A recent study found that as much as three-fourths of the state schools were holding back the most talented and brightest students because they wanted to combat the scourge of “elitism.” These students were not being given more advanced work even though they were not being sufficiently challenged by grade-level material.
Instead of being allowed to progress at their own pace, the students were often asked to simply mentor the other students. The Ofsted study found that the school treated academic gifts as “not a priority” for teaching and that allowing them to work to their full potential would “undermine the school’s efforts to improve the attainment and progress of all other groups of pupils.”
Stephen Hawking, it appears, would have been a threat to the educational mission and told to eat glue with the rest of the kindergarten kids. Shakespeare would be told that he needs to return to those word group “mix and match” exercises and stop composing sonnets on the school computers.
What is interesting is that England has a gifted and talented program for the top five to ten percent, but these schools are choosing to ignore that policy.
With kids in the gifted and talented program in Fairfax, I can say that this view is inimical to the development of such children. These kids can actually do worse over time in standard lessons because they are not challenged and they tend to slip in their skills and interest. More importantly, by holding them back, you are denying them the opportunity to develop to their full potential. It is not more “elitist” in the pejorative sense than selecting the fastest kids for track and field competitions. Children have different skill sets and aptitudes. Finally, while such kids can be viewed as an elite group for their area, it does not make them elitists in the sense of people who believe that they are superior to others.
We have previously discussed the dangers of a “nanny state” with our close cousins in England. This would appear another such example of those dangers.
When talented children are not challenged, they can turn to less productive activities:
For the full story, click here.
Elaine M., et al,
The problem stems from lack of a responsible party raising and/or having the most influence over a childs early years. I say this as I stayed home with a child for the first year and by the time for the second one we had sufficient funds hire a full time nanny.
We thought that all was going well the eldest was good at arts and the second one by the time she could speak knew where every fast food joint in town was and what stores sold the best slurpees.
The eldest child would rather eat at Subway or Arbys than McDonalds or any of the other fast food chains.
The eldest was no problem at school and the second one detested the same. I know children have different make ups and the early rearing does not always stick. Especially when you raise independent children, young girls to wit.
chris–
“My point is that my father made my education his responsibility. I think that many of the problems described in this thread result more from the lack of responsibility on the part of parents, rather than problems with the system.”
Thanks. What you said means more if it doesn’t come from a teacher like me.
I think there a quite a lot of parents in the US who expect the schools to be responsible for nearly every aspect of their children’s education once their kids enter kindergarten. Parents are their children’s first teachers–but their responsibilty for helping with their education shouldn’t stop when their children start school.
Mike,
When I was growing up I was taught the value of hard work on many levels but it started with school. I was never allowed to “play” unless my school work was done and if my grades weren’t good my punishment usually meant spending my free time doing manual labor. Once I got into high school these habits were second nature.
My point is that my father made my education his responsibility. I think that many of the problems described in this thread result more from the lack of responsibility on the part of parents, rather than problems with the system.
Buddha:
I understand how that works. It’s like how my experience with you leads me to believe everyone else who posts comments at blogs and has beliefs similar to you are mean and vicious.
Byron,
Shudder a lot. I know a couple of home schooled exceptions – and to a one they strike me as the kind of person what would excel solely as a matter of innate intelligence. Self-teaching self-starters as it were. But 99% of the home schooled I’ve run in to are most certainly more to the end of the PSJ-Bumpass quality scale.
Buddha:
I know some homeschoolers and they do do pretty well academically. But then I live in Fairfax, VA which has a very high percentage of people with advanced degrees. So either parent would be able to home school.
I shudder to think what homeschoolers get taught in Pig Stop Junction, AR or Bumpass, LA.
Dream on, Tootles.
As a technical employer, I’ve found home schooled Christian fundamentalists unemployable.
1) They lack the proper scientific and analytical skills for the work,
2) are often disruptive of work with their preaching and
3) are more likely to cause serious HR issues by either discriminatory or bigoted actions based on “their beliefs” than more traditional Christians. The last fundie that worked for me got fired for telling a customer they were going to Hell and calling a co-worker a whore because he didn’t like the way she dressed (a – not appropriate under any circumstance, b – the dress code is not his call or the call of his retarded misunderstanding of an ancient text as I’m the boss).
And make no mistake there is NOTHING “traditional” or Christ-like in the way you zealots often act, Tootles. That’s why people with actual free will usually give your Bible-thumping “Do as I say not as I do” hypocritical and retrograde message the finger. Jesus said love your enemies. Your lot clearly loves no one but your damn selves, Mr. We’re The Chosen. Jesus was about everyone. Your lot is all about “me me me”. Nice going on totally missing Christ’s point by the way.
