Althouse: "Teachers taking the backseat — that flies in the face of white Western thought, right?"

March 23, 2021

"Teachers taking the backseat — that flies in the face of white Western thought, right?"

172 comments:

Yancey Ward said...: We are so fucking doomed.; 3/23/21, 11:58 AM
Jeff Vader said...: These are extraordinarily stupid people who will set minority students even further behind. Why will no one stand up to these con artists?; 3/23/21, 12:00 PM
Achilles said...: School Choice Now.; 3/23/21, 12:00 PM
Yancey Ward said...: My advice to the white lady at 2:40 mark, if you are interested in making amends, give all your money away to minorities. Do it now, don't wait if you really want to make amends for swimming in the river of racism and benefitting from it. Walk the talk, otherwise shut the fuck up.; 3/23/21, 12:00 PM
Yancey Ward said...: She should actually resign from her job today, and move out of her house and let someone more deserving have both.; 3/23/21, 12:02 PM
Bob Boyd said...: The loud child in front of you...

The boys are back!; 3/23/21, 12:03 PM
Yancey Ward said...: She looked just like a bald eagle to me, but with hair, or a wig.; 3/23/21, 12:03 PM
GingerBeer said...: I'm going out on a limb to suggest that the Madison MSD will quickly discover it has to pay its teachers more to teach less.; 3/23/21, 12:03 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: the flag hanging a half staff was appropriate.; 3/23/21, 12:04 PM
Owen said...: Insanity. No other word for it.

When will the taxpayers and parents of innocent children who need schooling THAT GIVES THEM CONTENT, COMPETENCE AND CONFIDENCE FOR THEIR ACTUAL LIVES, decide they've had enough of this happy horse puckey? Because every additional hour of garbage like this will take weeks, months, to correct. If that's even possible.

I have long believed in a fairly abstract sense that various processes are exponential: a long period of slow, even imperceptible, change; and then a sudden catastrophic denouement. I had not expected it to affect our culture, and particularly our entire educational establishment from K through post-grad. But so it has proven to be.; 3/23/21, 12:04 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: So all traditions in majority white societies are racist ...

Two parent families must be racist, then, right?

Won't black students who try to teach the class be accused of "acting white" by the other black students?; 3/23/21, 12:04 PM
Jeff Vader said...: Yes of course the white woman was the most extreme. Do all crazy white women get that same hairdo so they can easily recognize each other?; 3/23/21, 12:05 PM
n.n said...: Diversity dogma, not limited to racism.; 3/23/21, 12:05 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: All of this will further us down the road to segregation.; 3/23/21, 12:06 PM
Ned Pondry said...: I have happily had Madison in the rear view mirror for 21 years. If I had kids in school there I would carefully select a private school or move. Far away from all the nonsense.; 3/23/21, 12:07 PM
n.n said...: These are extraordinarily stupid people who will set minority students even further behind

Every Child Left Behind policy does not discriminate by diversity classes. One step forward, two steps backward.; 3/23/21, 12:08 PM
Rusty said...: For a college town you seem to have more than your share of dumbshits.; 3/23/21, 12:08 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Tax payers of Madison: Stop making your property tax payments.

Parents: Pull your kids out of this insane institution.

Normal teachers: Take these anti-racist trainers and evict them out of the training room. Don't open the door. This will be a Noble-Prize worthy experiment to see if two solid bodies can occupy the same space. Take notes on your results and submit them to the Nobel committee.; 3/23/21, 12:10 PM
Anonymous said...: The students involved in this nonsense are just pawns. The leftists doing this don't care about them. They really get off getting right leaning people angry. The more ridiculous and outlandish the better. Math is racist, let kids teach the class, let boys shower with girls etc. This country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. How do you destroy that? By doing things like this. So a bunch of kids don't get an education? Who cares? There are always casualties in a war; 3/23/21, 12:10 PM
iowan2 said...: Somehow I have to be there to help my grandkids understand why this is all propaganda to be overcome. Not to reject, but to understand and overcome. The world is going to need sane smart leaders. They are going to have to be leaders. If they are sheep, they are always going to be led to slaughter. Time and time again.; 3/23/21, 12:10 PM
h said...: I'm surprised that the school system continues to employ a woman who proudly claims that she is a racist.; 3/23/21, 12:11 PM
Joe Smith said...: First AA, you have to listen to that accent every day? Nails on a chalkboard.

Second, get out while you can. While your house is still worth more than a few dollars.

Don't think of it as white flight, but sane flight.; 3/23/21, 12:11 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: More proof public education is a dead end.

My kids would be pulled out of there - stat.; 3/23/21, 12:13 PM
Joe Smith said...: "All of this will further us down the road to segregation."

It seems like minorities want it that way.

Doesn't hurt me in any way.

My kids went to private schools and they will be able to afford the same for their kids.; 3/23/21, 12:14 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Nice education job if you can get it. No lesson plan to prepare. Just let the kids talk all they want.

These anti-racist "educators" need to be expelled.; 3/23/21, 12:14 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Going to school to learn and do well is racist. Going to school and disrupting the class is anti-racist. Sure.; 3/23/21, 12:15 PM
rhhardin said...: It looks anti-male to me.

"Now, don't try to reason with me." Wife to businessman at breakfast.; 3/23/21, 12:16 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The 'districts of children are in charge 80% of the time.'

If I were a kid, I might like it! School ... Is ... Out.... for.... ever, man! weeeee!

we don't need no education... all we need is thought control.
Install the racism... at an early age.
hey Teacher - no reading, writing or arithmetic at all.
Definitely no history.

I'm a scholar, y'all. Don't need to open a book. Maff is rassiss.
The white groveling lady who looks like a fish - no way she would come near my kids or grand kids.; 3/23/21, 12:17 PM
n.n said...: Antira is anti-racist in the same mode as Antifa is anti-fascist. Don't exercise liberal license to indulge diversity [dogma], which breeds bigotry (i.e. sanctimonious hypocrisy) and adversity.; 3/23/21, 12:24 PM
rhhardin said...: I'm a scholar, y'all. Don't need to open a book. Maff is rassiss.

Don't need to open no book. There are rules in ebonics. It has more verb aspects than standard English, in fact.

habitual : non-habitual, durative : non-durative, perfective : non-perfective.

A non-native speaker will be spotted instantly from rule violations.; 3/23/21, 12:25 PM
DavidUW said...: Well, I had planned to keep my madison properties to provide nice income during my retirement, but I guess I'll be selling and 1031'ing everything to FL.

Direct flight from St. Kitt's and PR at least to FL to check on the manager.; 3/23/21, 12:27 PM
Dude1394 said...: VOUCHERS DAMMIT!!!; 3/23/21, 12:28 PM
Lucid-Ideas said...: "Maff is rassiss"

That is 100% true. Math is absolutely racist to anyone who's ancestors ate bushmeat (still do) and lived in mud huts (still do) while struggling to invent the wheel.

