLLANDER
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/no-learning-without-feeling.html
The article needs editing. I recommend skipping the first three paragraphs and starting with the thesis statement for the essay (beginning the fourth paragraph): "Agreement on the skills American schoolchildren need to learn to read and write is much easier to arrive at than agreement on what they should read and write."
The critical point she raises is, "The Common Core remains neutral on the question of whether ... students should read Shakespeare, Salinger or a Ford owner’s manual, so long as the text remains “complex.”"
Her conclusion is, "It is time to align our education system with college demands by opening a real discussion about what teens should read in middle school and high school."
You can skip her closing paragraph. It is a return to the theme of the first three paragraphs.
Living in Texas, one of the few states to reject the Common Core tests, which lead to the Common Core curriculum, I perk up when I see a liberal paper like the New York Times question the Common Core.
A single national curriculum is what we call in engineering a "single point of failure." A single national curriculum is a singularly bad idea.
Robert
Monday, May 27, 2013
Education Advocacy Groups in Texas
The New York Times ran an article about education advocacy groups in Texas. It is helpful to have an idea of who is doing what. The article is Advocacy Group Wields Charter-Policy Power by Morgan Smith, Sunday, May 12, 2013 (pages 23A and 23B in the paper). The article is about money, people, and politics. I won't summarize the article, but I will list a few facts from the article.
The group "Texans for Education Reform" will spend at least $645,000 in lobbying contracts this year. Florence Shapiro, the Plano Republican who was once leader of the Senate Education Committee, is a paid consultant to "Texans for Education Reform."
The group "Raise Your Hand" reports spending an estimated minimum of $350,000 on a lobbying team that includes former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff. The chief executive of "Raise Your Hand" is David Anthony, who joined in 2010 after serving as the superintendent of the Cypress-Fairbanks school district for seven years.
I do not know what to make of this, but it is interesting to see the money and the people involved in education. There is no doubt that money is a major factor in 21st century education.
Robert
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/us/raise-your-hand-texas-wields-power-on-charter-schools.html
The group "Texans for Education Reform" will spend at least $645,000 in lobbying contracts this year. Florence Shapiro, the Plano Republican who was once leader of the Senate Education Committee, is a paid consultant to "Texans for Education Reform."
The group "Raise Your Hand" reports spending an estimated minimum of $350,000 on a lobbying team that includes former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff. The chief executive of "Raise Your Hand" is David Anthony, who joined in 2010 after serving as the superintendent of the Cypress-Fairbanks school district for seven years.
I do not know what to make of this, but it is interesting to see the money and the people involved in education. There is no doubt that money is a major factor in 21st century education.
Robert
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/us/raise-your-hand-texas-wields-power-on-charter-schools.html
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Constructivism in Math Education
America is flat on its butt when it comes to mathematics education. One reason for our collective failure is a poor attitude towards math. As an example, consider a news story on the CBS Morning Show, March 3, 2013, about a new museum devoted to math. The article begins by immediately calling math an unpopular subject, a painful subject, and says, "Not only do most of us not like it; we're also not very good at it." A political scientist, Andrew Hacker, became famous when the New York Times published his editorial, Is Algebra Necessary? on July 28, 2012. How can we excel in math when we denigrate and disparage it?
All too often people who dislike mathematics are force to teach math. My son had a middle school math teacher who avoided teaching math for the whole first week of school. My son was concerned and I made inquiries. I discovered his math teacher used to be a social studies teacher. Obviously she avoided teaching math because she did not want to teach math, but she was stuck with it.
Then you have people who don't like math but are stuck teaching math teachers. People who think math is painful try to create a method of instruction they believe will make math a pain-free subject. We now come to the other major reason America fails in mathematics education. We refuse to use methods that work because we are wedded to failed methods, like Constructivism, which holds that "the primary role of teaching is not to lecture, explain, or otherwise attempt to 'transfer' mathematical knowledge..."
Constructivism is more commonly called Discovery Learning, where children are asked to discover on their own how mathematics works. Plano, Texas, public schools use discovery learning and the result is a very healthy tutoring industry. Plano teachers are told by administrators that they are supposed to be "a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage," so parents have to pay for tutors.
Half way through the school year my son's freshman English teacher finally hands back a marked paper. There is no explanation of why the teacher does not like some sentences, but at least they are marked. My son came to me, pointed to the first marked sentence and tells me that no one he knows can explain to him what is wrong with the sentence. That is so sad, picturing a class of students begging for instruction from people they know. That is discovery learning in Plano ISD, making the kids beg for help because the district does not believe in instruction. Fortunately, I know about writing and could help my son.
South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Finland all excel in mathematics. Home-schoolers in America use books and programs called "the Singapore Method" because they have the freedom to choose what works. It is time our schools abandoned failed methods, like Discovery Learning and Connected Math, and copy methods that work.
I hope and pray that when the Plano ISD eventually gets a new Superintendent that we get a person that believes in teaching, believes in instruction, and believes in the acquisition of skills. We need a Superintendent who can rip out the cancer of Discovery Learning and Connected Math and provide the children of Plano with the instruction they deserve.
We are having an election in Plano for the school board. Now is your chance to ask candidates if they believe in the Discovery Method of teaching. Just remember, football coaches instruct their teams because they want victory. If we want victory in mathematics, we should want instruction for our children. It is time to get rid of Discovery Learning and Connected Math.
Robert
All too often people who dislike mathematics are force to teach math. My son had a middle school math teacher who avoided teaching math for the whole first week of school. My son was concerned and I made inquiries. I discovered his math teacher used to be a social studies teacher. Obviously she avoided teaching math because she did not want to teach math, but she was stuck with it.
Then you have people who don't like math but are stuck teaching math teachers. People who think math is painful try to create a method of instruction they believe will make math a pain-free subject. We now come to the other major reason America fails in mathematics education. We refuse to use methods that work because we are wedded to failed methods, like Constructivism, which holds that "the primary role of teaching is not to lecture, explain, or otherwise attempt to 'transfer' mathematical knowledge..."
Constructivism is more commonly called Discovery Learning, where children are asked to discover on their own how mathematics works. Plano, Texas, public schools use discovery learning and the result is a very healthy tutoring industry. Plano teachers are told by administrators that they are supposed to be "a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage," so parents have to pay for tutors.
Half way through the school year my son's freshman English teacher finally hands back a marked paper. There is no explanation of why the teacher does not like some sentences, but at least they are marked. My son came to me, pointed to the first marked sentence and tells me that no one he knows can explain to him what is wrong with the sentence. That is so sad, picturing a class of students begging for instruction from people they know. That is discovery learning in Plano ISD, making the kids beg for help because the district does not believe in instruction. Fortunately, I know about writing and could help my son.
South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Finland all excel in mathematics. Home-schoolers in America use books and programs called "the Singapore Method" because they have the freedom to choose what works. It is time our schools abandoned failed methods, like Discovery Learning and Connected Math, and copy methods that work.
I hope and pray that when the Plano ISD eventually gets a new Superintendent that we get a person that believes in teaching, believes in instruction, and believes in the acquisition of skills. We need a Superintendent who can rip out the cancer of Discovery Learning and Connected Math and provide the children of Plano with the instruction they deserve.
We are having an election in Plano for the school board. Now is your chance to ask candidates if they believe in the Discovery Method of teaching. Just remember, football coaches instruct their teams because they want victory. If we want victory in mathematics, we should want instruction for our children. It is time to get rid of Discovery Learning and Connected Math.
Robert
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Clayton Christensen on Education
The Sunday, November 4, 2012 issue of the New York Times has an article by the author of The Innovator's Dilemma. On page 3 of the Business Section is "A Capitalist's Dilemma, Whoever Wins on Tuesday" by Clayton M. Christensen. It is a long essay. I believe this is its most interesting comment:
"We can use capital with abandon now because it is abundant and cheap. But we can no longer waste education, subsidizing it in fields that offer few jobs. Optimizing return on capital will generate less growth than optimizing return on education."
