Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

UPDATE: Schools Matter: The consequences of excessive detail + Glen Ford on the Corporate Assault on Public Education and Black Progressivism

Schools Matter: Glen Ford on the Corporate Assault on Public Education and Black Progressivism:



The consequences of excessive detail.


A reader of Diane Ravitch’s blog (http://dianeravitch.net), December 20, 2012, commented about the amount of detail in the standards:

“ (The excessive) amount of detail reduces flexibility, ownership, and increases dependency on publishers and corporation produced curriculum and assessment. It leaves little room for education; to draw out and support the development of student’s unique talents. It leaves little time for teachers to realistically prepare thoughtful curriculum or accomodate developmental differences. Instead it promotes a highly prescribed training of children.”

My comment:

Agreed. What this excessive detail also does is
(1) dictate the order of presentation of aspects of literacy
(2) encourage a direct teaching, skill-building approach to teaching.
Both of these consequences run counter to a massive amount of research and experience.

There is very good evidence from both first and second language acquisition that aspects of language and 



Glen Ford on the Corporate Assault on Public Education and Black Progressivism

Essential history that everyone needs to examine to understand how corporate reform school policy bought legitimacy among minorities by buying politicians like Howard Fuller, Cory Booker, Kevin Chavous, Kevin Johnson, and Floyd Flake.  From April 2012:

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