100% racist.; 3/23/21, 12:29 PM
Gahrie said...: How will we placate these illiterate, innumerate and ignorant mobs? How will we keep them from burning down our cities in the future? In the not so distant past, it would have been massed musketry and grape shot. However, we'll be going even farther back into the past, Bread and Circuses are on the return.; 3/23/21, 12:30 PM
hombre said...: Socialist culture warriors have K – 12. The ChiComs have the universities. What could go wrong?

And we used to think the “undereducated” were the dummies. Wrong!; 3/23/21, 12:30 PM
rhhardin said...: "Don't need to open no book" is called negative concord.; 3/23/21, 12:31 PM
farmgirl said...: This is a f-ing joke, right? Is this what happens when minds run on something other that reality connected to our Earthen origin?
No wonder so many ppl hate on Peterson- and he’s a shrink!! We’re in for a whole lotta hurt; 3/23/21, 12:34 PM
robother said...: So that Asian guy yelling "Hey! Hey! This is Library!" at UW protesters a couple years ago--total white supremacist. Scholars don't need to learn, they need to teach someone white who's boss. The Blackboard Jungle is not just a 50s movie.; 3/23/21, 12:34 PM
Levi Starks said...: Amputating the hand that fed you.; 3/23/21, 12:35 PM
gilbar said...: Serious Questions
WHAT are we paying these bond issues for?
WHY are we paying for these bond issues?; 3/23/21, 12:35 PM
rhhardin said...: It's a mistake to think blacks can't talk. They learn the language they speak and its rules as well as upper class white kids learn theirs; and learning means spotting rule violations every bit as easily.

The reason black English marks stupidity is something else.; 3/23/21, 12:36 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger BidenFamilyTaxPayerFundedCrackPipe said...
More proof public education is a dead end.

My kids would be pulled out of there - stat.

My son pulled his kids out of standard public school after his son't 4th grade teacher explained that she could not do math using Common Core, either. They went to a good charter school, then public high school where all three are in sports. Or were until Governor Hair Gel shut down high school sports. They are finally opening again. This will kill off public schools for all but the inner city who don't care. Parents will home school, or pod school. Private schools in Orange County, which helped defeat the voucher initiative 15 years ago, cost as much as college now.; 3/23/21, 12:38 PM
bleh said...: A sizable chunk of society has gone completely mad with so-called "antiracism." It's a moral panic and, unfortunately, the afflicted have attained real power and prestige in our institutions. Schools, media, universities, government, tech companies, heck even the military.

It's so divisive, and it stupidly encourages white people to think of themselves as members of the white race and to view everything through that prism. It's not hard to imagine where that leads. Total race-blindness is not literally possible, of course, but it's something to which we should aspire. Make people want to live up to that and people will generally be kinder, more patient, more understanding. Abandoning race-blindness as a goal will be destructive.

I fear we are going to need some combination of an economic depression, high crime rates, or major war to get us out of this funk. Apparently when we have decades of relative peace of prosperity, we tear ourselves and each other apart.; 3/23/21, 12:38 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: Anything that is perceived as pissing on white hetero men is good.; 3/23/21, 12:39 PM
Gahrie said...: It's a mistake to think blacks can't talk. They learn the language they speak and its rules as well as upper class white kids learn theirs; and learning means spotting rule violations every bit as easily.

I know many Black people who speak American or British English as well as anyone and better than most. Most wealthy and educated Black people do. Spoken Ebonics is a dialect. We used to have dozens of them in the United States. There is nothing wrong in speaking in a dialect, as long as you can read and write in standard English.; 3/23/21, 12:43 PM
Mr. T. said...: Cadavers Evers owns this educrat corruption as former state Superintendent, where he also helped teachers get away with downloading porn in schools. Apparently it's okay for him too to support child pedophiles like Brett Bromme. The next thing WEAC and MPS will be pushing is changes in the law to lower the age of consent laws, which they will attempt to pass under "Comprehensive sex education."; 3/23/21, 12:49 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I have long believed in a fairly abstract sense that various processes are exponential: a long period of slow, even imperceptible, change; and then a sudden catastrophic denouement. I had not expected it to affect our culture, and particularly our entire educational establishment from K through post-grad. But so it has proven to be.

How did you go culturally bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.; 3/23/21, 12:49 PM
bagoh20 said...: If you hate Blacks, these ideas are a great way to damage their chances of competing with other races and making sure they get left behind.

Isn't that really the institutional racism that is already holding them back? They are being robbed and told they don't need what's being stolen.

It's tough making it as a Black kid. First, you need to get though the abortion army aimed at you, then you get denied a father, then they refuse to educate you. Racism is a hell of a drug.; 3/23/21, 12:52 PM
bagoh20 said...: If you really mean it, and are not just scamming the system, then 80% of the teacher's salary should be given to the "scholars" doing most of the teaching.

If you are going to arbitrarily assign characteristics and methods to a certain race, isn't it pretty insulting to minorities to assign all the good, effective stuff to white people? I mean, I'll take the credit since I'm white, but I think you are being way too generous. You are basically calling minorities losers by birth. Pretty damned racist, if you ask me. I don't even think the KKK said shit that racist.

I wonder if the racism of being on time applies to when the teachers get their paychecks.

When I have an employee who misses too much work, I often ask them how they would feel if I didn't show up to sign their check on payday?; 3/23/21, 12:54 PM
Gahrie said...: If you are going to arbitrarily assign characteristics and methods to a certain race, isn't it pretty insulting to minorities to assign all the good, effective stuff to white people? I mean, I'll take the credit since I'm white, but I think you are being way too generous. You are basically calling minorities losers by birth. Pretty damned racist, if you ask me. I don't even think the KKK said shit that racist.

The people promoting this shit are always Black, and everyone knows Black people can't be racist.; 3/23/21, 12:56 PM
Gahrie said...: My son pulled his kids out of standard public school after his son't 4th grade teacher explained that she could not do math using Common Core, either.

One of the big problems in Elementary education is the fact that many elementary teachers are poor at, and/or scared of, Math. Very few math majors become elementary teachers. Some of them became teachers because they are bad at math.

That being said, if she was teaching traditional math, I wouldn't have a problem. If she was teaching Common Core badly, or incorrectly, I'd first find out if she is being forced to.

