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Friday, March 8, 2013

Give me your tired test prep assignments, your poor #CCSS homework examples… – @ the chalk face

Give me your tired test prep assignments, your poor #CCSS homework examples… – @ the chalk face:


Give me your tired test prep assignments, your poor #CCSS homework examples…

… your huddled students yearning to learn free from corporate education reform.
Here At the Chalkface we have had several articles that have been widely read and shared recently:
http://atthechalkface.com/2012/12/12/is-your-child-getting-a-worksheet-education/
http://atthechalkface.com/2013/03/05/kindergarteners-get-ready-to-confront-the-new-economy/
http://atthechalkface.com/2013/03/06/guess-the-grade-level-of-this-common-core-homework/
The theme of these pieces is test preparation and Common Core worksheets/homework assignments.  These articles are examples of the harm corporate education reform is having on our children and the themes have


@thinkprogress makes the progressive case against higher tuition costs. Careful. #highered

Progressives frequently lament the increasing costs of higher education, as Think Progress does here. Young persons are saddled with debt and this is a very troubling situation.
As a faculty member, I have a somewhat different perspective. I suppose it’s easy, from a student’s perspective, to criticize all aspects of a university for rising tuition costs. It seems as if there’s a fee for everything nowadays.Overall, state investment in public higher education is declining. Without a drastic reduction in services, universities are in a bind and they need to increase tuition.
It may seem to the student that these tuition costs are increasing for no good reason. But let me assure you,


The crowd at #SXSWedu and #edtech could ultimately learn from this.

A great article from the NYT on Sunday comes at a pretty good time, given the passing of SXSW in Austin, TX these last few days. I was, of course, not in Texas, but I followed conversations and happenings online related to education, or the hashtag #SXSWedu. You get the impression that a lot of tech gurus descended upon the event to sell their wares as the greatest solution for public education. From the NYT article:
Such digital humanitarianism aims to generate good will on the outside and boost morale on the inside. After all, saving the world might be a price worth paying for destroying everyone’s privacy, while a larger-than-life mission might convince young and idealistic employees that they are not