You are socially maladapted when reared this way: raised in a cocoon of falsehoods and bigotry – taught not only a substandard set of knowledge by people without the expertise to teach it but to think they are somehow not only better than everyone else and that it’s their duty to be pushy assholes about it.
Just what I look for in an employee.
Enjoy that increased global competition!
Mike Spindell:
You just couldn’t help yourself, could you? You had a nice post until the end when you just had to attack Christian fundamentalists like a Tourretes Syndrome patient shouting out potty words, picking his nose, and farting at a luncheon.
What the heck do fundamentalist people have to do with the mess democrats have made of the US public schools? Christian fundamentalists are abandoning the public schools, not burning books. Christian Fundamentalists started the schools in America being so dedicated to knowledge and enlightenment. It is the heathens and pagans who currently run them who running our schools into the ground. It is the heathen and pagan teachers who are feeding LIES and junk science about global warming to kids in school.
Christian fundamentalists are putting their kids into private schools or home schooling them so that their kids can, on average, score about 30 points HIGHER on national achievement tests than kids attending public schools run or supported by fascist jerks who lie about Christians being book burners.
Whipping academic arse those Fundies are.
For someone like me who throughout my public school years was a bad discipline problem (fighting and disrespect of teachers) and inveterately lazy about studying, listening in class, taking notes and homework, final tests and standardized tests were a Godsend. I could naturally read and comprehend about twice as well as a normal student. Typically, I would go into a final test pulling a D average, cram all night, finally reading the entire textbook and get somewhere in the 80’s or 90’s on the final, raising my final grade to a gentlemen’s C.
In NYS, where they had standardized Regents Tests, that offerred a ten year history of previous tests in review books, my Regent’s scores soared into the 90’s, while spending the school year doing virtually no work except for antagonizing my teachers and fighting with bullies. I graduated low in the bottom quarter of my High School Class, but got accepted to a good University via high SAT’s and won a full tuition scholarship thru another standardized test.
Aced my Law Boards in my middle 20’s and was accepted to Law School based on that and the ability to interview well. While I no longer fought or sassed teachers, my study habits in Law School were no different than High School, or College for that matter. Trouble was you really do have to do the work regularly in Law School and for the first time in my life I flunked out. Greatest lesson I ever learned. In work and in academia I started giving a hundred percent effort and finally succeeded.
No Child Left Behind is a blessing for people with my particular skills and a curse for most students. Children’s learning must be nurtured and good habits must be taught. In America where the financial and ethnic disparity between students plays crucial roles our school system is a sick joke, set up to benefit those who are already born into the elite. G.W. Bush being a Yale and Harvard grad proves it and his educational policies were a cruel joke played on the American people, with the full support of the no-nothing Christian Fundamentalists out to further dumb down their membership, the privileged plutocracy maintaining their status quo and the low tax fools who don’t give a damn for their or others children. Family Values people seem curiously unattentive when it comes to quuality education, but hyper-vigilant in attempted book burning.
Carlyle!!!
LOL —> “It is my bed time and I have not slept for a while since I have spent a sleepless night dreaming up angry troll posts for some other blogs.”
Sleep peacefully, then, and awake refreshed.
Your last post was very interesting. Did Whole Language start in Australia or New Zealand? I cannot remember.
It is curious that you do not remember learning how to read or when you learned to process words as you now do. I have heard that the Whole Language method is terrible for some children who are overstimulated by visual images. I heard that Whole Language often bombards the child (and her mind) with too many shapes, colors, and visual clutter.
It is almost as if there is too much for the brain to handle– over-stimulation. Whereas black and white letters and their sounds might be better received by such children, with a few scattered pictures thrown in for interest. I really don’t know if there is truth to this. I just recall having read a little something about it.
I wonder how far back any of your memories go? I remember two events from my childhood going back to age 3. Both were frightening events so I guess that may explain why I recall them. But I do remember learning to read in the first grade (about 7 or 8 years old). We had the now very famous Dick and Jane* books and we often sat in circles reading aloud.
Anyway, you are on to something mentioning Taiwan. Teachers in Harold Stevenson’s study (Taipei was one of the cities) always did follow up with the slower students. Children carry a spiral notepad in their book bags that goes to and from school each day. The teacher writes notes to the parent about the student and the student takes it home to the parent. The parents are able to monitor everything and those children who are not catching on so well are required to come earlier or stay later until they do.
The parents cooperate with this. No one is upset or angry with the child or the teachers and everyone exudes confidence that the child will catch on given enough time. The Asian school children in the study were as happy as American school children despite the extra requirements put on the slower student.
Stevenson relates an interesting story about the Asian classroom which, he thinks, underscores one problem in US schools. He tells the story about a class where the students must each go to the chalkboard and draw a very good geometric cube. One student had trouble getting it right. The student was given extra time at the board until he got it right, drawing, erasing, and redrawing it over and over again. No one thought this might embarrass the student and no one made fun of the slower student. The teacher insisted the student work at it until there was improvement and everyone in the class praised these improvements. The student who had the problem was proud of his own improvement witnessed by all including himself.