The problem with Common Core is the same problem with much of education policy. It is formulated by people who have never taught in a classroom. Let's face it, everyone went to school, so everyone thinks they're an expert on education. The people creating education policy are the ones who enjoyed school. They're the AP kids, the Forensics team. These people see Common Core and agree with it. And they're right, Common Core does bring a better and deeper understanding of the concepts taught. The problem is, it is both much harder to teach, and much harder to learn. Another problem is that this deeper understanding is neither necessary for, nor desired by, the vast majority of people. Common Core is at its base an attempt to impose AP curriculum on everybody. The first step in restoring our educational system is to go back to teaching the basics, with drill and kill, until our schools start actually producing literate and numerate people again.; 3/23/21, 12:58 PM
narciso said...: Carried over from the other thread

https://mobile.twitter.com/RaheemKassam/status/1374400027175444488; 3/23/21, 12:59 PM
farmgirl said...: https://t.co/Wv3tIZuLb4?amp=1

This; 3/23/21, 1:01 PM
Quaestor said...: The NEA wouldn't know White, Western Thought if it reared up and bit them on their saggy white behinds.; 3/23/21, 1:03 PM
Jack Klompus said...: Condescending self-important white "progressives." The most noxious, racist, and incompetent gaggle of idiots ever assembled in a single place. Unfortunately they don't remain confined to college towns and Brooklyn but occasionally ooze out into normal society and infect the rest of us with their idiocy.; 3/23/21, 1:03 PM
Leland said...: Why will no one stand up to these con artists?

No one? Here's one: "DeSantis rips Critical Race Theory, says it won’t be in Florida curriculum"

I do find it interesting that according to the teacher in the first minute, the first step to combating racism is to literally divide the classroom into districts.

"Taking the backseat" seems a reference to pre-Rosa Parks Jim Crow laws. Why should anyone be made to take the backseat?; 3/23/21, 1:03 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Gahrie said...

There is nothing wrong in speaking in a dialect, as long as you can read and write in standard English.

You need to educate yourself on the horrors of Code Switching!

/sarc

(FTR: I'm white and from the South with a mostly Appalachian background and have spent my life code switching without even thinking about how oppressed I was!); 3/23/21, 1:09 PM
Rick said...: It's interesting Wokesters believe all accomplishment is White Supremacy.

Who are the racists again?; 3/23/21, 1:11 PM
Michael K said...: The problem with Common Core is the same problem with much of education policy. It is formulated by people who have never taught in a classroom.

It's the latest (before Critical Race Theory) Ed school fad. Before that was "see and say" spelling, then "New Math." Then there was "Whole Word" spelling, same as see and say.

Ed school professors are bored with simple teaching methods that worked for hundreds of years. In fact, the college level Ed schools are a recent innovation that should be done away with. Of course, that won't happen but teachers' colleges were all that society should have required. The Cal State College system began as teachers' colleges. Then they got the power to award graduate degrees and every teacher has a Masters or an Ed D, like "Doctor Jill." Naturally, this meant more jobs for Ed profs and billions in more spending.; 3/23/21, 1:12 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: "New Math" was the math paradigm when I went to school in the late 1960s. This was supposed to be an improvement on traditional math teaching methods. I did all right with it and was in the Advance Placement math classes in high school - algebra/calculus classes. But, the math classes keep changing over the years and kept being "improved." Now it's racist to teach math as a rigorous subject.; 3/23/21, 1:13 PM
Known Unknown said...: Here is Farmgirl's wonderful link made clickable:

The X For Boys, Albany, Georgia; 3/23/21, 1:13 PM
Sebastian said...: "Teachers taking the backseat — that flies in the face of white Western thought, right?"

Maria Montessori, call -- oh, well.; 3/23/21, 1:14 PM
ALP said...: This is why I never understood the worship of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Wasn't she steeped in legal theories that came from Western Dead White Men? Wasn't she successful leveraging all those traits that are now racist?; 3/23/21, 1:19 PM
farmgirl said...: Thank you for the live link !
I’m no techno! Or, Techknow...; 3/23/21, 1:24 PM
daskol said...: "New Math" was the math paradigm when I went to school in the late 1960s.

Never miss an excuse to post a Tom Lehrer video on New Math.

The 80/20 speaking rule may be good for seminars--we aim for it at executive advisory sessions so our own folks don't dominate the conversation--but why does it make sense in elementary school? Also in what respect is a teacher teaching a white thing? I feel like progressive education pioneers who advocate for various student-centric pedagogical innovations are usually white.; 3/23/21, 1:27 PM
daskol said...: "the important thing is to understand what you're doing rather than get the right answer" From the 1960s! The white education reformers have been trying to stamp out the white in education for a long time.; 3/23/21, 1:29 PM
J. Farmer said...: These seminars and workshops are grift for the diversity racket. It's a subset of the larger "professional development" industry that provides the "continuing education" often required to maintain professional credentials. They're often incredibly mediocre and poorly presented by an underinformed "facilitator" who walks you through a "workbook" that consists of all sorts of dumb "exercises" and "activities." They're hell.; 3/23/21, 1:30 PM
hstad said...: "...A sizable chunk of society has gone completely mad with so-called "antiracism."

Well you could be correct? Look, voters a fed a daily diet of "racism" as the cause of all minorities' problems by the MSM and race hustlers like Sharpton, Jackson, President Obama, and now President Biden. For people like them, it's not in their interest to solve the "racism" problem. Hell, if they solve it, their entire money train and voting train would disappear. Fear sells not just in the Media but in Politics. I thought everyone would've seen that as a fact given our 1 year + experience with the Covid-19 debacle. The solution is term limits for all politicians. Take the money out of the equation.; 3/23/21, 1:32 PM
daskol said...: The consultancy that provides this type of training to all the hoity toity private schools in NYC, and increasingly nationwide, is currently under the microscope for its grifty ways and the total lack of relevant experience/expertise/credentials among its leading consultants. It's a bunch of ex-Dalton School people who figured out a really great racket.; 3/23/21, 1:33 PM
tim maguire said...: Why is it that academics seem most susceptible to embracing useless or unproven theories? Reform without the hard work of getting it right? Revolutionary change on the cheap? They really do seem to be the dumbest people in the our educational system and we put them in charge! (Which I guess disproves the assertion that the are the dumbest.); 3/23/21, 1:34 PM
Dr. Graphene said...: These are the most ardent, despicable racists I believe I have ever encountered.; 3/23/21, 1:35 PM
Jim Grey said...: I'm all for rooting out racism, as much as is possible. But white, western thought is not necessarily evil or wrong. This is classic swing-the-pendulum-all-the-way-the-other-way thinking.; 3/23/21, 1:38 PM
wild chicken said...: They have tried so many fucking fads and programs and reforms, all because of the achievement gap, and all they do is make it worse.

Lol.; 3/23/21, 1:40 PM
daskol said...: This "boutique" antiracism education shop "boutique" antiracism education shop has picked up contracts all over the country, and meanwhile the founder has misrepresented her credentials and still gets a ton of positive press, probably 10 to 1 for anybody raising questions about her methods (besides John McWhorter, nobody's really asking these questions).; 3/23/21, 1:45 PM
pacwest said...: How long will it take this idiocy to run through it's life cycle? I think most under the age of 10 that are being taught like this are doomed to a miserable life. It will show the folly by the results at some point, but human nature will keep at the stupidity long after that.; 3/23/21, 1:46 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: what Bagoh said..