Robert
"We can use capital with abandon now because it is abundant and cheap. But we can no longer waste education, subsidizing it in fields that offer few jobs. Optimizing return on capital will generate less growth than optimizing return on education."
Robert
Saturday, September 08, 2012
The Teacher as Superman
The New York Times is hosting a conference on September 13, 2012, entitled Schools for Tomorrow. The newspaper advertisement for it uses the slogan, "Building a Better Teacher." The website for the conference says, "Today, teachers are expected to be mentors and social workers as well as educators. Sometimes even substitute parents. How do we educate teachers differently to reflect this?"
It might be a mistake to use the schools to solve social problems. If teachers are really supposed to be substitute parents, what happens to the education of children who do not need substitute parents? There was a movie in 2010 called "Waiting for Superman." One person within the movie said that as a child he was waiting for Superman to come and fix the problems in his life. Schools need a prime mission, and if that mission is substitute parenting, then education is a secondary concern. When education is not the primary purpose of a public school system, then skills are increasingly abandoned and we eventually cross a threshold where public schools become agents in the moronization of America. Moronization may be a new word.
Here is a definition I have created for the moronization of America: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of Americans that is perpetrated by the public schools and supported by declining popular culture that is leading to a nation of morons (idiots, dolts).
Here is a more general definition: moronization: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of a population that will transition that society into a population of morons (stupid people).
What characterizes a stupid person? Stupid (adjective) 1. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 2. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.
Stupidity is dangerous in our complex and demanding twenty-first century society. If we try and turn our teachers into supermen and superwomen who can fix deficiencies within a community, then education will cease to be the prime mission of schools, our society will become stupid, and our nation will be at risk of collapse.
A twenty-first century education must maintain the academic skill set of the nation, which includes grammar, composition, and mathematics.
Robert
It might be a mistake to use the schools to solve social problems. If teachers are really supposed to be substitute parents, what happens to the education of children who do not need substitute parents? There was a movie in 2010 called "Waiting for Superman." One person within the movie said that as a child he was waiting for Superman to come and fix the problems in his life. Schools need a prime mission, and if that mission is substitute parenting, then education is a secondary concern. When education is not the primary purpose of a public school system, then skills are increasingly abandoned and we eventually cross a threshold where public schools become agents in the moronization of America. Moronization may be a new word.
Here is a definition I have created for the moronization of America: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of Americans that is perpetrated by the public schools and supported by declining popular culture that is leading to a nation of morons (idiots, dolts).
Here is a more general definition: moronization: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of a population that will transition that society into a population of morons (stupid people).
What characterizes a stupid person? Stupid (adjective) 1. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 2. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.
Stupidity is dangerous in our complex and demanding twenty-first century society. If we try and turn our teachers into supermen and superwomen who can fix deficiencies within a community, then education will cease to be the prime mission of schools, our society will become stupid, and our nation will be at risk of collapse.
A twenty-first century education must maintain the academic skill set of the nation, which includes grammar, composition, and mathematics.
Robert
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Grammar in the 21st Century
The Wall Street Journal, on June 20, 2012, ran an article entitled, "This Embarrasses You and I," by Sue Shellenbarger. This article appears on the internet here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303410404577466662919275448. The article describes the decline of correct grammar as more young people join the work force.
The public schools have been abandoning skills. Grammar skills are declining. Math skills are declining. Cursive penmanship is disappearing. There is a tendency to blame Facebook and Twitter for the decline in good grammar, but the public schools have abandoned their duty to educate our children. The young people are not entirely to blame.
In this new century, parents have the added responsibility to watch over their children's education in grammar. For example, I recently pulled some grammar textbooks off the book shelves to give my son a lesson on dangling participles, and on dangling modifiers in general. We cannot rely on the schools.
Being a resident of the Dallas metroplex, I was pleased to hear that Bryan Garner, president of a Dallas training and consulting firm, has written a book on the effective use of the English language: Garner's Modern American Usage.
Whether you are a parent or an employer, you cannot count on the public schools providing young people with the grammar skills expected of educated people. This means that employers will need to administer tests to prospective employees to ensure they have the skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Writing a grammatically correct essay is a skill that can set you apart in the 21st century.
Robert Canright
The public schools have been abandoning skills. Grammar skills are declining. Math skills are declining. Cursive penmanship is disappearing. There is a tendency to blame Facebook and Twitter for the decline in good grammar, but the public schools have abandoned their duty to educate our children. The young people are not entirely to blame.
In this new century, parents have the added responsibility to watch over their children's education in grammar. For example, I recently pulled some grammar textbooks off the book shelves to give my son a lesson on dangling participles, and on dangling modifiers in general. We cannot rely on the schools.
Being a resident of the Dallas metroplex, I was pleased to hear that Bryan Garner, president of a Dallas training and consulting firm, has written a book on the effective use of the English language: Garner's Modern American Usage.
Whether you are a parent or an employer, you cannot count on the public schools providing young people with the grammar skills expected of educated people. This means that employers will need to administer tests to prospective employees to ensure they have the skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Writing a grammatically correct essay is a skill that can set you apart in the 21st century.
Robert Canright
Sunday, April 15, 2012
The Web of Progressive Math
If you go to this link http://soundmath.wetpaint.com/page/Follow+the+Money you can see the web of connections for the progressive math movement. This link was sent by a friend. Thanks to all my friends for sharing their interest in education.
Robert
Robert
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Your Child Left Behind
A few weeks ago the Dallas Morning News ran an article in the Points section: "Your Child Left Behind" by Amanda Ripley. This was a reprint of an article from The Atlantic, the December edition. This was a real eye-opener. It showed America states ranked by academic achievement against other countries. The main point of the article is that no one in American public schools is getting a good education. The schools in Massachusetts, the best in America, rank 17th in the world, just ahead of Slovenia. Canada ranks 12th in the world, Finland, the home of Nokia, ranks 4th, while Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea rank 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively.
On the bright side, the Atlantic provides an interactive school comparison tool that shows Texas schools are better than California schools, but since Texas ranks 48th in the world, that is small consolation.
One reason American schools cannot compete against the rest of the world is because they are deluded by a failed ideology called "discovery learning." The Plano ISD embraces discovery learning and Skip Jenkins, the school board president describes it this way: "We don’t believe the teacher should be a disseminator of facts and information. We believe the teacher should be a facilitator of learning.” (The quote is from the Plano Star Courier).
For years I have contended that the best and brightest in the Plano ISD succeed in spite of the elementary and middle school curriculum, not because of it. Now the Lone Star Crescent has published an article by me, "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs," in its December issue, pages 8 and 11.
Our children must compete against the best and brightest from around the world. The surest way to lose in a competition is to be unaware that you are in a competition. The Lone Star Crescent was kind enough to share "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs" with the community, and now I'll share it with my friends and neighbors so we will all know the secret to success in the suburbs.
Robert Canright
------------------------------------------------------------
A good education cannot be taken for granted. It is not enough to buy a home within a school district with a good reputation. You must study the test scores before you buy a home. School district SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) averages are not a good indicator of quality education for several reasons. Some parents will home-school their children or place them in private schools for elementary and middle school, and then place them into the public high schools for AP (Advanced Placement) courses or for the IB (International Baccalaureate) program. This means that high school SAT scores are influenced by private schooling.
A friend of mine in Garland used the combination of a private school and the IB program for his children and his daughter is now at Cornell University. A school district can also steer lower performing children into the ACT test instead of the SAT test and thereby boost the SAT scores. The TAKS test is taken by all the children of Texas and is therefore a better way to evaluate a school district, but even this measure is not the best indication of a quality education. Only close scrutiny by parents can reveal the true quality of education within a school district.