Stevenson said that that wasn’t likely to be done in American schools. Teachers fear to humiliate the slower student, and feared that the other students would laugh at the slow student. Thereby the needs of the slower student cannot as easily be met in real-time during regular school hours. Stevenson thought this should change.
Also, they have a team teaching situation in their large classrooms. This allows for better collaboration out of the classroom (they have strategy meetings each day) and for one teacher to help with the slower kids while the other moves the class forward. Classroom discipline was managed by the students! One student each week or so (I forget) was responsible for making sure things didn’t get too loud, etc. This worked well, because if you were bad to another student monitor, soon you would be student monitor and well, turn around is fair play.
Anyway, I loved Stevenson’s book so very much, and I could go on and on about it. But I must tell one more thing–it is one of my most favorite of the observations he made. And perhaps it is a most favorite of mine because it explains so many difficulties I had in school. Stevenson and crew observed (and I cannot remember which city school did this) that Assian children are taught HOW to organize their school desks and keep them that way.
They receive specific lessons on where to place each item, how to take items out, and how to put them back without messing up their desks or misplacing things. When I think of the virtual junk yards our school desks became (especially by the end of the year) I really have to laugh. I honestly think that being left-handed made things even more complicated for me (especially with the scissors!).
I guess the US researchers were impressed with this method of teaching students how to organize their little desk environments. Not only were students taught early on to be neat but it saved a huge amount of time that in US schools would be wasted while every last student hunted down a pencil or eraser (if ever!).
Stevenson talked about this kind of “housekeeping” and time wasted. It is another big difference between the Asian schools and the US.
Have a great day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_and_Jane
In all seriousness? I have only one “side effect” that I think is related to phonics. I am a multiple offender when it comes to homophone abuse in first drafts. All writers have some bad habits, that’d be one of mine. But Elaine is right on, not just about reading, but all subjects. Give the kids all the tools to not only learn effectively, but to help them find ways they like to learn. Because when the process itself brings you joy, it becomes a habit for it’s own sake. People like to be happy. I may be unhappy about some of what I have learned on this planet, but I have never been unhappy about being able to learn.
Maximize happiness. Teach your children well.
“I believe in introducing children to all the tools in the reading toolbox.”
Word.
Byron–
You most likely learned the words in that comic book by sight. Back in the day, that was called the look/say method. Some children learn to read best by sight; some by phonics. Most kids benefit from an eclectic approach. You can’t sound out lots of words–you have to learn them by sight. Phonics can help kids unlock many words by teaching them phonemes, word families, rhyming words, etc. No one way is the best way for all children to learn how to read. Reading books and poetry aloud to children is also important–as well as having lots of books/reading material in the home and in the classroom. I believe in introducing children to all the tools in the reading toolbox.
Byron and CM,
I too learned to read phonically before entering kindergarten. Mom’s doing. If I ever have kids, they will too.
Carlyle:
for what it is worth I can remember how I learned to read. I was probably around 4 or 5 (pre kindergarten) and one of my aunts came to visit, she was a teacher. I had a Huey, Luey and Dewey comic book and I forced her to read it to me, only God knows how many times, telling her to point out the words as she went. By the end of her visit I could read and was reading kids books by the time I entered kindergarten.
Would you call that whole word? My grandmother taught me phonics in a manner of speaking, I use it to this day to deduce the pronunciation of words I haven’t seen and it works pretty well although I never had a formalized phonics course.
Words are nothing but sounds that are used to represent concepts. Quite fascinating actually, how did we come to call a sphere a ball?
Tootie.
I have been puzzled by the policy battle over phonics for some time, it is raging in Australia as well as over your way. I am a literate person and translate between spellings and sounds and the reverse all the time as I read blog posts and write my own. I am puzzled how I do it. The only things I can remember about the infants school where I learned to read and write is my toes aching in winter from the cold. I cannot remember how I was taught to read and write, whether I learned a set of complicated rules and a small list of words that are exceptions, a smaller list of rules and a larger list of exceptional words, or a very simple set of rules and was required to commit a large list of exceptions to memory.
Obviously I have the ability to do sound/spelling translations in either direction but I am puzzled how I do it. It happens automatically as it were below the levels of consciousness.