You are basically calling minorities losers by birth. Pretty damned racist, if you ask me. I don't even think the KKK said shit that racist.

that.; 3/23/21, 1:50 PM
rhhardin said...: East Asians are better at white math than whites are, is all you have to say to dispel two mistakes at once.; 3/23/21, 1:51 PM
rhhardin said...: Loser and winner comes from bad and good character, respective.; 3/23/21, 1:52 PM
~ Gordon Pasha said...: Education is too important to be left to educators according to the late Jerry Pournelle. Taxpayers are the primary stakeholders of public education.; 3/23/21, 1:55 PM
DaveL said...: You will notice that every speaker seen on that clip was silently laughing. They are having fun throwing their "scholars'" education in the trash.

What will happen is the smarter parents will move their children to private schools, the smart one who remain (you know, the ones who "behave badly" by reading, studying and such) will possibly be okay, and rest (mostly POCs, alas) will learn nothing. Fortunately for the cabal that promotes this idiocy, and unfortunately for the rest of us, the resentful uneducated louts will still vote.; 3/23/21, 1:59 PM
daskol said...: Basically, these grifter consultants seem to fit a pattern of being (to whites) cool-seeming black people, and then the prep schools just shovel money at them to run workshops and write reports exposing the innate bigotry of white people. And it's tearing apart these schools.

I'm torn between deeply enjoying the scheming and stupid characters, the absurdity and the ironies, and anxiety about our rapidly declining society and culture.; 3/23/21, 2:00 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The word "Student" is now racist, according to these actual racists.; 3/23/21, 2:01 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: The teacher taking the back seat probably flies in the face Asian Confucian thought too.; 3/23/21, 2:03 PM
daskol said...: What will happen is the smarter parents will move their children to private schools

There is no obvious escape to private schools. The more prestigious and well regarded the private school, the more completely they're embracing this insanity. I'm aware of only two of the prestigious private schools in NYC that seem to be showing some cultural resistance to embracing their inner klansmen. Both are top schools, but not 1st tier, more top of the 2nd, and both have huge sports programs. With a rising 9th grader, I've been looking into it pretty closely.

The only elite schools in NYC not already completely infected with this virus are a couple of prep schools and the specialized public high schools, which by state law have to use a test for admission. That's it. And even within these institutions it's clear that the antiracism virus is spreading, it's just that either by charter or law or strong culture they've managed to resist the totalitarian impulse.; 3/23/21, 2:06 PM
Michael K said...: What will happen is the smarter parents will move their children to private schools,

Too expensive unless vouchers get enacted into law. The last time this came up in California, it was defeated by white suburban women who did not want "colored kids" in their good public schools. This might not be the reaction now with the schools in such a mess. One big reason DeSantis won in Florida was his school voucher positions that drew a lot of black votes, even when his opponent was black (and a lunatic learned later).

The pod school thing might also take off, especially if a voucher program allowed it.; 3/23/21, 2:16 PM
Richard said...: Once these "educators" completely take over the education system, no child will have to worry about "failing" on examination day .; 3/23/21, 2:27 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: I can't believe my tax dollars have been propping up a racist system for so long. Maybe it's time I stopped paying.; 3/23/21, 2:27 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I believe one of the goals of "new math" & "common core" is to stop parents from being able to help their kids with math: "That's not the way we're supposed to do it!"; 3/23/21, 2:27 PM
Francisco D said...: daskol said... There is no obvious escape to private schools. The more prestigious and well regarded the private school, the more completely they're embracing this insanity.

Yes. My alma mater is an elite Midwest private school that has gone far left. I first noticed about 10 years ago when I received an email promoting an "alumni of color" event. Things have progressed from there. It pains me because it was once a tremendously good school.; 3/23/21, 2:28 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: OT: Looks like the Boulder mass- killer was a bully in High School. A major bully. Like full on assault of a class mate and short fuse.

Yo - dems - instead of banning guns and punishing law abiding citizens - why not take a look at the serious bully-boy problem and target that issue.; 3/23/21, 2:32 PM
MayBee said...: That is insane. I have to tell you as a student, and watching my kids in their classes, there is nothing I would have hated more than being subjected to the stupid other kids leading *me* in learning.; 3/23/21, 2:32 PM
MayBee said...: The idea that the word "student" being replaced by "scholar" is going to solve anything is ridiculous. Just call them all "graduates" and be done with it.; 3/23/21, 2:34 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Teachers working from home for only 10-hours a week would seem to be a major labor-fraud issue. They've been hired to work 30-hours a week for in-person classes. Nice work if you can get it.; 3/23/21, 2:37 PM
rhhardin said...: Yes, private schools are going bonkers too, to judge from the alumni magazine from my highly-rated high school. No donations for them, that's for sure. They have more money to play with and can hire even more diversity officers.; 3/23/21, 2:38 PM
MayBee said...: Education in general is subjected to the stupidest whims on the planet. My kids went to an elementary school that had been designed in the 70s for open classrooms. The idea was that all the kids from many different grades were in a big space and they were all supposed to teach each other. Well, that fell by the wayside but the structure still existed as it was, and had to be kind of retrofitted to go back to normal teaching.
In 6th grade, I went to a special gifted program. The math was based on self-led study. Well, guess what. Not all kids who are smart in math are also motivated to race through math workbooks, and I dawdled. So that idea kind of fell by the wayside.

There have also been movements where kids can self direct all of their learning. There are movements where kids sit on Bosu balls instead of chairs. There are various schools of education all fighting to to teacher trainings at your district, to sell the district the new right way to teach.
So this is just the latest fad being foisted on kids. The problem is truly that Colleges of Education need to keep themselves busy coming up with new things.; 3/23/21, 2:41 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Out of the many, many vile things in that clip, I think the worst for me was the line about how the "quiet white kid sitting in the corner reading a book" was not getting educated, while the "loud" kid in front of her was. I was the "quiet white kid" in my classroom, always with her nose in a book (those dirty, white, Western things -- eww!), and the "loud" kids were the people trying to make it impossible for me to learn anything. (They weren't "BIPOC" -- the school was essentially 100% white.)

I got out of that obscene mess, mainly by being skipped a grade (missed out 7th), and ended up second in my HS graduating class, following a guy who was more or less the male equivalent of me. Went to UC/Berkeley and got degrees in two completely unrelated fields. I think I managed to "get educated," despite my despicable interest in reading and my deplorable reluctance to jump up and shout and throw stuff. Sorry.; 3/23/21, 2:42 PM
daskol said...: MayBee, I would draw a huge distinction between kooky pedagogical experiments/Lab schools and what we're seeing today, which is a straight grievance hustle and has nothing to do with pedagogy (at least, it has no real roots in pedagogy, something McWhorter, Steve Sailer and Bari Weiss have documented by looking into the consultants pushing this stuff).