What many concerned parents have discovered is a lack interest by school administrations in teaching academic skills. The schools want to teach critical thinking instead of skills. I have heard one administrator at the Plano ISD use the expressions “drill and kill” and “sage on the stage” to disparage tried and true methods of instruction. I have heard one Plano teacher speak with great excitement about the discovery method she uses in her classroom. The discovery method is where teachers assign problems to students without first instructing them how to solve that type of problem. This technique is also called problem based learning. The discovery method is a proven failure. A book by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, explains with great thoroughness how school administrators all across America have sacrificed our children’s education for the sake of failed ideologies.
When conscientious parents discover that skills are not being taught to their satisfaction, then many pull their children from public elementary schools and turn to home schooling or private schools. Many parents in Plano, however, turn to private tutors to provide their children with the skills they need for a good education. Go to Craigslist for Dallas and search on “math tutor Plano” and you will find over forty math tutors listed. Google “math tutor Plano” and you will find pages of hits. My neighborhood coffee shop seems to always have a math or SAT tutor working with a student. Mathematics is one of the ultimate skill based courses and math tutoring provides a clear advantage over students not receiving math tutoring.
The administration at the Plano ISD clings to their failed ideology of discovery learning even when they are faced with clear evidence that their ideology is a failure. Here is an example: at the Plano ISD Board of Trustees meeting on November 2, 2010, the board received an update on the Math Rocks program. The presenter said the children in this program are significantly ahead of their peers and most of these children receive math instruction outside the Plano schools. These are children who get either private tutoring or classroom tutoring outside of the Plano schools, being tutored with the traditional approach of classroom instruction and homework for drilling the instruction.
The PISD administration can see that traditional instruction and drill puts children significantly ahead of their peers who are taught with the discovery method or with Connected Math. But instead of abandoning failed methods, the PISD creates the Math Rocks program that provides yet more discovery method for these advanced students who have raced ahead with traditional instruction. The Math Rocks program is discovery learning with more challenging problems. The administrators at the Plano ISD are like the Marxists who cling to their failed ideology in spite of clear evidence that their ideology does not work. The existence of the Math Rocks program is positive proof that the philosophy of instruction at the Plano ISD does not work, but the Plano ISD administration stubbornly refuses to admit failure and correct their mistakes.
There are still more secrets for success in the suburbs. There are schools that provide classroom instruction and homework as an alternative to private tutoring. Two such schools are Ed Gurukul and the Hua Hsing Chinese school. Ed Gurukul (Ed stands for education) focuses on mathematics instruction, K though 12. They have classes in the evenings, on Saturday and Sunday. Students typically have one hour of instruction, they do homework during the week, and are tested on their progress. Most of their students receive commended scores on the TAKS test. Ed Gurukul makes the Math Olympiads part of their program. Ed Gurukul also promotes instruction and competition in chess to aid in mathematical thinking. Ed Gurukul has facilities in Plano and Irving.
The Hua Hsing Chinese school meets in Jasper High School in Plano on Sunday afternoon. Ten years ago my daughter and some of her classmates were enrolled in math classes at Hua Hsing. The school met at J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson back then. Hua Hsing has been in operation for 25 years. I was very relieved that I could find math tutoring for my daughter. I was in shock at what I perceived to be low skill levels for math in the Plano schools. Plano parents are lucky that the Hua Hsing school now meets in Plano. I spoke with the director at Hua Hsing and learned that parents drive to Plano from Sherman, from Denton, and from Irving for math instruction. There are students from Richardson, Frisco, and Allen, but the majority of their students are from Plano.
Hua Hsing provides math instruction K through 7, algebra, and geometry. They teach math for SAT preparation when there is enough demand. Additionally, Hua Hsing teaches phonics, writing, and SAT preparation for the verbal and writing portions of the test. Hua Hsing students have classroom instruction lasting over one hour. Students receive homework that gets graded, they have a mid-term and a final exam. Some of their students are in the Math Rocks program in Plano ISD. Hua Hsing has science classes and, of course, they have classes on the Chinese language. The Hua Hsing Chinese school has a math contest that is open to the public. The contest has 50 problems and is timed.
For the final push towards high SAT scores, many parents send their children to Karen Dillard’s College Prep. When my daughter graduated from Plano Senior High, the class president joked about all the hours they spent at Karen Dillard’s. A significant number of the National Scholarship winners in the Dallas area are graduates of the Karen Dillard program.
Tutoring is the secret to success in the North Dallas suburbs. For years this has all been known only by word of mouth. Now you know the secret. The beauty of life in America is that you have choices. The difficulty of choices in America is that so many choices require money.
On the bright side, the Atlantic provides an interactive school comparison tool that shows Texas schools are better than California schools, but since Texas ranks 48th in the world, that is small consolation.
One reason American schools cannot compete against the rest of the world is because they are deluded by a failed ideology called "discovery learning." The Plano ISD embraces discovery learning and Skip Jenkins, the school board president describes it this way: "We don’t believe the teacher should be a disseminator of facts and information. We believe the teacher should be a facilitator of learning.” (The quote is from the Plano Star Courier).
For years I have contended that the best and brightest in the Plano ISD succeed in spite of the elementary and middle school curriculum, not because of it. Now the Lone Star Crescent has published an article by me, "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs," in its December issue, pages 8 and 11.
Our children must compete against the best and brightest from around the world. The surest way to lose in a competition is to be unaware that you are in a competition. The Lone Star Crescent was kind enough to share "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs" with the community, and now I'll share it with my friends and neighbors so we will all know the secret to success in the suburbs.
Robert Canright
------------------------------------------------------------
The Secret to Success in the Suburbs
by
Robert Canright
published in the December 2010 issue of the Lone Star Crescent, pages 8 and 11, all rights reserved by Melanz, LLC.by
Robert Canright
A good education cannot be taken for granted. It is not enough to buy a home within a school district with a good reputation. You must study the test scores before you buy a home. School district SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) averages are not a good indicator of quality education for several reasons. Some parents will home-school their children or place them in private schools for elementary and middle school, and then place them into the public high schools for AP (Advanced Placement) courses or for the IB (International Baccalaureate) program. This means that high school SAT scores are influenced by private schooling.
A friend of mine in Garland used the combination of a private school and the IB program for his children and his daughter is now at Cornell University. A school district can also steer lower performing children into the ACT test instead of the SAT test and thereby boost the SAT scores. The TAKS test is taken by all the children of Texas and is therefore a better way to evaluate a school district, but even this measure is not the best indication of a quality education. Only close scrutiny by parents can reveal the true quality of education within a school district.
What many concerned parents have discovered is a lack interest by school administrations in teaching academic skills. The schools want to teach critical thinking instead of skills. I have heard one administrator at the Plano ISD use the expressions “drill and kill” and “sage on the stage” to disparage tried and true methods of instruction. I have heard one Plano teacher speak with great excitement about the discovery method she uses in her classroom. The discovery method is where teachers assign problems to students without first instructing them how to solve that type of problem. This technique is also called problem based learning. The discovery method is a proven failure. A book by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, explains with great thoroughness how school administrators all across America have sacrificed our children’s education for the sake of failed ideologies.
When conscientious parents discover that skills are not being taught to their satisfaction, then many pull their children from public elementary schools and turn to home schooling or private schools. Many parents in Plano, however, turn to private tutors to provide their children with the skills they need for a good education. Go to Craigslist for Dallas and search on “math tutor Plano” and you will find over forty math tutors listed. Google “math tutor Plano” and you will find pages of hits. My neighborhood coffee shop seems to always have a math or SAT tutor working with a student. Mathematics is one of the ultimate skill based courses and math tutoring provides a clear advantage over students not receiving math tutoring.
The administration at the Plano ISD clings to their failed ideology of discovery learning even when they are faced with clear evidence that their ideology is a failure. Here is an example: at the Plano ISD Board of Trustees meeting on November 2, 2010, the board received an update on the Math Rocks program. The presenter said the children in this program are significantly ahead of their peers and most of these children receive math instruction outside the Plano schools. These are children who get either private tutoring or classroom tutoring outside of the Plano schools, being tutored with the traditional approach of classroom instruction and homework for drilling the instruction.
