Welcome

The following is a humorous example of
what happens when you try to facilitate learning, rather than convey knowledge.
For more information on this dichotomy, see the Facts and Stats section below.

A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology
courses. She started her class by saying, "Everyone who thinks you’re
stupid, stand up!"

After a few seconds, Little Johnny stood up.

The teacher said, "Do you think you’re stupid, Little Johnny?"

"No, ma’am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!"

(Courtesy of JokeCenter.com)

 

Bulletin Board

  • The John Locke Foundation is sponsoring a Citizen’s
    Constitutional Workshop on Saturday, October 2, from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm.
    Historian Dr. Troy Kickler and political science expert Dr. Michael Sanera will
    discuss "What the Founders and the State Ratification Conventions Can
    Teach Us Today." For more information or to sign up for the event, visit
    the Events section of the John Locke
    Foundation web site.

  • The E.A. Morris Fellowship for Emerging Leaders is now
    accepting applications for the 2010-11 class. Applicants must be between the
    ages of 25 and 40, reside in North Carolina, and commit to a yearlong program
    of activities designed to examine, develop, and enhance their leadership
    skills. There is no cost to individuals accepted into the program. For
    additional information, please visit the E.A. Morris web site at http://www.eamorrisfellows.org.

  • St. Catherine of Siena in Wake Forest will host The First
    Annual Catholic Education Conference on October 29-30, 2010. The conference
    agenda and registration information is available at http://sites.google.com/a/allsaintsacademy.info/cec.

 

Are you kidding me?

We learned a lot about President Obama’s
education agenda this week.

Lesson 1: Elitism and hypocrisy are alive and well in our nation’s capital.

On NBC’s "Today" show, President Obama declared
that his children attend an expensive private school (the $31,000/year Sidwell
Friends School) because the D.C. public schools are not good enough for them.
To add insult to injury, Obama and his Democratic allies recently killed the
D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a program that allowed low-income
families to make the same kind of educational choices enjoyed by wealthy
families like the Obamas.

Lesson 2: Tough talk about teacher quality is just more
empty rhetoric.

In addition to his "good for me but not thee"
moment, the president summarized his education agenda this week. I applaud
President Obama’s acknowledgement of the importance of teacher quality. For
example, he insisted
that woeful teachers have "got to go." But the National Education
Association (NEA) and their state affiliates will squash any attempt to dismiss
the lowest-performing teachers. Obama surely knows that, which makes it
difficult to take his tough talk seriously.

Lesson 3: Apparently, money isn’t everything, it is the only
thing.

President Obama also proclaimed that throwing money at
public schools will not improve them. (Longitudinal studies of the relationship
between per-pupil spending and student performance suggest that he is correct.)
Nevertheless, he remarked that low-income schools need more money and is proud
to say that his administration doled out billions of dollars to the states.
Moreover, the president supports increasing the length of the school year,
which would require states to significantly increase spending to fund a reform
that would do
little to improve our public schools
.

 

Facts and Stats

The following statistics come directly from the September 2010 report,
"Cracks in the Ivory Tower? The Views of Education Professors Circa
2010," by Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, p. 9. I
highly recommend this report.

  • [Professors of education] are far more likely to believe
    that the proper role of teacher is to be a "facilitator of learning"
    (84 percent) not a "conveyor of knowledge" (11 percent).

  • Asked to choose between two competing philosophies of the
    role of teacher educator, 68 percent believe preparing students "to be
    change agents who will reshape education by bringing new ideas and approaches
    to the public schools" is most important; just 26 percent advocate preparing
    students "to work effectively within the realities of today’s public
    schools."

  • Only 24 percent believe it is absolutely essential to
    produce "teachers who understand how to work with the state’s standards,
    tests, and accountability systems."

  • Just 39 percent find it absolutely essential "to
    create teachers who are trained to address the challenges of high-needs
    students in urban districts."

  • Just 37 percent say it is absolutely essential to focus on
    developing "teachers who maintain discipline and order in the
    classroom."

  • The vast majority of education professors (83 percent)
    believe it is absolutely essential for public school teachers to teach 21st
    century skills, but just 36 percent say the same about teaching math facts, and
    only 44 percent about teaching phonics in the younger grades.


Mailbag

I would like to invite all readers to
submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns,
and observations about the state of education in North Carolina. I will publish
selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Anonymity will be
honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].

Education Acronym of the Week

JOBS — Joining Our Businesses and Schools
Commission

US Senate Acronym of the Week

JOBS — Jumpstart Our Business Strength
Act

Quote of the Week

"There is less flogging in our great schools than formerly — but then
less is learned there; so what the boys get at one end they lose at the
other."
— James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)