I like some of the kooky pedagogical experimental lab school stuff, and would like to see charter and private schools continue to experiment with methods other than industrial era factory school. It's not for every kid and many experiments fail, but there is value in that type of school diversity.; 3/23/21, 2:47 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Churchy LaFemme: said...

I believe one of the goals of "new math" & "common core" is to stop parents from being able to help their kids with math: "That's not the way we're supposed to do it!"

My grandson's 4th grade teacher, after admitting she could not do the math, suggested his mother teach him at home using traditional methods. That's when they looked for a charter.; 3/23/21, 2:51 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: MayBee,

I remember classrooms like the ones you describe, in elementary school. The standout was a private Catholic school in Missouri (my parents had post-docs at KU, so we were living in a KC suburb, but the age to enter first grade was slightly lower in MO, so skipped Kindergarten). I wasn't Catholic -- my parents were raised Lutheran, but had long since abandoned any kind of Christianity -- and as the classes were, for starters, taught by nuns in full habit, this was a bit bewildering. But I liked it. And there were lots of "open classroom"-type amenities, pouffes to sit on and elaborate wooden-block games to play with and so forth. Also an orchestra, though there were maybe all of five players in it.

But the changes in educational means, educational philosophy, are at least 90% governed by the pressure to do something -- anything -- different. How can teachers keep credentializing themselves otherwise? The sensible thing to do is, first, be able to do what you are teaching others to do; and second, be willing to change anything that isn't working. But don't just keep scrounging for new-and-different stuff merely because it's new to you, because then you'll probably throw out the approaches that you know and are actually good at, to no purpose.; 3/23/21, 2:53 PM
bleh said...: There is no obvious escape to private schools. The more prestigious and well regarded the private school, the more completely they're embracing this insanity.

This sounds correct to me. Catholic school might be the answer if you want to avoid low-class trash and elite "woke" snobs. The parents tend to be working people or small business owners who don't have time for BS. Basically, that's where you go for middle class American values.

There are exceptions, of course. Some Catholic schools are very expensive and highly competitive, and not really distinguishable from fancy elite prep schools. But generally speaking, if you want to shield your kid from BS in the public school system or the elite "woke" private schools, you should consider Catholic school.; 3/23/21, 2:55 PM
Michael K said...: I like some of the kooky pedagogical experimental lab school stuff, and would like to see charter and private schools continue to experiment with methods other than industrial era factory school. It's not for every kid and many experiments fail, but there is value in that type of school diversity.

At the elementary level, not with my grandkids you don't. I sent my kids to private school after their mother and I divorced. She was a public school advocate. About 20 years later, after losing a bank VP job in a merger, she used her lifetime teaching credential to go back to teaching for a while until she found a new job. Her impression of public schools changed radically from that experience. She said if she were doing it again, she would home school.; 3/23/21, 2:56 PM
jaydub said...: I've established a "pied-a-terre" in a Caribbean Island country and I'm pursuing dual citizenship there. The intent is to slowly move wealth under the radar as the US completes the slide into oblivion. There is a YouTube series called "Nomad Capitalist," hosted by a guy whose motto is "go where you're treated best," that offers some food for thought on where to go and how to get there. There's a bit of BS involved in the pitch, but there is a wealth of information on alternative locations, pluses and minuses of relocating there and cost of living/opportunity outlooks in each place. It's worth looking at if you have a little money and want to keep it.; 3/23/21, 2:57 PM
Owen said...: The flagrant style and absurd (lack of) content of this White Racist Pedagogical Revolution are so over the top that I am encouraged to think that the perpetrators are actually running a false flag op. They belong to a much more conservative and pro-Civilization school of thought and have watched with dismay as the racist morons and grifters have gained ascendancy. So they decided to go to 11 and force things to failure. As Lenin said, "The worse, the better."

Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?; 3/23/21, 3:00 PM
Michael K said...: Catholic school might be the answer if you want to avoid low-class trash and elite "woke" snobs.

Catholic churches in Orange County showed no interest in schools for a long time. The church I attended, when I still did, had fundraisers for illegals in Santa Ana. I told them to not ask for a donation until they were building a school. The Catholic church I attended in Chicago built a school before the church.

My kids went to an Episcopal school that was started by a retired priest. It now looks like a college and costs the same.; 3/23/21, 3:06 PM
PM said...: If white people 'running' public schools is the problem, my first choice for replacement would be Asian people.; 3/23/21, 3:21 PM
daskol said...: Fair point re parochial schools. As others have noted, the more prestigious ones are all deeply infected with the elites disease, but the rest represent a relatively affordable traditional education. In the world of Jewish schools, only the Orthodox ones are resistant to this racist hustle. The handful of non-Orthodox day schools, including the one I send my kids to, are in various stages of succumbing to the madness.

Whoever first said that thing about any institution not explicitly right-wing eventually inevitably drifting left was on point. Only a small number of a very specific type of school has managed to stay on mission. Everyone else is too easily distracted by the latest fad "mission."; 3/23/21, 3:22 PM
Owen said...: daskol @ 3:22: "...Whoever first said..." Robert Conquest. From Wiki IIRC:

Robert Conquest's Three Laws of Politics:
1. Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
2. Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.
3. The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.; 3/23/21, 3:33 PM
chuck said...: I taught physics labs at the college level where the students were expected to design their own experiments. Expecting the uneducated to replicate the discoveries of genius doesn't work. A bright kid can easily learn calculus these days, but discovering it is far beyond the abilities of most.; 3/23/21, 3:34 PM
iowan2 said...: Everybody has their personal experience with "expert" educators.

The elementary Principle where our kids entered kindergarten had a masters and was 2 credits and dissertation away from a doctorate. He wanted to deny our son entry to Kindergarten because of testicales and birthdate. That was after he had obliterated every metric they used to measure readiness for kindergarten. He informed us our son would fail at some point in his education. HS Valedictorian, #5 class rank in Engineering, still waiting for the failure.
Our daughters 1st grade teacher told us to ignore here getting words wrong when she was reading, because correcting her would drive her away from reading. We told her thanks for the advice, but no. We focused on phonics and she was fine, and spent her education on the deans list or equivalent.

Lots of good intentioned bad educators out there. Our job as parents was to identify them and protect our kids from them.; 3/23/21, 3:43 PM
Biff said...: Imagine being an official in the Chinese government, having some responsibility for shaping China's foreign policy, and then watching that video.

The next few decades are going to be a very bumpy ride.; 3/23/21, 3:47 PM
Owen said...: iowan2 @ 3:43: "...Our job as parents was to identify them and protect our kids from them."

Amen. And it's not an easy job, if you take it seriously. Even at Fancypants School, you can't just "buy the brand." Nor should you. Pinging your kid in some detail on what exactly they're learning, and how well they're learning it, is key IMHO. And as much as they may chafe at the oversight, they will thank you for it someday. Maybe.