Obviously teaching by phonics works for all children taught by it but it involves a certain amount of tedium and tedium leads to boredom that is demotivating. However the human brain is a very powerful machine for extracting patterns from disorder. Presented with a sufficient number of examples the human brain builds up neural networks that represent patterns. If the examples are sound spelling pairs the neural net represents the rules of English phonics. This means that most children thrown in to the deep end of the reading/writing pool and told to sink or swim find that they can swim. However this does not work for all children and taught by whole word alone these children flounder. One can speculate on what goes wrong, perhaps their brains prematurely extract a rules which works for some initial data but fail to recognise that later data does not fit and that the rules must must be discarded . Such false induction persist and lead to persistent mistakes and failure to recognize that the mistakes are in fact mistakes. If teachers fail to recognize that whole word is not working for some students and either give them remedial teaching using phonics or at least sufficient extra attention to help them over the rough patches in their whole word experience. I suspect that the rate of failure for whole word may be greater for children from deprived minoriities. Mindless ideological attachment to whole word as the universal answer risks doing great damage to the children of the poor. It seems to me that in the anglosphere, schools lack a quality control feedback system. They put the onus of remedying any gaps in knowledge shown by the tests on the individual students. I believe that in Taiwan the teachers have a responsibility to monitor the progress of each student and to remedy any lagging.
It seems to me that most people take their opinions on multiple issues which should in principle be independent of each other come from a limited number of prepackaged sets. If you know that someone is against land rights for gay whales one can predict that they will support the death penalty. If someone supports rights of indigenous peoples there is high probability they will also support gay marriage. I do not think I am one of these people. I have followed with interest certain conservative commentators all of whose opinions do not come from the conservative packaged set. They on some issues seem to agree with liberals. Then there is the issue of whether a person is a conservative simply because they self identify that way or for that matter that someone who claims to be a liberal is in fact a liberal and then are liberal and conservative the only positions in the ideology spectrum. More than this I will not say, you and I are never going to agree unless we agree to disagree. It is my bed time and I have not slept for a while since I have spent a sleepless night dreaming up angry troll posts for some other blogs.
Carlyle:
I cant say that I disagree with your assesment. All very valid points. Those are neither conservative nor liberal problems, just problems.
What is your solution?
for the record, I never even talked about white or black kids shooting up the classroom.
Most shootings, if I remember correctly, were done by kids on psychoactive drugs for depression and ADD. And I think all were white, although there might have been an Indian from a tribe in MI, WI or MN.
Merry Christmas, Pot. Have you seen kettle around or do you have her wrapped in black cloth so you don’t have to see her body?
Liberals cannot be totalitarian by definition, Trollie. Unlike fascists and theocrats who are totalitarians by definition and operation. As if your new, woman hating, Muslim bigoted, hate baiting divisive nonsense incarnation is supposed to be a paragon of liberty? Mr. “Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to immigrate”. Mr. “Women Should Be Locked In the Closet to Keep Me From Exercising Self Control”. And I say Mr because I believe your a woman like Cheney is a war hero. That or you are one of the most self-loathing women to ever draw breath.
Is that you under different names on NYC thread spreading that anti-Semitic garbage on the NYC thread? I’m just sayin’ . . . that’s about your speed too, Mr. 700 Club.
You are truly a loathsome little creature. A loathsome creature seeking to not just impose your beliefs on others, but your blind unreasoned hatreds too. Considering you’d use force to spread your views, that’d make your lot the totalitarians.
Just another play from the Neocon playbook – accuse your enemy of your crimes. Too bad the entire world has seen the traitors you back in all their totalitarian, fascist, aggressor, expansionist, PNAC induced venal blood thirsty scumbags drive America off a cliff – all in the name of their checkbooks.
You raise your children to be morons if you want. I don’t give a damn if you home school them or not, just to be clear. It frees up resources for kids who might stand a chance at learning something practical. You know, like the kid who will eventually cure cancer after learning enough science. But I suppose to your mind the world needs more meddlesome, incurious, unintelligent shit disturbers who can be easily marginalized because that either 1) can’t read or 2) are incapable of understanding the words (much like yourself) and 3) have an evangelical zeal for spreading their ignorance. Actual learning is hard. It’s work. But being spoon fed a diet of “You’re God’s Special People” is easy as it requires no critical thought, only ego and blind slavish obedience to some nitwits manipulation of an ancient text into a control mechanism. That’s why fundamentalism of any stripe works – it appeals to fear, hatred, ego and intellectual sloth.
So you raise your children to be intellectually inferior prey. See how well that works out for you in the long run. Stupid is a strategy with a different payout than intelligence for a society. But make no mistake. Just because you raise ’em to be hateful, intolerant, ignorant close minded fools doesn’t mean others will or should tolerate ’em. So please, Neocons, home school your children. It’ll make it easier for the more educated to take over. And you can’t have that, can you? Mr. Anti-intellectualism.
Keep raising more sheeple to slaughter in your God’s name. After all, smart people don’t fight wars for other people’s greed. It’s hard to get a youngster to march of to their death for Big Oil Profits if they are capable of questioning your “authority”, isn’t it?