The PISD administration can see that traditional instruction and drill puts children significantly ahead of their peers who are taught with the discovery method or with Connected Math. But instead of abandoning failed methods, the PISD creates the Math Rocks program that provides yet more discovery method for these advanced students who have raced ahead with traditional instruction. The Math Rocks program is discovery learning with more challenging problems. The administrators at the Plano ISD are like the Marxists who cling to their failed ideology in spite of clear evidence that their ideology does not work. The existence of the Math Rocks program is positive proof that the philosophy of instruction at the Plano ISD does not work, but the Plano ISD administration stubbornly refuses to admit failure and correct their mistakes.
There are still more secrets for success in the suburbs. There are schools that provide classroom instruction and homework as an alternative to private tutoring. Two such schools are Ed Gurukul and the Hua Hsing Chinese school. Ed Gurukul (Ed stands for education) focuses on mathematics instruction, K though 12. They have classes in the evenings, on Saturday and Sunday. Students typically have one hour of instruction, they do homework during the week, and are tested on their progress. Most of their students receive commended scores on the TAKS test. Ed Gurukul makes the Math Olympiads part of their program. Ed Gurukul also promotes instruction and competition in chess to aid in mathematical thinking. Ed Gurukul has facilities in Plano and Irving.
The Hua Hsing Chinese school meets in Jasper High School in Plano on Sunday afternoon. Ten years ago my daughter and some of her classmates were enrolled in math classes at Hua Hsing. The school met at J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson back then. Hua Hsing has been in operation for 25 years. I was very relieved that I could find math tutoring for my daughter. I was in shock at what I perceived to be low skill levels for math in the Plano schools. Plano parents are lucky that the Hua Hsing school now meets in Plano. I spoke with the director at Hua Hsing and learned that parents drive to Plano from Sherman, from Denton, and from Irving for math instruction. There are students from Richardson, Frisco, and Allen, but the majority of their students are from Plano.
Hua Hsing provides math instruction K through 7, algebra, and geometry. They teach math for SAT preparation when there is enough demand. Additionally, Hua Hsing teaches phonics, writing, and SAT preparation for the verbal and writing portions of the test. Hua Hsing students have classroom instruction lasting over one hour. Students receive homework that gets graded, they have a mid-term and a final exam. Some of their students are in the Math Rocks program in Plano ISD. Hua Hsing has science classes and, of course, they have classes on the Chinese language. The Hua Hsing Chinese school has a math contest that is open to the public. The contest has 50 problems and is timed.
For the final push towards high SAT scores, many parents send their children to Karen Dillard’s College Prep. When my daughter graduated from Plano Senior High, the class president joked about all the hours they spent at Karen Dillard’s. A significant number of the National Scholarship winners in the Dallas area are graduates of the Karen Dillard program.
Tutoring is the secret to success in the North Dallas suburbs. For years this has all been known only by word of mouth. Now you know the secret. The beauty of life in America is that you have choices. The difficulty of choices in America is that so many choices require money.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Disconnecting from Connected Math
There is An Alternative to Connected Math
Parents who care about their children's math education despair when their children are stuck in the Connected Math program. In Plano, Texas, astute parents use a variety of methods to save their children's education. Popular options include (1) private schools, (2) home schooling, (3) moving to Fisco or Allen, Texas, (4) private tutoring, and (5) parental tutoring.
A large number of families in Plano are from Asia and the parents enroll their children in Plano public schools, but send their children to private schools on Saturday or Sunday to study math. Some of these children are years ahead of their classmates and their parents have asked for special classes for them in PISD so they don't waste their time with the curriculum PISD offers everyone else.
The PISD administration knows the district's reputation rides on the backs of star students, so PISD developed a special math curriculum called Math Rocks for those children who have been receiving their math education outside the Plano ISD. Some of these parents take pride in their children being years ahead of their classmates and you will see on page 14 of the Math Rocks presentation that some children will be able to take Calculus in 10th grade, Differential Equations and Number Theory in 11th grade, and then Abstract Algebra and Multi-variable Calculus in 12th grade.
Bravo! If you want to study math at Harvard or Princeton, this is a minimum to compete at the highest level. But notice that this is not Connected Math. Obviously Connected Math is not the best math program or these top-flight students would be taking it. So why do your children get stuck with Connected Math? Is it possible the average student is stuck with an inferior curriculum because the Plano ISD administration does not care about the education of the average student? Might it be that the PISD only cares about the stars who give the district it's reputation for excellence?
The best math students in Plano have disconnected from Connected Math. Why are your children stuck with an inferior program? Clearly there are better choices for our students than Connected Math, but the parents have to find a way to provide their children with the quality math education that the Plano ISD refuses to provide.
Discerning Parents Consistently Oppose Connected Math
For years, all across America, discerning parents have investigated Connected Math and found it deficient.
In Plano, Texas
At Prince William County in Manassas, Virginia
and the State College Area School District in State College, Pennsylvania
Most American parents, however, do not have the math skills to perceive the problems with the Connected Math curriculum. This includes the school administrators who have selected the Connected Math curriculum. Connected Math is taking a bad situation and making it worse; it is increasing the mathematics achievement gap in America.
Taking Action
Parents who appeal to their neighbors during school board elections fail to persuade their neighbors to vote against school board members who accept Connected Math. If we are ever to win elections, we first have to persuade the electorate to care about mathematics.
Perhaps what is really needed is a proselytizing effort across communities to persuade parents that math skills are important, that math can be fun, and that their children will benefit from a more rigorous math curriculum. This would go a long way to improving the quality of education in America.
In the mean time, if your child is stuck in a Connected Math curriculum and you do not want to pull your child from his or her school, then you better find a way to provide your child a good math education outside of the school room. Some suggestions can be found in this blog: Surviving Connected Math.
Robert Canright
PS:
(1). The PISD presentation says this about program entry:
Averaged MAP score > 2 standard deviations above the District mean
3rd Graders: > 3 standard deviations above the mean
What is 2 or 3 standard deviations (sigma)? Here's what Wikipedia says about 3 sigma:
>2 sigma means the top 5%
>3 sigma means the top 0.2%
(2). If you have trouble reading the Math Rocks PDF file with one browser, try another. My Firefox had trouble but Google's Chrome has no trouble. I did fix Firefox by installing the latest Adobe plugin.
PS 4-27-2017 for Ramana's comment:
There is a PDF document about the Math Rocks program that has contact information
http://k-12.pisd.edu/currinst/elemen/math/MathRocksInformation.pdf
There is no date on this PDF file. The PDF has this contact information :
Ms. Whitney Evans, Secondary Mathematics Coordinator, Whitney.Evans@pisd.edu
Mrs. Julia Haun, Elementary Mathematics Coordinator, Julia.Haun@pisd.edu
Good luck!
Parents who care about their children's math education despair when their children are stuck in the Connected Math program. In Plano, Texas, astute parents use a variety of methods to save their children's education. Popular options include (1) private schools, (2) home schooling, (3) moving to Fisco or Allen, Texas, (4) private tutoring, and (5) parental tutoring.
A large number of families in Plano are from Asia and the parents enroll their children in Plano public schools, but send their children to private schools on Saturday or Sunday to study math. Some of these children are years ahead of their classmates and their parents have asked for special classes for them in PISD so they don't waste their time with the curriculum PISD offers everyone else.
The PISD administration knows the district's reputation rides on the backs of star students, so PISD developed a special math curriculum called Math Rocks for those children who have been receiving their math education outside the Plano ISD. Some of these parents take pride in their children being years ahead of their classmates and you will see on page 14 of the Math Rocks presentation that some children will be able to take Calculus in 10th grade, Differential Equations and Number Theory in 11th grade, and then Abstract Algebra and Multi-variable Calculus in 12th grade.
Bravo! If you want to study math at Harvard or Princeton, this is a minimum to compete at the highest level. But notice that this is not Connected Math. Obviously Connected Math is not the best math program or these top-flight students would be taking it. So why do your children get stuck with Connected Math? Is it possible the average student is stuck with an inferior curriculum because the Plano ISD administration does not care about the education of the average student? Might it be that the PISD only cares about the stars who give the district it's reputation for excellence?