One of the bittersweet aspects of having a kid launched into the world is to reflect "What else should I, could I, have done?" Even if they are succeeding in spectacular fashion, that reflection is part of the job...; 3/23/21, 3:53 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: I got as far as seeing that "in one elementary school the students are in charge etc".
If you think that your education can be meaningfully directed by an 8 year--mentally you are 7 years old or even much less than 7.

My wife and I were believers in public educaton when our kids were in school--but they both graduated from high school before 1990 and went on to college and graduate degrees. These days I believe it constitutes child abuse to put your child in a public school.; 3/23/21, 3:53 PM
Bilwick said...: "OT: Looks like the Boulder mass- killer was a bully in High School. A major bully. Like full on assault of a class mate and short fuse.

"Yo - dems - instead of banning guns and punishing law abiding citizens - why not take a look at the serious bully-boy problem and target that issue."

Unlikely, that. The State is the biggest, most vicious bully of them all, and "liberals" love Der Staat.; 3/23/21, 4:06 PM
n.n said...: Critical Race Theory is based on diversity dogma. Most people do not exercise liberal license to indulge color judgments. And while bias is intrinsic, prejudice is progressive. #HateLovesAbortion; 3/23/21, 4:21 PM
n.n said...: Imagine being an official in the Chinese government, having some responsibility for shaping China's foreign policy, and then watching that video.

They wish us to live in interesting times, good, hard, and progressive. Take a knee. Just do it!; 3/23/21, 4:23 PM
Kathryn51 said...: Blogger PM said...
If white people 'running' public schools is the problem, my first choice for replacement would be Asian people.

I live in Microsoft land (east of Seattle) and my first thought when I watched the video was: all of the Asian parents in our school district would absolutely come unglued if this shit was ever taught here. My kids went to school with 1st gen kids from India, China, Indonesia, S. Korea, Thailand, the Phillipines. . . and plenty of 3rd gen Japanese. Not to mention the parents from France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK, etc. etc. The black kids had parents that were retired Seahawks players.; 3/23/21, 4:23 PM
Kathy said...: Vouchers will not help. The cost will go up with more money available, and strings attached to the voucher will ensure that all options are corrupted.; 3/23/21, 4:29 PM
Howard said...: It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine; 3/23/21, 4:34 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "OT: Looks like the Boulder mass- killer was a bully in High School. A major bully. Like full on assault of a class mate and short fuse.“

He added Al-Issa” (of ISSA) to his name, and selected the 5th anniversary of the Muslim terrorist attack, and 4th anniversary of the Westminster Muslim terrorist attack, for his attack yesterday. He was not a White Supremest.; 3/23/21, 4:37 PM
madAsHell said...: Who you gonna call?

RaceBusters!; 3/23/21, 4:39 PM
policraticus said...: What have the Romans ever done for us?; 3/23/21, 4:42 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: So much focus on a negative, is no way to go through life, son.; 3/23/21, 4:45 PM
narciso said...: Issa is the cognate for jesus, in arabic, interestingly that was the kunya of the lad shooter in munich; 3/23/21, 4:45 PM
Howard said...: So the Boulder killer is a religious nutbar like the Woodstock rub and tug man.; 3/23/21, 4:49 PM
effinayright said...: We went through this bullshit back in the 1960's: remember Crosby, Stills and Nash singing, "Teach your parents well.."?; 3/23/21, 4:52 PM
Jupiter said...: There is an explanation for this;

https://www.takimag.com/article/tea-and-racial-sympathy/; 3/23/21, 5:07 PM
Fernandinande said...: This sort of ubiquitous anti-American, and racist anti-white rhetoric is behind the slaughter by an immigrant of the 10 white people in Boulder.; 3/23/21, 5:14 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: I'm guessing they don't want their cars repaired by witch-doctors, nor their food safety administered by shamans, nor their devices designed at Wiccan covens.

They don't mean this in reality. Not one bit of it. This is all signaling that they don't like the town and the church they grew up in, and their mother was wrong when she told them not to sleep with their boyfriend, and that being self-righteous about politics is thereal morality. They LOVE western civilisation but cannot admit it to themselves because of the emotional cost of not being righteous. Therefore they have to double downb on professing to hate it.

This is Psychology 101. It's not advanced or difficult or nuanced human understanding. It's just looking in a mirror, which they can't do.; 3/23/21, 5:17 PM
MadTownGuy said...: xhelodrvr1 said...

"So all traditions in majority white societies are racist ...

Two parent families must be racist, then, right?"

<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/blm-removes-a-page-that-mentions-disrupting-the-nuclear-family/ar-BB19jbhP>From MSN:</a>

<i>The national page for the Black Lives Matter movement has updated several sections of their website, including the removal of a page that features a paragraph about the disruption of the 'Western nuclear family.</i>'; 3/23/21, 5:18 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Trying again:
xhelodrvr1 said...

"So all traditions in majority white societies are racist ...

Two parent families must be racist, then, right?"

From MSN:

The national page for the Black Lives Matter movement has updated several sections of their website, including the removal of a page that features a paragraph about the disruption of the 'Western nuclear family.'; 3/23/21, 5:20 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Try a Lutheran school; 3/23/21, 5:20 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Send the money to the parents. The parents interview and then hire the teachers directly and pay them from their educational accounts. If the teachers don't measure up, then they get the ol' heave-ho.

The teachers rent space for their classrooms. Could be a school, could be a rental at a shopping center. If the schools want to stay in business, they'll have to satisfy the teachers who have to satisfy the parents.; 3/23/21, 5:23 PM
stevew said...: The policy response to the pandemic has enabled and caused:

- the riots of the past 10 months
- the excess deaths in 2020+ from illness, mental instability, and addiction
- increases in unemployment, poverty, and suffering

I will echo what Fernandinande says: This sort of ubiquitous anti-American, and racist anti-white rhetoric is behind the slaughter by an immigrant of the 10 white people in Boulder. Also, the lies about anti-Asian sentiment and incidents that are largely and broadly non-existent.; 3/23/21, 5:34 PM
chickelit said...: Mr. Goggleface seems quite smiley and amused at the thought of undoing White Western Thought. Fuck him.

But I'm amused to see the Madison school district wasting their money on him. I expect no less. Madison parents, pull your children out of the public schools before it's too late.; 3/23/21, 5:38 PM
narciso said...: when facebook deletes the trail, that doesn't mean he changed his mind

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9393669/Gunman-21-charged-murder-shooting-killing-10-people.html; 3/23/21, 5:41 PM
independent said...: Didn't one of them assume that the disruptive kid, in front of the quiet little girl reading a book in the corner, is black?; 3/23/21, 5:43 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The price exerted for not going ahead with reparations is only going to get steeper.; 3/23/21, 5:45 PM
chickelit said...: I actually enjoy seeing Madison fail because it gives me so many "I told you so" moments. The is a very good example.; 3/23/21, 5:46 PM
chickelit said...: narciso linked: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9393669/Gunman-21-charged-murder-shooting-killing-10-people.html

You mean it wasn't the shirtless white dude that all the racists were hoping was the shooter?; 3/23/21, 5:49 PM
wildswan said...: So, divvy up the school tax money according to who is doing the teaching - 80% goes back to the parents, 20% to the teacher. This latest innovation will end the day the legislature votes to send school tax money to those doing teaching.

Vote Deb Kerr for Superintendent of Wisconsin schools.; 3/23/21, 5:50 PM
gadfly said...: Now there have been three mass shootings in Colorado - Columbine, Aurora and Boulder. Every shooter involved to this point, Eric Harris (April 9, 1981 – April 20, 1999), Dylan Klebold, James Holmes and likely psychotic Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa were all affected by frequent and chronic depression brought on by SSRI drug prescriptions.

Meanwhile, Boulder City Attorney Tom Carr pointed to language in the city’s code on assault weapons suggesting that the AR-556 pistol (its a semi-automatic rifle) linked to the suspected shooter would have been included in the ban that was recently overturned by the courts. it somehow didn't occur to him that if the Ruger AR556 was unavailable, there was nothing to prevent purchasing some other long gun. Background checks must not work in Colorado if he could buy a gun in the first place.; 3/23/21, 5:52 PM
Greg The Class Traitor said...: There's no such thing as "white Western though", unless you're a racist pig; 3/23/21, 5:56 PM
gilbar said...: Looks like, Madison spends about $14,741 per student, per year

At 12 years of K-12; that comes to: $14,741*12==$176,892
Put that in a Spider, and Assume a 7% return, looks like you'd be looking at about $400,000 after 12 years.

Now, a Serious Question
I got too bored, to find out how good Madison Schools are...
But, Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress test results released by the U.S. Department of Education.

For those in the Madison School district that aren't able to read (or write(or do math)) (we'll call this "D" percent of students ....
How much Worse off would they be, if: we just GAVE them $400,000 ????

I asked my knee jerk liberal family people this same question about Chicago;
and They said; "Oh NO! you couldn't do That! They'd just spend it on liquor and drugs!"
And, i said: How would THAT be worse, than what we're doing now?
And they became Real Quiet

Caveats: This Assumes that the purpose of school is to help the students
This is Obviously False
The only TWO purposes of school are to:
a) provide daycare
b) provide makework jobs for liberal democrat women

However;
If you're a parent....What is your child getting for their 12 years?
If you're a taxpayer..What are you getting for your $176,892

Does anybody want to show me, how the Child would NOT be better off with $400,000 instead of high school diploma? I'm assuming that they'll be illiterate in either case; 3/23/21, 6:00 PM
J. Farmer said...: Ironically, the impetus beyond universal public education was assimilation. It was the primary engine for molding a group of polyglot European immigrants into a cohesive Anglo-American ethnic identity. Now the mission statement is to deconstruct and dismantle that identity. "Anti-racism" is anti-white racism.

My recommendation on schooling is save the money on private school tuition and home school. I think the learning that is accomplished within the structure of a family and community is so much more profound than the mechanistic style of marching kids through curricula designed to fit antediluvian academic calendars.; 3/23/21, 6:03 PM
wildswan said...: The focus on testing in schools is an innovation consciously imported from China. Under the Empire, tests allowed any Chinese student to enter the Mandarin ruling class. In the West in the 19C it came to be thought selection for rule on the basis of being a member of a hereditary aristocracy was excluding many talented people and so the China system, merit as measured by tests, replaced merit derived from being a member of the aristocracy. Isn't it racist to call the Chinese system the "white" system? Moreover, the largest minority in Madison is the Asians. Shouldn't they be allowed to be educated in a culturally appropriate way? Isn't it wrong to prevent Chinese students from participating in their own culture? And if those of European background have adopted the Chinese system, can that really be called racism?; 3/23/21, 6:08 PM
Ken B said...: Time to pay teachers more. That way they can step back. Double the number of teachers too, so that students can get more personal inattention.; 3/23/21, 6:10 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Gilbar:

Good post, but it's 13 years, K,1-12, for $191,633. Just more money wasted.

Washington's Constitution says the primary duty of the state is to educate the kids. We had a recent (couple of years ago) Supreme Court case that forced the state to pay more for education and reduce local levies. The local school districts took the money meant for more teachers and used it to pay the current teachers more, then said "We don't have the money for more teachers! We need more money! We need to restore the local levies." So now we have higher state property taxes and the same local levy property tax rate.; 3/23/21, 6:16 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: gilbar,
THat should be 13 years, not 12.; 3/23/21, 6:17 PM
Francisco D said...: Try a Lutheran school

The ELCA bureaucracy seems pretty woke these days.

Congregations vary in their political outlook, but if the school is under the ELCA aegis, I would be careful.; 3/23/21, 6:22 PM
gilbar said...: exhelodrvr1 said...
gilbar,
THat should be 13 years, not 12.

HEY! math is HARD!!!! :); 3/23/21, 6:23 PM
n.n said...: the China system, merit as measured by tests, replaced merit derived from being a member of the aristocracy

Yes, the very model of modern diversity, which judges and labels merit systems as colorful and prejudicial. The Chinese are the very model, less the left-wing ideological bent, of what the People of White endeavor to normalize.; 3/23/21, 6:29 PM
Achilles said...: Kathy said...

Vouchers will not help. The cost will go up with more money available, and strings attached to the voucher will ensure that all options are corrupted.

Give me the voucher and I will home school my kids with it if I have to.; 3/23/21, 6:34 PM
Achilles said...: DavidUW said...

Well, I had planned to keep my madison properties to provide nice income during my retirement, but I guess I'll be selling and 1031'ing everything to FL.

Direct flight from St. Kitt's and PR at least to FL to check on the manager.

I would take a look at Madison, AL. Next to Huntsville.

You cannot buy a finished house here right now. But you can get one ordered at current prices.

They cannot build houses fast enough here.; 3/23/21, 6:37 PM
Dan from Madison said...: I watched the whole video. That was painful. Students running class 80% of the time - what could possibly go wrong with that?; 3/23/21, 7:01 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Francisco D,

I don't really know my Lutherans any more. Is ELCA more "woke" than Missouri Synod?; 3/23/21, 7:25 PM
Biff said...: Dan from Madison said..."Students running class 80% of the time - what could possibly go wrong with that?"