The best math students in Plano have disconnected from Connected Math. Why are your children stuck with an inferior program? Clearly there are better choices for our students than Connected Math, but the parents have to find a way to provide their children with the quality math education that the Plano ISD refuses to provide.
Discerning Parents Consistently Oppose Connected Math
For years, all across America, discerning parents have investigated Connected Math and found it deficient.
In Plano, Texas
At Prince William County in Manassas, Virginia
and the State College Area School District in State College, Pennsylvania
Most American parents, however, do not have the math skills to perceive the problems with the Connected Math curriculum. This includes the school administrators who have selected the Connected Math curriculum. Connected Math is taking a bad situation and making it worse; it is increasing the mathematics achievement gap in America.
Taking Action
Parents who appeal to their neighbors during school board elections fail to persuade their neighbors to vote against school board members who accept Connected Math. If we are ever to win elections, we first have to persuade the electorate to care about mathematics.
Perhaps what is really needed is a proselytizing effort across communities to persuade parents that math skills are important, that math can be fun, and that their children will benefit from a more rigorous math curriculum. This would go a long way to improving the quality of education in America.
In the mean time, if your child is stuck in a Connected Math curriculum and you do not want to pull your child from his or her school, then you better find a way to provide your child a good math education outside of the school room. Some suggestions can be found in this blog: Surviving Connected Math.
Robert Canright
PS:
(1). The PISD presentation says this about program entry:
Averaged MAP score > 2 standard deviations above the District mean
3rd Graders: > 3 standard deviations above the mean
What is 2 or 3 standard deviations (sigma)? Here's what Wikipedia says about 3 sigma:
>2 sigma means the top 5%
>3 sigma means the top 0.2%
(2). If you have trouble reading the Math Rocks PDF file with one browser, try another. My Firefox had trouble but Google's Chrome has no trouble. I did fix Firefox by installing the latest Adobe plugin.
PS 4-27-2017 for Ramana's comment:
There is a PDF document about the Math Rocks program that has contact information
http://k-12.pisd.edu/currinst/elemen/math/MathRocksInformation.pdf
There is no date on this PDF file. The PDF has this contact information :
Ms. Whitney Evans, Secondary Mathematics Coordinator, Whitney.Evans@pisd.edu
Mrs. Julia Haun, Elementary Mathematics Coordinator, Julia.Haun@pisd.edu
Good luck!
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Poetry, John Dewey, and Connected Mathematics
Galileo said, "Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe." I have told this to my son a few times, but the last time I told this to my son he replied, "But Dad, I thought poetry was the language of God." Wow! I was pleased with that sentiment.
In the November 7, 2009, Wall Street Journal I saw this wonderful quote from Dusa McDuff, a mathematician at SUNY Stony Brook about the great Russian mathematician Israel Gelfand: "Gelfand amazed me by talking of mathematics as though it were poetry."
There is something special and transcendental about mathematics. Plato knew mathematics was special, including mathematics and philosophy in his plan for the ideal education for leadership.
John Dewey, the atheist whose ideas are the foundation of contemporary American educational theory, did not believe in any transcendental qualities. John Dewey saw no poetry in mathematics. John Dewey had a distinct dislike for mathematics. John Dewey's dislike for mathematics is the poison in the well that has made American mathematics education the sick child of the world.
It is no wonder that Connected Math is a boondoggle: progressive education is anti-math. My son used to love mathematics. Now that he is in the Connected Math curriculum he has come to dislike math. Having experienced Connected Math I think it is fair to describe it as politically correct (PC) math: what was correct last week is wrong this week.
The Plano ISD lags behind all of its neighbors in the percentage of Exemplary and Recognized schools, and I believe that Connected Math is contributing to the academic decline of the Plano ISD. The Allen ISD, Frisco ISD, and the Richardson ISD all have avoided Connected Math and they all show better results than the Plano ISD.
Plano parents sued the district over Connected Math. You can read some of the depositions here. The parents were right, the administrators were wrong, and it is the children who pay for the blunders of stubborn bureaucrats.
There is beauty in mathematics. I hope my son's love for math will be rekindled once he is finished with the Connected Mathematics curriculum.
Robert Canright
The WSJ quote was from "Russia's Conquering Zeros" by Masha Gessen
Recommended reading: "Method, Social Science, and Social Hope", pp. 191 - 210 in Consequences of Pragmatism by Richard Rorty, 1982.
Specifically, see this on page 204: "Dewey and Foucault make exactly the same criticism of the tradition. They agree, right down the line, about the need to abandon traditional notions of rationality, objectivity, method, and truth.... there is no overarching ahistorical structure (the Nature of Man, the laws of human behavior, the Moral Law, the Nature of Society) to be discovered."
In the November 7, 2009, Wall Street Journal I saw this wonderful quote from Dusa McDuff, a mathematician at SUNY Stony Brook about the great Russian mathematician Israel Gelfand: "Gelfand amazed me by talking of mathematics as though it were poetry."
There is something special and transcendental about mathematics. Plato knew mathematics was special, including mathematics and philosophy in his plan for the ideal education for leadership.
John Dewey, the atheist whose ideas are the foundation of contemporary American educational theory, did not believe in any transcendental qualities. John Dewey saw no poetry in mathematics. John Dewey had a distinct dislike for mathematics. John Dewey's dislike for mathematics is the poison in the well that has made American mathematics education the sick child of the world.
It is no wonder that Connected Math is a boondoggle: progressive education is anti-math. My son used to love mathematics. Now that he is in the Connected Math curriculum he has come to dislike math. Having experienced Connected Math I think it is fair to describe it as politically correct (PC) math: what was correct last week is wrong this week.
The Plano ISD lags behind all of its neighbors in the percentage of Exemplary and Recognized schools, and I believe that Connected Math is contributing to the academic decline of the Plano ISD. The Allen ISD, Frisco ISD, and the Richardson ISD all have avoided Connected Math and they all show better results than the Plano ISD.
Plano parents sued the district over Connected Math. You can read some of the depositions here. The parents were right, the administrators were wrong, and it is the children who pay for the blunders of stubborn bureaucrats.
There is beauty in mathematics. I hope my son's love for math will be rekindled once he is finished with the Connected Mathematics curriculum.
Robert Canright
The WSJ quote was from "Russia's Conquering Zeros" by Masha Gessen
Recommended reading: "Method, Social Science, and Social Hope", pp. 191 - 210 in Consequences of Pragmatism by Richard Rorty, 1982.
Specifically, see this on page 204: "Dewey and Foucault make exactly the same criticism of the tradition. They agree, right down the line, about the need to abandon traditional notions of rationality, objectivity, method, and truth.... there is no overarching ahistorical structure (the Nature of Man, the laws of human behavior, the Moral Law, the Nature of Society) to be discovered."
Saturday, October 03, 2009
What is an Education for the 21st Century?
Education for the 21st century in America should be the study of wealth and power by the middle-class.
Professionals in middle-class suburbs like ours in North Dallas have a special contribution we can make to America's future: we can educate our children to grow our economy and provide the leadership to safeguard America's future.
Wealth
Americans need jobs. We can best help our fellow Americans, especially those struggling to get out of poverty, by educating our children to start businesses that hire Americans. Children of professionals tend to follow in their parents footsteps. My father was an engineer, and then I became an engineer. If my father had been a lawyer, I probably would have been a lawyer. I never thought about starting a business.
I had a great education, yet I was not taught about starting a business. We prepare our children to be employees, not employers, and that should change. A one year course on business creation and management would be far better for our our society than a 4th year of high school science .
One contributing factor to our recession was the lack of businesses for investment. If there were more businesses for investors to invest in, there would not have been as much money placed in collateralized debt obligations. Our country is hurting badly because we do not have enough businesses hiring Americans, and not enough for businesses for investment. We can and should prepare our children to grow our nation's wealth.