Those kids are going to be so insufferable. "I'm so smart, I taught the third grade when I was in the third grade."; 3/23/21, 7:49 PM
Richard Dolan said...: The voters put these folks in charge of the public schools, and only the voters can force a change (and if not, their kids will have to bear the consequences). I suspect some voters will just have to vote with their feet.; 3/23/21, 7:53 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger Michelle Dulak Thomson said...
Francisco D,
I don't really know my Lutherans any more. Is ELCA more "woke" than Missouri Synod?
3/23/21, 7:25 PM
Yes. ELCA supports abortion rights and allows female ministers. Gay male ministers too, I believe.
LCMS does not. LCMS does not allow women to hold higher church offices.
ELCA believes that doctrine can change and evolve over time. LCMS believes that is the same as saying that God changes over time, and that this is incorrect.; 3/23/21, 8:22 PM
Rusty said...: Blogger Ken B said...
"Time to pay teachers more. That way they can step back. Double the number of teachers too, so that students can get more personal inattention."
You're joking, right.; 3/23/21, 8:25 PM
Joanne Jacobs said...: The idea that students aren't learning unless they're talking (and the teacher is not) goes back decades before "anti-racism." I think I heard that teachers should be the "guide on the side" rather than the "sage on the stage" at least 30 years ago. It had nothing to do with race. It's linked to the idea that teachers shouldn't teach content knowledge, because kids can "just look it up," but instead should teach skills or facilitate groups of students working collaboratively. Teachers are marked down by evaluators if they teach too much.

Does it work? My short answer is "no." My longer answer is that it takes a very, very skilled teacher to be an effective "guide on the side." Even then, the more motivated students will do the group work and learn, while the less motivated will do nothing and learn nothing.; 3/23/21, 8:25 PM
Kathy said...: Achilles said:
"Give me the voucher and I will home school my kids with it if I have to."

I do homeschool, but I don't want government money. I want to be free to teach what I choose, and government money eventually comes with strings. Homeschooling can be done inexpensively and still be fantastic. Don't get the government involved. Lower taxes instead.; 3/23/21, 8:31 PM
Ken B said...: Rusty asks me “ You're joking, right.”

Not at all. Teachers have long insisted that smaller class sizes allow more personal attention for students. It’s hard to deny, just do the math.
Well, the same thing applies when teachers ignore students. The more teachers the more inattention per student. Now that we learn that it’s really inattention is good, we should want more of it.

Although I admit I am jesting a little bit to suggest we double the teaching staff. We should triple it to make sure every student gets the inattention he needs.

Special needs students might require even more inattention from even more teachers, so I might be persuaded to quadruple special Ed teachers. But at that point it does get costly.; 3/23/21, 9:17 PM
Ken B said...: I want to slightly amend my point on inattention. There is a bad inattention of course. If a teacher sees “a white child quietly reading a book” the teacher must put a stop to it. But that can be done without paying much attention. Letting white children read is criminal.; 3/23/21, 9:26 PM
Unknown said...: Eighty percent of the dumbest ideas originate in Ed schools. See. We can all pull worthless statistics out of our asses to give stupid arguments the patina of validity.; 3/23/21, 9:28 PM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: Believe All Children!; 3/23/21, 9:34 PM
Francisco D said...: Michelle Dulak Thomson said...I don't really know my Lutherans any more. Is ELCA more "woke" than Missouri Synod?

Not sure. I grew up with the idea that the Missouri Synod Lutherans were very theologically conservative. I do not know if that is still true. I know a few MS Lutherans who are politically liberal but theologically more conservative than most of today's Protestants. Of course, that does not make them conservative.; 3/23/21, 10:25 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Joanne Jacobs:

It's linked to the idea that teachers shouldn't teach content knowledge, because kids can "just look it up," but instead should teach skills or facilitate groups of students working collaboratively. Teachers are marked down by evaluators if they teach too much.

I completely agree. Its the cult of "critical thinking skills," and it was being pushed when I was in junior high in the mid-90s. People still talk about it today like it's the cutting edge. I think it is a complete myth. I don't believe that students can master a generic set of "critical thinking skills" that are decontextualized from any content.; 3/23/21, 10:42 PM
wildswan said...: Maybe close the education schools and insist teachers get a regular BA which involves having a major - math, history etc. As a minor, they take a few education classes. Call it old-school if you like but everything changes and so what's retro now will be cutting-edge in a few years. Why not be cutting-edge-type retro now?

PS. I hope I put those little lines (-) - whatever you call them - in right; maybe not though; but maybe?; I couldn't learn the right way of it in school; but now I see I should have been allowed to teach it 80% of the time; which would give me a B; not a C;.; 3/23/21, 11:03 PM
Anonymous said...: I am the son, nephew, and grandson of brilliant, dedicated teachers. It pains me to admit what the Covid-19 crisis has clearly demonstrated to all of us: Today's generation of American teachers and their unions are cowardly, selfish, greedy, lazy piles of shit.; 3/23/21, 11:28 PM
gpm said...: After decades of moderately generous contributions, my college and law school (you certainly would know who they are) are now off the list, for a number of reasons that include the insanity they are sponsoring/accepting.

My Jesuit high school in Chicago has been by far the largest of my donees for decades, for various reasons, including their inclusiveness of non-Catholic (mostly black) students and those who can't afford the now somewhat ridiculous tuition but want a quality education. By far the largest donor from my 1971 graduating class. I haven't yet determined whether the school has gone over the cliff and needs to be cut off.

--gpm; 3/23/21, 11:35 PM
JK Brown said...: Yes, the teacher not dominating the speaking time. Very "innovative" a century ago. If you look to the past, the one thing you learn is that there has been very little advancement in "education", schooling, in the last century. The overhead projector an exception.

"One of the most important functions of the class period is the development of initiative and self-reliance in pupils. These qualities are fundamental, not only in proper study, but they lie at the very basis of a democracy such as ours, and it is important that the school make provision for their development. In these days of hysteria it is essential that the future citizen be trained to stand on his own feet and to think for himself.

"The ordinary man never trains himself to make a move unless some one tells him to do so. The advancement of successful men from position to position is due largely to this faculty of doing things without being told. Successful men have the nerve and decision to act quickly and assume the initiative in times of emergency. Men who are most in demand are the ones who can stand up under responsibility and can be counted on to do the right thing without depending on somebody else.

"How is initiative developed? Certainly not by having the teacher take all the initiative and responsibility in the conduct of the class period. To develop initiative, the pupils must exercise initiative, and the class period must provide this opportunity. To secure this initiative, there must be a change in the conduct of the class period."

--Teaching Boys and Girls How to Study' (1919) by Peter Jeremiah Zimmers, Superintendent of City Schools, Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Of course, it requires a disciplined class that participates.

A comment from a student of that program

"I think this is a good way of teaching because it gives the pupils initiative and self reliance It helped me to like school because now the class is more interesting. If I do not believe a thing I now ask the pupils questions about it. This method is better than the old because when the teacher went out of the room the class would have to stop but now when she goes out the class goes on just as though she were present."; 3/24/21, 12:46 AM
Fr. Gregory Jensen said...: The teachers in the video are moral idiots.; 3/25/21, 1:39 PM