Power
To keep America a great nation, our children must understand what made it great.
The key ingredients that made America successful in the past have their roots far in the past. America's founding fathers were keen students of ancient Greek and Roman history. They were well versed in the progress of liberty in England, from the Magna Carta to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the English Bill of Rights. A keen grasp of history led our founding fathers to the U.S. Constitution and the great debate over its ratification.
Our children need to understand the same history our founding fathers understood. They need to understand the controversies surrounding the U.S. Constitution as debated in the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers. In order to keep the ship of state afloat, our children must know why it floats.
Our children should understand the rise and fall of empires so they can prevent America from falling. To be great leaders, our children should study the great leaders of history.
Education for the 21st century in America should be the study of wealth and power by the middle-class for the benefit of all Americas.
Robert Canright
Professionals in middle-class suburbs like ours in North Dallas have a special contribution we can make to America's future: we can educate our children to grow our economy and provide the leadership to safeguard America's future.
Wealth
Americans need jobs. We can best help our fellow Americans, especially those struggling to get out of poverty, by educating our children to start businesses that hire Americans. Children of professionals tend to follow in their parents footsteps. My father was an engineer, and then I became an engineer. If my father had been a lawyer, I probably would have been a lawyer. I never thought about starting a business.
I had a great education, yet I was not taught about starting a business. We prepare our children to be employees, not employers, and that should change. A one year course on business creation and management would be far better for our our society than a 4th year of high school science .
One contributing factor to our recession was the lack of businesses for investment. If there were more businesses for investors to invest in, there would not have been as much money placed in collateralized debt obligations. Our country is hurting badly because we do not have enough businesses hiring Americans, and not enough for businesses for investment. We can and should prepare our children to grow our nation's wealth.
Power
To keep America a great nation, our children must understand what made it great.
The key ingredients that made America successful in the past have their roots far in the past. America's founding fathers were keen students of ancient Greek and Roman history. They were well versed in the progress of liberty in England, from the Magna Carta to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the English Bill of Rights. A keen grasp of history led our founding fathers to the U.S. Constitution and the great debate over its ratification.
Our children need to understand the same history our founding fathers understood. They need to understand the controversies surrounding the U.S. Constitution as debated in the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers. In order to keep the ship of state afloat, our children must know why it floats.
Our children should understand the rise and fall of empires so they can prevent America from falling. To be great leaders, our children should study the great leaders of history.
Education for the 21st century in America should be the study of wealth and power by the middle-class for the benefit of all Americas.
Robert Canright
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Education for the 21st Century
When I first ran for the local school board in 2006 my slogan was to, "prepare our children for future beyond our imagination." By March 2008 the investment bank Bear Stearns had collapsed. By April 2008 there was food rationing at Costco. I could not imagine that happening in America so quickly, but these were the kind of events I was worried about.
What is an education for the 21st century? It is an education to steer through difficult times.
Our technological education has been fine. We can design computer chips and networks. We can put men on the moon if we wish, so our children do not need more math and science.
The education for our leaders must be deficient because most of our problems are created by Washington. (The banking collapse was caused by lax regulation from Washington and by passing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.) I saw a Congressman on C-Span say he had to do as he was told by Hank Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury, because he did not understand economics and therefore had to trust Paulson. Obviously, our leaders should have studied economics.
Perhaps if our leaders had studied the lessons of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides we would not stuck in the Middle East.
Did America's founding fathers have computers? No, they had books instead of computers and they still set the standard for wise leadership. Our founding fathers studied history and economics. Alexander Hamilton wrote a report on manufacturing! We can restore America's leadership to greatness by injecting more history and economics into their education.
Good leadership is vital if we are to defeat the dangers facing America, so an eduction for the 21st century should focus on history, economics, and finance.
Robert
What is an education for the 21st century? It is an education to steer through difficult times.
Our technological education has been fine. We can design computer chips and networks. We can put men on the moon if we wish, so our children do not need more math and science.
The education for our leaders must be deficient because most of our problems are created by Washington. (The banking collapse was caused by lax regulation from Washington and by passing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.) I saw a Congressman on C-Span say he had to do as he was told by Hank Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury, because he did not understand economics and therefore had to trust Paulson. Obviously, our leaders should have studied economics.
Perhaps if our leaders had studied the lessons of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides we would not stuck in the Middle East.
Did America's founding fathers have computers? No, they had books instead of computers and they still set the standard for wise leadership. Our founding fathers studied history and economics. Alexander Hamilton wrote a report on manufacturing! We can restore America's leadership to greatness by injecting more history and economics into their education.
Good leadership is vital if we are to defeat the dangers facing America, so an eduction for the 21st century should focus on history, economics, and finance.
Robert
Sunday, June 28, 2009
College Ready Texas and Eighth Grade Algebra
Texans need to think for themselves. America's national leadership has steered the ship of state into the rocks on many levels. The economic meltdown of 2008 is prime example. The College Ready movement is another nationwide blunder.
In the Saturday June 20, 2009 Wall Street Journal, Peter McPherson and David Shulenburger published an OpEd piece, "Yes, We Can Expand Access to Higher Ed". They say America needs more college graduates. "Our nation's economic future depends on it," they say. Balderdash, I say.
America's economic future depends on improving the competence of American business leaders and reducing the corruption in our political leaders. America does not have enough jobs now for the college graduates we already have. Increasing the pool of college graduates is a salary busting move by big business. Peter McPherson was chairman of Dow Jones & Company.
Texas leaders are mindlessly following the direction of our national leadership. Governor Perry in 2007 established a Commission for a College Ready Texas. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has saluted the College Ready Texas flag. Texas should not be taking orders like this. Our leaders here in Texas are jumping through hoops for people on the national level. Our leaders need to think for themselves and do what is best for Texas. Big business is planning another round of salary busting and an oversupply of college graduates is a part of their scheme.
The Plano ISD has aligned itself behind the College Ready movement. Plano is a community that already prepares its children to be college ready and we do not need to waste time kowtowing to the higher powers.
Where the Plano ISD is really making a mistake is in joining the push to move parts of 9th grade Algebra 1 down to 8th grade. That's a mistake first made by California. We should not copy other people's mistakes.
America's national leadership is disastrous. Texas leadership must show backbone and quit following the herd of lemmings over the cliff.
Robert
In the Saturday June 20, 2009 Wall Street Journal, Peter McPherson and David Shulenburger published an OpEd piece, "Yes, We Can Expand Access to Higher Ed". They say America needs more college graduates. "Our nation's economic future depends on it," they say. Balderdash, I say.
America's economic future depends on improving the competence of American business leaders and reducing the corruption in our political leaders. America does not have enough jobs now for the college graduates we already have. Increasing the pool of college graduates is a salary busting move by big business. Peter McPherson was chairman of Dow Jones & Company.
Texas leaders are mindlessly following the direction of our national leadership. Governor Perry in 2007 established a Commission for a College Ready Texas. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has saluted the College Ready Texas flag. Texas should not be taking orders like this. Our leaders here in Texas are jumping through hoops for people on the national level. Our leaders need to think for themselves and do what is best for Texas. Big business is planning another round of salary busting and an oversupply of college graduates is a part of their scheme.
The Plano ISD has aligned itself behind the College Ready movement. Plano is a community that already prepares its children to be college ready and we do not need to waste time kowtowing to the higher powers.
Where the Plano ISD is really making a mistake is in joining the push to move parts of 9th grade Algebra 1 down to 8th grade. That's a mistake first made by California. We should not copy other people's mistakes.
America's national leadership is disastrous. Texas leadership must show backbone and quit following the herd of lemmings over the cliff.
Robert
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Whitehead: Morality is the Root of Education
Back in 2007 I pointed out that the Chinese scholar Chu Hsi said morality is the root of education. Now I have found Alfred North Whitehead echoing this message in his work, The Aims of Education.
As found on page 14, from Whitehead:
"The essence of education is that it be religious."
"Pray, what is religious education?"
"A religious education is an education which inculcates duty and reverence. Duty arises from our potential control over the course of events. Where attainable knowledge could have changed the issue, ignorance has the guilt of vice. And the foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity."
Today, we would call "moral" this attitude of responsibility that Whitehead calls "religious." The type of attitude Whitehead calls religious could easily be embraced by an atheist because it is not related to any church nor belief in any god.
Even a secular education should be grounded in moral instruction. Studying Dante we can see immoral leadership is the root of the world's ills. Since our safety and prosperity depend upon moral leaders, training our leaders in morality requires we teach them in their youth.
Robert
As found on page 14, from Whitehead:
"The essence of education is that it be religious."
"Pray, what is religious education?"
"A religious education is an education which inculcates duty and reverence. Duty arises from our potential control over the course of events. Where attainable knowledge could have changed the issue, ignorance has the guilt of vice. And the foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity."
Today, we would call "moral" this attitude of responsibility that Whitehead calls "religious." The type of attitude Whitehead calls religious could easily be embraced by an atheist because it is not related to any church nor belief in any god.
Even a secular education should be grounded in moral instruction. Studying Dante we can see immoral leadership is the root of the world's ills. Since our safety and prosperity depend upon moral leaders, training our leaders in morality requires we teach them in their youth.
Robert
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Teaching Editing by Editing Moby Dick
Education cannot be aimless, it must have a goal. I have put forth a vision for a better future for the children of Texas: the Texas Ascendant Campaign.
Writing is vital for education and for the future of Texas, as I touch upon in these blog posts:
TBAR and the Texas Journalism Project, Thursday, November 27, 2008
The Texas Publishing Project, Sunday, December 14, 2008
Publishing Business Novels, Thursday, February 12, 2009
Publishing needs editors, and one great way to teach editing and combine it with a literature study for a one-semester course would be to edit Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It is a fabulous book with many powerful sentences, but entire chapters should be cut.
An advanced class could study the book, discuss and vote first on what chapters to cut entirely, next discuss what chapters should be thinned by deleting slow sections or slow paragraphs. So many sentences are masterpieces, it seems dangerous to even consider rewriting sentences, but it could be a topic for discussion.
When the editing of Moby Dick is completed, it would not cost much money to publish it electronically. It could be distributed on Amazon.com as Moby Dick, the Plano Edition. The book could contain a description of the project and perhaps could contain an essay or two from project members. There are not that many abridged versions. That it was abridged by high school students would make it distinctive. Obviously, our kids would do great job and the Plano Edition of Moby Dick would increase the stature of our high schools on the national level.
Art students could submit illustrations for the book. Art students could use computer graphics and create an animated version of the Plano Edition of this work. Theater students could record Moby Dick, the Plano Edition, and the audio version could also be sold.
Done well, an "Editing Moby Dick" project would bring more distinction to our schools. It could raise revenue for the district and give our children an introduction to the business side of publishing. Moby Dick is a classic in American literature. Spending serious time and effort with Moby Dick could be a great joy and a good learning experience. Perhaps a graduate of such an editing project might start a highly successful publishing company in Plano that would sell on the national and international markets.
Notice how a project like this could use technology without being only about technology. This is one way we can prepare our children for the future with skills that can be learned in a highly rewarding manner and that could lead to a career in publishing.
Robert Canright
Writing is vital for education and for the future of Texas, as I touch upon in these blog posts:
TBAR and the Texas Journalism Project, Thursday, November 27, 2008
The Texas Publishing Project, Sunday, December 14, 2008
Publishing Business Novels, Thursday, February 12, 2009
Publishing needs editors, and one great way to teach editing and combine it with a literature study for a one-semester course would be to edit Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It is a fabulous book with many powerful sentences, but entire chapters should be cut.
An advanced class could study the book, discuss and vote first on what chapters to cut entirely, next discuss what chapters should be thinned by deleting slow sections or slow paragraphs. So many sentences are masterpieces, it seems dangerous to even consider rewriting sentences, but it could be a topic for discussion.
When the editing of Moby Dick is completed, it would not cost much money to publish it electronically. It could be distributed on Amazon.com as Moby Dick, the Plano Edition. The book could contain a description of the project and perhaps could contain an essay or two from project members. There are not that many abridged versions. That it was abridged by high school students would make it distinctive. Obviously, our kids would do great job and the Plano Edition of Moby Dick would increase the stature of our high schools on the national level.
Art students could submit illustrations for the book. Art students could use computer graphics and create an animated version of the Plano Edition of this work. Theater students could record Moby Dick, the Plano Edition, and the audio version could also be sold.
Done well, an "Editing Moby Dick" project would bring more distinction to our schools. It could raise revenue for the district and give our children an introduction to the business side of publishing. Moby Dick is a classic in American literature. Spending serious time and effort with Moby Dick could be a great joy and a good learning experience. Perhaps a graduate of such an editing project might start a highly successful publishing company in Plano that would sell on the national and international markets.
Notice how a project like this could use technology without being only about technology. This is one way we can prepare our children for the future with skills that can be learned in a highly rewarding manner and that could lead to a career in publishing.
Robert Canright
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Fox, the Hedgehog, and the Arresting Sentence
While reading "The Coast of Utopia" by Jedediah Purdy [1], I stopped at this sentence describing a book:
"It is a fox dreaming of hedgehogs."
This sentence made me stop and think. It rang a bell, but I could not place the connection. I googled and found a nice blog entry: Hedgehog or Fox: Which Are You? by Norm Pattis that brought forth a connection to Isaiah Berlin, who wrote a famous essay on Tolstoy entitled, "The Hedgehog and the Fox."
The reference is to a quote from the poet Archilochus: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
I wanted to say the sentence, "It is a fox dreaming of hedgehogs," is a great sentence, but I cannot. There are great sentences in The Aeneid and in Moby Dick, and the sentence by Purdy cannot compare, but it was a very nice, arresting sentence. It was a nice twist on a famous sentence from Archilochus and had the bonus connection to the essay by Isaiah Berlin.
All these connections are examples of cultural literacy. Culture not only transmits civilization, it is effective in improving communication through the short-hand of allusions. Culture is not only enjoyable, it is empowering.
Robert Canright
[1] A review of the book, Beyond the Revolution, A History of American Thought from Paine to Pragmatism by William H. Goetzmann, appearing in the New York Times Book Review, Sunday February 22, 2009.
"It is a fox dreaming of hedgehogs."
This sentence made me stop and think. It rang a bell, but I could not place the connection. I googled and found a nice blog entry: Hedgehog or Fox: Which Are You? by Norm Pattis that brought forth a connection to Isaiah Berlin, who wrote a famous essay on Tolstoy entitled, "The Hedgehog and the Fox."
The reference is to a quote from the poet Archilochus: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
I wanted to say the sentence, "It is a fox dreaming of hedgehogs," is a great sentence, but I cannot. There are great sentences in The Aeneid and in Moby Dick, and the sentence by Purdy cannot compare, but it was a very nice, arresting sentence. It was a nice twist on a famous sentence from Archilochus and had the bonus connection to the essay by Isaiah Berlin.
All these connections are examples of cultural literacy. Culture not only transmits civilization, it is effective in improving communication through the short-hand of allusions. Culture is not only enjoyable, it is empowering.
Robert Canright
[1] A review of the book, Beyond the Revolution, A History of American Thought from Paine to Pragmatism by William H. Goetzmann, appearing in the New York Times Book Review, Sunday February 22, 2009.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Math Modeling, Education, and Experience
"Risk Mismanagement" by Joe Nocera was published in the Sunday January 4, 2009 New York Times Magazine. It is a well written article describing how Wall Street firms misused mathematical modeling. I am a strong believer in education, and education is required to perform the mathematical modeling at the core of what the "quants" did on Wall Street, so it might seem odd to hear me caution management about relying on mathematical modeling.
Having worked professionally in mathematical modeling of systems that are much better behaved than the stock market, I can say that companies can easily make mistakes with mathematical modeling. The biggest mistake companies make is to think computers can replace people in making decisions, which is central to the New York Times Magazine article.
It is important to educate people to make difficult decisions on complex issues based on deep understanding of underlying principles. People need to be educated to understand the world around them. Too often education is aimed at preparing a minimally educated person to drive a computer program that is intended to think for the minimally educated person, which is recipe for disaster.
I've seen this first hand in industry: highly educated engineers being laid off and replaced with minimally competent engineers and a computer program that is supposed to compensate for the ignorance of the cheaper engineer. This does not work.
We must remember to educate people to high standards, and avoid the mistake of producing the lowest quality employee that might possibly accomplish a minimal quality job. You can see the contempt for human qualities in the words of Walter Lippmann: "... men are not good, but good for something; ... men cannot be educated, but educated for something." [1]
To lower costs, corporations have been driving quality into the ground, and now they have driven the entire economy into the ground.
Minimal education is no education.
Robert Canright
[1] "The Phantom Public" by Walter Lippmann, 1927, ISBN 1-56000-677-3, page 140
Having worked professionally in mathematical modeling of systems that are much better behaved than the stock market, I can say that companies can easily make mistakes with mathematical modeling. The biggest mistake companies make is to think computers can replace people in making decisions, which is central to the New York Times Magazine article.
It is important to educate people to make difficult decisions on complex issues based on deep understanding of underlying principles. People need to be educated to understand the world around them. Too often education is aimed at preparing a minimally educated person to drive a computer program that is intended to think for the minimally educated person, which is recipe for disaster.
I've seen this first hand in industry: highly educated engineers being laid off and replaced with minimally competent engineers and a computer program that is supposed to compensate for the ignorance of the cheaper engineer. This does not work.
We must remember to educate people to high standards, and avoid the mistake of producing the lowest quality employee that might possibly accomplish a minimal quality job. You can see the contempt for human qualities in the words of Walter Lippmann: "... men are not good, but good for something; ... men cannot be educated, but educated for something." [1]
To lower costs, corporations have been driving quality into the ground, and now they have driven the entire economy into the ground.
Minimal education is no education.
Robert Canright
[1] "The Phantom Public" by Walter Lippmann, 1927, ISBN 1-56000-677-3, page 140
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Scarsdale and AP Tests
How do you rank high schools? U.S. News & World Report does it by calculating the ratio of students taking AP (Advanced Placement) exams to the number of graduating seniors. U.S. News & World Report has documented their methodology and you can see for yourself. Of course, this allows schools to "game the system" by forcing all seniors to take AP exams. (Newsweek magazine has their own list and they too like AP tests.) But who says taking Advanced Placement courses provides children with the best education? The Advanced Placement tests are a money making project of the College Boards.
It's been reported in the New York Times, "Scarsdale Adjusts to Life Without Advanced Placement Courses," by Winnie Hu (December 6, 2008) that Scarsdale is de-emphasizing Advanced Placement courses because Scarsdale High School believes it can provide a better education for its students without AP courses. They offer "Advanced Topics" classes instead.
Schools cannot allow the College Board to control education. The College Board is a corporation headed by a CEO who is not an educator; he is a former politician. School districts need to provide their students with the best education possible to face a complicated and uncertain future, and that won't happen by taking direction from a corporation.
If the Plano Independent School District wants to offer a superior education to its students, then the Plano ISD needs to identify its own list of the best high schools in America, ignoring U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek, and consider what features of the truly superior schools PISD might duplicate.
Plano could share its list and charge fees for details from the PISD analysis of the best schools. Maybe Plano would not rank in the top 10 or even top 50 of the best high schools in America on its own list, but it could certainly put itself squarely in the national picture of education by thinking independently, by establishing relationships with the very best schools in America, and by liberating schools from the shallow assessments of for-profit magazines.
Plano ISD needs to think for itself.
Robert Canright
It's been reported in the New York Times, "Scarsdale Adjusts to Life Without Advanced Placement Courses," by Winnie Hu (December 6, 2008) that Scarsdale is de-emphasizing Advanced Placement courses because Scarsdale High School believes it can provide a better education for its students without AP courses. They offer "Advanced Topics" classes instead.
Schools cannot allow the College Board to control education. The College Board is a corporation headed by a CEO who is not an educator; he is a former politician. School districts need to provide their students with the best education possible to face a complicated and uncertain future, and that won't happen by taking direction from a corporation.
If the Plano Independent School District wants to offer a superior education to its students, then the Plano ISD needs to identify its own list of the best high schools in America, ignoring U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek, and consider what features of the truly superior schools PISD might duplicate.
Plano could share its list and charge fees for details from the PISD analysis of the best schools. Maybe Plano would not rank in the top 10 or even top 50 of the best high schools in America on its own list, but it could certainly put itself squarely in the national picture of education by thinking independently, by establishing relationships with the very best schools in America, and by liberating schools from the shallow assessments of for-profit magazines.
Plano ISD needs to think for itself.
Robert Canright
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Math Rankings and Math Facts
The Decemeber 10, 2008 Wall Street Journal reported the latest international rankings for math in "U.S. Students Make Gains in Math Scores," by John Hechinger. (The New York Times ran a similar article on December 15.) The international ranking system is called Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
4th Grade:
1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Taiwan
4. Japan
5. Kazakhstan
...
11. USA
8th Grade:
1. Taiwan
2. South Korea
3. Singapore
4. Hong Kong
5. Japan
...
9. USA
These international tests are administered every 4 years. The Journal reports, "Two states, Massachusetts and Minnesota, sought to have their schools' test results broken out separately. Both reported results outpacing the rest of the nation." The WSJ then says, "Massachusetts fourth-graders scored roughly as well as those in high-performing Taiwan and Japan."
Why did these two statess outperform the rest of the nation?
"Alice Seagren, Minnesota commissioner of education, said the state in 2003 revamped its education standards, which include a focus on learning math facts, such as the multiplication tables, in early grades."
"Mitchell Chester, Massachusetts commissioner of education, said the state in the early 1990s developed new assessments and standards that, as in Minnesota, stressed the mastery of math facts..."
A child cannot master math without mastering math facts. When I ran for the Plano ISD school board in 2008 I recommended we pay better attention to teaching math facts.
Education all across America has systemic problems in teaching math. Fixing math instruction is not that hard. Getting rid of bad attitudes towards mathematics within the colleges of education is the challenge. The colleges of education consistently misguide every generation of teachers.
The parents and their elected representatives, the school board trustees, need to clean up the mess in math instruction because the school administrators have been misguided and are unable to correct themselves.
Robert Canright
4th Grade:
1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Taiwan
4. Japan
5. Kazakhstan
...
11. USA
8th Grade:
1. Taiwan
2. South Korea
3. Singapore
4. Hong Kong
5. Japan
...
9. USA
These international tests are administered every 4 years. The Journal reports, "Two states, Massachusetts and Minnesota, sought to have their schools' test results broken out separately. Both reported results outpacing the rest of the nation." The WSJ then says, "Massachusetts fourth-graders scored roughly as well as those in high-performing Taiwan and Japan."
Why did these two statess outperform the rest of the nation?
"Alice Seagren, Minnesota commissioner of education, said the state in 2003 revamped its education standards, which include a focus on learning math facts, such as the multiplication tables, in early grades."
"Mitchell Chester, Massachusetts commissioner of education, said the state in the early 1990s developed new assessments and standards that, as in Minnesota, stressed the mastery of math facts..."
A child cannot master math without mastering math facts. When I ran for the Plano ISD school board in 2008 I recommended we pay better attention to teaching math facts.
Education all across America has systemic problems in teaching math. Fixing math instruction is not that hard. Getting rid of bad attitudes towards mathematics within the colleges of education is the challenge. The colleges of education consistently misguide every generation of teachers.
The parents and their elected representatives, the school board trustees, need to clean up the mess in math instruction because the school administrators have been misguided and are unable to correct themselves.
Robert Canright
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